![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ksr-ugc.imgix.net\/assets\/003\/748\/184\/10910f1d6be64ae90a67c98a627dbf78_original.jpg?resize=560%2C202&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A small company called Next Thing Co.<\/a> has recently launched a Kickstarter<\/a> to raise funds for C.H.I.P., the so-called \u201c$9 computer\u201d. It has almost reached\u00a0the $1.2 million mark with over 23,000 backers. Many people in the industry and in the press have been calling it a \u201cRaspberry Pi killer\u201d so I thought I\u2019d give my opinion on the product and the campaign and look deeper into the claims of it being the Next Big Thing. In particular, I wanted to look at the value-for-money of the CHIP compared to the Raspberry Pi.<\/p>\n So, that\u2019s covered the postage, but what of the extra \u2018add-ons\u2019 for the CHIP? For a decent option for display, you\u2019re paying $10 for a VGA shield and $15 for an HDMI shield. This takes the cost of the CHIP\u00a0from $9 to $19 and $24 respectively! This\u00a0does rather take the shine off the $9 claim.<\/p>\n The other thing to bear in mind is future pricing. Whereas the Pi\u2019s price is fairly fixed (and in some cases, like the B+, it\u2019s actually going down<\/a>) the price of the CHIP after the Kickstarter has finished can only go up. Going by what\u2019s on the board, the profit margin on the basic $9 model must be tiny – they are clearly bolstering the low-low price with the shipping and the add-on boards. The other worrying thing is that so far Allwinner hasn\u2019t publicly announced the price for the R8 chip that is the processor on the CHIP – can it really be low enough for them to put it on the board?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look at the different claims made by the campaign page. What do they<\/i> expect it to be used for?<\/p>\n It\u2019s also up to you to decide whether that means anything to you or not. You may be happy with Licence conditions being broken. I\u2019d rather see everyone be on the level about such things. Maybe, in time, Allwinner will mend their ways but until that time it is a consideration.<\/p>\n Now that I\u2019ve finished doing this table, I\u2019m not sure how helpful it is. It very much depends on what you\u2019re using the board for<\/i>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the big question.<\/p>\n Is the CHIP likely to supplant the Raspberry Pi as the go-to cheap computer in the market at which it is aimed? In my mind, there are two key factors at work here:<\/p>\n On the Value for Money side, I think I\u2019ve proved that the extra money for the Raspberry Pi 2 is entirely justified. Especially when you consider what people will use their CHIPs for and what people will use their Raspberry Pis for<\/i>. There are four\u00a0main uses: programming, learning, general office use and entertainment.<\/p>\n Community-wise, the Pi wins hands down any day of the week, just by pure virtue of the fact that there are around 5 million<\/i> of them out there and the community has had three years to grow. I\u2019m not saying that the CHIP will not generate a decent-sized community eventually, but to start with it\u2019s going to be an uphill struggle, just as it was for the early adopters of the Pi. We should also bear in mind that according to this article\u00a0there are currently 80,000 Pis a week being created<\/a>. Suddenly, 23,000 backers doesn\u2019t seem like a lot.<\/p>\n From this blogger\u2019s perspective, the CHIP is not <\/i>a Pi killer. It will doubtless gain a lot more support than it already has, and it should do. $9 is a tempting, though potentially misleading, price tag and the form factor of the device is great when size is an issue. Portability via the LIPO battery is also a great feature – possibly the \u201ckiller\u201d feature of the CHIP. It seems to be the natural successor to the ODROID-W (which was a short-lived Pi-compatible board that also had a LIPO connector).<\/p>\n In my opinion, though, for general use (and for the uses that the campaign is aiming at) the Pi 2 wins in both the value-for-money stakes and it has a trump card: a community that cares.<\/p>\n From my personal perspective, the goals of the Raspberry Pi Foundation also count for a great deal – the future of technology is at stake and\u00a0the Foundation is trying to ensure that our children are a part of that future, and that’s a marvellous thing.<\/p>\n I guess we\u2019ll see in 12 months how the CHIP stands up to whatever else is out there. My feeling, though, is that it will be obsolete by that time. Whether it\u2019s a new Raspberry Pi or something else that obsoletes it is another question entirely. We just don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n For more on the CHIP, and more opinions, take a look at this ars\u00a0technica article<\/a> and the comments section<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A small company called Next Thing Co. has recently launched a Kickstarter to raise funds for C.H.I.P., the so-called \u201c$9 computer\u201d. It has almost reached\u00a0the $1.2 million mark with over 23,000 backers. Many people in the industry and in the…<\/p>\nCompany background<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ksr-ugc.imgix.net\/avatars\/10218392\/ntcshapes-avatar.original.jpg?resize=80%2C80&ssl=1\"){kind=avatar}
Previously, Next Thing Co created and Kickstartered the OTTO animated gif camera<\/a>\u00a0using the Raspberry Pi Compute Module. They have literally only just started shipping the OTTO, so fair play to them that they waited to announce the CHIP. Reading between the lines of their new Kickstarter for CHIP, one gets the impression that they were somehow unhappy with the Compute Module as a platform and decided to build their own board. I wonder, therefore, if they aren\u2019t more interested in it being a replacement for the CM rather than for the standard Raspberry Pi 2.<\/p>\nThe specs<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"CHIP\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/CHIP.jpg?resize=108%2C159&ssl=1\")
<\/a>The CHIP is a single board computer that includes the following features: 1 GHz processor, 512MB RAM memory, 4GB onboard storage memory (for the operating system, software and your files), on-board wi-fi and bluetooth and the ability to be powered by a LIPO battery. It is, on the surface, a capable, though not outstanding, machine. Let\u2019s look at each element and compare it with the Raspberry Pi 2.<\/p>\n\n
The $9 price tag<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/b-i.forbesimg.com\/walterloeb\/files\/2013\/06\/1110_crumpled-dollar-bill_416x416.jpg?resize=170%2C170\")
