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In real life (off the internet), pretty much everyone I meet seems to be using the Raspberry Pi or other Linux embedded system. The use of an actual microcontroller seems quite rare with people I’ve met. Even Arduino seems less popular in my city than embedded Linux. In a way this makes sense — why would someone buy an Arduino when they can get a Raspberry Pi that does so much more at the same price or less? Linux offers a large amount of software out of the box and allows people to program in simpler scripting languages. What is a microcontroller actually good for in comparison to a system on a chip?
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Power consumption is a major factor. Many microcontrollers can run on a few µA. Keep in mind that the microcontroller is just the chip, not the board with all the accessories. When designing a purpose-built system you're designing around 100mm² of space, as opposed to 4000mm² or more for all the gadgets.
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Thank you Yvan, that's a very educated response for those/many of us who don't come from background in Electrical Engineering!
dev
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