Revolution Pi

[rushboarduk]

So I saw this advertised on an online store I frequent for microcontroller supplies, though I must confess it is for networking than robotics:

 

https://revolution.kunbus.com/revolution-pi-series/

 

LTT can do a video about it if they want, but I'm more interested in general thoughts from users here.

[lewdicrous]

 

[Jtalk4456]

i hate to be a downer, but it looks like they took raspberry pi and put it in a cardboard enclosure...

[colonel_mortis]

Moved to Hobby Electronics

[tikker]

3 hours ago, Jtalk4456 said:

i hate to be a downer, but it looks like they took raspberry pi and put it in a cardboard enclosure...

Well they do quite literally say so 

Quote

 the rather unknown Raspberry Pi Compute Module was used as a basis.

 

[Tim B]

Hi all.

I am a Raspi 1,2 and 3b+ owner.

The 3b+ machine only has USB 2 (still! Argh!) and therefore no gigabit internet and only so-so data transfer over the internal buses.

This is only a Pi compute with a few add-ons and a case to make it clip on to Din rail for industrial-friendly use.

ASUS tinker board however..... Yeah, I should have bought one.

 

 

[straight_stewie]

7 hours ago, Hyncharas said:

So I saw this advertised on an online store I frequent for microcontroller supplies, though I must confess it is for networking than robotics:

If you're looking for a nice RPi 3 compute board solution for general use I guess they are ok, but I do have a few gripes:
 

They claim that they've built an industry ready real time version of Raspbian. I highly doubt that since, after the home page, they make almost no mention of it. An industry ready real time OS takes 1000's of man hours of math, logic proofs, and testing. Good RTOS scheduling, interrupt handling, and OS interfaces make the OSes we are used to look like childs play. I can find only three references to an RT Raspbian kernal on Google. One is just being spun up on github, one is described by it's creator as
"a curiosity of mine", and the other claims on it's website that it should not be used in safety critical applications. Most likely RevolutionPi did not create an industry suitable RTOS.

For reference, this is what the landing page for a real, industry ready and proven real time OS looks like: Segger embOS. Notice that the very first thing you see is a list of standards that are met and certifications that it holds. More importantly, if you click on the "supported cores" link on the top of the page, you are greeted with a list of devices that the OS has actually been verified to be functionally correct on. And that is the thing about Real Time OSs: You are making a promise that certain things will happen exactly at certain times with a very specific latency, with such a high degree of accuracy and correctness that manufacturers can put human lives on the line where they are depending on the correct functioning of their software and the operating system that it runs on.

 

Beyond that, I couldn't find any actually useful datasheets on their website. Things like "it has x output pins" isn't useful information to an industrial engineer considering a device for factory automation. More than likely their actual target is normal RPi consumers, and they are using false claims of "industry readiness" to try to gain a leg up in the market.

I would tend to think that these devices are probably ok, if you don't intend to use them in any way that you wouldn't also consider a canonical RPi implementation for. If you need a general use board with both real time and application processing capabilities, I might suggest the BeagleBone Black. It has an ARM processor suitable for running a Linux or Android OS and handling a user or network interface, but it also has two microcontroller cores that are suitable for machine control. They additionally have an older PowerVR graphics chip, in case you need that functionality.