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Author Topic: Raspberry Pi Banana PI  (Read 11597 times)

ghamm

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Raspberry Pi Banana PI
« on: January 20, 2015, 06:08:53 pm »
Hi,
I have a strong Delphi Background, and want to jump into freepascal/Lazarus.. I have a lot of interest in the Raspberry pi, but must admit Linux makes my head hurt.. Is there anyone out there that has a build for Banana PI that already has the OS , compiler and lazarus on it? It would sure help me get started..

My goal is to take this board to Guatemala and teach programming to indigenous kids..  Also, I see tons of commercial applications that could control all sorts of things. I want to write in Pascal.. Not Python..

1. I think Raspberry PI is too slow.. You can even browse well with it.. Im thinking Banana is better.
2. Should I install Android OS or Raspberian?
3. Anyone that is spending lots of time with this? Id sure appreciate some thoughts.
4. Any other board that might be better than Banana? Im open.. One thing I like about these is that I can smuggle 5-6 of these with me to country, in my suitcase..

Thanks for any thoughts..

Gordon

chrnobel

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Re: Raspberry Pi Banana PI
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2015, 11:43:07 pm »
Banana Pi is the most stupid product ever seen, which tries to sponge on Raspberry Pi's popularity.

It is NOT compatible with Raspberry, as it has another processor than the Raspberry, but uses the same hopeless layout at the old model B.

The new model B has improved in many ways, especially the physical layout it much better, and the power consumption much lower.

However do not expect the Raspberry Pi to be a full-blown PC - if you want something more powerful l would advice you to take a look at the products from Olimex, especially the new A20 lime2, which has quite a lot of horsepower, and still a reasonably price:

https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/A20/A20-OLinuXIno-LIME2-4GB/open-source-hardware

And definitely install Linux on it (either Rasbian, or if Olimex the Debian for that), as Android is for tablets and phones, is not suited for development, and has a lot of ugly dependencies on Google.

marcov

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Re: Raspberry Pi Banana PI
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2015, 11:56:54 pm »
The crucial advantage of RPI is the continued existence of both the hardware as the software field (and then I mean including updates).

Most of the alternatives seem to be quick cashins with no durable software support, sold only on specs.

Whatever you do make sure your software stack for the beast is somewhat supportable. (I assume arm7hf debian stock release is the only option for them), and not only a one time image is available.

Otherwise you won't be able to put them on a direct internet connection in half to one whole year (or whenever the next SSL bug is found)

ghamm

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Re: Raspberry Pi Banana PI
« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2015, 05:42:45 am »
I appreciate the discussion.. I admit, im lame using Linux.. I really do see great business ops to control things with these devices.. I looked at your link you supplied.. I seems similar to Banana Pi.. Unfortunately, I just bought one on Amazon before I read your words.. So I guess Ill play with it..
Have you ever developed on these? Do you know anyone here that has? I think this might be good for third world kids to learn pascal.. Am I crazy in thinking this?



Banana Pi is the most stupid product ever seen, which tries to sponge on Raspberry Pi's popularity.

It is NOT compatible with Raspberry, as it has another processor than the Raspberry, but uses the same hopeless layout at the old model B.

The new model B has improved in many ways, especially the physical layout it much better, and the power consumption much lower.

However do not expect the Raspberry Pi to be a full-blown PC - if you want something more powerful l would advice you to take a look at the products from Olimex, especially the new A20 lime2, which has quite a lot of horsepower, and still a reasonably price:

https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/A20/A20-OLinuXIno-LIME2-4GB/open-source-hardware

And definitely install Linux on it (either Rasbian, or if Olimex the Debian for that), as Android is for tablets and phones, is not suited for development, and has a lot of ugly dependencies on Google.

chrnobel

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Re: Raspberry Pi Banana PI
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2015, 05:49:59 pm »
I looked at your link you supplied.. I seems similar to Banana Pi..
You can in no way compare the product from Olimex with Banana Pi - Olimex is very serious, all hardware is 100% open source, and the community is really large.
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Have you ever developed on these?
Which one do you mean - the Banana, or the real Pi?

I have done quite some development on the RPi, primarily for embedded usage, and it works quite good - typically I develop my FreePascal program on my Linux PC, and then transfer the project to the RPi, and compile there, works like a charm.
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Do you know anyone here that has?
Forget the Banana Pi, do not waste any time on that (or use it for a single project if you want)
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I think this might be good for third world kids to learn pascal.. Am I crazy in thinking this?
No you are not - it has a big advantage that you are close to the computer hardware, instead of just seeing it as at big magical box with an overwhelming framework.

Another way for kids to be introduced to programming is considering Basic - I know that modern people do not consider Basic for being serious or useful, but it has the advantage that it is very easy for beginners to understand, and get the understanding of what programming actually is about - then one can continue with Pascal later on.

