
The Intel Edison: Linux Maker Machine in a Matchbox - JoshTriplett
https://www.linux.com/learn/intro-to-linux/2017/3/intel-edison-linux-maker-machine-matchbox
======
deelowe
The Edison is a great piece of hardware completely hamstrung by the idiotic
yocto linux distribution and tool chain. Despite being "x86" it's near
impossible to add custom drivers or rebuild the OS. What's the point of being
"x86" if you can't make use of the ecosystem? The Rpi has much better support.
Don't waste your time. Intel isn't serious about these products, can't be
bothered to actually support them, and won't open them up for use outside of
their walled garden.

~~~
hatsunearu
Darn, I got excited for a bit because I hated how I had to do a bunch of ARM
nonsense to bring up my Pi gadget.

What's Yocto and what are they doing wrong?

~~~
mojoB
I'd suggest Yocto is the de facto standard for this kind of embedded device.
It's a bit complex behind the scenes but general building and updating
packages is fairly straightforward.

Bringing up the edison is very easy. The bootloader supports DFU, so you can
simply connect USB, reset, and flash the system images.

If you're coming at it from a higher level, it has a node.js and ssh services
running by default, so it's easy to start tinkering.

~~~
skywal_l
Buildroot is good too and seem fairly simple. I used it for RPi project and
comes with support for many boards.

------
israrkhan
Unfortunately intel devices are too expensive as compared to ARM and other
SoCs. For most use-cases you can find an ARM board in $5-$20 range. Intel does
offers higher compute power, but most applications do not need it. Their only
advantage is being x86, on which you can run a closed-source operating system
like windows. But then I donot see why one would prefer windows over Linux on
an IoT device.

~~~
Nexxxeh
You can run Windows 10 IoT Core on a Pi 3.

~~~
tgragnato
I could. Why should I?

> The makers will be able to download and use the first public release of
> Windows 10 IoT Core at no cost, although this require access to a
> "development machine" with Windows 10.

Can I have a Windows that is really a core (memory usage)? Can I flash it by
the means of a simple 'dd'? Requiring a Windows to develop is a big no for
many.

~~~
mozumder
> I could. Why should I?

Probably to get automatic security updates so you don't have a million hacked
IoT devices on your network...

~~~
tgragnato
I don't think security is something automatic, but I'm open to other opinions
about this.

If a firm is not willing to update my device anymore, why does an
"automatically updated base" make me more safe? Without updates to the upper
layers of the software stack I'm still vulnerable..

Is there a real advantage over Yocto plus un update mechanism such as rauc
[[https://github.com/rauc/rauc](https://github.com/rauc/rauc)] or mender
[[https://github.com/mendersoftware/mender](https://github.com/mendersoftware/mender)]
?

------
egorf
I have worked closely with Intel Edison for quite some time. For $50 it's
quite alright, if you take built in wifi onto account.

The real problem is lack of Intel's support. Edison runs an ancient kernel,
the yocto image source is full of hacks, which do not suggest big interest in
prolonging the device's actuality. Instead, Intel decided to add Arduino
compatibility to a x86 Linux board, god knows why.

~~~
foxylad
You can buy ESP8266 boards with wifi built in for less than $3, so wifi
doesn't justify the price tag. The Edison is certainly a lot more more
powerful, but most IOT applications simply don't need that power. And if you
do, Raspberry Pi Zero is still far cheaper.

But this actually proves your larger point that Intel just aren't that
interested. If they were, they would sell Edison at a loss for $5, which would
spawn huge community support around them.

Intel they are suffering the classic innovator's dilemma, where competitors
grab the low-end with products so cheap that no-one cares about their
inferiority. The competitors then slowly improve their products (see the
ESP32) and gobble up most of the market. Inel will rule the high end for a
while yet, but I think they recognise they have already lost the low end.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator%27s_Dilemma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator%27s_Dilemma)

~~~
Nexxxeh
I'm assuming you already know, but in case you don't, there's now the Pi Zero
W. Less than £10, but it's a Pi Zero with wifi (802.11n) and Bluetooth (4.1)
with integrated antenna.

------
lewi
Having built custom hardware breakouts for the Edison. I'm more more inclined
to go for a Raspberry Pi.

The straw that broke the camel's a back was the connector between the Edison
and the board. It is a nightmare for prototyping. It pretty much requires a
pick'n'place to get it right.

Broken out headers for rapid development are a must in any device that claims
to be for Makers.

