https://hackaday.com/2018/09/17/a-1-linux-capable-hand-solderable-processor/
A (barely) hand-solderable Linux-able ARM SoC. US$1 each if you buy a full reel from a questionable supplier, and the package is a 176-lead LQFP (!) with half-millimeter pitch (!!) -- but still only ~US$3 for qty/1 from reputable sources, and it is /technically/ hand-workable if you've got a temperature-controlled iron with the right tip and a particularly steady hand. I'm impressed.
The bad news, though, is that it's an Allwinner part with all of the usual baggage. The /worse/ news is that it's actually ~6yrs old and plods along at 1GHz. Somehow I just don't see it running Android 9.0 Pie without melting down spectacularly -- although, it might be adequate for running eg Linux Mint or something similarly lightweight...
I wonder how cheaply one could manufacture a complete all-in-one PC with one of these...? Back-of-the-envelope calcs makes me think one could compete with those ~US$100-150 Atom z8300/z8350 MiniPCs on eBay and Amazon and AliExpress (none of which have screens built in, mind you), but I've been wrong before, for sure...
On Tuesday 18. September 2018 14.05.44 Christopher Havel wrote:
https://hackaday.com/2018/09/17/a-1-linux-capable-hand-solderable-processor/
Interesting comment from Olimex:
https://hackaday.com/2018/09/17/a-1-linux-capable-hand-solderable-processor/...
In short, the article is referring to the A13, procured from people recycling them from old devices and, I could easily imagine, doing all the usual tricks to pretend that they are new/working/genuine.
A (barely) hand-solderable Linux-able ARM SoC. US$1 each if you buy a full reel from a questionable supplier
According to another comment from Olimex, the original packaging is trays not reels. But it wouldn't be Hackaday if it weren't encouraging questionable commerce and bizarre hacks that are difficult to reproduce and less convenient than doing things in other ways. And there's also the mandatory Hackaday clickbait factor, of course.
Meanwhile: http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner/r8/
The R8, A13 equivalence being noted in other comments on that article, plus the NextThingCo connection.
Paul
arm-netbook@lists.phcomp.co.uk