Clearly, the CHIP wins out on price, or at least on the surface. Let\u2019s examine things a little more closely, shall we? First of all, the spec analysis above clearly shows that the Pi is simply the better computer and is certainly worth the extra money you pay. Secondly, the international delivery costs are immense. If you don\u2019t live in the USA, you\u2019re expected to pay a $20 delivery charge. Is this really<\/i> what it costs? Or is this a cynical way of making the CHIP more profitable by stealth while keeping the headline-grabbing \u201c$9\u201d price tag? I know very little about postal charges from the USA, but if it were going from the UK to the USA, it would cost very much less than $20. They have said that they\u2019re trying to lower the postal costs, but I\u2019m almost certain that won\u2019t affect existing backers. As I understand it, all of the international backers (of which there must be thousands) would have to change their pledges themselves manually. Not a viable option. I wonder how much effort they\u2019re really putting into finding cheaper shipping options, apart from just saving some money for the company?<\/p>\nWhere does the money go?<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chamber-swflorida.com\/stem\/images\/stem.gif?resize=187%2C147\")
We all know that the Raspberry Pi Foundation\u2019s primary aim is to increase the amount, and improve the quality of, computing in education as well as a general aim of supporting STEM, particularly in schools. These idealistic aims are entirely in keeping with the RPF being a charity. So where does that leave CHIP? It\u2019s a business, pure and simple. The money will end up in the hands of the creators (and their investors) and won\u2019t be used for the same sort of goals. Does this matter? Well, from my point of view it does. I would rather spend the equivalent of $35 for a Raspberry Pi and know that my money was going to a good cause rather than spend $9 for something which a) isn\u2019t as good technically and b) doesn\u2019t support our children in their learning. That\u2019s just me, though. You may have a very different view. I am in no way anti-capitalist, but I do think that the Foundation deserve to be encouraged in their mission. You could, of course, back the CHIP and then donate money to an educational charity (Yeah, like that\u2019s<\/i> going to happen!)<\/p>\nWhat will it be used for?<\/b><\/h2>\n
\n
GPL violations<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fc09.deviantart.net\/fs71\/i\/2010\/138\/4\/2\/GPL_GeneralPublicLicense_Logo_by_qubodup.png?resize=159%2C96\"){kind=logo}
The Allwinner chip is, clearly, a \u201cgood buy\u201d. It\u2019s cheap, cheerful and is widely used, or at least the A13 that it\u2019s based on is widely used. However, several people have commented on the campaign about how Allwinner have violated GNU General Public Licences. I\u2019ve not got much of a legal brain so I leave it up to you to dig into the details by visiting this link<\/a>.<\/p>\nOpen Source<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.collegeinfogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/opensource_logo.gif?resize=153%2C135\"){kind=logo}
Again, going by the comments that have been made both on the campaign and elsewhere, the company\u2019s claim that the project will be open sourced seem not to ring true. Unless they\u2019ve managed to convince Allwinner to completely open source everything to do with the chip, my guess is that the CHIP will be about as \u201copen\u201d as the Raspberry Pi is. i.e. Some parts, especially the core software, will be open sourced, the design of the board will be open sourced, but some of the low level stuff will be hidden inside binary blobs. Again, Allwinner may fix this in time, but for now it is another concern, especially when you consider the GPL violations as well.<\/p>\nDelivery\/Fulfilment<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fairwaypsd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/same-day-delivery1-300x300.jpg?resize=126%2C126\")
This being a Kickstarter, there is, of course, no guarantee that the CHIP will ever<\/em> be delivered, but let\u2019s say for a moment that everything goes according to plan (unlikely) and that the CHIP makes its way to the hands of backers. For regular pledge levels, the CHIP is expected to be delivered this time next year. That\u2019s right: a whole 12 months away. This raises a few questions: How far along is the project really<\/i>? 12 months seems like a very long time unless they haven\u2019t actually settled on the silicon yet in which case the whole product falls down. Another question that should be asked is: What else will be on the market by that time? Will people still be waiting when a much better board arrives for a low price? What if (and I really have no idea what\u2019s going to happen) there is another Raspberry Pi by then? What capabilities will that have? 12 months is a long time in the land of technology – isn\u2019t the CHIP going to be out-of-date before it ever reaches the hands of consumers?<\/p>\nSoftware optimisation<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hotgrafixdesign.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Website-Bromley.png?resize=96%2C116\")
One thing the Raspberry Pi Foundation has been very good at is developing an in-house software team and a community of non-staff developers. They have made massive improvements to the UI, to the web browser, to the fundamentals of the operating system. The CHIP creators, on the other hand, don\u2019t seem to be interested in developing that core functionality themselves. They have instead created a pledge level for \u2018hackers\u2019 that will help them to develop the software. They\u2019re even managing to make them pay for the privilege of contributing. From a business point of view, this is very clever and quite impressive, but from the point of view of improving the software stack, I can\u2019t see how they can just rely on volunteers. I might be reading this wrong, of course, but if they had an in-house software team, wouldn\u2019t they say? There is the possibility, of course, that using the Allwinner chip will mean that less optimisation is needed. I\u2019m not convinced though – it\u2019s still a single-core 1GHz processor at the end of the day.<\/p>\nCommunity<\/b><\/h2>\n
\n\n
