Comment by Nextgrid
20 hours ago
> Some PC somewhere with storage is a bigger problem
Both an embedded microcontroller and a PC have storage. The reason you can power-cycle a microcontroller at will is because that storage is read-only and only a specific portion dedicated to state is writable (and the device can be reset if that ever gets corrupted).
Use a buildroot/yocto image on the PC with read-only partitions and a separate state partition that the system can rebuild on boot if it gets corrupted and you'll have something that can be power-cycled with no issues. Network hardware is internally often Linux-based and manages to do fine for exactly this reason.
PCs are orders of magnitude more complex, with a lot more to break. Sounds like a whole lot of work for… what?
Assuming the internet connection and AWS work of course. Which they won’t always, then oops.
A large number of embedded micro controllers are just PCs running Yocto linux configured as GP said. You can save money with a $.05 micro controller, but in most cases the development costs to make that entire system work are more than just buying an off the shelf raspberry pi.
If you're relying on AWS you either way have a "PC" to relay communication between AWS and the keycard readers & door latches.
There are IoT libraries that don’t require that.