After Raspberry Pi, Waxberry Pi, and Banana Pi boards, here come another fruit-named board with Orange Pi. There are actually three models, with Orange Pi and Orange Pi mini based on Allwinner A20, and Orange Pi Plus powered by a quad core Allwinner A31s processor.
I’ve drawn a comparison table with the specifications for the three models. Please note that Orange Pi Plus full specifications have not been released yet, so I don’t have all details.
| Orange Pi Mini | Orange Pi | Orange Pi Plus | |
| SoC | Allwinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 processor up to 1GHz with Mali-400 MP2 GPU | Allwinner A31s quad core Cortex A7 processor with PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU | |
| System Memory | 1 GB DDR3 | ||
| Storage | 2x micro SD slot + SATA | NAND Flash + micro SD slot + SATA | TBD |
| Video Output | HDMI, AV, and DSI I/F | HDMI, AV, VGA, and DSI I/F | HDMI, AV, and DSI I/F |
| Audio I/O | HDMI, AV, and MIC | HDMI, AV, and MIC | HDMI and AV |
| Connectivity | Gigabit Ethernet (RTL8211E/D) + Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n + optional Bluetooth | Ethernet + 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi | |
| Camera | Parallel 8-bit I/F | CSI connector CSI connector | |
| USB | 2x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB OTG | 4x USB 2.0 ports, 1x micro USB OTG | |
| Expansion | 40-pin header | 26-pin “R-Pi” header 18-pin extended interface |
|
| Misc | Rest, power, and u-boot buttons Power, Ethernet, and user LEDS IR receiver |
Rest, power, and u-boot buttons Power, Ethernet, and user LEDS IR receiver, RTC battery interface |
Rest, power, and u-boot buttons Power, Ethernet, and user LEDS IR receiver |
| Power | * 5V/2A via DC jack* 5V via micro USB OTG port | * 5V/2A via DC jack * 5V via micro USB OTG port * Li-Po Battery |
* 5V/2A via DC jack * 5V via micro USB OTG port |
| Dimensions | 94 x 86 mm | 112 x 60 mm | N/A |
| Weight | 45 grams | 60 grams | N/A |
| Price + Shipping | $42.11 | $51.31 | $76.37 |
Orange Pi boards appear to be software compatible with Banana Pi, and Banana Pi M2 boards, with support for Android 4.4, Debian, Ubuntu, Raspbian, and Scratch, and Orange Pi website is a close copy of lemaker.org, one of the companies promoting the Banana brand. They even have the same “Apply for Orange Pi“, where you can apply for a free board if you have a project, or want to help with Orange Pi “community”.
Orange Pi boards can be purchased for $42 to $76 including shipping on Shenzhen Xunlong Software Aliexpress store, which also includes cheap accessories such as a $5.90 camera.
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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FYI I recently discovered this model of router based on Banana Pi http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Freeshipment-Newest-arrive-Banana-PI-BPI-R1-Opensource-Router-Original-Banana-pi-fast-delivery-time/32228220781.html
@ade Nice idea, but looks like half the PCB is empty? Wonder why they made it twice as large as necessary..?
@onebir
look closely, its not empty, its a space for 2.5 inch hdd
Banana Pi was designed by xunlong software. We designed this product from the ODM to own brand.
much friendlier shipping cost than for banana pi 🙂
@Steven: can you add shipping to the Netherlands ?
Orange Pi 2 is H3 Quad core board with 4k video codec. Orange pi 2 Will soon release.
@ade
All your recent discoveries are months old here on the blog
http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/09/02/sinovoip-bpi-r1-board-based-on-allwinner-a20-features-5-ethernet-ports-a-sata-interface-and-more/
@FransM
You are the first one to Netherlands customers, we can free for you.
waste of time and money, they cant even run a website and you want to buy hardware from them?
this is their website for documentation:
http://www.orangepi.org/Docs/mainpage.html
EVERY SINGLE link is broken, fake or non existent
@cnxsoft Orange pi should not be called cloning. We have completely different hardware design.
Most of the software system is not the same. Please help modify inappropriate title, thank you.
@rasz_pl Our website is still improving, you said these deficiencies is improving, thank you for pointing out these deficiencies.
So is HW acceleration supported in Linux like the $35 Odroid from hardkernel?
Indeed all links seem to be broken, so I found out a few links via google:
http://www.orangepi.org/downloaded/download.html
http://www.orangepi.org/downloaded/Lubuntu_For_OrangePi.html
http://www.orangepi.org/downloaded/Raspbian_For_OrangePi.html
HTH
@CNX So when are you going to do a comparison/board shoot out for us ?
So more expensive than odroid c and lower performance, more like a cubieboard 2/cubietruck but less io.
@Al You said what I was thinking – the Odroid-C1 would appear to be a better board at a much better price than any of these. Not that I’ve had personal experience with either, just going by the specs and the published prices.
@manny orange pi is HW acceleration supported in Linux
@Sander firmware downloaded is coming soon.
@steven
That’s why I used “clones” with quotes.
@Al
@Mike
ODROID-C1 price ($35) is without shipping, once you add shipping it’s $60, at least if you purchase from Hardkernel website. If you purchase via US or European distributor, you’ll get a different total price. So shipping makes it difficult for a price comparison, since it will depend on your country. Products shipped from China have often a declared value inferior to the actual price you pay, so it’s more likely you won’t have to pay custom fees, whereas Hardkernel *might* have to declare the real value, and since they ship by Fedex (or DHL?), you are more likely to pay custom duties. But again that depends on your country.
