NanoPi NEO Boards Get a New Arduino UNO Compatible Dock to Play with Arduino Shields

FriendlyELEC has launched a new accessory board for their NanoPi NEO / NEO 2 / NEO Air boards with UNO Dock V2.0 board compatible with Arduino UNO board thanks to its Microchip ATMeaga328P MCU and compatible headers, and also equipped with headers to plug a NanoPi NEO board.

Key features for UNO Dock v2.0 for NanoPi NEO:

MCU – Microchip ATmega328 8-bit AVR MCU @ 16 MHz with 2KB SRAM, 32KB flash, 1024 bytes EEPROM
USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports connected to NEO board
Expansion
- Arduino UNO headers for shields
- Female headers to insert the NanoPi NEO board
- Male headers to access NanoPi NEO boards’ IOs
Debugging & Programming – 1x micro USB port (USB to UART), ICSP header, NEO debug UART header
Misc – Power on/off, reset button, UART select jumper
Power Supply – 12V DC via 2.1mm power barrel

The system would be great if NanoPi NEO boards actually had an HDMI output port, as it would be an all-in-one Arduino development platform that does not require an extra computer, just like UDOO NEO, but cheaper. But sadly that’s not case, so you still need a separate computer to program the board, and NanoPi NEO board here is mainly used to process data from sensors and modules connected to the Arduino and NEO headers, potentially sending & receiving data to/from a cloud service. In some ways it’s similar to NanoHAT Hub for instead of being designed for Groves modules, it’s designed for Arduino Shields. You’ll find some more details in the Wiki (Chinese version only for now). Based on the schematics, NanoPi NEO board and the Microchip MCU communicate over I2C.

UNO Dock v2.0 sells for $6.99 plus shipping, quite cheaper than the first version (UNO Dock v1.0) going for $14.99 plus shipping.

Thanks to theguyuk for the tip.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

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.