This is reproduced from my 'Lockdown Articles Series' for my 2 Year Son. The First phase of lockdown in India was from 25 March 2020 to 14 April 2020. For 21 days, I had plenty of time. So I decided to write something for my son. Ideas, concepts, codes.... whatever... I like I was sharing with him every day because I believe my social web posts on my Facebook will remain for 20-30 years and that time he will see my posts.
I was quite impressed in 2015 about a new open source project CHIP (by nextthingco). A computer's CPU in 9 dollars. They designed this 'chip' and kept its design open-source until everything was deleted by team before going bankrupt.
Later, raspberry pi emerges as an alternative in the market. But their pricing is above 15 USD.
I don't want to reinvent the wheel, but I was exploring about the possibility of a computer (CPU) in less than 15 USD.
After 2016, we all witnessed the replacement of TV Satellite boxes with Android TV boxes. The reason was the cheap availability of high-speed Internet data. Android TV Boxes are priced from 7 USD.
The layman's story:
What I was trying to achieve? A Linux desktop mounted over 'Android', handy to carry and less than 15 USD. The selection criteria for achieving this (in this little budget) was an Android Setup box having these three features 1 GB Ram+ Android Play store+ Android latest version.
How to
(1) Download an App: Termux from google playstore.
(2) Run these Shell Commands :
Wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Manishfoodtechs/ubuntuonandroid.sh/master/Ubuntuonandroid.sh
sh Ubuntuonandroid.sh
This shell command is written & aggregated by me. If you get an error at any stage, please run command one by one. You need VNC to connect to your desktop.
To know more about VNC please follow my this guide :
https://dev.to/manishfoodtechs/your-complete-online-desktop-hosted-on-server-in-just-5-00-4la5
One can also install an opencloud or nextcloud on this small CPU.
The layman's Learning:
- CHIP team idea was 'good' but they later become bankrupt. The idea never dies.
- The bad thing they did by removing CHIP design from the Internet.
- You can accidentally discover alternatives.
Top comments (4)
There’s also the Raspberry Pi Zero, which to my knowledge only costs $5.
True but with casing etc its price goes above. Also, 512MB RAM we get.
Whereas using an Android Box you can get better configurations. My first preference would be Raspberry PI but Its all about limited costing and limited use like desktop .
It’s really a matter of what it’ll be used for. If you want something for your TV, you should get the Android TV device. If you want something that’s smaller and more general-purpose, the Pi Zero is the best choice.
exactly