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Comment by michrassena | Hacker News Reader

I've really gone down that rabbit hole recently, and I get it, but I don't regret it. There's a whole world of electronics that I've been missing. As wonderful as Linux is, at the end of the day, once you have Linux running on a device, it becomes a bit generic. The Raspberry Pi is useful and fun, but they are sort of interchangeable with any other Linux computer. These gumstick-sized microcontrollers bring back some of the joy I had with computing in years past.

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Linux is indeed wonderful, but there's a lot to be said for dealing with things at a simple level when your goal is to e.g. measure voltages, turn LEDs and relays on and off etc.

I still find it incredible that a fairly fast, dual core computer with a color display, wifi, bluetooth, USB, battery charging and all the memory you need costs $8! [0]

[0] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001235066814.html

That's really an incredible price for a computer with a color display. I enjoy and use Linux, but I think it's so versatile and general purpose my inclination is to put it online, run Firefox, play videos or whatever, and then it's magically just another PC. It's kind of like the old saw about every program expanding until it can do email. I'm starting to see the small devices, like esp32 inherit some of the aura of the old home computers which ran BASIC from ROM.

Not sure if you were referencing gumstix there, but I remember fantasizing about getting one of the tiny SBCs over a decade ago but they were too expensive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumstix#/media/File:Gumstix_oc...

A decade later we have ESP32 and RPi Zero. And it looks like gumstix have read the writing on the wall and now make RPi accessories.

https://www.gumstix.com/

I don't think I was consciously referencing Gumstix, but that must be where I first heard the term. I remember being interested in those at the time, but like you I thought they were too much.

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