{"id":208454,"date":"2017-07-11T15:31:46","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T13:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=208454"},"modified":"2017-07-11T15:33:20","modified_gmt":"2017-07-11T13:33:20","slug":"4-awesome-mini-pcs-for-diy-hacking-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/hardware\/208454-4-awesome-mini-pcs-for-diy-hacking-projects.html","title":{"rendered":"4 awesome mini PCs for DIY hacking projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

Starting a DIY electronics project is easier than ever thanks to microcontrollers and mini computing boards.<\/p>\n

Whether you’re creating an IoT hub with wireless connectivity, or a remote-controlled robot, mini computing boards allow you to build almost any gadget.<\/p>\n

We have listed four mini boards that offer almost limitless possibilities.<\/p>\n

\n

Raspberry Pi<\/h3>\n

The Pi is a great starting point for beginners and is useful for software-based projects, due to its linux-based operating system.<\/p>\n

Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth coupled with 40 GPIO pins make the Pi 3 Model B a great choice for IoT hub devices.<\/p>\n

\"Raspberry<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B<\/div>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Processor<\/strong><\/td>\nARM Cortex A53 1.2GHz<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
RAM<\/strong><\/td>\n1GB LPDDR2-900 SDRAM<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Storage<\/strong><\/td>\nmicroSD slot<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Power<\/strong><\/td>\n5V via MicroUSB or GPIO<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
I\/O<\/strong><\/td>\n1x MicroUSB, 1x HDMI 1.3, 3.5mm TRRS jack, 4x USB 2.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Connectivity<\/strong><\/td>\nEthernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dimensions<\/strong><\/td>\n85.6 x 56.5 mm<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Price<\/strong><\/td>\nR702 (ex VAT)<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Arduino<\/h3>\n

The Arduino ecosystem includes first and third-party boards which are focused on hardware-based electronics projects.<\/p>\n

The Arduino Uno is technically a microcontroller and features relatively basic specifications with no software overhead.<\/p>\n

\"Arduino\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n
Arduino Uno Rev 3<\/div>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Processor<\/strong><\/td>\nATmega328P microcontroller<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
RAM<\/strong><\/td>\n2KB SRAM<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Storage<\/strong><\/td>\n32KB Flash, 1KB EEPROM<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Power Supply<\/strong><\/td>\n5V via DC\/USB or I\/O pins<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
I\/O<\/strong><\/td>\nUSB, DC Input<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Connectivity<\/strong><\/td>\nN\/A<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dimensions<\/strong><\/td>\n68.6 x 53.4 mm<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Price<\/strong><\/td>\nR238<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Gigabyte BRIX GB-EKi3A-7100<\/h3>\n

Gigabyte’s BRIX mini PC is the largest device on this list, and provides desktop-grade power and numerous hardware interfaces.<\/p>\n

\"Gigabyte<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n
Gigabyte BRIX GB-EKi3A-7100<\/div>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Processor<\/strong><\/td>\nIntel 7th-Gen Core i3 7100U<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
RAM<\/strong><\/td>\n2x SO-DIMM DDR4 2,133MHz<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Storage<\/strong><\/td>\n1x M.2 SSD PCIe\/SATA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Power Supply<\/strong><\/td>\nDC 19\/12V Adapter<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
I\/O<\/strong><\/td>\n3.5mm audio jack, USB 3.1 Type-C, 2x USB 3.0, COM (RS232), RJ45, Mini DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 2.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Connectivity<\/strong><\/td>\n802.11ac Wi-Fi, Ethernet<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dimensions<\/strong><\/td>\n36 x 117 x 180 mm<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Price<\/strong><\/td>\nN\/A<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Banana Pi<\/h3>\n

The Banana Pi is a refined version of the Raspberry Pi, and features a different I\/O and support for more operating systems.<\/p>\n

\"BPI-M3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n
BPI-M3<\/div>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Processor<\/strong><\/td>\nA83T ARM Cortex A7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
RAM<\/strong><\/td>\n2GB LPDDR3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Storage<\/strong><\/td>\n8GB eMMC, microSD<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Power Supply<\/strong><\/td>\n5V DC via microUSB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
I\/O<\/strong><\/td>\nHDMI 1.4, 3.5mm audio jack, 2x USB 2.0,<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Connectivity<\/strong><\/td>\n802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dimensions<\/strong><\/td>\n92 x 60 mm<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Price<\/strong><\/td>\nR1,487<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Now read:\u00a0Five cool gadgets you can build using a Raspberry Pi<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have listed four mini computers that can be used for almost limitless numbers of DIY projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341028,"featured_media":208464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[41294,42854,42852,35,131,42856,8043],"class_list":["post-208454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hardware","tag-arduino","tag-banana-pi","tag-gigabyte-brix","tag-headline","tag-intel","tag-mini-computers","tag-raspberry-pi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341028"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215814,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208454\/revisions\/215814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}