Rayeager PX2 Development Board Features Rockchip PX2 Dual Core Cortex A9 Processor

Rockchip has apparently discreetly released a PX2 SoC with a dual core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.4 GHz coupled with a Mali-400MP4 GPU, that on the surface looks extremely similar to their RK3066 SoC. Unfortunately, at first, I could not find much details about the processor itself, but Chipspark have introduced Rayeager PX2 development board based on the new Rockchip processor, with 1 to 2 GB RAM, an 8GB eMMC flash, and various ports including a SATA 2.0 interface.

Rayeager PX2 specifications:

• SoC – Rockchip PX2 dual core Cortex A9 @ 1.4 GHz with Mali-400 MP4 GPU
• System Memory – 1 to 2 GB DDR3@400MHz
• Storage – 8 GB eMMC flash, micro SD slot, and SATA 2.0 interface for 2.5″ and 3.5″ hard drives (the latter may require external power supply)
• Video Output – HDMI, and VGA up to 1080p, , and LCD interface
• Video Input – 1x CVBS input 3.5mm composite jack, 1x YPbPr input
• Audio I/O – HDMI, 3.5 mm headphone jack, optical S/PDIF, 1x microphone, audio output headers
• Video Playback – 1080p video encoding/decoding
• Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB OTG port
• Debugging – USB debug interface
• Header – Camera connector, TS (transport stream) interface, GPIO headers, LCD interface. Total 95-pin including GPIO, 3x I2C, SPI, CIF, RGB, SARADC, HSADC, UART, 2x PWM, TS, etc…
• Misc – IR receiver, reset and power buttons, 3x user keys, 2x jumpers
• Power Supply – 5V @ 2.0A
• Dimensions – 15 x 9.7 cm

The company provides U-Boot v2014.01-rc3,  Linux 3.0.36+, and Android 4.4.2 with the full source code (SSH key required). They also have some other documentation on their Wiki. At first I thought maybe Rockchip made a new chip with SATA support, but the block diagram in the schematics (DSN and PDF) clearly show it’s not the case, and they simply used a USB to SATA bridge.

Finally, I managed to find much more details about Rockchip PX2 SoC in Rockchip PX2 Technical Reference Manual hosted on rockchip.fr, where Rockchip introduces their PX2 SoC as follows:

RK PX2 is a low power, high performance processor for auto audio equipments, building intercom, POS device and other industry users, and integrates dual-core Cortex-A9 with separately NEON and FPU coprocessor.

Embedded 3D GPU makes RK PX2 completely compatible with OpenGL ES2.0 and 1.1, OpenVG 1.1. Special 2D hardware engine with MMU will maximize display performance and provide very smoothly operation.

Many embedded powerful hardware engines provide optimized performance for high-end application. RK PX2 supports almost full-format video decoder by 1080p@60fps, also support H.264/MVC/VP8 encoder by 1080p@30fps, high-quality JPEG encoder/decoder, special image preprocessor and postprocessor .

RK PX2 has high-performance external memory interface (DDR3/LPDDR2/ LVDDR3) capable of sustaining demanding memory bandwidths, also provides a complete set of peripheral interface to support very flexible applications.

So it looks like Rockchip PX2 is more focused on industrial application, contrary to Rockchip RK3066 which targets consumer devices such as tablets and TV boxes.

Rayeager PX2 development board can be purchased for $99 with 1 GB RAM, or $129 with 2 GB RAM directly from Chipspark “Geek Zone” ,where you’ll also find a USB flash drive with source code and tools selling for $29.90, a and $49 5″ touchscreen display. The company can also provides Rockchip PX2 samples for $10 per piece.

Thanks to Nanik for the tip.

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