Banana Pi BPI-R64 Linux Router Board Launched for $68

SinoVoIP introduced Banana Pi BPI-R64 router board in the summer of 2018. The Linux router board is powered by MediaTek MT7622 dual-core Cortex-A53 WiFi processor with 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 built-in, and offers more connectivity options namely 802.11ac WiFi 5 via MT7615 chip, as well as Gigabit Ethernet ports. 4G LTE is optional via a mini PCIe socket, and a SATA port is included for storage.

At the time, I envisioned an official launch in Q1 2019, but I was off by a few quarters, as the company has only just launched Banana Pi BPI-R64 on Aliexpress for $68 plus shipping. The specifications of the Banana Pi BPI-R64 board have slightly changed since last year announcement, and we’ve got a few more details:

SoC – MediaTek MT7622 dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.35GHz with dedicated network accelerator, 4×4 802.11n and Bluetooth 5 connectivity
System Memory – 1GB DDR3 SDRAM
Storage
- 8GB eMMC flash
- MicroSD slot up to 256GB
- 1x SATA interface
- SPI NAND flash (TBC)
Connectivity
- 4x Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports + 1x Gigabit Ethernet WAN port connected via ~~Realtek RTL8367S~~ MediaTek MT7531 switch controller
- 802.11n WiFi 4 up to 800 Mbps + Bluetooth 5.0 built-in SoC
- Optional 802.11ac 4×4 WiFi 5 up to 1733 Mbps via Mediatek MT7615 module
- Optional 4G module via mini PCIe socket + SIM card slot
- 2x SMA connectors for antennas
USB – 1x USB 3.0 port
Expansion
- 40-pin GPIO header with up to 28x GPIO, UART, I2C, SPI, PWM, I2S.
- mPCIe slot with USB 2.0 and PCIe 2.0
- mPCIe slot with PCIe 2.0
Misc – Reset button, recovery & WPS keys, power status LED and RJ45 LEDs, boot select switch, 3-pin header for serial console, IR receiver, 5V fan header
Power Supply
- 12V/2A DC power barrel jack
- Optional PoE module with support for 12V/3A
Dimensions – 148 x 100.5 mm
Weight – 100 grams

The optional PoE board (BPI-7402) complies with IEEE802.3at and IEEE802.3af Power-over-Ethernet standards, supports 36V to 57V Input voltage range, and can deliver up to 30 Watts to power the board. You’ll need to add $10 to the total price.

Software-wise the company offers a Linux 4.4 BSP which has not been updated in 8 months, but the board is apparently supported by mainline OpenWrt using Linux 4.14 or 4.19. The company also provides Ubuntu Server 16.04 LTS, Debian 10 Buster Lite, and “AArch64 Linux Lite” images that are allegedly all based on Linux 4.19, making it clear the Linux BSP is completely useless… You’ll find links to all those resources in the Wiki.

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.