Single Board Computers
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Unlike microcontrollers, single-board computers (SBC) are basically miniaturized fully equipped computers much like what's inside a desktop computer or laptop. Both SBCs and microcontrollers can carry out similar tasks, but the biggest defining factor is that microcontrollers run a software loop while SBCs run a full-blown Operating System (OS). This allows SBCs to do far more complex operations such as real-time image processing, machine learning, etc.
There are many examples of where SBCs and microcontrollers are used together. For example, many drones often operate the main autopilot on a microcontroller with a carrier SBC to process additional information. Often times microcontrollers are cheaper, more robust, and more reliable due to their simplicity, whereas SBCs can be more expensive, somewhat less reliable, and far more complicated to operate. It's important to pinpoint what the computer's task will be in your project and choose accordingly.
The Raspberry Pi ecosystem is the most popular SBC. Raspberry Pi has a huge online community with millions of users worldwide, so it is much more easier to get started with for new users.
Raspberry Pi's were designed to teach beginners more about computers, so the ecosystem is very well established and backed by huge amounts of community support. In our experience starting from the simple boot of Raspberian OS is the best starting point. Raspberian OS has so many build in educational projects where new users can get more familiar with SBC projects. Be sure to also check out the documentation page where there's a free beginners' guide.
The NVIDIA Jetson is an enterprise-level SBC designed for autonomy and AI. It's the favored option due to its legacy for drone and robotics operations. The Jetson platform integrates very well with image processing
Due to the chip shortage and other supply chain problems at the time of this writing, Raspberry Pis have been incredibly hard to purchase. The only option is from sellers who are marking up the price by sometimes 10 folds. Luckily has a great video comparing the various alternative SBCs you may have never heard of.
