Hardware Hacks: Raspberry Pi software and developer boards

Raspcontrol does not require a separate web server to be installed
Source: Raspcontrol

Hardware Hacks is the section on The H that collects stories about the wide range of uses of open source in the rapidly expanding area of open hardware. Find out about interesting projects, re-purposing of devices and the creation of a new generation of deeply open systems. In this edition, we take a look at interesting software for the Raspberry Pi, a mini-computer alternative with more processing power, and an incredible cost-effective development board from Texas Instruments.

• Android 4.0 on the Raspberry Pi – The RazDroid project is working to port Android 4.0 to the Raspberry Pi. The goal of the project is to enable full hardware acceleration on the small computer and support has already been enabled for video playback. The team is currently working on getting AudioFlinger, Android's subsystem for audio playback, to work correctly. Details of the team's progress can be found on the project's wiki.

• Raspcontrol – Raspcontrol is a web-based administration frontend for the Raspberry Pi. It can be installed on the device and requires only PHP 5.4, there is no need to install a separate web server. The project is licensed under the GPLv2 with the source code being hosted on GitHub.

• Hackberry A10 – Users looking for a mini-computer with a bit more computing power than the Raspberry Pi can purchase the Hackberry A10 for $60. The device, which is not affiliated with the Raspberry Pi Foundation in any way, sports a 1.2GHz A10 Cortex A8 ARM-based processor, a Mali 400 GPU, 4GB of internal storage and 1GB of RAM.

• $17 development board – Texas Instruments has released a development board for its TMS320F28027 microcontroller. The C2000 Piccolo LaunchPad costs $17, which is less than the value of all the components on the board combined. Texas Instruments is also planning to release a device with an MF4F Cortex ARM processor called the Stellaris LaunchPad. This device will initially cost $4.99 and interested users can register to receive a Stellaris board when it is released.

(fab)