A few months ago, I reviewed Atmel Xplained SAMA5D3 development board powered by SAMA5D36 Cortex A5 processor. The kit is supported by the Yocto Project, so I could build and run Poky distribution with a recent Linux kernel (it support mainline), it features Arduino compatible headers, and I found the board to be a nice platform for headless applications, or applications that require an LCD display. However, if you wanted to connect an HDMI display you’d be out of luck, unless you design your own LCD to HDMI add-on board. Emtrion SBC-SAMA5D36 could be an interesting alternative, as it features very similar specifications, but adds an HDMI output port.
Emtrion SBC-SAMA5D36 specifications:
- MPU – Atmel SAMA5D36 single core Cortex-A5 @ 536 MHz
- System Memory – 256 MB RAM
- Storage – 512 MB NAND Flash, up to 16 MB NOR Flash, and micro SD Card socket
- Connectivity – 100Base-TX Ethernet, 10/100/1000Base-TX Ethernet (Gigabit Ethernet)
- Video Output – HDMI, LCD connector and 4-wire touch
- USB – 2xUSB Host, 1x USB Device
- Other I/Os:
- I2S Audio Interface
- 5x serial ports (LVTTL)
- up to 52 GPIOs
- 2x CAN buses
- Misc – 2x user buttons, 4x user LEDs, RTC (battery buffered)
- Power Supply – 5V.
- Power Consumption – Typ. 1 W
- Dimensions – 135mm x 74mm
The board is said to support Debian 8.0 (Jessie), as well as build frameworks such as the Yocto Project and Buildroot. Just like Atmel SAMA5D3 Xplained, SBC-SAMA5D36 is supported in Linux mainline, except the LCD driver which is work in progress. The SDK includes a pre-configured rootFS based on Debian 8, Qt 5.2 support, GNU toolchain, build scripts, a VMware virtual machine for development and various software and hardware documents.
The board is available now for around 100 Euros for a single unit, and around 80 Euros for 1k order. You can find more information, including the hardware manual, on the company’s blog, and SBC-SAMA5D36 product page.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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Thanks Jean-Luc for this nice article!
We would like to just add that we also have a different PMIC from the Xplained board and it supports lithuim battery charger ! (the white connector on the board)
We thought that this ARM Cortex-A5 core is perfectly suited for battery operated project!
@emtrion
Thanks, looks like a very nice board indeed.
Do those usb host ports go through an onboard hub?
@troy
It is actually connected directly to the SoC.
As mention here on the post: https://plus.google.com/112326115003484626310/posts/GosqKzoHAnj
Any idea or good project submission might end up with a free board ! Good luck !