Cheapest Linux board with HDMI

luca · wrote on 19 Sept 2016, 21:32

Hi all,
can you suggest for your experience what's the cheapest Linux board (with HDMI) where it's possible to port a Qt application?

I already know (andused) Raspberry PI, BeagleBoard and BeagleBone Black but I'm looking for something cheapest.
Are there some alternatives?

Thanks,

Luca

SGaist · wrote on 19 Sept 2016, 22:08

Hi,

Like the Pi Zero ?

p3c0 · wrote on 20 Sept 2016, 05:10

@luca We had been using Odroid-XU4. Qt works on it like a charm. But its not that cheap. We are now looking for its more cheaper variant ODROID-C1+. They also a vast number of accessories.

luca · wrote on 20 Sept 2016, 18:18

I don't like Raspberry because it need an uSD card. I prefer a board with on board eMMC memory.

@p3c0 I checked the boards but it's not so cheap.

Have you considered C.H.I.P. board? It seems interesting but it's not so clear what toolchains they provide.

p3c0 · 21 Sept 2016, 06:45

@luca No we haven't. In fact we didnt knew this exist. Looks like the cheapest of all :) I doubt anything can go below that. But unfortunately no GPU , so trouble in running QML :(
But it could be a good alternative for hobby projects.
Further searching I found this buildroot they provide. Some info here: https://todbot.com/blog/2015/10/10/cross-compiling-c-programs-for-c-h-i-p-linux/

luca · P p3c0 21 Sept 2016, 05:05

@p3c0 Unfortunately QML is a requirement for me too...

tekojo · wrote on 21 Sept 2016, 07:45

I have a CHIP but had no time to play with it yet.
The HDMI out needs the separate board, so the price with HDMI comes close to a RPi.

It seems that there is work on the CHIP to have at least the closed blobs for the GPU in the kernel https://bbs.nextthing.co/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-gpu-driver/9662 So OpenGL ES at some point.

And the SDK for it is Vagrant based, here: https://github.com/NextThingCo/CHIP-SDK

It's a nice board, but I need more time from somewhere :)