C.H.I.P. project
In the Elbow

"maddog" takes a look at the new C.H.I.P. project on Kickstarter that promises to produce a computer for nine dollars.
Last night, I joined a Kickstarter project [1] called C.H.I.P. that promised to create a computer for $9.00, delivered in December 2015. Although I purchased an Arduino computer last year for $9.00, other more powerful computers still were in the range of $35 or more. This Kickstarter project is a breakthrough for many reasons.
First of all, it has a 32-bit processor and can run a full operating system. I love the Arduino, but I want my computer to be able to run a full operating system as well as a single dedicated application. Knowing that the operating system is Debian based and is a modern ARM architecture gives me faith that many of the applications I use day to day will "just work."
Although C.H.I.P. has only half a gigabyte of RAM, that is the same amount as the original Raspberry Pi, and C.H.I.P. runs a newer version of the ARM architecture at 1GHz instead of 700MHz. Unlike the original version of the Raspberry Pi, it has 4GB of flash built into the computer and promises to run Debian with "over the air" updates.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Kali Linux 2025.3 Released with New Hacking Tools
If you're a Kali Linux fan, you'll be glad to know that the third release of this famous pen-testing distribution is now available with updates for key components.
-
Zorin OS 18 Beta Available for Testing
The latest release from the team behind Zorin OS is ready for public testing, and it includes plenty of improvements to make it more powerful, user-friendly, and productive.
-
Fedora Linux 43 Beta Now Available for Testing
Fedora Linux 43 Beta ships with Gnome 49 and KDE Plasma 6.4 (and other goodies).
-
USB4 Maintainer Leaves Intel
Michael Jamet, one of the primary maintainers of USB4 and Thunderbolt drivers, has left Intel, leaving a gaping hole for the Linux community to deal with.
-
Budgie 10.9.3 Now Available
The latest version of this elegant and configurable Linux desktop aligns with changes in Gnome 49.
-
KDE Linux Alpha Available for Daring Users
It's official, KDE Linux has arrived, but it's not quite ready for prime time.
-
AMD Initiates Graphics Driver Updates for Linux Kernel 6.18
This new AMD update focuses on power management, display handling, and hardware support for Radeon GPUs.
-
AerynOS Alpha Release Available
With a choice of several desktop environments, AerynOS 2025.08 is almost ready to be your next operating system.
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for more than two weeks.
-
RingReaper Malware Poses Danger to Linux Systems
A new kind of malware exploits modern Linux kernels for I/O operations.