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David,<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 08/12/2014 11:43 AM, David Rolfe
wrote:<br>
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<div><font face="Calibri" size="3">Hi,</font></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
13pt"><font face="Calibri" size="3">Bearing in mind the
revolutionary ideas behind the MinnowBoard Max, and the
fact that these boards are now starting to arrive in the
hands of ‘end users’, I have to say that I am quite
surprised at the lack of general information available,
and indeed the absence of even a general discussion forum
anywhere…. and I have not even found an unboxing video on
You Tube yet… or seen one for sale on eBay!</font></p>
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<br>
MinnowMax is just not shipping to the pre-orders placed via Mouser
and Tigal, so there really hasn't been enough time for people to
start posting such things...<br>
<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
13pt"><font face="Calibri" size="3">It is possible of course
that I am completely missing the point here, but I am
placing this product in the same league as the Raspberry
Pi, the Beagle Board together with other recent updated
SOC boards such as the Banana Pi, Cubieboard etc.</font></p>
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feature wise, yes they are in a similar league, however, since
MinnowMax is not ARM based, there are some significant differences
in the overall usage of the board.<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
13pt"><font face="Calibri" size="3">These are all so called
development boards, which (as a basic example) just
require a power supply, a USB keyboard/mouse plus a
monitor, and of course a suitable operating system or
Linux based ‘distro’ to turn them into a simple personal
computer… as I assume can the MinnowBoard Max, and thus
have also caught the attention of the home hobbyist, or
small computer enthusiast.</font></p>
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indeed, since the MinnowMax is a very standardized 64-bit Intel
Architecture using the Baytrail processor, virtually anything "out
there" that works on a "PC" works on MinnowMax. This is a primary
difference between ARM development boards as you listed above. <br>
<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
13pt"><font face="Calibri" size="3">That being the case I
would have thought that a few ‘fanboy’ or ‘enthusiasts’
websites would have appeared by now, together with third
party offering of such items as cases, cables, power
supplies, pre-programmed micro SD cards etc. Not everyone
will be interested in this sort of thing of course,
certainly not the more advanced developers, but there are
a lot of no so experienced prospective customers out there
who certainly would be… me included!</font></p>
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there will be some third party shops that will be selling kits and
cables as such, but as i stated before, one of the best aspects of
the MinnowMax is that it is very similar to a standard "PC" which
means any Fry's , MicroCenter, or Best Buy carry what you need to
use MinnowMax.<br>
<br>
as for getting an OS running, anyone who has installed a linux
distro on a standard "PC" knows how to get it working on MinnowMax.
even so we have a wiki page with listings of basic instructions for
most of the more common distros:<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.elinux.org/Minnowboard:MinnowMaxDistros">http://www.elinux.org/Minnowboard:MinnowMaxDistros</a><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
13pt"><font face="Calibri" size="3">Perhaps it is still
early days or possibly the MinnowBoard Max is not really
suitable for use in this way, although I sincerely hope it
is!</font></p>
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<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">yes it is indeed early, but
MinnowMax will tend to attract a slightly different user base
that the boards you mention earlier. most will require a lot
less hand holding, and tend to much more centered around
professional development. while the MinnowMax does lend itself
to the Maker crowd, it probably will take a little while longer
for it to take hold there due to the cost differential with
other boards...</font></font><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
13pt"><font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Please don’t take
this as a criticism of the manufacturers in any way, but
I genuinely cannot understand why there is not a lot
more coverage, in one way of another on the ‘web’ of
this board, or even some initial reviews! <span
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt;
mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family: calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;
mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:
en-us; mso-ansi-language: en-gb; mso-bidi-language:
ar-sa">Personally, although I tend to follow
developments in this area fairly closely, it was only
a few days ago that I really became aware of the
MinnowBoard Max for the first time.</span></font></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
13pt"><font face="Calibri" size="3">I am sure that I am
about to be enlightened though!</font></p>
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<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">thanks<br>
Dave Anders<br>
<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
13pt"><font face="Calibri" size="3">Regards,</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
13pt"><font face="Calibri" size="3">David</font></p>
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