First piece of advice: Never solder without the requisite amount of caffeine in your system.
I haven't powered it up just yet, one of the solder points got scorched, and got crap all over it, even when I hit it with circuit board cleaner... so there in lies my first complaint - Hardkernel, can we make these solder pads just a little bigger? Doesn't have to be much, mind, just a fraction bigger? I'm sorry, I'm not a robot, and usually, with my glasses on and everything, I can solder, but not these.
Form factor is good. Quite good actually. At a third of the size of my RaspberryPi for the main board, with a USB socket and 26 pin header its ten grams, I can think of small places for this to exist. On board LiPo charger and power management IC means it can run off the smell of an oily rag.
With the carrier board, size shoots up to near RaspberryPi, but in the deal, you get four USB ports, plus an SPI 2.2 inch LCD if you so elect, which is capable of displaying the GUI. The LCD is not of the touch variety, however, it would make a great read out for a project. This is the exact reason I got it for - its small, its got pretty much everything built in, and it can be "deeply embedded" in a box and forgotten about, while depended upon to do its job.
As mentioned, the full size 26 pin header is preserved, so is the MIPI-CSI camera interface. The MIPI-DSI display interface is gone, in the consideration of saving space. Storage is microSD or Hardkernel eMMC module. Don't think you'll get a speed boost out of the eMMC, the Broadcom BCM2835 controller is notorious at many things, being slow on its interfaces is one such thing. External display is via micro-HDMi.
We ordered this less than two weeks ago, and while I have two more weeks to run on this contract, I didn't think I would be seeing the hardware before delivery date. Hats off and many thanks to Hardkernel! Postage for the two ORDOID-W boards, the carrier board with LCD and the connector pack to Australia was reasonable also, being $25.
I will be building one for myself for demo purposes at the conclusion of this contract, and I'll be equipping mine with NFC as well as a 1D barcode scanner for varying input schemes. The database scheme will be preserved, but I'll populate the database with dummy data - SQLite serves for most basic database needs, although my admin software can administrate the heavier weight MySQL upon client preference.
At some point, if there is need or want for this project to be demoed at shows, such as the Newcastle Show, or the next Sydney Maker Faire, I can do so with ease. It'd be nice to have a complete project, not just a bunch of boards, or a baulky computer misbehaving (because its bloody Windows...!). Next Maker Faire, my Mum is thinking of running her own stall, and I've been invited along.
There has been some talk about a major manufacturer here going from "paper and pen" to a database system for one of their major products, while preserving interoperation with the rest of the industry, which is slowly being forced into the 21st Century (through no real want of their own). For their control systems, they are using XML and third generation cellular technologies on a nationwide VPN. It would be nice if this manufacturers database could spit out compatible XML to the control network, and not be some shitful Windows half arsed solution, which I can see some fly by the night merchant promising the world about. The State Government has already made a decision in the wake of two major Royal Commissions to invest in a 20 year old technology, citing the safety features, yet expecting 9.6k to carry "multiple streams of HD video..." Uh huh. Ok. Sure. Might be able to do that with specially managed 4G, but certainly not 9.6k.
Of course, I was told, China is probably going to develop the next interoperable standard for this industry, mostly because the Government runs this industry in China, not a bunch of squabbling kids in the HR department of some two bit company citing some legalise from their SOPs to add on some feature that no one else cares about when they clearly have no clue about reality, only the state of their paperwork.
Its certainly food for thought.
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