I have got many voice about the comparison about these four open hardware platforms,which are well-known in maker’s world.Now what I am doing is share some of my voice .
First,an intuitive comparison on the technical issue as blown is necessary.
Now,My Voice
1.For those who have played Arduino ,LinkIt ONE and Edison must be your better choice,they are all have similar pin-out to Arduino Uno,which means it can be capatible with many existed shield and groves,then you can develop the prototype quickly.
2.For those who like linux OS, raspberry pi,BBB and Edison can be your choice,and you have more choices with BBB,it supports Ubuntu and Android,BBB is the way to try something new and fantastic.but if you don’t care much about this,RPI and Edison is okay.
3.If your projects need network,BBB and RPI are relatively suitable.In terms of Ethernet functionality,BBB is stronger than RPI because the it support internally by the processor AM3358,but the Ethernet from RPI is converted by extended USB-to-Ethernet chipset.what’s more, The USB interface on RPI and BBB can be connected with a wireless device like wifi modules to realize the network function.
4.If you want to build a IoT or smart hardware prototype,LinkIt ONE must be your first choice ,no extra GPS,GPRS,GSM,WIFI,Bluetooth expansion module or shield needed,but RPI and BBB have to,LinkIt integrates all-in-on features and equips with competitive price,which means its price is much lower than the price added up by RPI or BBB with the price of GPS,Wifi,GSM,Bluetooth modules . However，if you just need wifi and Bluetooth functionalities,Edison may be a perfect choice for those who have played Yocto Linux OS and Arduino IDE.
5.In terms of User Interface,if your projects requires HD Video output,RPI will be better as Raspberry pi has video decoding and encoding capabilities and its HDMI resolution is up to 1280*1024,but BBB can only supports to 720P,not to consider Edison and LinkIt ONE.There has been various inches of LCD module and display screen for BBB and RPI ,which you can easily build a mini ARM Computer with screen
6.In terms of performance of Processor,BBB has faster processor then RPI and LinkIt ONE,but all of them are single ARM core,so if your projects needs higher data processing capability,then consider BBB first and RPI next.In the strict sense,Edison has two Core ,dual-threaded Intel® Atom™ CPU at 500 MHz running Linux OS and a 32-bit Intel® Quark™ microcontroller at 100 MHz running Arduino.In that case ,I have no idea to compare with Edison and other three boards as they are two different kinds of architecture.
7.In terms of the whole open hardware ecosystem,RPI and BBB are well-known and there are thousands of PI module and CAPES ,projects,prototypes around them. You can download almost any resources for reference when you want to build one prototype,same as Arduino. However ,LinkIt ONE and Edison are younger,they still need times to build up their own world.
8.In terms of RAM and Flash,Edison provides 1 GB LPDDR3 POP memory (2 channel 32bits @ 800MT/sec) which makes you amazing,Both RPI and BBB provides 521M DDR3.Both Edison and BBB can provide 4G eMMC integrated on the boards and supports up to 32G SD card to extend,but you need to buy extra SD card to act as flash of RPI,that’s odd.
9.Let’s talk about the price, Official price of Edison is $50,but you can not drive it without any other breakout board,which add the cost.RPI is the lowest price $35(Actually ,the shipping price are $39 mostly in the market) ,but you have to buy extra power supply and bootable storage device to start up it,which means you have to pay about $45 or even more totally.The Official price of BBB is $45,but you may spend more than $55 to get one. Perhaps LinkIt ONE is the best buys ,pricing $79.Simple Example ,if you buy A GPS module for BBB or RPI ,the total price may exceed $79,no need to add other modules.so do not compare price of board directly,as you have to consider the total cost of ownership depending on how you prepare to use them,that depends on your usage.
What I want to emphasize is that there are no absolute good or bad among these four boards,it only depends on what you want to do and what your projects are.I share my voice ,welcome your voice posted and better suggestions.any comments are appreciated.@Wells Tu on facebook or @Wells _Tu on twitter if you have any other ideas.
