$9 Computer CHIP Reveals Its Open Source Details, Runs on Linux Kernel

If you are interested in the latest technologies and advancements in computing, you must have read about the $9 computer CHIP. This miniature powerhouse machine is being pegged as the Raspberry Pi killer. CHIP has almost same functions and power of a basic computer. It has 1GHz R8 ARM processor power, 512MB DDR3 RAM, and 4GB onboard storage. For more details about the $9 computer, read our introductory post on world’s cheapest computer.

CHIP is made by California-based startup Next Thing Co.. The $9 Computer CHIP has run a Kickstarter campaign and managed to raise more than $2 million. Throughout this crowdfunding and media attention, CHIP has stayed focused on the performance and low cost of the device. Recently, Dave Rauchwerk, CEO of Next Thing Co. shared some more details about the the $9 Computer CHIP with Makezine, and it turns out that “CHIP isn’t just the first $9 computer, but it’s also the first Open Source $9 computer.”

To make a faster device at low cost, Next Thing Co. partnered with Free Electrons. With this, the company got advantage of Free Electron’s embedded Linux tech and it has resulted in the recent announcement of CHIP’s Linux support. Currently, the $9 Computer CHIP runs on the most recent version of Linux Kernel i.e. 4.2 Linux Kernel.

Usually, the embedded systems need to download the latest Kernel and patch them with software, which boots the board. To overcome this, the engineers at Next Thing Co. are working to get the entire code of CHIP into the main branch of Linux. With this, all the latest Linux features will be available to developers. So, it’ll be easier for Linux distros to port their code to CHIP.

CHIP has also unveiled their SDK. To install this SDK, you can visit The Next Thing Co.’s GitHub repo. 

Along with the SDK, they’ve also released a version of U-Boot, buildroot, a Linux build, and scripts to flash the $9 Computer CHIP.

With inputs on the $9 Computer CHIP and it’s Linux partership from Makezine.com