~~~
wolfgke
> Having built custom hardware breakouts for the Edison.

There exists a breakout board for the Edison by Intel:

>
> [https://www.arduino.cc/en/ArduinoCertified/IntelEdison#toc4](https://www.arduino.cc/en/ArduinoCertified/IntelEdison#toc4)

There also exists a kit with Arduino headers if this is what you prefer:

>
> [https://www.arduino.cc/en/ArduinoCertified/IntelEdison#toc3](https://www.arduino.cc/en/ArduinoCertified/IntelEdison#toc3)

------
ekr
For those that may not know: last year Intel released the Edison's successor:
Intel Joule ([https://software.intel.com/en-us/iot/hardware/joule/dev-
kit](https://software.intel.com/en-us/iot/hardware/joule/dev-kit)) based on a
newer 14nm Broxton architecture, it should be quite a bit more powerful. It
also includes an Intel HD Graphics GPU.

Unfortunately, a bit too pricey in comparison to the ARM ecosystem (the whole
dev kit for the cheaper x550 variant is at $287 on newegg).

------
sp0ck
Too pricey, hard to work with for average Joe because of connectors, expensive
"blocks". I can't find any single advantage over countless ARM boards with
prices starting as low as 5$..

~~~
vonmoltke
Twice the cores, roughly twice the single-core performance, twice the RAM, 4GB
of relatively fast on-board storage, two wireless protocol interfaces, and you
"can't find any single advantage"? Maybe not for your use case, but this is a
far beefier board than even the Pi 2, let alone the Pi Zero.

~~~
Nexxxeh
The Pi 2 isn't current, the Pi 3 is available in standard and module (inc a
Lite variant without on-board flash).

~~~
vonmoltke
List price on the Pi 3B is higher than the Edison, and it still lacks the on-
board storage. I don't know where you are getting that the Pi 3 has "on-board
flash", as all it has is an SD card reader.

The post I was replying to was trying to claim the Pi family provides the same
features for much less than the Edison. That isn't the case. The Pis that are
cheaper than the Edison are also much less capable, and the Pis that can match
the Edison in features and performance cost as much or more than it does.

Edit: clarified that I was talking about the Pi 3B, not the base Pi 3 (which
is somewhat cheaper than the Edison).

~~~
Nexxxeh
You completely misunderstand the Pi families and current line-up, and that's
caused you to misinterpret my comment.

There aren't "A" variants for the Pi 2 or Pi 3.

There's the Pi Model A and Pi Model B, A+ and B+ (which are slightly upgraded
versions of the original Pi), the original Compute Module ("CM1", based on the
Pi but in an SO-DIMM format with 4GB eMMC Flash), the Pi 2, the Pi 3, the Pi
Zero (upgraded to v1.3), the Compute Module 3 and 3 Lite ("CM3" and "CM3L"
based on the Pi 3 but in an SO-DIMM format, with and without 4GB eMMC Flash
respectively), and the latest addition, the Pi Zero W (Zero with built-in Wifi
and Bluetooth).

The Pi 3, CM3, CM3L, Zero, and Zero W are what I'd consider current. But you
can still get Pi 2, or the A+, on RS for example.

In the UK, the bare Edison module is £47.34 on RS. The bare CM3 (with the 4GB
eMMC) is £26.99, the CM3L is £21.99. The Pi 3 is £32.99 (which is directly
usable as it has ports already on it.)

I'd bet you a Pi Zero that the Pi 3 would piss all over the Edison in sysbench
CPU if you ran both the Edison's 2 main cores against the Pi 3's 4 cores.