You could consider this micro Basic computer - it does also have the advantage that you can connect LEDs etc. to the GPIO and actually see that it can do something useful:

https://www.olimex.com/Products/Duino/Duinomite/DUINOMITE-MINI/open-source-hardware

It is cheap, and all it requires is a VGA monitor and a keyboard, and you are up and running.



BrunoK

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Re: Raspberry Pi Banana PI
« Reply #5 on: January 22, 2015, 03:10:44 pm »
@chrnobel
Quote
You can in no way compare the product from Olimex with Banana Pi
How's that : same processor+memory size+clocking+power management chip etc..., also open source schematic. (Note that my Banana required some butchery to fix a soft ? /design problem in the 5v supply - burned L9/D5 - boost converter to USB block).

Apart from that, if to play again, I would favour the top notch Olimex A20 board, it has a 4GB on board NAND flash that frees the SD card slot, probably faster DDR3 memory, separate jack for power supply (useful because 3-4 Amps a good idea with a SATA drive and lots of USB peripherals), probably faster USB and hopefully a better Debian version.

What those 2 single board computers have in common is that they wont require cooling compared to the higher clocked ARM's.

Though not a fan of Linux, I can say that, apart from the BURNED COMPONENTS, I was able, after a lot of efforts, to build and run both FPC 2.7.1 and Lazarus 1.3 ON the Banana. What counts here is the 1GB RAM, because at link time, memory usage does up to 660MB.

Added : old stuff I had around, HDMI to VGA converter, VGA screen, USB+ WIFI +Cordless keyboard  & mouse and you get something that resembles a real computer.

Really not as convenient as my desktop machine but still near usable.

adrian

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Re: Raspberry Pi Banana PI
« Reply #6 on: January 25, 2015, 06:23:25 pm »
if you decide to buy bananaPi , buy a Cubieboard !

rasberryPi is very strong in term of OS images and specially projects and tutorials but after it cubieboard has better hardware and better than other CORTEX-Ax open hardwares like bananapi & ....
their support is not bad . may be it very similar to same bananaPi hw but it's more hacker friendly than others with more pins to use .

ghamm

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Re: Raspberry Pi Banana PI
« Reply #7 on: January 30, 2015, 04:14:07 am »
BrunoK,

Is there any way that you would consider sharing a OS / Working Lazarus   image?
Ive been trying configure it all.. and its harder than I thought.. I tried to PM you .. but it said I couldn't..


>> I was able, after a lot of efforts, to build and run both FPC 2.7.1 and Lazarus 1.3 ON the Banana. What counts here is the 1GB RAM, because at link time, memory usage does up to 660MB.

BrunoK

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Re: Raspberry Pi Banana PI
« Reply #8 on: January 30, 2015, 09:11:52 am »
@ghamm January 30, 2015 04:14:07 am

Sent you a message, please notify me here if you replied to it at my email address.

ghamm

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Re: Raspberry Pi Banana PI
« Reply #9 on: January 30, 2015, 04:44:03 pm »
Sent you a pm email. Thank you so much for the reply.

I found this link..

Seems to boot on a raspberry.. But not Banana..

https://sourceforge.net/projects/pastoo/?source=navbar
« Last Edit: January 30, 2015, 10:01:19 pm by ghamm »

chrnobel

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Re: Raspberry Pi Banana PI
« Reply #10 on: February 03, 2015, 03:22:44 pm »
Seems to boot on a raspberry.. But not Banana..
Of course, it is two different products, with incompatible processors.

ahiggins

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Re: Raspberry Pi Banana PI
« Reply #11 on: February 03, 2015, 06:41:24 pm »
Is the Raspberry Pi version 2  (Quad core 1GB RAM $35ish) available in your location?

snorkel

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Re: Raspberry Pi Banana PI
« Reply #12 on: February 03, 2015, 07:13:05 pm »
Is the Raspberry Pi version 2  (Quad core 1GB RAM $35ish) available in your location?

These should be available just about everywhere in a month or so.   I pre ordered one for running XBMC/KODI :-)
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If I forget, I always use the latest stable 32bit version of Lazarus and FPC. At the time of this signature that is Laz 3.0RC2 and FPC 3.2.2
OS: Windows 10 64 bit

csyde

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Re: Raspberry Pi Banana PI
« Reply #13 on: February 04, 2015, 09:21:27 am »
The RP2B is next on my shopping list, and FP runs fine on the old models too. I don't think you can get it from the Raspbian repo, but it's easy enough to install from the binary download.

ahiggins

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Re: Raspberry Pi Banana PI
« Reply #14 on: February 04, 2015, 01:06:21 pm »
With the new hardware I really hope the Raspberry Pi Foundation make use of Fee Pascal/Lazarus they do seem to be blinkered by Python not that I have anything against other languages/compilers, I just feel that's kids are missing out. FPC/Lazarus have excellent forums and a massive code base and I get bit fed up of the Pascal bashing that goes on.     

 

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