Software support should be much better with the Hardkernel board, at least for now, as they have an established community, and they’ve delivery Android and Linux images in the past with 2D/3D graphics, and VPU support.
When comparing with Banana Pi it seems this one is a bit better equipped (it has wifi).
Then again a banana can also be ordered for 41.60. See http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-Banana-pi-fully-compatible-with-Raspberry-Pi-cubieboard-with-Gigabit-ethernet-port-SATA-Socket/1839648169.html?s=p
And banana is supported directly by Fedora 21: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/ARM/F21/Installation
Odroid C1 is also nice but as cnxsoft says: much more expensive shipping. Also it lacks a sata port (it would make a nice box )
Then again a banana M2 can be found for $ 59 on aliexpress whereas the A31 orange is $ 76.
@Steven:
What is the nand flash size of the orange pi?
And what does bluetooth optional mean? Do I need a usb dongle for that?
Website lists Raspbian as a supported OS. I doubt this is true since Raspbian is compiled for armv6 on the original Pi.
@mongrol
You probably need to run a different kernel, but otherwise there should not be too much issues.
An armv7 can run armv6 code perfectly well.
Sander yes, and links you found are a proof this is a typical chinese RIPOFF
Lubuntu_For_BananaPi_v3.1.1Version: 3.1.1
Release date: 2014-08-07
Default login: bananapi/bananapi & root/bananapi
Kernel version: 3.4.90
Release notes: Link
CheckSum: MD5: ED3E31854AFB4A01F1039920E283CAF3
SHA1: 6DFF841C694EFBCB6E8FB2E75F9FC2C27FC81659
CRC32: 065E18EB
Lubuntu_For_OrangePi_v1.0.0Version: 1.0.0
Release date: 2014-11-29
Default login: Orangepi/Orangepi & root/Orangepi
Kernel version: 3.4.90
Release notes: Link
CheckSum: MD5: ED3E31854AFB4A01F1039920E283CAF3
SHA1: 6DFF841C694EFBCB6E8FB2E75F9FC2C27FC81659
CRC32: 065E18EB
they simply COPIED whole website, there will be ZERO support for this board. Standard fly by night, boards today toilets tomorrow kind of business.
Its amazing how people argue about single dollar price difference when whole product is useless. Look, you can buy piece_of_shit_Y $.50 cheaper at ripoff’r’us! It will sit idle in your drawer, but at least it was cheaper!
Hardware is “easy” when you have access to manufacturer SDK, they give you gerbers to reference design, push few components around in Altium and you have “new” product. Dev boards are not hammers or lamps. You cant simply buy one, plug power and expect it to work. You need support, you need documentation, you need a clue. “steven” has no clue and seems to be speaking google translate instead of english
“orange pi is HW acceleration supported in Linux” <- lie
Hardkernel isnt perfect, but at least they DO have developers on payroll and support stuff they sell. Same goes for pee foundation, beagleboard foundation etc.
Buying devboard from someone who:
-lies
-doesnt speak your language
-rips off whole website
-is too clueless to copy said website properly and ends up with bunch of non working mess
is like buying Lasik surgery do it at home kit on ebay from china. Good luck.
@cnx 2x c1 + p&h for $95 isn’t to bad , aud $23 more than 2 raspberrypi b+ from element14 ($38ea + free shipping for orders over $45) and the extra features are worth it.
eg http://au.element14.com/jsp/bespoke/bespoke7.jsp?bespokepage=e14/common/promotions/rpi-accessories.jsp&ICID=ap-rpi-bplus-hwb-an
@rasz_pl
It’s clear they’re riding the work done by Lemaker and other Banana Pi companies, and they don’t even have a github account for the source code. But if the Orange Pi is indeed software compatible with Banana Pi, that means any distributions for the Banana Pi will be running on Orange Pi.
@Al
Don’t get me wrong, I definitely thing ODROID-C1 is incredible money for value, but just not as much as the $35 price tag implies. As rasz_pl mentioned support from Hardkernel will be much better, and they don’t spam Google+ like SinoVoip (One of the companies involved with Banana Pi).
@rasz_pl Banana Pi was designed by xunlong software. We designed Orange Pi from the ODM to own brand. Banana Pi’s commercial secrets not convenient announced out. http://www.banana-pi.com/eaxw_view.asp?id=360 You had said there will be ZERO support for Orange Pi. Please visit http://www.orangepi.org/orangepibbsen/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=2&extra=page%3D1
@all We are very willing to support and encourage everybody realize innovative ideas based on Orange Pi series. everybody can get orange PI for free.
http://www.orangepi.org/orange%20pi%20Apply/orangepiApply.html
SATA Port Multiplier support would be interessting
(A20 Chip supports, but not necessary the uBoot)
From the pictures on the ali website it seems the orange pi plus does not have sata and the nand flash is optional.
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/NEW-orange-pi-plus-Allwinner-A31s-Dual-Core-1GB-RAM-Open-source-development-board/1553371_32248189300.html
For the orange pi SATA is there, NAND is also listed as optional.
The Orange Pi seems very good, is the camera connector compatible to the Raspberry camera?? (Omnivision 5647)
I will buy it immediately if it is compatible!
@Patrick
good luck writing camera driver from scratch
Stop to do stupid comments, orange pi seems good better give a chance and rid off the all profiling