Low cost WiFi SBC vs. microcontroller - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: surgeprotector
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 02:05:10 pm
content: I am new to Arduino and I recently tested a basic network program on an Arduino enabled ESP8266. I found the development environment extremely limited and I just don't see the point in using an Arduino board when I can get a Linux powered SBC for lower cost. If power is not important, what benefits does the microcontroller provide vs. SBC?

author: darko31
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 03:28:30 pm
content: Much more available peripherals, more GPIO, several UART, SPI, I2C, CAN and other ports, ADCs, possibly DACs, hardware timers, and so on. MCUs are still a bit cheaper than SBCs, but it really depends on your requirements and preffered programming langauge.Compare for example available I/O on Rasperry Pi 3 and 15 dollar STM32F411E discovery board.

author: whalphen
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 03:38:09 pm
content: A Linux SBC is great if you want to handle file based data. For example, if you want to move files over a network. However, if you want to do real world sensing and interacting, such as taking measurements or driving valves, actuators, or switches, you'll find the Arduino to be much easier to use. There is a wide range of low cost sensors and output devices readily available for the Arduino.

author: nfmax
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 03:45:35 pm
content: A microcontroller will also generally start up very much faster than a GNU/Linux based SBC, if this is important to your application.

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 04:24:42 pm
content: It's just like Shrek says: there are layers. If you want to do bit-twiddling with SPI, I2C, parallel, GPIO and so on, the bare microcontroller will shine. If you want to solve world hunger, you need a full blown computer. If you want to do real-time work where response time is important, you probably don't use Linux. But you might use Linux to supervise the overall operation. There's a place for both platforms, that's why they exist.Linux for the human interface makes sense. Even oscilloscopes are doing that (or something very close) because they are adept at handling graphics displays, networking and some kind of mouse/touch control. But when it gets down to taking the signal samples, there will be an FPGA to handle the precise timing.

author: surgeprotector
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 05:57:10 pm
content: Thanks for all of the great responses. Yes, I figured that the micro would be better for "bit-fiddling", but I am not so sure about the cost though. I have seen SBCs with wifi as low as $5. Cost could be important if a large quantity is required.

author: Kilrah
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 07:16:36 pm
content: Again even if it's cheaper it might not be as well suited, without any idea about your application nobody can really advise.$5 SBCs are often kind of sponsored and/or not really available in large quantities. If you want quantity you'll likely buy neither a bunch of ardunios nor Linux SBC's, you'll rather spin your own board in which case the balance usually tips the other way (easy to get $1 microcontroller vs a SoC that nobody wants to sell to you unless you do really large orders).

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 08:08:50 pm
content: Microcontroller + ESP8266 usually doesn't make much sense, since you could just run your code on the ESP8266 itself.One exception is when you want low power and don't need to use the WiFi very often, in which case you could use a very low power microcontroller, and only turn on the ESP8266 when needed.Or, if you need lots of fast GPIO pins, or special peripherals, a microcontroller is a cheap way to get that.Where is the $5 WiFi SBC? The cheapest one I know of is the $9 CHIP.

author: surgeprotector
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 08:27:08 pm
content: The $5 SBC is on kickstarter. See this article:http://hackerboards.com/5-dollar-linux-equipped-omega2-iot-module-launches-on-kickstarter/

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 08:41:58 pm
content: Quote from: surgeprotector on August 04, 2016, 08:27:08 pmYou can't really count that since it's not even supposed to ship until November.

author: surgeprotector
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 09:21:10 pm
content: Well, maybe I can't count the $5 SBC, but it does show where we are heading. Who knows, maybe I will use the device to "solve world hunger" and according to whalphen, I need an SBC for that. Arduino won't do much good

author: ebclr
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 10:18:31 pm
content: You can join bothhttp://www.ebay.com/itm/EMW3162-Serial-WiFi-Module-120MHz-STM32F205RG-Low-Consumption-onboard-Antenna-/121932231030?hash=item1c63ba3176:g:XkYAAOSwu1VW8LZu

author: darko31
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 11:03:29 pm
content: You look like you already set your mind to it, you want to use SBCs, by all means use them. It all really depends on your application. Since you haven't said what that applications is, I'm going to assume it's for mucking around and experimenting, then use whatever you can get your hands on.

author: surgeprotector
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 05, 2016, 12:21:33 am
content: Quote from: darko31 on August 04, 2016, 11:03:29 pmYes, it's for my own experiments. I'll probably get an Arduino in addition to the C.H.I.P. I already have.Thanks.