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--></style></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>So many boards to choose from these days…. Differentiation is not always clear though.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I suppose this is intended to compete with the Pi Zero W? </p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>But at $49, it better have something the Pi Zero W does not offer. If this board as significantly lower power consumption – with Wifi active - compared to a Pi Zero W, then I suppose it fits into a certain niche. I did not see a spec for power consumption, though.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>As for the 128MB of RAM:</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>It is of course not practical to run a typical Linux distribution with that little RAM, even headless. Typical distributions (e.g. Debian-based) are simply too bloated.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>On the other hand, 128MB of RAM is plenty for running what I would call “Embedded Linux”, i.e. what one would use on a real product / appliance of some sort. I have not used OpenWRT, but I guess it goes into that bucket. I do have some experience with “Embedded Linux”. At my day job, for example, I have successfully created a Linux based controller platform – with touchscreen based UI – with only 64MB of RAM. Of course there is not “apt-get install xyz” possible. </p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Chris N.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='border:none;padding:0in'><b>From: </b><a href="mailto:dprglist@lists.dprg.org">Jim Merkle via DPRGlist</a><br><b>Sent: </b>Saturday, September 19, 2020 4:18 PM<br><b>To: </b><a href="mailto:murray18@altheim.com">Murray Altheim</a><br><b>Cc: </b><a href="mailto:dprglist@lists.dprg.org">dprglist@lists.dprg.org</a><br><b>Subject: </b>Re: [Dprglist] Anyone using an Omega2 Pro?</p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Need to figure out what you plan to do with the board / why THIS board </p><p class=MsoNormal>is necessary.</p><p class=MsoNormal>That is a VERY SMALL amount of RAM! Using flash space for swap is a </p><p class=MsoNormal>normal OS practice, but you will take a performance hit.</p><p class=MsoNormal>The 8GB Storage is FLASH. This would be comparable to using uSD card </p><p class=MsoNormal>storage on the Pi, which is very cheap storage.</p><p class=MsoNormal>The Raspberry Pi, especially the Raspberry Pi 4 will perform </p><p class=MsoNormal>significantly better with higher clock speed and four cores.</p><p class=MsoNormal>If you need something that will run on a small battery for a year, the </p><p class=MsoNormal>Omega2 may be the choice, else, go with the Pi.</p><p class=MsoNormal>Not sure why MIPS was chosen for CPU core. MIPS has never been very </p><p class=MsoNormal>popular. There are many low power SOCs that use ARM</p><p class=MsoNormal>if power is the main focus.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>You can get the Raspberry Pi 4B, with 4GB of RAM at Microcenter for </p><p class=MsoNormal>$49.99, if all you need is one.</p><p class=MsoNormal>https://www.microcenter.com/product/609038/raspberry-pi-4-model-b---4gb-ddr4</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>With the much larger RAM, this unit is a very good performer ! The </p><p class=MsoNormal>extra RAM makes a big difference.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Just my 2 cents....</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>PS: Don't skimp and buy Microcenter's uSD card. Get a name brand with </p><p class=MsoNormal>good specs. You want access to this storage to be fast.</p><p class=MsoNormal>I just replaced the flaky Microcenter uSD card on one of my Pis with a </p><p class=MsoNormal>"SanDisk 32GB Extreme microSDHC UHS-I Memory Card", available at </p><p class=MsoNormal>Amazon.com for $10.29.</p><p class=MsoNormal>The Pi is performing very well now.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>---</p><p class=MsoNormal>Jim Merkle</p><p class=MsoNormal>Carrollton, TX 75007</p><p class=MsoNormal>jim@merkles.com</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>On 2020-09-19 05:40, Murray Altheim via DPRGlist wrote:</p><p class=MsoNormal>> Hi,</p><p class=MsoNormal>> </p><p class=MsoNormal>> Has anyone any experience using an Omega2 Pro development board, or any</p><p class=MsoNormal>> of the Omega products? Looks like an alternative to a Raspberry Pi, </p><p class=MsoNormal>> with</p><p class=MsoNormal>> built-in LiPo battery management. Seems like a nice small board.</p><p class=MsoNormal>> </p><p class=MsoNormal>> Omega2 Pro___________________________________</p><p class=MsoNormal>> Processor: 580 MHz MIPS CPU</p><p class=MsoNormal>> Memory: 128 MB RAM and 384 MB flash swap file</p><p class=MsoNormal>> Storage: 8 GB</p><p class=MsoNormal>> Connectivity: 2.4 GHz b/g/n Wi-Fi</p><p class=MsoNormal>> Operating System: OpenWRT 18.06 Linux</p><p class=MsoNormal>> https://onion.io/store/omega2-pro/</p><p class=MsoNormal>> https://onion.io/omega2-pro-get-started/</p><p class=MsoNormal>> </p><p class=MsoNormal>> http://linuxgizmos.com/open-source-omega2-module-gives-way-to-a-pro-sbc/</p><p class=MsoNormal>> </p><p class=MsoNormal>> It runs OpenWRT Linux and cost US$49.00. There's a GPS expansion module</p><p class=MsoNormal>> for $14 and a few other accessories. I've used OpenWRT a bit with the</p><p class=MsoNormal>> Arduino Yun, a bit more awkward than the Raspberry Pi's OS but it'd be</p><p class=MsoNormal>> fine. It has all the normal bells and whistles: USB, Ethernet, I2C, </p><p class=MsoNormal>> UART,</p><p class=MsoNormal>> I2S, SPI, PWM, and GPIO, a web-based Setup Wizard and some other nice</p><p class=MsoNormal>> features, the price about halfway between a Pi 3 B+ and a Pi 4. Not as</p><p class=MsoNormal>> fast (?) but 8GB of memory (which on a Pi 4 costs $75).</p><p class=MsoNormal>> </p><p class=MsoNormal>> Cheers,</p><p class=MsoNormal>> </p><p class=MsoNormal>> Murray</p><p class=MsoNormal>> </p><p class=MsoNormal>> ...........................................................................</p><p class=MsoNormal>> Murray Altheim <murray18 at altheim dot com> = = </p><p class=MsoNormal>> ===</p><p class=MsoNormal>> http://www.altheim.com/murray/ === </p><p class=MsoNormal>> ===</p><p class=MsoNormal>> = = </p><p class=MsoNormal>> ===</p><p class=MsoNormal>> In the evening</p><p class=MsoNormal>> The rice leaves in the garden</p><p class=MsoNormal>> Rustle in the autumn wind</p><p class=MsoNormal>> That blows through my reed hut.</p><p class=MsoNormal>> -- Minamoto no Tsunenobu</p><p class=MsoNormal>> </p><p class=MsoNormal>> _______________________________________________</p><p class=MsoNormal>> DPRGlist mailing list</p><p class=MsoNormal>> DPRGlist@lists.dprg.org</p><p class=MsoNormal>> http://lists.dprg.org/listinfo.cgi/dprglist-dprg.org</p><p class=MsoNormal>_______________________________________________</p><p class=MsoNormal>DPRGlist mailing list</p><p class=MsoNormal>DPRGlist@lists.dprg.org</p><p class=MsoNormal>http://lists.dprg.org/listinfo.cgi/dprglist-dprg.org</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>