小眼睛的健康世界

Metromatics introduces a new single board computer (SBC) from GE Intelligent Platforms, based on the latest 3rd Generation Intel Core quad core processor technology.

The SBC325 is designed to increase processing performance when using the 3U VPX form factor to develop and deploy demanding industrial and mil/aero applications such as command/control, ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) radar/sonar and signal processing.

3rd Generation Intel Core processors offer enhanced performance per watt while maintaining performance at elevated temperatures.

The single board computer is available in five build levels, from benign (air cooled) to fully rugged (conduction cooled) to provide customers with optimum price/performance.

The SBC is available with the 2.1GHz Intel Core i7-3612QE processor featuring Intel advanced Vector Extensions (Intel AVX), up to 8GBytes of DDR3 memory and a solid state disk drive of up to, up to 8GBytes of DDR3 memory and a solid state disk drive of up to 32GBytes capacity.

Supported operating systems include Windows 7, Open Linux, Wind River Linux and VxWorks.

http://www.ferret.com.au/c/Metromatics/3U-VPX-single-board-computer-n1833055

Single Board Computer includes iSMART green technology.

Based on Intel® Atom™ D2550/N2600 processor and Intel NM10 chipset, Model IB895 features DDR3 SO-DIMM socket that accepts up to 4 MB of system memory. Board includes DVI-I and 24-bit dual channel LVDS display interfaces as well as 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports, 6 USB, 4 serial ports, 2 SATA, 1 mSATA, and 12~24 Vdc input. Equipped with iSMART technology, which minimizes energy consumption when system is not in use, 3.5 in. disk-size SBC is suited for digital signage, POS, kiosks, and factory automation.

Embedded PC single-board computer for embedded instrumentation introduced by Innovative Integration

SIMI VALLEY, Calif., 28 Sept. 2012. Innovative Integration in Simi Valley, Calif., is introducing , Simi Valley, CA , September 25, 2012 announces the SBC-K7 single-board computer forembedded instrumentation.

The embedded computingboard combines an Atom or Intel Core i7 microprocessor running Windows, Linux, or VxWorks with a Xilinx Kintex 7 field-programmable gate array (FPGA), as well as two FPGA mezzanine card (FMC) I/O sites.

The SBC-K7 has a Type-6 COM Express module for PC software and hardware compatibility. Available variants support the 6-Watt Intel dual-core Atom or the 45-Watt quad-core Core i7 processors. The board has as much as 16 gigabytes of DDR3 solid-state memory, Gigabit Ethernet, USB, SATA, DisplayPort, touchscreen LCD, RS232/485, ultra low-jitter programmable sample clock generation, and PCI Express connectivity.

The FPGA computing core features the Xilinx Kintex 7 FPGA family, from K325T to K410T. The K410T provides 1540 DSP MAC elements operating as fast as 500 MHz and 400,000 logic cells. The FPGA core has two LPDDR2 DRAM memory banks providing 512 megabytes by 16 bit, and 1,024 megabytes by 32 bit, respectively.

High-pin count (HPC)-compatible site 0 features 80 LVDS pairs connected to the FPGA, plus clocks, controls, and eight lanes of PCI Express gen2 connectivity. Low-pin count (LPC)-compatible site 1 provides eight gen2 PCI Express lanes, 22 HB and 34 LB differential pairs pins. Innovative offers an expanding line of FMC analog and digital I/O modules which can be readily customized to meet customer requirements.

Timing features include clock and trigger I/O for multi-card synchronization. GPS, IEEE 1588 PTP and IRIG-B timing references are integrated with on-card timing features for system-level timing coordination.

For system communications the SBC-K7 includes dual 1-gigabit Ethernet, two USB3 and two USB2 ports. The Ethernet and USB ports provide instant connectivity to host PCs and networks. A USB client port also allows operation as a USB device. 10-gigabit communications are available via optional FMC modules.

The SBC-K7 is rugged and low power. Power consumption is less than 30 Watts excluding FMC and operates from a 9-to-32-volt input. Air and conduction-cooled versions are available rated for -40 to 85 degrees Celsius, with resistance to as much vibration as 5 Gs.

The FPGA logic can be fully customized using VHDL/Verilog or Matlab using the Frame Work Logic toolset. Real-time hardware-in-the-loop development using the graphical Simulink block diagrams is supported. IP cores for signal processing applications such down-conversion, demodulation and FFT are also available.

Software tools for host development include C++ libraries and drivers for Windows and Linux. For more information contact Innovative Integration online at www.innovative-dsp.com.

The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card size, single board computer from the charity foundation, Raspberry Pi Foundation. Weighing a mere 45 grams, it lets you connect a generic USB mouse, keyboard and a monitor, and can be used for many things that your desktop does such as spreadsheets, word-processing and games; it can handle high-def videos too. Though creative wits at the Foundation have been working on it since 2006, the miniature machine went up for pre-order earlier this year and was an instant hit. It soon made headlines as 700 units of the Raspberry Pi were reportedly sold every second and the official Raspberry site was partially down due to humongous traffic. Though it faced several roadblocks in the form of shipping delays, production glitches etc., the miniature computer never faced any dearth of love.

