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Another low cost solution for QLC+

Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 12:42 am
by Massimo Callegari
After a few days of research, I ended up doing another experiment to offer you QLC+ users another low cost solution to run your lights.

I have written an extensive article about it with an overview and some techy bits to help you understand the various shades of this alternative.
Hope it helps !

Feel free to comment here if you have questions or opinions about it.

Another low cost solution for QLC+

Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 7:51 am
by Santiago Benejam Torres
The pcDuino3 Nano looks great, low power comsumption and more powerful than RPi.

I recently bought this [mini-ITX motherboard](http://www.pccomponentes.com/asrock_q1900_itx.html) to make/renew an HTPC.
There are less powerful boards that are a bit cheaper. These motherboard comes with built in processor, you must only add memory and a case. But are cheaper than many other motherboard + processor solutions. Maybe this motherboards are a good option too.
I installed Ubuntu 14.04 in a few minutes and all devices are working without problems.

Another low cost solution for QLC+

Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 1:05 pm
by Massimo Callegari
Hi Santiago, yes, there are plenty of so called "mini PC" alternatives
(e.g. http://www.solid-run.com/shop/)

But:
- in general they are expensive
- the more you get close to the "PC" world, the slower is the boot process
- they don't usually have the typical IO of embedded devices (GPIO, I2C, SPI, etc...)

Basically the whole point of my research is:
- stick around $35
- full support for QLC+ (including Qt5 audio/video)
- boot as fast as possible for standalone solutions (around 30 seconds is ideal)

Another low cost solution for QLC+

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 10:39 am
by Massimo Callegari
Wow, I think I have just found the next step after PcDuino3 !

http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products ... &tab_idx=1

Funny the sentence "Don't put up with the slow single core computer anymore." ... with a purely anonymous reference to the Raspberry Pi ! :)

Start shipping Dec 16th. Gonna see if I can get one soon and then I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Another low cost solution for QLC+

Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 6:25 pm
by Massimo Callegari
Ehm...it's the same one I posted 5 days ago :)

Another low cost solution for QLC+

Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 6:29 pm
by Santiago Benejam Torres
Oops! Sorry. I had not seen the previous link. ;-)

Another low cost solution for QLC+

Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2015 5:10 pm
by Zeph
Here are my experiences with the new HardKernel ODROID-C1 and QLC+:
[ODROID-C1](https://sourceforge.net/p/qlcplus/discu ... /e26fcf30/)

Another low cost solution for QLC+

Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2015 10:56 pm
by David Robarts
While the ODROID-C1 looks like it will be a nice upgrade from a RasberryPi for many QLC+ users, for anyone interested in the pcDuino (I could see someone getting creative with the arduino style headers), I did find a page on kernel building for it: http://www.pcduino.com/how-to-build-kernel-for-pcduino/

Also it looks to me like Ubunto 14.04 for pcDuino has been built. http://www.linksprite.com/?page_id=864

Re: Another low cost solution for QLC+

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2023 5:38 am
by DanfromCanada
Anyone else out there with this hardware? I would say it's a dead end even for basic use.

I bought a few on Amazon last summer since they were cheap and the specs looked like more than what I needed (very basic headless control server for power sequencing relays and hopefully a few dmx scenes).

I only recently fired it up. Sadly, the OS is so badly out of date that you can't even get HTTPS sites to load, and the update services are obviously failing.

At this point, would not recommend, though I did find a user system image build that I'll try before putting them back on the shelf.

If anyone is using this hardware successfully with QLC+ I would be interested in trying it as a DMX controller for house lights, but if I can't get basic OS support it doesn't seem worth the hassle.

I did manage to acquire a raspberry pi recently and that will likely be the way I go forward with the project.