\n <\/td>\n \n Raspberry Pi 2<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n CHIP<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Raspberry Pi A+<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n Base price<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n $35<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n $9<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n $20<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n CPU<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Quad core (overclock to 1GHz)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Single core (1 GHz native)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Single core (700Mhz native, overclock to about 900Mhz)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n Memory<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n 1GB (fixed)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n 512MB (fixed)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n 256MB (fixed)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n OS storage<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n 8GB SD card (+$10)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n 4GB onboard (fixed)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n 8GB SD card (+$10)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n Wi-Fi \/ Bluetooth<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n USB dongles (+$10)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Onboard<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n USB dongle (+$10) – you can only use one on the A+<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n USB ports<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n 4<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n 1 (let\u2019s say you need 4. Add either a decent hub or bluetooth keyboard\/mouse. Either way, +$15)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n 1 (let\u2019s say you need 4. Add either a decent hub or RF keyboard\/mouse. Either way, +$15)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n GPIO<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n 40 pins<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Unsure at the moment but it looks something like 30 pins. Only 8 digital input\/outputs though. If you use one of their HDMI or VGA shields, though, you lose all of these.<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n 40 pins<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n Composite audio\/video<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Onboard<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Onboard<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Onboard<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n HDMI video<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Onboard<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Via expansion board (+$15)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Onboard<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n Battery power<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n USB charger (+$10)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Onboard, needs a LIPO battery (+$10)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n USB charger (+$10)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n Mains power<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n PSU (+$10)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n PSU (+$10)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n PSU (+$10)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n Total cost<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n $65<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n $59<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n $75<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n Delivery<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Immediate<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Next year (maybe never, this is Kickstarter after all!)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Immediate<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n Operating system<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Raspbian with dedicated software development team plus volunteers<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Volunteers (as far as I can tell)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Raspbian with dedicated software development team plus volunteers<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n Number of units out there<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n > $5 million<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n 20 prototypes (my estimate)<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n > $5 million<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n Size of community<\/b><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Large<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Non-existent<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n Large<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
Pi Killer?<\/b><\/h2>\n
\n
\n
The bottom line<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"community-v2\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/community-v2.jpg?resize=157%2C150&ssl=1\")
<\/a>The CHIP is a brand new product, one that is not likely to have any user base until 12 months from now. The Raspberry Pi has been available for a little over three years and has established a huge<\/i> user base. The value of a good community cannot be overlooked. If you want some code to put on your small computer board, or if you need help to debug it, or you\u2019re just really confused and don\u2019t know where to start, you need a community of users to help you. 12 months from now, the Pi community will have matured even more whilst the CHIP community will only just be starting up. So, you might think that $9 is a great deal – but what will you be able to do with it? And who will there be to talk to about it? Something to think about.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/agha.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/value-for-money-picture1.jpg?resize=123%2C118\")
I guess the only way to really compare the two is to try and do it like-for-like: take the CHIP and then try and work out what to do to make it the same as the Pi, and to make it usable. Some things you can\u2019t do anything about: the CPU, the memory and the storage. So, what\u2019s left? Here\u2019s a table of the similarities and differences and what it costs to replicate them. I\u2019m ignoring postage because it all depends where you are and it wouldn\u2019t be fair to compare a local postage charge for the Pi with international postage for the CHIP. You might find that you don\u2019t agree with the way I\u2019ve analysed it and clearly you don\u2019t always need everything, like battery power for instance. This is just one way to slice it. I\u2019ve compared it against both the Pi 2 and the A+, just for fairness.<\/p>\n