Intel Edison-based video game console playing Doom | Hacker News Reader

Intel Edison-based video game console playing Doom

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40 pointsmariuz12 comments

I really don't understand which use case Intel aimed for with their Edison thing. Hobbyists would want video out, like this post demonstrated.

Didn't they explicitly announce that it is tailor made for wearable and embedded devices? The guy was wearing it as a button.

Yes - I always hear it mentioned in connection with PR for "wearable devices" and the "Internet of things".

It's $50.

So is this:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/MK802-Android-4-0-4-Mini-PC-W...

And it's way more powerful than the Edison.

I'm guessing "all the prototyping or hobbyist projects that DON'T need video out, because they don't have a display, or only a simple one" ;)

Outside of a media player for my computer screen, I've never seen the need for video out.

My guess is that Intel doesn't want a generation of hackers (some of which will go on to create "The Next Big Thing") getting used to using competitors' chips... e.g. Arduino (Atmel), Raspberry Pi (Broadcom), and BeagleBone Black (TI).

So why did they then explicitly disable the GPU that was already present in the chip? Apart from Arduino, the boards you mentioned have one.

https://communities.intel.com/thread/55040

"I am from Intel, and on the Edison team. There were reasons for the GPU being fused out - namely that the use cases around what is intended for Edison do not need video. That said, it may not be that way forever. I'd love to hear from the community on what they think of this feature being enabled - lots of voices make it easier for me to sway opinion."

500 MHz dual-core CPU, 1 GB of RAM and 4 GB of permanent storage

In other words, way nicer than the computer I originally played Doom on. I bet they don't even have to reduce the screen size to make it run smoothly!

No kidding. I'm reasonably certain I played it on a 33MHz 386 with a couple megabytes of ram.

I know it's a limitation of the open-source release, but man, playing Doom without the E1M1 music just feels... off. (Though great work, of course!)

Nice work!

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