Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

A tribute to the single-board computer.

The engineer looks at the growing block diagram of a yet-to-be-built system and says, “Put a computer here.”

What eventually goes there is a single-board computer. We don’t design computers from scratch as the would be wasteful. Instead, we buy an already built computer, write software, and put it in that block on the diagram.

So what? No one cares any more. Still, back in the 1980s, the idea of a drop-in computer was revolutionary.

And the single-board computer is still important and is still evolving. See this and that from Wikipedia.

And if that isn’t enough, look at the new developments:

• Raspberry Pi
• Intel New Unit of Computing
• Cubieboard
• PC-On-A-Stick

The last one in the list floors me. What could be better?

The future of the single-board computer looks bright. The next “board” may be the size of my granddaughter’s fingernail.