Snowball Board
Matthias Faust (490) 38 posts |
This seems to be a (better?) alternative to the panda board. Also with dual-core Cortex-A9 and 1GB RAM but with 4 or 8GB eMMC on board, better Ethernet (same SMSC Chip as on the IGEPv2), with Mali400 GPU and a RTC battery backup is also on board. And for fun a lot of sensors for mobil devices (3-axis accelerometer/3D magnetometer, 3-axis gyrometer, pressure sensor). More Infos at: http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/Calao-Systems-Snowball/ and http://igloocommunity.org/ The board will be available in the 2nd quarder 2011. Prices 169€+VAT (4GB) and 244€+VAT (8GB). But till now there seems to be no technical documentation available for the board and the CPU. |
Trevor Johnson (329) 1645 posts |
The price difference is stated on the pre-oder site as being due to: [Edit: And here are a few (currently not the complete set, I hope) datasheets.] [Edit2: If anyone’s going to the Alps soon, note that CALAO Systems are based near Grenoble.] |
Matthias Faust (490) 38 posts |
Yes, but here is the only difference the memory. Ok, but at the order page there are now also differences at the connectors and so. In the meantime a little more information about the board startup can be found here and here |
Matthias Faust (490) 38 posts |
Since some weeks the Snowballboard could be ordered (with the usual long shipping times for these kind of boards). Still missing the manuals for the AB8500 (PMU, USB, Audio) and AV8100 (HDMI Transmitter). |
Trevor Johnson (329) 1645 posts |
Regarding the unfounded hopes of a Snowball-based tablet, I bumped into the chap I know who works at ST in the park on the weekend. Apparently they’re moving away from doing a lot with this kind of platform. He does know the person in Grenoble doing the boards though, so if anyone has any questions (more intelligent than the ones I was able to ask), I can pass them on. I did ask about technical manuals and understand people are working from the Linux sources. Perhaps this one’s no longer worth pursuing (which would explain the almost-10-month-old status of this thread). |
Matthias Faust (490) 38 posts |
Maybe this is releated with ‘sony bought sony-ericsson’. I am still would like to see RISC OS running on the snowball board (faster Ethernet, on board RTC, on board eMMC Memory with better access times – no USB bottle-neck). I still haven’t start with a port of several reasons. |
Trevor Johnson (329) 1645 posts |
Ah yes, I remember him mentioning that now. I’ll check about docs too and report back. |
Matthias Faust (490) 38 posts |
At the moment there is a discount for 500 snowball SDK boards. The price for these is now 144.84€. |
Theo Markettos (89) 919 posts |
I’ve just had a quick look at the USB controller to see if it’s the same as the Raspberry Pi. It isn’t, but Linux appears to use a Mentor driver (musb). With a bit of luck it might be the same as in the BeagleBoard, in which case job done (maybe!). |
Trevor Johnson (329) 1645 posts |
So, with reference to the Porting prerequisites (and for the moment ignoring the first and last on that list, along with deciphering the NOVA A9500 docs themselves) it’s probably just the detailed USB docs which are missing? I’ll ask. [Edit: There seem to be some binary blobs and also may still be some limitations in the MUSB driver.] |
Trevor Johnson (329) 1645 posts |
Does anyone think it’d be too far fetched to add RISC OS to their Community projects? |
Matthias Faust (490) 38 posts |
Yes, I think it is to early to add RISC OS now. There should at least the kernel running on the board. |
Theo Markettos (89) 919 posts |
I think this is the Mentor USB IP Any such driver would also need to deal with the AB8500 PHY (and other kitchen sink) chip (but that shouldn’t be too complex) |
Matthias Faust (490) 38 posts |
As the snowball programm is unfortunately closing now (The igloo-communtity site will be closed by end of this month) there is a buy out at the calao-systems shop I think the snowball board is a great board for RISC OS and I am still interested to see RISC OS ported to it. But as I don’t have the time to do it myself and don’t have the time to get the necessary know how to do it myself I will spend a snowball-board and some additonal money to someone who is able to and are willing to do a RISC OS port to the snowball board. The benefit of the snowball board compared to the pandaboard would be the onboard eMMC Memory (should be much faster than getting something via USB), faster Ethernet (not via USB), smaller board… (for more info see my first message in this threat.) |
Matthias Faust (490) 38 posts |
Just a short update. The snowball boards are now down to only 50€/75€ !!! (SDK, 400 in Stock/PDK, 600 in Stock). Thats really cheap for a dual core cortex A9 board with 4/8GB e-MMC. |
Matthias Faust (490) 38 posts |
Now down to 35€. Did they try to beat the PI? |
Wouter Rademaker (458) 197 posts |
You have to buy at least 10. |
Simon Willcocks (1499) 524 posts |
I’d be interested in one or two, anyone else? Also, where does it say you have to buy 10? – Never mind, it’s when you enter a number for Add to Basket. |
andym (447) 473 posts |
I’d take one too! |
David Eden (452) 14 posts |
I take it that its the all singing all dancing version that folk are interested in (PDK), if so I would be interested in 2 or 3. |
Ron Briscoe (400) 78 posts |
I would take one. |
Ronald May (387) 407 posts |
I take that the intention is for using it with linux, as I dont think there is any RISC OS support for mali 400? Another Mali machine of interest has a true SATA port, which to me would be a step in the right direction for a serious computer. (Mele A2000 etc) |
Jan Rinze (235) 368 posts |
The snowball community has gone offline and support has also dwindled to nil. |
Simon Willcocks (1499) 524 posts |
I hope it’s not too crippled, Jan, I just bought ten. Just under 412 pounds, at today’s exchange rate. Or 13 pounds more than a 1982 BBC B. For ten of them. |
David Eden (452) 14 posts |
Simon, congrates on your purchase. Are you selling any on or are they all spoken for? We seem to be struggling to reach the min order level. |