Future of H3 Hardware

Hawk

@guidol , I came across this thread that you started on another forum, and one of the things that one of the people replied to you got me thinking.
How long will the H3 platforms be around?
As @uli has pointed out before, one of the advantages of BASIC Engine NG over the original BASIC Engine is that you can buy "Off the shelf" hardware and run almost straight away. The fact that many smart TV boxes were also based around the H3 was also a big plus, as they could be bought quite cheaply, and already came in a nice case ready to go.
Now, manufacturers are using the H3 SoC less and less and are using more modern SoCs. Now BE NG doesn't need the extra power of these newer SoCs, but they are becoming the more common replacement.
The Armbian community is getting Linux to run on a wider variety of smart TV boxes.

I know @uli has said it is a big change to get BE NG to run on these alternate SoCs, but for the long term future of BE NG, is that something that we should be working towards?

guidol

I think - at this time - when you are seraching for a H3-device it isnt the best to buy a TV-Box.
The safest way is to buy a Orange Pi One (512MB RAM or a Orange Pi PC (1GB RAM).
But not the Orange Pi PC2 - because it has a H5 CPU.

For ths SBCs you could also buy the clear official case.

Allwinner doesnt produce the H5 in high quantities anymore, but I didnt hear this for the H2(+) or the H3.

The One
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115060353934
The PC
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115074691975

But in Corona-Times the prices have gone double as for the price I did buy some years ago 🙁

Hawk

guidol That's good advice. As you may know, I'm trying to build a Taoun like PC based around BASIC Engine and was looking for as many different op[tions for SBC as possible. At this stage it looks like I will base it only around the Tauon SBC, and the OPi PC, the inly two that I have.
I'm trying to design the case so that it's easy to add different SBCs without too much effort. It's really aout making the mounting arrangements flexible, and the external ports easy to adapt to different SBCs.

Willard

Have you looked into using the Libre Computer Board ALL-H3-CC H3 1GB (Tritium)? It has the same form factor as the Raspberry Pi 3. It is now available on Amazon again. I also found a case with a 10" screen with power supply that it should fix into. I ordered one since I'm looking at screen options to use. It doesn't have a speaker or keyboard but the sale price is very good.

Libre Computer Board ALL-H3-CC H3 1GB (Tritium)
https://www.amazon.com/Libre-Computer-Board-ALL-H3-CC-Tritium/dp/B07D4KT1GQ/ref=sr_1_1
Price: $30.00

Vilros 10 Inch Screen with Flip Stand Case for Raspberry Pi 4 Model B and 3 Model B-B+
https://www.amazon.com/Vilros-Screen-Stand-Raspberry-Model/dp/B09211N9QF/ref=sr_1_6
Was: $79.99
Price: $34.99
You Save: $45.00 (56%)

painintheworld

Willard For what it is worth, the Libre H3 is my favorite H3 device, bar none. Thank you for letting us know it is back in stock! Will be ordering one in a few hours 🙂

Speaking of H3 hardware, I have done a little testing comparing the T95Super Android TV box that supposedly runs at 1.5Ghz under Android, with the Libre H3 that is advertised as running at 1Ghz. The testing was the test used at The Back Shed for the Color Maximite 2, as a quick and dirty way of seeing how many lines of code it can run per second. At least as far as Engine BASIC is concerned, the 1Ghz Libre H3 did 1,869,158 lines per second vs. 1,868,460 for the supposedly 1.5Ghz Android TV box. For kicks and giggles, it would be neat to play with if Engine BASIC would push to 1.5Ghz 🙂

Link to The Back Shed page is below. I probed pins using PAD(0) and PAD(1), instead of the exact analog of what they did, because I'm lazy...>> [https://www.thebackshed.com/forum/ViewTopic.php?TID=12350](https://)

MC10Guru

Ahoy,
Thanks for the heads-up on the screen case kit. I just bought one of the 10" screen/case combos. Its a great price for what it is even without built-in sound. Vilros sells a small battery powered speaker that might work.[https://vilros.com/products/mini-speaker](https://) for adding sound. I can just add my Rii K18 wireless keyboard for a complete system. I am leaning toward mounting my Libre Tritium board in this case. With my Vilros 3A 10,000mah battery pack [https://vilros.com/products/10-000mah-portable-power-supply-for-raspberry-pi](https://) it would be a totally portable system that could run for 5-6 hrs on battery.

Maybe I'll shop around for something to add sound later. I already have 2 10" Kano screens I love but they are also w/o built-in sound, though one has an amplified speaker that gets power from the GPIO pins (currently has a working RPi 3B installed). I also have several 7" touchscreen monitors with sound but 10" is easier to work with at my age.
happy happy daveyb