------
joezydeco
Is Atom/Edison suddenly back after the announcement of the Compute Card at
CES? Does anyone really care about either at this point?

[https://newsroom.intel.com/news/intel-unveils-intel-
compute-...](https://newsroom.intel.com/news/intel-unveils-intel-compute-card-
credit-card-sized-compute-platform/)

------
dethswatch
Ended up dropping it in favor of the rPi-- the primary reason was that the
sdcard (I was using the arduino-compat board) just randomly sets the
filesystem to readonly anywhere from minutes after boot to days.

It's also expensive relative to the rpi3 when wifi's built-in. The community
is alright, intel's responsive but it's not similar in any fashion wrt size
and established articles on how to get stuff to work. Their flash update
program also rarely ever worked for me.

------
i336_
It's so sad this thing is $50, because I don't think there's anything that
comes close to being the same size. While a subjective conclusion, I think the
SD card version is cute (for example, [https://wi-
images.condecdn.net/image/7aDlgBynO8X/crop/1620/l...](https://wi-
images.condecdn.net/image/7aDlgBynO8X/crop/1620/landscape) and
[http://cdn1.alphr.com/sites/alphr/files/images/dir_414/it_ph...](http://cdn1.alphr.com/sites/alphr/files/images/dir_414/it_photo_207253.jpg)).

That said, once attached to the necessary peripherals, overall size would
increase, which is sort of annoying, and makes the price tag even more
irritating.

FWIW, there was a small craze of Wi-Fi SD cards a few months/years ago, and
the Linux systems on (one of?) those was reverse-engineered to some extent.
IIRC with one of them you could only connect to it via Wi-Fi (which generally
isn't 100.00% reliable); the SD pins proved too difficult to commandeer.

~~~
tyingq
The orangepi zero is 48mm x 46mm (~1.9 in sq), so pretty small.

Has both regular 100mb Ethernet and WiFi.

[http://www.orangepi.org/orangepizero/](http://www.orangepi.org/orangepizero/)

$9 total, shipped to the US.

------
mdergosits
Intel edisons are not great for power constrained solutions since they either
have full power or are off. Would be really nice to have the ability to scale
the CPU frequency for lower power situations

------
wyldfire
Interesting analysis of fuzzing on Edison (previous generation?) [1]. For my
uses, the ARM boards like ODROID and Raspberry Pi have superior value. But
it's good to see Intel competing here.

[1]
[http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/edison_fuzz/](http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/edison_fuzz/)

------
boondaburrah
The only reason I would go x86 for a project is if the thing runs DOS.

That being said, has anyone managed to get FreeDOS on the edison?

------
garrettj
It's nice it has storage, WiFi, bluetooth all rolled in. The $50 isn't
actually the part that ruins it for me, more of the extra I'm guaranteed to
spend more money on any and all extras I'd need.

------
rbanffy
I get these are much more powerful, but I'd love to see a Quark X-based board
to compete in price/capabilities with a Pi.

------
edmundhuber
The ESP32 is a better (support, reliability) and cheaper alternative when what
you really need is wifi/bt/gpio.

------
spraak
Could the Intel Edison be used to make a laptop?

~~~
blacksmith_tb
It has no video hardware, so it couldn't drive a monitor / panel for a laptop.
It's more like an Arduino than it's like an RPi.

~~~
tigeba
Sorry for being pedantic here, but despite lack of video hardware I would
argue it has a lot more in common with the PI than an Arduino. It runs Yocto
Linux and you can pretty much use the full suite of Linux tools to program it.

~~~
blacksmith_tb
That's fair, I didn't mean to suggest that it wasn't a general-purpose
computer running Linux, just that it wasn't really built to be used as a
desktop. That said, I'd personally choose an RPi Zero W (which isn't much
larger, costs 1/5th the price, and can drive a monitor, if you need it to).

~~~
Nexxxeh
It could also be run headlessly and combined with a Pi. The Edison running an
X client (server) or RDP server, the Pi connecting into it.

