AAEON Introduced a Intel Atom X5 based Raspberry Pi-like development board named “UP Board” last year that sold for as low as 89 Euros via a Kickstarter campaign. The company is now back with the first Apollo Lake development board for makers I’ve seen so far, powered by either a dual core Celeron N3350 or a quad core Pentium N4200 processor, featuring an Altera MAX 10 FPGA, and called UP2 (“UP Squared”).
There are six variants of UP Squared board sharing most of the same technical specifications:
- SoC
- Intel Celeron N3350 dual core “Apollo Lake” processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.4 GHz with 12 EU Intel HD graphics 500 @ 200 MHz / 650 MHz (6W TDP)
- Intel Pentium N4200 quad core “Apollo Lake” processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.5 GHz with 18 EU Intel HD graphics 505 @ 200 MHz / 750 MHz (6W TDP)
- FPGA – Altera Max 10 FPGA
- System Memory – 2, 4 or 8 GB LPDDR4 SDRAM
- Storage – 16, 32, 64 or 128 GB eMMC flash, 1x SATA 3 port + SATA power
- Video Output – 2x HDMI 1.4b; eDP connector; 3 independent displays support
- Audio I/O – HDMI
- Connectivity – Dual Gigabit Ethernet ports,
- USB – 3x USB 3.0 ports, 1x USB 3.0 OTG port, header with 2x USB 2.0 ports
- Camera – 1x 4-lane MIPI CSI connector
- Expansion
- 40-pin GP (general purpose) Raspberry Pi compatible header with GPIOs, I2C, SPI, ADC … signals controlled by the Apollo Lake processor (according to the block diagram below)
- 60-pin EXHAT connector with GPIO, I2C, UART, USB 3.0… signals controlled by Altera FPGA and the Intel processor based on the block diagram.
- M.2 2230/E-key slot
- mini PCIe x1 slot
- Header with 2x HSUART
- Debugging – JTAG header for FPGA
- Misc – Power button, 4x LEDs, RTC header, fan power header, reset and power pin headers
- Power Supply – 5V DC via power barrel
- Dimensions – 85.6 x 90 mm
- Temperature Range – Operating: 0 to 60 C
- Certifications – FCC, CE, RoHS
The six available boards have only differences in terms of processor, RAM, and storage:
- UP2 Celeron (89 Euros) – 2 GB LPDDR4, 16 GB eMMC flash
- UP2 Celeron Plus (105 Euros) – 2 GB LPDDR4, 32 GB eMMC flash
- UP2 Celeron Ultra (125 Euros) – 4 GB LPDDR4, 32 GB eMMC flash
- UP2 Pentium (169 Euros) – 4 GB LPDDR4, 32 GB eMMC flash
- UP2 Pentium Plus (199 Euros) – 8 GB LPDDR4, 64 GB eMMC flash
- UP2 Pentium Ultra (229 Euros) – 8 GB LPDDR4, 128 GB eMMC flash
The board will support Windows 10, Windows IoT Core, Linux (Ubuntu, Ubilinux Debian, Yocto Project), and Android. UP2 board should also leverage UP board eco-system with support for Intel RealSense for robotics project, LoRa connectivity for IoT gateways, EnOceon solutions for home automation, and TPLink for WiFi, and many more.
UP Squared is larger than UP board, but as seen from the table above offers many more features, and more performance for about the same price.
The project has now launched on Kickstarter, where the company has also surpassed their 10,000 Euros funding target, with pledges currently totaling a little over 22,000 Euros. Most rewards starting with UP Squared Celeron at 89 Euros come with the board only, but you may consider pledge for kits that include the power supply, HDMI cable, SATA cable, USB 2.0 pin header cable, and WiFi 802.11ac and BT 4.2 M.2 module (Starter/Innovator Package). Most rewards are expected to ship on April 2017, excepted Innovator packages with Beta boards reaching backers in February 2017. Shipping is not included, but is only 13 to 16 Euros for Europeans, and between 28 and 46 Euros (Brazil) for the rest of the world. More details include the 40-pin header pinout can be found in UP Squared product page.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/802007522/up-squared-the-first-maker-board-with-intel-apollo?ref=category_newest
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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Would have been nice if they had included a DP->HDMI 2.0 chip in there instead of offering just the basic HDMI 1.4b.
Also, no DP interface, just eDP, so no chance to use an external DP to HDMI 2.0 adapter either.
Wow: an Intel FPGA Altera MAX 10 onboard?! That’s very special, isn’t it?
@Sander
Their previous board already had an Altera CPLD, they’ve upgraded to a CPLD. But nice nonetheless.
Altera MAX 10 is an entry-level FPGA (to keep the price low I assume). It can also be found in Alorium- XLR8 Arduino board http://www.cnx-software.com/2016/10/21/alorium-xlr8-arduino-compatible-altera-max-0-fpga-board-sells-for-75/
@Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)
The XLR8 has a 10M08 (8K logic elements) with about half being used to emulate the ATmega328 in the FPGA.
The UP2 has a 10M02 (2K LE)