Talk:OctoGoatBox
Page under construction --AndrewBCN (talk) 21:47, 3 January 2015 (PST)
I'll edit the page and add more detailed information in the coming days as my free time allows.
And just to preempt the inevitable question: why not OctoPi? The answer is simply because - after months of testing - I came to the conclusion that the Raspberry Pi (which I love to work with, but for different use cases) is painfully underspecified for running OctoPrint. Also my particular OctoPi setup was plagued with instability issues (basically I had to reboot the RPi after every print - tried two different RPis, half a dozen power supplies, etc). In summary: a huge waste of time and money. But if you want to try it, be my guest: https://github.com/guysoft/OctoPi.
How underpowered is the RPi? Well, my side-by-side benchmarks in this particular application indicate the dual-core A20 is 4x faster, while consuming approximately 750mW less power (around 500mA@5V for the A20TV box vs. 650mA@5V for the RPi model B with WiFi dongle).
Update 07/02/2015
A few days ago the Raspberry Pi Foundation released a new RPi with a quad-core CPU and 1GB RAM. I have not tested it yet, but I expect it will make an excellent OctoGoatBox. And basically the instructions remain the same as in the existing OctoGoatBox page, except we have to download an RPi-custom Debian distribution instead of Bananian.
Prices
Some prices for dual core Allwinner A20 Android TV boxes out of AliExpress:
- Banana Pi (requires optional WiFi dongle, external powered USB hub, 5V@2A power supply and case):$41.50 with free shipping.
- GV17 (includes case, power supply, 2MP webcam, internal WiFi b/g/n, IR remote: $51.99 with free shipping.
- Many nameless clones with the same case design, make sure they are specified with 1GB RAM (some of them come with only 512MB), for example this one:$42 with free shipping.
- Orange Pi Beyond, similar to Banana Pi but comes with 4 x USB 2.0 and WiFi, again requires case and 5V@2A power supply: $49 with free shipping.
- Cubieboard 2 and Cubietruck/Cubieboard 3: these are imho slightly overpriced, they tend to cost more than the Banana Pi for more or less the same specs. On the other hand they do have a very large community and they have been around longer than all the others.
- MeLE M5 is a bit more expensive but can be said to be a better quality option: $73.50 with free shipping.
You can also probably find some of these on other websites.
The important details to check before you click on the "Buy" button:
- Allwinner A20 SoC / CPU.
- 1GB RAM.
- 2 or preferably 3 x USB HOST.
- SD Card slot (essential to boot Linux image).
- Ethernet port (saves time during initial configuration of the WiFi interface).
- Preferably built-in WiFi b/g/n (saves one USB port).
As usual it doesn't hurt to check the vendor's reputation and buyer's feedback.
Somehow the links to aliexpressdotcom are blacklisted here on reprap.org so please click and edit the links above accordingly. Note that I am not advertising for aliexpress, have no relationship with them or any vendor in China and honestly couldn't care less if the above links work or not, I am just trying to give people some pointers to where they can buy the hardware for this project.
Webcam recommendations
Inexpensive
Inexpensive (< $5, including shipping) 640x480 YUYV webcam that works well with Linux:
It doesn't get much cheaper than these simple webcams based on a Taiwan-designed CMOS sensor/chip. The plastic lens is crap but the focus is adjustable, the low-light (i.e indoors) response is acceptable, and they can be directly fit on a small photo tripod with a standard screw. And they work out-of-the-box with Linux.
The power consumption is reasonably low, so they can be directly driven by our Android TV Box's USB port (no need for a powered USB hub). On the other hand they require the CPU to do the brunt of the video encoding work from the YUYV raw format to the MJPEG web stream, so it is best to run these webcams at 320x240 resolution.
Not so inexpensive
For a huge step up in video quality with a corresponding huge step up in price, my suggestion is to go with one of the entry-level Logitech cameras, which are almost all well supported under Linux and provide hardware MJPEG encoding at 640x480 (all the CPU has to do is copy the data from the USB port, buffer it and resend it over the network interface). For example, this Logitech C170 webcam:
Very expensive
In case you are absolutely obsessed with making HD-quality timelapses there are Logitech webcams that can output MJPEG at 1280x720 and even 1900x1080, but they cost almost as much as the BOM for a new 3D printer, so I haven't tried them! (oh, OK, I am exaggerating a little bit) ;-)
