[Noisebridge-discuss] Big LED Screen - potential upgrade?

[nils at shkoo.com]

On Fri, 10 Apr 2009, Andy Isaacson wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 09, 2009 at 09:49:14PM -0700, nils at shkoo.com wrote:
>> Does anyone have any input relating to this stuff or ideas of good boards
>> to use?  Does anyone want 99 of those sparkfun SAM9-L9260 boards so we can
>> get the bulk discount? :)
>
> I think this is a cheaper way to get an AT91:
>
> http://www.opencircuits.com/Linuxstamp
>
> (haven't looked if its SPI ports are reasonably configured, though.)

Cool!

The at91rm9200 only has a single SPI port.  However, it does make the pins 
available.  And, as far as I can tell, the only thing the linuxstamp uses 
SPI for is the flash, so if we store all our data on the SD card (or even 
on a external usb hard drive) that would put us in the same boat as the 
SAM9-L9260, minus the potential ability to rework and gain access to the 
second spi interface if necessary.

Linuxstamp:

8MB flash
32MB RAM
$120

SAM9-L9260:

512MB flash
64MB RAM
$200

Both have sd card connectors, so I guess it's mostly bang for buck 
decision. I'm ok with going down to 32MB RAM for a $80 savings.  So I'm 
liking the linuxstamp for this application. :)

-nils