Intel has delivered its first "Open Source PC" bare computer type bare-bone actually intended for software developers who create applications and to all those who like to build their own PC. Co-developed by Intel and CircuitCo Electronics, a company that specializes in motherboards Open Source, so it brings a combo Atom chip and motherboard without housing. The kit will go on sale this month for $ 199 HT in a handful of online retailers, including Digi-Key, Farnell, Mouser Electronics, and Newark.
This is the first "Open Source PC" with an Intel x86 processor, and technical information on the design of the motherboard are public and can be played via a Creative Commons license. Development kits based on x86 processors Via Technologies are already marketed for robotics projects and other projects, but the technical design is not Open Source.
All technical information available
Intel also shared information on the design of servers across the Facebook Open Compute Project, but they are mainly intended for large companies that design and build servers internally. The MinnowBoard, which measures 4 inches (10.16 centimeters) by 4 inches, is the first design of Open Source Intel hardware for geeks and developers. Other solutions such as Open Source based on ARM processors or microcontrollers Arduino. The most popular example based on ARM today is the Raspberry Pi, which starts at $ 25 and HT has sold millions of units.
MinnowBoard the kit is a bit more expensive than ARM platforms or Arduino and perhaps less attractive because it uses a older hardware, including an Intel Atom (32-bit) processor E640 1 GHz which was launched in 2010 . However, MinnowBoard is cheaper than most of the PC and can be of interest to developers who want to write and test business applications before they are deployed in servers, embedded systems and other computers.
X86 platform dated and very economical
Other technical features include combo MinnowBoard 1GB of DDR2 memory, an HDMI port, a Gigabit Ethernet interface, USB ports and a microSD drive for mass storage. The Open Source UEFI firmware of the card allows the development of secure boot environments. Comes with the Angstrom Linux distribution pre-loaded, Intel kit is compatible with the Yocto Project, which allows the creation of Linux agnostic about the hardware.
Further noted that the combo MinnowBoard also supports HyperThreading technology and Intel's VT virtualization, which are available only on processors founder of Santa Clara. Via and AMD use different technologies to expedite the processing of data on their chips.
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