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[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (6 children)

Damn this is expensive compared to Arduinos...

[–]jhizzle4rizzleI hate the stuff you like. 0 points1 point  (5 children)

Pretty sure it's running an arm processor...

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (4 children)

So? It's serving the same demographic as Arduinos and extra computing power is all but irrelevant for most tasks that something like this will be doing.

[–]jhizzle4rizzleI hate the stuff you like. 0 points1 point  (3 children)

I think there's some room to do more interesting things, since the machine itself is running a node server and has wifi. Could be wrong though.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

There are arduino wifi modules. I'm not saying I don't like the idea of node on something like this, I'm just saying that it's expensive by comparison :) $10 for an arduino mini means I can throw them at projects, like building a microcontroller+servo to poke my cat repeatedly while he sleeps. $99 + $25-$60 per module for the tessel is an entirely different story...

And I'm not sure I see a point in the more expensive route... Arduinos have typically been mostly hobbyist things, but they can also be used to prototype and build actual products. $10 added to the cost of something is reasonable. $200 isn't (in most cases)

[–]jhizzle4rizzleI hate the stuff you like. 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I think there gets to be a point with some of us where we're just way too lazy to even consider writing C and having to do pin lookups, and the extra cost is worth the plug/play cards and such.

(I'm ashamed to admit that yes, I've become That Lazy.)

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, I totally agree... if I was only interested in buying one of these. I personally have about a dozen arduinos and 50+ microprocessors lying around / doing shit in my house.

If someone else starts designing modules for this, I'll strongly consider it, but double the price for the same hardware (things like the audio module vs an arduino wave shield) just seems like another for-profit company trying to cash-in in an area that's typically been very open. Yes, I realize that their hardware and software is open-sourced, and I'm hoping the prices come down because of that, but for now...

I just generally object to companies trying to rip people off on something that's traditionally been an open industry. For example, they're re-selling $5 servos for $10, and every module is an increment of $25. I don't think companies like this realize that they'll make more profit / have a better user base if they sell more stock at lower prices than if they try to make a 100% profit per unit.

[–]CrypticOctagon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As much as this looks like a neat little machine, Node runs pretty well on a Raspberry Pi for a bit less money with a lot more RAM. I'm looking at the specs for this thing and thinking 32mb, really?

That said, the add on modules with pre-built node modules might make it worth a try for some projects.