The guys at Raspberry Pi want to see it be used by kids all over the world to learn programming as it was built with the intention of stimulating the teaching of basic computer science in schools. Tech2 spoke with one such creative wit, Eben Upton, trustee and co-founder of Raspberry Pi foundation and the person responsible for the overall software and hardware architecture of the Raspberry Pi device. He is also the Technical Director and ASIC architect for Broadcom. Available at a price of around Rs. 2500 (Model B priced Rs. 2750 and currently out of stock) through Element14, the Raspberry Pi seems like a great product for the Indian market to deepen our PC penetration. However, Eben tells us that the response from Indian users has been limited due to very small but very obvious reasons and hopes that these problems will be resolved before the end of the year.

So, will Raspberry Pi ever replace the commercial desktop PC?

To know this and why we, as price-conscious Indians, aren't responding well to this innovation, why Raspberry Pi is a charity foundation and not a commercial venture, how Eben handles both positions at Raspberry Pi and Broadcom, his biggest challenges while making a single-board computer at such a low price and more, read on.

Was Raspberry Pi always meant to be a charity foundation rather than a private enterprise? Do you think the Raspberry Pi wouldn’t have done well as a commercial venture?
Yes, it was meant to be a charity foundation and wouldn't have done well as a commercial venture. I think we would have struggled to establish good relationships with our suppliers as a very small commercial entity.

Was it easy to be a part of Raspberry Pi foundation along with Broadcom? Do you plan to get into Raspberry Pi full time anytime in the near future?
I think there's good alignment between my work at Broadcom and at the Foundation. I have no immediate plans to leave (or reduce my involvement with) Broadcom.

Raspberry Pi (Image Credit: Switched On Tech Design)

What were the challenges you faced while building a single-board, credit card-sized PC at such a low price?
Controlling the BOM (Billing of Material) cost was one big challenge we faced while the other was finding reliable low-cost assembly partners.

A computer at around Rs. 2500 is a great tech initiative for a developing nation like India. It is currently available online only through Element 14, do you plan to make it available through other retailers in India?
We are very much hoping that value-added resellers will emerge in countries like India where there are currently very high international shipping costs. There is a good business to be made importing Pis in bulk and reselling them locally.

Could you tell us about the existing models?
Powered by ARM processor on a Broadcom BCM2835 SoC, there are two models – Model B priced at $35 (approx. Rs. 1,850) and Model A at $25 (approx Rs. 1,320). The model B has HDMI, Ethernet and two USB ports, Linux's Fedora software, 256MB RAM while Models A has just one USB and no Ethernet.

Can we expect some more models of the Raspberry Pi?
We don't have any publicly-announced plans to produce further versions.

Will we see RaspBerry Pi run on Windows someday?
The current hardware would struggle to run Windows, as it only has an ARMv6 version (Windows RT requires ARMv7).

The Raspberry Pi was an instant hit and reportedly sold hundreds of units per second. But the company faced some delays on and off, what is the current status?
Our partners Element 14 currently have a backlog of a few days. We believe that the earlier shortages have largely been resolved.

How has the response been from Indian consumers? Can you reveal some sales figures?
We've seen limited demand in India due to high courier and tariff charges, but we hope this will be resolved before the end of the year.

What do you think of other such low price initiatives like OLPC and the Aakash tablet?
They're great ideas. Anything that is cheap, and hits its quality and price targets is good as far as we're concerned.

鄒景平/總裁學苑專欄作家

　我以前聽過網易公開課中的幾門課，但獨自學習，只有聽、沒有互動的方式，每個視頻少則三十分鐘，多則一到一個半時，讓我覺得很吃力，自從發現史丹佛大學支援的Coursera(www.coursera.org )課程，就開始有新的選擇了。

　因為Coursera的課程有學習進度，每周的視頻雖然有五到七個模組，但總和的時間差不多在一小時左右，視頻之中，還有互動功能，每週有小測驗，通過老師的規定要求後，還可獲得證書，學習中發生問題，我還可到討論區中看看同學們怎麼說，或者向同學呼救。

　Coursera非常鼓勵同學之間互助合作，彼此幫忙，建議同一地區的學生組成學習小組，選擇當地的咖啡館，進行面對面的討論，依據他們的統計，當學生在討論區提出問題之後，平均二十二分鐘之後，就會獲得其他同學的回應。

　跟據我選讀三門課的經驗，我發現「和而不同」，是Coursera特有的精神，雖然課程網站的大框架一致，但不嚴僅要求執行細節，例如每門課程的長度，就由老師自己決定，目前我所見，就有短到四周，或長到八周的課，老師還可以在教學中適度加入不同元素，呈現獨特的魅力與風格，也標示出個人教學特色。

　例如「網際網路歷史、技術與安全」這門課的老師趁著出差，到美國各地舉辦「面會(office hour)」，事後還把視頻放上Youtube，幾乎每周辦一次面會。這門課有個wiki resources，讓師生都可在其上加入參考資源，介紹老師的網頁上，也把老師愛騎重機車、唱歌和室內裝修的嗜好，表露無遺。

　「電腦入門」老師所佈建的「線上實驗室(online lab)」，則讓學生馬上可以看見程式執行的結果，並可立即修改錯誤，每個老師都有江湖一點訣，只要留意，我們都可學到一些新東西。

　我持續選修Coursera課程的原因，一個是為瞭解MOOC的最新發展，跟老師學些教學方法與技巧，親身體驗名校名師的風采，一個就是擴轉與增進自我的專業知識，另外還可強化自己的英文聽力，獲得國際化的視野！

　在知識快速變化的時代，大學或工作中所學的，很快就會落伍，不花錢的Coursera，可說是最佳的、最先進的國際化專業進修管道之一！