Pine 64 for just $15 (Raspberry Pi Alternative)

Post here to let others know of great places to buy components etc... online.

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Chuckt
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Pine 64 for just $15 (Raspberry Pi Alternative)

Post by Chuckt » Thu Dec 10, 2015 2:38 pm

PINE A64 is the world's first 64-bit expandable Quad Core 1.2Ghz supercomputer, tablet, media center, and more... starting at just $15.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pi ... nav_search

This project is already funded and has 44 days to go...

The PineA64 Is A $15 High-Performance Raspberry Pi Alternative

http://www.dbtechno.com/science/2015/12 ... r-just-15/

This is so cheap, you could retrofit your own.

Since posting this, I found a good comparison writeup on Tom's Hardware:
The 64-Bit Issue

As the Raspberry Pi was designed primarily as an educational device for students to learn computer programming, it stands to lose the most in this market. This is because the mobile market is transitioning to 64-bit hardware and software, and 64-bit programming for Android- and ARM-based devices should grow considerably over the next few years. All current Raspberry Pi devices feature 32-bit support and lack the ability to process 64-bit software, preventing students from developing these types of programs.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/pine-a ... 30724.html

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brad
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Re: Pine 64 for just $15 (Raspberry Pi Alternative)

Post by brad » Sun Dec 20, 2015 6:59 pm

I simply don't understand how they can do it for that sort of price!

Chuckt
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Re: Pine 64 for just $15 (Raspberry Pi Alternative)

Post by Chuckt » Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:27 am

brad wrote:I simply don't understand how they can do it for that sort of price!
House alarms cost about $30 a month for monitoring but only cost some companies about $4 a month to actually monitor and I know this because I gave the owner to a security company a jump and he offered me a home security system for $4 a month but there was a catch because he wanted me to sell and install them for him..

Some shippers on Ebay get free shipping and it costs me about $8.45 to return bad items via United Parcel Service for the first pound and all packages are rounded up to the highest pound. At work we get a discount shipping through UPS.

I imagine they are getting volume discounts or items at cost. They might have partnerships with companies or know someone or maybe they just make very good friends to get things really cheap. If I order parts from Digikey or Mouser, the price goes down if I buy in bulk and it is cheaper if I buy a thousand or tens of thousands than having a worker count and clip my parts from a reel.

If you had international help, you could have things assembled in another country and shipped at a lower cost than shipping them from your home town.

And there are people who only buy items when they are on sale at the grocery store so if it isn't on sale, it is less likely to be bought so that is how we save money.

Sometimes salesmen can give you their price but usually everyone's price is the same because it is a game unless they wish to push a product and some companies are so large that they can negotiate their own price because sellers want to do business with them and unfortunately it is an unfair marketplace. I do notice that some of the Kickstarters have people going directly to China to get things made and they can probably afford the airfare because it allows them to buy products directly at cost and cut out the middle man so some of these people are businessmen who may routinely do business in other countries and know how to get things cheap.

Chuckt
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Re: Pine 64 for just $15 (Raspberry Pi Alternative)

Post by Chuckt » Thu Dec 24, 2015 3:37 am

The Postal Service is losing millions a year to help you buy cheap stuff from China
But a couple years ago, people stopped buying McGrath’s toys. He discovered that Chinese merchants were selling the same boats shipped directly from China for a total price of around $18, including postage. He couldn’t compete. Just the mailing cost would put him way past that price
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sto ... rom-china/

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Re: Pine 64 for just $15 (Raspberry Pi Alternative)

Post by Garth » Thu Dec 24, 2015 4:50 am

I suspect it's made like so much other Chinese junk. Take for example an SD card converter to IDE I bought not long ago for about $10. Very soon after I bought it, the solder joints on the SD card connector failed. I re-soldered them with leaded solder, but later something else failed and I had to buy a new one. I'd gladly spend several times as much for one if I knew it would last indefinitely; but unfortunately it's all made in China. Or take a 1KW inverter I got for $40, again made in China. It ran for five days with a 250W load, and then without any load change or spikes or anything else, it decided to let the smoke out. Or how about these CD drives. The door quits opening when they're still nearly new, with very few uses. It's all junk. In contrast, nearly all the electronics I bought in the 1970's and 80's still works.
http://WilsonMinesCo.com/ lots of 6502 resources

Chuckt
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Re: Pine 64 for just $15 (Raspberry Pi Alternative)

Post by Chuckt » Fri Dec 25, 2015 8:52 am

Garth wrote:I suspect it's made like so much other Chinese junk. Take for example an SD card converter to IDE I bought not long ago for about $10. Very soon after I bought it, the solder joints on the SD card connector failed. I re-soldered them with leaded solder, but later something else failed and I had to buy a new one. I'd gladly spend several times as much for one if I knew it would last indefinitely; but unfortunately it's all made in China. Or take a 1KW inverter I got for $40, again made in China. It ran for five days with a 250W load, and then without any load change or spikes or anything else, it decided to let the smoke out. Or how about these CD drives. The door quits opening when they're still nearly new, with very few uses. It's all junk. In contrast, nearly all the electronics I bought in the 1970's and 80's still works.
We just had a very good power bank fail.

I took apart our extension cords and the wire is made out of strands and isn't really thick metal.

I was looking at gas generators today and I met an electrician and he gave me some advice and taught me a lot about generators and electric. Honda was the only model that has an air filter on their engines. The Honda models are more money but they have air filters which should protect an engine. Do I really wish to invest in another generator that doesn't have an air filter attached to it?

We have a Craftsman lawnmower for fifteen years that started falling apart and I was able to order parts for it because the suspension started falling. For $50 in parts, I got it working again because I don't believe in throwing away a $300 lawnmower because I understand a little about money. I'm not sure the Craftsman Lawnmower has an air filter but it is running really good but I bought a Honda lawnmower because the Craftsman failed and it has a bag. I was able to clean up all of the leaves with it instead of blow leaves with a leaf blower all day. But the point is that Craftsman should use more robust parts instead of metal parts that will bend after 15 years because engines will run a long time if you keep them lubricated. My Toyota had 206,000 miles on it before I gave it away and Hondas are expected to get 300,000 miles on their car engines.

Your advice is really good. Too many products have built in obsolescence and will fail.

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