innovations

CHIP The $ 9 Microcomputer

What would happen if they told you that for 9 dollars you can have a computer the size of a matchbox with which you can:

  • Browse the Internet using WiFi.
  • Connect a mouse and a keyboard via Bluetooth.
  • Connect a monitor via HDMI or VGA.
  • Connect to a TV and run retro games.
  • Perform Excel, Word, using Free Office routines.

Micro computer chip

The guys who created this idea are the same ones who previously raised $ 70,000 on Kickstarter, with the Chamber of creating animated GIFs. With the difference, that this time his goal was $ 50,000 planned for a period of 30 days, it was exceeded in just 24 hours. That same Saturday that I had a hamburger with my children they had $ 250,000, on Monday they were above $ 865,000 and finally they collected more than 2 million.

For anyone it may seem like an unnecessary toy, considering that not everyone likes Linux, the operating system included in the small device. They can also consider that the capacity is limited: 1 GHz of Processor, 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of storage. A bit smaller than Raspberry but with a broader vision in terms of connectivity and Linux version.

chip

But the genius of this project is not only that for the price of a USB memory you are having a Micro Computer, but both its hardware and software are Open Source, with which we could be facing a turning point in which the competition for selling improved versions of microcomputers are below $ 100. If I were HP, I would already be buying the version for hackers that will be ready in September 2015, to get ahead of the competition to come.

25 years ago, to think that Open Source would become a stable business was delusional. Today we are not surprised to see how Geoserver, WordPress, QGIS, to give examples, are sustainable solutions in which everyone can do business and that compete with proprietary tools, even surpassing them in many aspects. Perhaps it is time for Open Source Hardware to position itself, because although it exists, it has not yet become widespread enough to move companies to create solutions that compete with the big brands.

The numbers were cold from the start: 5 days after the project was launched, these guys exceeded their initial goal 17 times. Those of us who contributed the 9 dollars just in this month of December 2015 received our CHIP to brag, those who entered the next package of 5,000 units had to wait for the next month of production (January 2016). Although the HDMI, VGA and portable version adaptations will be up to a year from now, around June 2016.

With that collection, the boys secured an investment fund with which they will be able to catapult more than the venture. For now they are struggling to meet the times for this preliminary version, since by the fifth day they already had 17,000 compulsive buyers.

With the noise that have generated sites of great influence, surely they should have run to contract geofumado resource to help them to cover a demand that for 2016 will not be for this primitive version but for one that competes against the expectation of the users that would be willing to Pay 59 dollars for additional features such as more disk, more memory and the possible promise to support Windows 10 as it has been offered Raspberry PI.

 

This was the collection project for CHIP

This is the Getchip company website

Golgi Alvarez

Writer, researcher, specialist in Land Management Models. He has participated in the conceptualization and implementation of models such as: National Property Administration System SINAP in Honduras, Management Model of Joint Municipalities in Honduras, Integrated Cadastre-Registry Management Model in Nicaragua, Territory Administration System SAT in Colombia . Editor of the Geofumadas knowledge blog since 2007 and creator of the AulaGEO Academy that includes more than 100 courses on GIS - CAD - BIM - Digital Twins topics.

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