Toms HW Reviews RasPi vs Arduino. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: phil from seattle
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2020, 07:54:03 pm
content: https://www.tomshardware.com/features/raspberry-pi-vs-arduinoWeird article for a number of reasons but the thing I find most annoying is a lack of focus on all the possible processors that are supported by the Arduino IDE. A Teensy 4.1 or STM Blue Pill are good examples that should have been covered. They make judgments based on the Uno - 16K code space for example and completely ignore devices that have 1M or more. And they talk about cost being <$10 to > $100 for the Portentia (that how many people use?).I just don't see there being much point of comparison - they fit in decidedly different spaces with not a lot of overlap.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2020, 09:20:23 pm
content: There is some value to the layperson who wants to do "X" and wants a general guide of what board would be more appropriate.No one is going to use Portenta, but it was probably hyped up and advertised a lot, so thats what you get. Their target audience is not us, I wouldn't worry about it.BTW lately PC hardware reviews are getting far more technical, which is cool. GN has a proper scope, bench power supply, etc, for his testing. Maybe toms is similar.

author: mikerj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2020, 11:29:25 pm
content: Years ago TH had great reviews but it's plummeted downhill rapidly since then with blatantly biased reviews and incorrect advice. Not a piece I'd be taking any notice of at all tbh.

author: westfw
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2020, 08:07:03 am
content: Sigh. Their final tables look sort-of OK - I think I agree with most of the points.The thing is, you can only write a review like this (as) if you don't really understand the question.Which is sort-of OK, because the only people that need to read the review don't understand the question either.And I've seen enough "beginners" ask awful questions about Arduino and RPi that this review is likely to be useful.(Examples: "Can I run Javascript on my Uno?" "Can I power my RPi with a 9V battery?")

author: newbrain
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2020, 07:51:34 pm
content: Quote from: westfw on July 11, 2020, 08:07:03 amThis.TH was once a decent site.Now we read pearls like this:QuoteOr, in the table, that the RaspberryPi has got 40 GPIO pins (it hasn't, it's a 40 pin connector, 28 GPIO + 12 Power) and the Arduino Uno 14 (nope, about 20 + power IIRC).And this is just from a quick scan of the "article".

author: langwadt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2020, 08:02:19 pm
content: Quote from: phil from seattle on July 10, 2020, 07:54:03 pmso next weeks article will be running shoes vs. pickup truck ?

author: MarkMLl
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2020, 09:18:10 pm
content: Quote from: langwadt on July 11, 2020, 08:02:19 pmGood metaphor. It's possible to program the RPi as a bare-metal device... but hardly anybody does. It's possible to run an Arduino with a (simple) OS kernel... but hardly anybody does.It would be fair to have bullet points showing what each is good for, but acomparative review... well quite frankly, it stinks.MarkMLl

author: NorthGuy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2020, 01:32:03 pm
content: Arduino's 16 MHz clock is twice as fast as my 8 MHz PC XT 8086 was.

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2020, 02:45:02 pm
content: Quote from: NorthGuy on July 12, 2020, 01:32:03 pmIf the ATmega comes with the "full swing crystal oscillator" you can boost it to whopping 20MHz and feel the power of 8 bits.

author: phil from seattle
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2020, 04:48:01 pm
content: Quote from: madires on July 12, 2020, 02:45:02 pmOr for $20 you could get a Teensy 4.0 and run it at 600 mhz. It overclocks pretty easily, too. Though is pretty power hungry above 800.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2020, 08:40:32 pm
content: Quote from: madires on July 12, 2020, 02:45:02 pmAll that is way faster than my 3.5MHz Z80 ZX Spectrum, but still can't run games.

author: MarkMLl
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2020, 08:53:40 pm
content: Quote from: Bud on July 12, 2020, 08:40:32 pmhttps://community.arduboy.com/t/smart-response-xe-re-purposed-into-arduboy/6094Arduboy is an Arduino-based handheldhttps://arduboy.com/The Smart Response XE has a half-decent keyboard and LCD screen.I think that the Spectrum comparison is entirely fair.MarkMLl

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2020, 09:17:06 am
content: Quote from: Bud on July 12, 2020, 08:40:32 pmThere is also a video showing a Transistortester running Tetris.

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2020, 03:09:36 pm
content: LOL I need to load that on my transistor tester. Tetris might be hard to play, not enough controls to make move, rotate, and drop very easy to do. Electronoobs recently had a video with an ATMega based game unit that played a bunch of different games.It's sort of like all those threads about why would us use an 8 bit micro when you can get a 32 bit one that runs 100x faster just as cheap. So many of the devices that we interact with have no point being super fast GHz level processors, that's why. I have a whole bunch of projects either built or that I am working on. All of them spend most of their time just waiting for the user to make an input, and then act on it. Does it really matter than on an 8 bit micro it might make 10K loops waiting and on that fancy 32 bit ARM Cortex one it makes 1 million loops while waiting? And when the action triggered by the button press is moving a servo that takes 1/2 second to complete its throw, does it matter that the control signal gets there in 5uS vs 50uS? I guess I am a rather strange bird - I love gadgets, but I also hate this mentality that we must always use something faster faster, faster when there is zero benefit.Sure, a Pi has GPIO, but I don;t consider a Pi and at ATMega series micro to be in the same ballpark - they just aren't designed to solve the same problems. Sure, the Pi can do anything the ATMega can do, and then some - but in those applications where the extra stuff the Pi can do aren't needed or don;t add anything to the finished project - it's complete overkill. Like building a 40 core monster PC with 1GB RAM and multiple video cards so you can calculate 2+2.

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2020, 04:37:26 pm
content: Quote from: rrinker on July 13, 2020, 03:09:36 pmI agree.In addition to the above, if the needs are simple enough to work in an 8-bit micro, why not take advantage of the simpler architecture? I can get something up and running quicker in an EFM8 than in a TI Tiva TM4C, for example.Fit the parts to the application.