A first look at Allwinner D1 Linux RISC-V SBC and Processor

Last year, we reported that Allwinner was working on an Alibaba XuanTie C906 based RISC-V processor that would be found in low-cost Linux capable single board computers selling for as low as $12.

The good news is that we won’t have to wait much longer as Allwinner D1 RISC-V processor is slated for an announcement next week, and a business card-sized SBC, also made by Allwinner, will become available in May. Some of the information is already available to developers in China, and CNX Software managed to obtain information about the Linux RISC-V SBC and Allwinner D1 processor.

Allwinner D1 development board

Let’s check out the board first which comes with the following specifications:

SoC – Allwinner D1 single-core XuanTie C906 64-bit RISC-V processor @ 1.0 GHz with HiFi4 DSP, G2D 2D graphics accelerators
Memory – 1GB DDR3 memory
Storage – 256MB SPI NAND flash, MicroSD card slot
Video
- Output – HDMI 1.4 port up to 4Kp30, MIPI DSI & touch panel interface up to 1080p60
- Decoding – H.265 up to 1080p60 or 4Kp30, H.264 up to 1080p60 or 4Kp24, MPEG-1/2/4, JPEG, VC1 up to 1080p60
- Encoding – JPEG/MJPEG up to 1080p60
Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, digital audio output via HDMI, a connector for microphone board
Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet via RTL8211F PHY, 2.4GHz WiFi 4 & Bluetooth module via XR829 module
USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 1x USB Type-C OTG portport
Expansion – 40-pin GPIO connector
Debugging – 4-pin UART header, USB ADB debugging supported
Misc – Power LED, tri-color user LED, OK & FEL buttons
Power Supply – 5V/2A via one of the two USB-C ports
Dimensions – 85 x 56 mm (6-layer PCB)

That’s a pretty interesting board for smart displays, IP cameras, smart speakers, and other applications that do not require fast I/Os nor 3D graphics accelerators.

Allwinner should provide support for Debian~~-based Tina OS distribution~~, but usually, it’s using an ancient Linux kernel, so companies like Sipeed plan to send boards to developers, and I’ve also been told linux-sunxi community would get a board to get started with evaluation and development.

At this stage, it appears Allwinner does not offer the Allwinner D1 chips to third parties but sells them the board directly, possibly because of the lack of supplies. This may change in a few months.

Allwinner D1 RISC-V processor

We also have more details about the processor itself.

Allwinner D1 specifications:

CPU – Alibaba XuanTie C906 64bit RISC-V core with 32 KB I-cache + 32 KB D-cache
DSP – HiFi4 DSP 600MH with 32 KB I-cache + 32 KB D-cache, 64 KB I-ram + 64 KB D-ram
Memory I/F – Up to 2GB DDR2/DDR3
Storage I/F – SD3.0, eMMC 5.0, SPI Nor/Nand Flash
Video Engine
- Video decoding
  - H.265 up to 1080p@60fps, or 4K@30fps
  - H.264 up to 1080p@60fps, or 4K@24fps
  - MPEG-1/2/4, JPEG, VC1 up to 1080p@60fps
- Video encoding – JPEG/MJPEG up to 1080p@60fps
- Supports input picture scaler up/down
Video OUT
- RGB LCD output interface up to 1920 x 1080@60fps
- Dual link LVDS interface up to 1920 x 1080@60fps
- 4-lane MIPI DSI interface up to 1920 x 1080@60fps
- HDMI V1.4 output interface up to 4K@30fps
- CVBS OUT interface, supporting NTSC and PAL format
Video IN
- 8-bit parallel CSI interface
- CVBS IN interface, supporting NTSC and PAL format
Audio
- 2x DAC’s and 3x ADC’s
- Analog audio interfaces – MICIN1P/N, MICIN2P/N, MICIN3P/N, FMINL/R, LINEINL/R, LINEOUTLP/N, LINEOUTRP/N, HPOUTL/R
- Digital audio interfaces – I2S/PCM, DMIC, OWA IN/OUT
Networking – 10/100/1000M EMAC with RMII and RGMII interfaces
USB – USB2.0 OTG, USB2.0 Host
Other peripherals
- SDIO 3.0, SPI x 2, UART x 6, TWI x 4
- PWM (8-ch), GPADC (2-ch), LRADC (1-ch), TPADC (4-ch), IR TX&RX
Package – LFBGA BGA13*13/0.35/0.65mm,337 PINS
Manufacturing process – 22nm

Right, but what about the logo?

You might say “Right, CNXSoft, the information about the processor and SBC is cool and all that, but what I really want to know is what about the logo on Allwinner D1 board?”

The good news is that I’ve got an answer for that too!

It comes from (Nezha) which, as explained by Fandom, is:

the main protagonist in Investiture of the Gods and one of the supporting characters in the 16th-century Chinese classic novel Journey to the West by the late Wu Cheng’en, and its multiple adaptations. He is a protection deity and the son of Li Jing and Lady Yin.

There were also movie adaptations, including a recent 2019 animated film whose character is shown in the photo above.

Anyway, we may learn more next week with an official announcement and some information about pricing as well. This promises to be an interesting year for affordable Linux RISC-V SBC’s as the BeagleV development board is also slated to become available very soon.

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.