Raspberry Pi alternatives? Looking for more GPIO pins

erhwegesrgsr

So I am looking for a raspberry pi alternative, with these features the same:

• Low power
  
• ethernet
  
• small
  
• cheap
  
• Linux
  
  
  
  I'm just looking for more pins, came across Olimex iMX233-OLINUXINO-MAXI but that's about it.

asterisk14

why not buy a thin client, they are plentiful and cheap on ebay.

erhwegesrgsr

@asterisk14 said:
why not buy a thin client, they are plentiful and cheap on ebay.

Did you even read the title or conclusion? I need GPIO pins, not a workstation

smile93

Have a look on new BEAGLEBONE BLACK.

erhwegesrgsr

@smile93 said:
Have a look on new BEAGLEBONE BLACK.

So if I read this right I get 92 pins and 2GB internal memory for OS for $45? That's awesome! Thank you!

asterisk14

sorry, I didn't notice the GPIO thing-a-majig

smile93

@erhwegesrgsr said:
So if I read this right I get 92 pins and 2GB internal memory for OS for $45? That's awesome! Thank you!

Yes, BEAGLEBONE BLACK is almost the same price with raspberry pi but with built in internal memory.

black

beaglebone black is definitely the way to go.

rds100

I2C or SPI GPIO expanders work?

rm_

Another idea would be just using two Raspberry Pi's, or connect an Arduino to the first one via USB, and then use Firmata (afaik it allows to just toggle Arduino's GPIO from the host machine directly).

smile93

Raspberry pi with new pi embedded board will do the job as well.

alex

@rm_ said:
Another idea would be just using two Raspberry Pi's, or connect an Arduino to the first one via USB, and then use Firmata (afaik it allows to just toggle Arduino's GPIO from the host machine directly).

only 3x more expensive

rm_

@alex said:
only 3x more expensive

Not really, Arduino clones start from just ~$8
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Best-prices-UNO-R3-MEGA328P-ATMEGA16U2-for-Arduino-Compatible-Free-Shipping-Dropshipping/909950710.html
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Nano-3-0-Brandnew-With-Free-USB-Cable-ATmega328-mini-development-board-the-controller/591964167.html

And regarding the BeagleBoard Black, despite it being "$45" and them having like two dozens of distributors, they are all useless, I am yet to find one with sane shipping options to my country (i.e. one that actually ships and does not charge something like $20 for that).

erhwegesrgsr

I like the fact that beagleboard has so many distributors and their schematics are available on their wiki. Because of that I am sure production will continue at this price. I am also buying in large quantities for production use, so shipping won't be a problem.

Wolframium

I'd go with the beagleboard myself, but I wonder what you're doing that needs linux, and needs ethernet, yet also needs so many GPIO pins. I'm no stranger to needing lots of GPIO pins myself (Once used all 80 pins on an FPGA board), but usually the use cases for the RasPi don't include lots of pins.

erhwegesrgsr

@Wolframium said:
I'd go with the beagleboard myself, but I wonder what you're doing that needs linux, and needs ethernet, yet also needs so many GPIO pins. I'm no stranger to needing lots of GPIO pins myself (Once used all 80 pins on an FPGA board), but usually the use cases for the RasPi don't include lots of pins.

Remotely controlling/toggling the GPIO pins, maybe?