The MIPS Creator Ci40 is a single-board computer for developers working on projects involving Internet of Things applications and low-power MIPS processors.

Imagination Technologies unveiled the board in October, and now the company has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to bring the Ci40 to market.

You can reserve a board with a pledge of £35 (about $53), but it won’t ship until April, 2016.

mips ci40

The CI40 board features a 550 MHz dual-core MIPS processor. It has 256MB of RAM, 512MB of storage, a microSD card slot, and built-in support for 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 as well a micro USB port, and an Ethernet jack.

The board has a 40-pin Raspberry Pi-compatible header and 2 mikroBUS headers, along with other features aimed at developers, and Imagination is also offering expansion boards and sensor boards through Kickstarter.

Imagination says the board can support a variety of GNU/Linux operating systems including Debian, OpenWrt, and Google’s new Brillo operating system.

While some developer boards can also be used as low-power desktop computers or home media theater PCs, the Ci40 is really designed for Internet of Things development. For example, it could be used to build home automation and security products such as smart locks or thermostats, surveillance systems, or air quality monitors.

via Imagination

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8 replies on “MIPS Creator Ci40 dev board hits Kickstarter for $53 and up”

    1. Spec – no
      BUT it has diferent target + you have a company behind it, so theoretically the support should be better than OPi.

  1. No HDMI? How does one connect a display? Do you need a separate video card?

    1. You don’t connect a display… Like the article states, its primary usage is for Internet Of Things type applications…

      Having a Internet connected device that runs home automation, a IoT home or office device, etc. doesn’t need screens as they work over the Internet or network connection… It’s like asking why a router doesn’t have a display output… This is not intended as a self contained PC device, you interact with it either through sensors or through another device ranging from your phone, a tablet to your actual PC…

      Like a Arduino, you’d have it connected to an actual PC for programming, developing, etc…

      1. Thanks for explaining. The router analogy helps a lot.

        It is designed to automatically show up on your network similar to a NAS device? There is no BIOS that requires a directly connected display to access like you would have on a regular computer?

        1. Everything is handled from a host system. just like setting up a router for the first time or flashing your router’s FW manually, etc. Your host system will have its own screen and this device will just be connected to it…

          IoT devices get connected to a regular PC, and you use the provided developer tool software to program/develop, etc. then disconnect, install in final setup and run it over the Internet/Network…

          You can have things like a potted plant with one of these things installed that lets you water the plant remotely or automatically… you can run home automation equipment over the Internet… literally hundreds of possibilities…

          You’re just not going to use it like a regular PC device any more than you would an Arduino, etc…

        2. It is called a “Boot-Loader” (aka Bootstrap Loader) and is similar to the BIOS in your PC if you choose to access it on start-up.

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