What do you guys think of the Pinoccio competition?
I like the fact that it’s Arduino compatible and open source, but it costs more than the imp.
No wifi, has an 8-bit CPU, very little RAM… but it’s intended as a hobbyist board so it’s much more accessible for arduino-type tasks (headers, etc). It’s not really comparable as it has totally different aims from the start.
I’m personally underwhelmed.
http://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy3.html - $19
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10822 - $35
http://www.pjrc.com/store/xbee_adaptor.html - $6 breakout for the RN-XV
= $60
(For comparison, ~$43 gets you an imp and a breakout board from Sparkfun.)
The Teensy 3 runs at 48mhz with 16k of RAM and 128k of flash - it’s probably comparable to the Imp in most ways (it’s a Cortex M4 compared to the Imp’s Cortex M3.)
The Pinoccio pulls ahead in value per dollar with the onboard charger, 802.15.4 radio, and included battery (not sure why the temp sensor is there but the RGB LED is nice) but I’m kind of scratching my head to find a solution where I’d need the 802.15.4 radio over WiFi or where I’d want the battery. Possibly for outdoor sensor nodes?
I guess if you’re looking to set up more of a mesh instead of independent appliances and devices it makes sense…but I’d still rather have WiFi.