Allwinner A13 – repackaged as Allwinner R8 – single core Cortex A8 processor is used in $9 C.H.I.P board with 512MB, 4GB storage, WiFi and Bluetooth, and I/Os. Now a Chinese company has created a new Allwinner A13 board called Lichee Pi that appears especially suited to drive LCD displays thanks to its 40-pin LCD RGB connector, but it also comes with WiFi & Bluetooth, a micro SD slot, and some I/Os.
Lichee Pi One board (preliminary/tentative) specifications:
- SoC – Allwinner A13 ARM Cortex A8 processor @ 1.0 GHz with Mali-400 GPU
- System Memory – 512MB DDR3 RAM
- Storage – 2x micro SD slot
- Display Interface – 40-pin RGB LCD connector, with 8080 interface, VGA and LVDS supported via add-on board
- Camera – 24-pin CSI interface
- Audio – 3.5mm audio jack
- Connectivity – Optional 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth via RTL8723BU module (Multiplexed with USB 2.0 host port)
- USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 1x micro USB OTG port, 1x micro USB port for power only
- Expansion – Two 20-pin headers with 9x GPIO, 3x I2C, 3x UART, 3x SPI, etc…
- Misc – RGB LED
- Power Supply – 5V via micro USB port or 2-pin header, LiPo battery via miniJST connector
- Dimensions – Est. 75 x 55 mm
The board can run Android or Linux distributions like Debian or Ubuntu, and you’ll find some information such as schematics and some documentation on Github.
You’ll find soon info in English on Linux-Sunxi website, as well as elecfans.com with more info, but in Chinese only. The price of the board was as low as 39 CNY ($5.6) in Elecfans crowdfunding (most components not soldered), and a complete kit with a 4.3″ display (800×480) a 3MP camera went for 168 CNY (~$24). Shipping costs were not included. It’s not available for sale right now. The company has also registered ilichee.cc, but the site is not accessible for now as it’s waiting for an ICP license.
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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