[time-nuts] looking for low-power system for gps ntp timekeeping

NeonJohn jgd at neon-john.com
Tue Jul 2 03:17:16 EDT 2013



On 07/02/2013 02:14 AM, Iain Young wrote:
> On 02/07/13 06:43, NeonJohn wrote:
> 

>> Basically, the ancient implementation of Angstrom Linux is a POS.  Just
>> barely enough code to be able to say, for example, that SPI works.  It
>> does - sorta - but not well enough for any application where clock
>> timing or jitter matters.
> 
> You are not restricted to just Angstrom. My fleet run Debian. FreeBSD is
> also available. First thing I do is blow away Angstrom from any SD card.

Yeah, and so is Ubuntu.  So if you want to become a Linux (kernel)
hacker instead of concentrating on your application, a BB is just for
you.  OTOH, if you expect it to "just work" out of the box like the
Arduino and many other boards do, you'll be sorely disappointed.

One other thing I forgot to mention.  BeagleBoard actively discourages
volume purchases and commercial use.  Circuitco, the company that
actually makes the BB will sell into commercial applications but at a
considerably higher price.

Finally https://www.gumstix.com/ offers a BB white clone with
commercially rated parts for about $100.  Supposedly their Linux
implementation is much better supported, though I have no personal
experience.

One positive thing is that TI offers something called StarterWare for
people who don't want to bother with an OS.  It abstracts much of the
intricacies of the bare metal.  I downloaded a copy and took a look and
was fairly impressed but by then I knew that a commercial grade board
was going to cost in the $100 range so I had already abandoned the product.

John



-- 
John DeArmond
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