Game developer David Braben creates a USB stick PC for $25

Brett C

Frontier
Recently caught this posted on Reddit; Game developer David Braben creates a USB stick PC for $25.

David Braben is a very well-known game developer who runs the UK development studio Frontier Developments, but is just as well known for being the co-developer of Elite.


Over his career his studio has brought us the Rollercoaster Tycoon series, Thrillville, Lost Winds, and most recently Kinectimals. In the background, however, Braben has been trying to tackle another problem: getting programming and general learning of how computers work back into schools.
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http://www.geek.com/articles/games/...braben-creates-a-usb-stick-pc-for-25-2011055/
 

Steve O B Have

Steve O B Have
Can I be the first to put my hand up and say that I'm actually properly impressed by this and think that it's a genuinely worthy undertaking. Well done David. Definitely something to be really proud of.

Clever stuff, especially if you have a monitor with an onboard powered USB hub thus eliminating the need for that little Belkin jobbie... 3 ports? 1 for the computer, one for the keyboard and one for the mouse? Conversely two ports if you use either a wireless desktop or one of those Multimedia keyboards with an integrated touchpad.

Two thumbs up for sure.
 

Sir.Tj

The Moderator who shall not be Blamed....
Volunteer Moderator
Sir.Tj
Very impressive, being able to walk around with a PC in your pocket.

Looks as if this could be one of those ideas/inventions that could really catch on.

Wondering why it wasn't announced on here first though??
 

rgmarett

rgmarett
The man's a genius. And such a British name too - Raspberry Pi.

If it's a charitable organisation how do we help out? (Other than buying one when they're released). I'd like to get a load for my daughter's primary school (she's only 6 this month but already I've got her using Photoshop well, so programming is the next logical step :))
 

OzFalcon

O
Why are people impressed?

I'm actually quite ed. Not Impressed at all.

Thy the F is DB rooting round with this stuff when He should be - YOU KNOW - Making E4.

We HAVE THIS IN MANY DIFFERENT FORM FACTORS ALREADY!!!! :mad:

http://www.fit-pc.com/web/

http://www.gumstix.com/store/catalog/index.php

And no doubt lots more..........

Scratches head...... :S

Oh and it runs Linux. (Yay!) :D


ADD:
http://www.marvell.com/platforms/plug_computer/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SheevaPlug
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GuruPlug
 
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OzFalcon

O
Really????

re: Braben has been trying to tackle another problem: getting programming and general learning of how computers work back into schools.


Well DB If your really serious, Try promoting easy to use Linux Distros (You seem familiar with Ubuntu) and Free programming IDE's (Eclipse, QT etc) on your official web site with..... You know, Instructions from the ground up to build the original Elite or something (Hint Frontier).


Otherwise, I believe this as much as I believe in E4.
 

OzFalcon

O
RE: could this be used to develop E4 on a stick?

RE: could this be used to develop E4 on a stick?

I Actually thought this too ;)
Nice way to sell the front end client on a known standardized platform....
The web cam (As wacky as it seems, As one would have though an ethernet jack would be priority) Might be part of a built in login/ID/Profile system.....?
That means a USB style network device also needs to be added.

So all up, To get this going:
USB HUB
USB Stick PC
USB Mouse
USB Keyboard
USB ETHERNET or WiFi
And of course a TV/Monitor with HDMI input.
(If you were not sure your destination to use this didn't have all the above interface parts spare & ready (working) to use, I think I'd prefer a cheap netbook than to carry around any extras just in case....)

Not sure how much storage it'd have but lets say 8 gb flash.
So you may want to add a USB thumb drive to that - Meaning you will
need a bigger than 4 port USB hub (& Probably powered).

It's running at 700mhz with 128mb of ram on an ARM11 processor. OpenGL ES 2.0 and 1080p output is an upshot. On probably Linux Ubuntu.

It will only run what has been compiled for it, So no doubt a lot of software will be available for it. But it won't run any MS Windows software.
 

stingray

stingray
Thinking the same thing, David Braben wants people to create their own E4... probably by using Minecraft... this is going to suck. :D

Now we know why he wasn't working on E4. :)
 
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