Another SBC

Hardware
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I have experimented with different ARM based SBC systems and boards.

One thing I had to learn the hard way is: don’t underestimate the community. Doubtlessly, the Raspi is almost 10 years on the market, extremely widespread and kind of set the standard.

I used some very interesting SBC with sometimes more power than the Raspi version of the current time, but such boards get relatively useless if the campaing / small company just disappears or is far behind the promised support planes. Still there might be support of the SoC manufactorer itself, but updating kernel and BSP and that stuff is time consuming and something you do not want to care about.

Fully Open Hardware is definitley the way to go in the future but the plattform needs widespread acceptance so that “workload” can be spread and projects like Zynthian eg. can rely on an up-to-date kernel and linux system. Booting the SoC and graphics unit (sometimes also video encoder/decoder units) are still a major pitfall for many ARM based systems - although the situation improved over the past years. In the past, some manufacturer provided “open” video drivers, which meant some kernel module which loaded a BLOB (kind of binary firmware) and of course, the only provided this for certain and few kernel versions…

I am curious which platfform is going to solve this best - hopefully in the next years. Maybe some ARM system, maybe also some x86 Atom with an open UEFI implementation and good mainline Linux support, maybe something different. Consequently, we should stay open and monitor new and interesting options. Though, I would not drop the Raspi easily :wink:

And regarding the I2S discussion. IMHO the more powerful the SoC / board is, the less important this becomes. Just use a decent powerful but cheap microcontroller. You get USB 2.0 and for sure enough UART, SPI and I2S - that’s it. Choose something like arduino or teensy with good library also regarding USB and audio and make it act as a class compliant USB device which features audio and MIDI. That’s it and you won’t have to worry about drivers at all and can use it on any modern system. Audio hats could still be used, since I2S is a standard and it would just mean connecting the right pins and assuring GPIO levels are the same.

2 Likes
20

Indeed, altho it feels much less than that. I love the way the I/o pins have become a default across so much of the SBC world. What DID happen to centronics … ? :smiley:

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I totally agree! I was astonished that it have already been 10 years (looked at Wikipedia).

Those times with centronics, RS232 and PS/2 and no USB :sweat_smile:

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IMG_20210620_085814915
IMG_20210620_0858149154160×3120 260 KB

Proud to have such geeky kids!

10 Likes
23

Lovely :heart_eyes: :heart_eyes:

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Not exactly a new SBC, but this is a beatifull example of what skilled people can do with Raspberry CM4.

Hey SeedStudio: Where are the 4 rotary encoders :laughing:?

1 Like
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Ohh man! I didn’t see this until now!! Woaooo! What a nice gift!! You are a lucky man …

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We’ll have to wait a bit until we can get one.

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here is a new candidate, the VisionFive V1, with a 2 core RISC processor and 8Gb RAM.

announced at 149$

More infos in these slides. To be noted, the next version (see page 14):

  • Quad Core U74 RV64GFC
  • High Performance 3D GPU & Audio DSP
  • PCIe 2.0 x 2 Interface
1 Like
28

Nice product, but a bit expensive at 99 dollars.

This company also sells 5inch DSI displays for RBPi on Aliexpress so I Guess it should be the same panel.

Can be purchased bundled with a CM4 board

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Well, the cheapest option is for a CM4 lite (without emmc), 2GB + WIFI/BT: 180$ :frowning:
so the CM4 board is charged 80$. It’s 45 $ in a French official reseller online store (but in pre order for a shipment estimated in mid July)

30

Here is a review of Raspberry Pad 5 (and SeeedStudio reTerminal *) from Jeff Geerling.

Also, I’ve discovered this amazing project:

it looks like … magic !!!

*) reTerminal is in stock, at the same price as last year (195$) and has a CM4 with 4Gb Ram + WIFI/BT + 32Gb Emmc. It has a better display (1280x720), a case, 4 assignable buttons, it expose the PCIe interface.
It’s a much better deal imho then the Raspberry Pad 5 + CM4 2Gb + WIFI/BT no Emmc at 180$

2 Likes
31

Devterm is a kind of “cyberdeck” built around a core daughter board, an extension board, and a base SOM (CPU+RAM+storage) that could be equiped with rbpi CM3, rbpi CM4 (via an adapter board), allwinner H6, rockchip rk3399 and even RISC V allwinner D1 chip.

A video showing the devterm in action with CM3 and rk3399 SOM

It’s sold at 239 bucks with the Risc V allwinner D1 SOM. For 19 more you can get the interfacing board for a CM4. So, if you own a CM3 or a CM4 you will be able to use it in the RBPi software ecosystem, and give a try to the new hype: RISC V

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All of the boards!

With Filters!

2 Likes
33

:+1:

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An interesting range of planned RISC-V boards, all based on the ‘LM4A’ module which goes into a SODIMM socket. And it has a lot more English than the preview which the forum is showing me now.

Here’s an article about it:

The “VisionFive” SBC is now up to version 2:
https://www.starfivetech.com/en/site/boards

And here is the product page from a reseller, ameriDroid:

with a 25% tariff notice!

1 Like
35

So far RISC-V seems behind ARM in performance. It is still early days and time will tell. This is reminiscent of the great Intel vs AMD wars of the last millennia.

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I agree, the RISC-V world isn’t quite there, yet. And as someone said, predictions are difficult, particularly about the future!

Here’s an interesting article about efforts currently in progress:

1 Like
37

Here’s a good quick review of the board under Debian with a lot of usefull informations.
For European customers Allnet China should be a better deal then Ameridroid even with port and taxes duties.

image

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I had a Beaglebone Black years ago. Still got it, but it stopped working like two hours into using it and I’ve never been able to revive it.