If you had unlimited electronic parts to work with...

[Grossel]

Given that I also have neough time and that electric motors and equipment to fabricate pcb - I would buy regular car, rip out the diesel engine and fill in with batteries and make it electric only.

 

[MrAl]

Credit card size, A 900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU, 1GB RAM, 4 USB ports, 40 GPIO pins, Full HDMI port, Ethernet port, Combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video, Camera interface (CSI), Display interface (DSI), Micro SD card slot, VideoCore IV 3D graphics core (Win-10, Android or Linux)

I have the dual core in the other room (mounted on a mini hard drive). It surfs the internet just find. I am looking at the 8x core version.

Hi,

That's cute, thanks for sharing. I guess around 50 bucks? What kind of op sys are you running on that?

What i was after was more like a 4GHz, 16 core or better, but dont want to have to pay for a server type platform. Of course it is for much more than surfing the web; some image processing and some serious number crunching.

 

[ronsimpson]

I guess around 50 bucks?

Version 2 = $41.95 usd
Version 3 = $39.95 usd quad 1.2ghz

Running Android and Ubuntu Linux (graphics Linux).
can run; Windows 10 IoT Core, OpenELEC, OSMC, Pidora, Arch Linux, RISC OS

some image processing

Look at the video engine in this thing. It does real time video processing at 1040 res.
I see these some times running with out a operating system for max video processing.
I see these running camera to internet. (and motion sensing) Running on Ubuntu

 

[schmitt trigger]

On second thought....I would build a relay computer:

http://www.nablaman.com/relay/

 

[StudentSA]

Alas, I fear that basic component based design is a dying trade. The craze is all Arduino and shields or prebuilt "plug and play"/"mix n match" circuits.

 

[StellarRat]

I'd build a low power, but fully operational radar set that uses a laptop for the display and controls.

 

[ronsimpson]

radar

I want to build a sonar, using a Rasberry computer. Using a servo motor and sonic range finder. It might take a minute to scan.
Radar is a step too far for me.

 

[atferrari]

I'm with granddad. I have been in electronics for over 60 years, and I remember when the transistor first became available, and built my first digital clock with RTL ic's(way obsolete). My current project that gets put aside quite often is a US Flag with 400 LED's.

Strips are quite common. Why not?

 

[atferrari]

Hi,

Almost a no brainer for my own interests with a truly unlijmited parts supply,
i'd build a SUPER COMPUTER.

I would also create the strongest chess program on earth for it, better than Deep Blue.

I've already considered some alternatives in hardware even with limited hardware. Already have a base chess program also that might not be the best one on earth, but is still hard to beat for the average player. Installed on a super computer however, it would beat all but the best, and with a little tweeking it would be extremely hard to beat.

Before that though i'd install a lot of programs for electronic design.

Definitely a good idea because to beat your last you would need to build then a better one. A never ending story. Busy forever.

 

[Reloadron]

What would you build first?

I would complete my matter transfer device and beam former wife #1 into the center of a brick wall.

Ron

 

[StellarRat]

LOL

 

[StellarRat]

I want to build a sonar, using a Rasberry computer. Using a servo motor and sonic range finder. It might take a minute to scan.
Radar is a step too far for me.

I think if you build a rotating sonar you've probably conquered half or more of your problems for a radar. I have an ultrasonic range module for my micro-controller board. There are plans out there for a range finder, so that's already half the battle. You only need to build a different kind of detector at that point. Personally I think the writing software to display your contacts will probably be at least as difficult as the electronics.

 

[granddad]

Hi Eric

Eric
PS: I don't wear an anorak, drink coffee from a flask or wear a woolly hat.

anorak, no, coffee , no, woolly hat only down the allotment...

 

[BobW]

I'd like to build an all vacuum tube polyphonic music synthesizer. I've got most of the design figured out, but need to prototype some of the basic subsystems. It won't be anything like a Hammond Novachord. I've figured out how to automatically assign a key to an available synthesizer channel, and I can have as few or as many channels as I can afford. I'd like to have ten channels so that I can use all ten fingers on the keyboard at the same time.

 

[alec_t]

.... and your tube synth would have the added benefit of keeping your house warm during Canadian winters .

 

[atferrari]

On second thought....I would build a relay computer:

http://www.nablaman.com/relay/

 

[atferrari]

A luminous room-size-wall with different sections that could deem or increase intensity adding various effects, just following the Android-like gestures of my hands.

 

[granddad]

I've figured out how to automatically assign a key to an available synthesizer channel,

Scratching head , the octave keys ( notes ) are usually assigned to 1-2-3-n voices on block ( channels ) also notes have sustain, ie channel voice keeps playing after note key is up ... Did i not get your drift.

 

[k7elp60]

Strips are quite common. Why not?

I had not thought of using strips, I'll look into it, thanks for the idea.

 

[BobW]

Scratching head , the octave keys ( notes ) are usually assigned to 1-2-3-n voices on block ( channels ) also notes have sustain, ie channel voice keeps playing after note key is up ... Did i not get your drift.

Yes, it would still have attack/sustain/decay. The idea is that if you have a 72 key keyboard, you can't hit all 72 keys at once. You only have 10 fingers. So, there's no need to have more than 10 channels of tone generation. Of course, if you have the notes set for a long decay time, and play a lot of notes really fast, then you could run out of channels before the earliest note fully decays. The oldest note just gets cut off. This is certainly a limitation to the technique, but still an improvement over the old monophonic Moog synthesizer.

The trick, of course, is in the circuitry that detects a pressed key and assigns it to an available tone generator.