NextThingCo CHIP

CHIP (C.H.I.P.) was a single-board computer crowdfunded by now-defunct Next Thing Co. (NTC), released as open-source hardware running open-source software. CHIP and related products are discontinued.

= Identification =

On the back of the device, the following is printed: CHIP v1.0

= Sunxi support =

Current status
CHIP has some support in mainline U-Boot and kernel (defconfig and device tree). Mainline U-boot can boot an OS via USB. CHIP's builtin SLC NAND is not supported by Mainline U-Boot. NextThings version of U-boot supports the builtin NAND.

Manual build
You can build things for yourself by following our Manual build howto and by choosing from the configurations available below.

Sunxi/Legacy U-Boot
Chip is not supported by Sunxi/Legacy U-Boot

Mainline U-Boot
Use the CHIP_defconfig build target. Follow these instructions to build Mainline U-Boot. You can now use u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin via sunxi-fel or write Mainline U-Boot to the builtin NAND with the help of NextThingCo's custom U-Boot version.

NextThingCo U-Boot
Chip was shipped with a custom version of U-Boot supporting the SLC NAND. An archived version of the git-repo can be found here

Sunxi/Legacy Kernel
Not supported.

Mainline kernel
Use the sun5i-r8-chip.dtb device-tree binary. Mainline kernel can not interact with the builtin NAND.

NextThingCo kernel
Archived version of NextThingCo's git-repo here. NextThingCo's patched linux kernel supports the builtin NAND.

Locating the UART
The UART located is on the header named U14. On this header Pin 1 is Ground (GND), Pin 3 is TX (Transmit) and Pin 5 is RX (Recieve). To establish a connection the TX of the Chip must be connected to the RX of USB-UART Converter and the RX of the Adapter to the TX of the Chip, Ground is connected to Ground. Do NOT Connect 5V or 3V to the Chip. Please note that the UART of the Chip uses 3.3V ( RX of the Chip is 5V tolerant ).

GND -> GND on the CHIP TX -> UART1-RX on the CHIP RX -> UART1-TX on the CHIP

FEL mode
Shorting out the FEL and GND pins before connecting power will cause the device to boot in FEL mode.

Pinout
= Tips, Tricks, Caveats =

The Chip requires 2A to run without issues if less Power is provided a brownout may occure.

If USB Devices attached to the Chip require more then 500mA the No Limit version needs to be Flashed.

A single Cell Lithium battery can be attached to the Chip.

If a external Antenna is required aUFL connector can be soldered on the back.

Device specific topic
Other than most Single Board Computers, the Chip needs to be flashed with an Operating System (OS).

The Vendor provided a custom OS called CHIP OS based on Debian Jessie. CHIP OS uses the Debian package repositories. Images of CHIP OS come in different Flavours (Desktop, Server, Pocketchip). Those Images were provided in proprietary and undocumented format with the Filetype .chp.

These files were designed to be used with a (now offline) Website and Chrome addon.

'''Fortunately several Open Source alternatives exist. '''

NexThingCo provided a collection of bash scripts called CHIP-tools to update and flash images via sunxi-fel and fastboot. Archived/forked versions can be found here and here. For the image files an archived version of the original images is used.

Flashing CHIP OS with CHIP-tools (host computer on Debian/Ubuntu)
Clone the Repo from Github. git clone https://github.com/Thore-Krug/Flash-CHIP.git Change into the Directory. cd Flash-CHIP Make the Script executable sudo chmod +x Flash.sh Execute the script sudo ./Flash.sh Select the version you want to install. Wait until the installation finishes.

Troubleshooting

Use USB 2

Refresh Apt Repos sudo apt update

Flashing CHIP OS (host computer on MacOS)
Clone the Repo git clone https://github.com/Thore-Krug/Install-Flash-Chip-Mac Change into the Directory cd Install-Flash-Chip-Mac Make the Script executable sudo chmod +x Flasher.sh Install all necessary Dependencies. ./Flash.sh install-all Flash your Chip ./Flash.sh flash Select the version you want to install. Wait until the installation finishes.

Or read the Help ./Flash.sh help

Troubleshooting

Kill the Script with ctrl + C

Read the output if something is not installed or Permissions are missing

Just restart the Script (fixes most of the Problem with FEL and Fastboot )

If this does not help reboot, retry

Open an Issue on the Git Repo.

Use USB 2

= Dips = Like on other Single Board Computers, Hardware Addons which add more functionality to the Board can be used. These Addon Boards are called Dips, the Vendor NTC (Next Thing Company) provided HDMI and VGA Dips. But other User created other Dips too, like a USB Hub or a SD Card addon.

= Variants =


 * Alpha CHIP
 * CHIP Pro

= Also known as =


 * C.H.I.P.

= See also =


 * NextThingCo Chip Pro
 * PocketChip
 * C.H.I.P. Single-Board Computer Wiki
 * C.H.I.P. (Wikipedia)
 * Kickstarter project page