LordChuckles

One of the board members here wrote an article about a 12 node NanoPi-Fire3 cluster. I found it quite exciting (I don't get out much). It is a couple of years old. It seems to be very powerful yet energy efficient. Is this SBC still the King of clusters? I want to fool around with clusters, cluster software managers and process distributors, and perhaps do some coin mining (if that is feasible). Someone said this board has too little memory for coin mining, that 2gb would be better than 1gb. Pine have a 7 slot clusterboard which takes their PINE A64 (+) "Single Board Computer powered by Allwinner’s A64 Quad-Core ARM Cortex A53 64-Bit SOC". That chip seems to have Cryptography Extension (SHA and AES instructions). I wonder how it would compete with the Nano pi fire3 for mining.

The Orange Pi 1GB Ram is very modest in comparison to the 3GB which is available in the Alfawise H96 Pro+ for $67.99. And I get 32GB internal storage with that. What is going to give me the best processing bang for buck? I can get a 4GB/32GB stogage H96 Max for $109. It has two A-17 processors and four A-53 cores. I can get a 3GB/32GB storage H96 Pro+ for $62 (sale next few days) which has eight A-53 cores. "Cortex-A17 core provides 60% higher performance than the Cortex-A9 core, while reducing the power consumption by 20% under the same workload" The A-7 looks to be 40% more power efficient than the A-9 while having 10% less processing power The A-53 seems to outperform the A-7. Note that the A-53 is 64 bit while the A-7 and A-17 are 32 bit. https://community.arm.com/processors/f/discussions/5967/what-are-the-main-differences-between-cortex-a7-a9-a53 Perhaps I am neglecting some other SBCs whose chips hammer these into the ground. I was recently surprised by a 13.5" Tablet, which used a revised Intel Atom, that had incredible performance.

I am thinking of buying the Alfawise H96 Pro+ TV Box ($67.99 USD). It has 3GB Ram / 32GB internal storage (some used for Android etc.) It has an Amlogic S912 Octa Core CPU. http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box-mini-pc/pp_503487.html I started looking for a mini PC after a recent trip. From some destinations you have to stick all electronic devices in the hold. I'd prefer to leave my laptop at home in such a case. Another motivation is that these TV boxes are easily hooked up to TVs (duh!) which most people have in their homes. I have been having a lot of discussions with people I meet. It would be handy to have documents, videos, quotes, notes available and easily to hand during these discussions. I thought of making my own mini wikipedia (it is open source) for the topics I'm interested in and putting it onto this box (plus SD card). Then I just connect the box to the wifi where I am staying and I can go through the material. In the past I sent the screen from a Raspberry Pi to my laptop. Is that possible from these TV boxes (running whatever) to my android tablet? That would allow me to use this device rather like my laptop when I don't have a TV/LCD to use - like on the train. I have a Logitech mouse/keyboard combination. Will this be laggy on a TV box like the one I am thinking of buying? Can I do what I want using Android (7.1 already installed) or is it better to install your Ubuntu? At the moment I use Fedora for most things.