It’s been a while since we have seen new hardware from Hardkernel, but the Korean company has just launched the ODROID-M1 SBC powered by Rockchip RK3568 with up to 8GB RAM.
The single board computer is cooled with a large heatsink placed underneath, supports SATA and NVMe storage, offers HDMI and MIPI DSI video output, Gigabit Ethernet networking, as well as two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 ports, an RTC backup battery, and a 40-pin GPIO header.
ODROID-M1 specifications:
- SoC – Rockchip RK3568B2 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 MP2 GPU, 0.8 TOPS AI accelerator
- System Memory – 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4 RAM
- Storage
- 16MB SPI flash preinstalled with Petitboot
- MicroSD card socket
- eMMC module socket
- Native SATA 3.0 port + SATA power (5V only) tested up to around 500 MB/s
- M.2 NVMe M-Key socket (2-lane PCIe 3.0) for M.2 SSDs tested up to around 1600MB/sec (or four times faster than the same SSD installed on a system based on Raspberry Pi CM4)
- Video Output
- 1x HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60 with HDR, EDID
- 1x 4-lane MIPI DSI connector tested with 1280×800 display
- Camera I/F – 1x 2-lame MIPI CSI connector
- Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack, mono speaker output (1.3W at 8Ω load)
- Networking – Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port via Realtek RTL8211F (Ethernet transceiver)
- USB
- 2x USB 3.0 ports (or 1 x USB 3.0 host + 1 x USB 2.0 OTG port)
- 2x USB 2.0 ports
- 1x Micro USB device port
- Expansion – 40-pin GPIO header
- Debugging – UART header for serial console
- Misc – Power button, SPI Boot Select switch, IR receiver, RTC battery holder, jumper, 2x system LEDs, M.2 LED
- Power Supply – 7.5V to 15.5V via DC power jack (12V/2A adapter recommended)
- Power consumption
- Suspend – 0.06 Watt
- Idle – 1.3 Watt
- Heavy load – 4.5Watts
- Dimensions – Board: 122 x 90 x 16mm; heatsink: 123 x 100 x 19mm
- Weight – 253 grams including heatsink
That RK3568B2 is a slightly modified version of the RK3568 designed to overcome the IC supply shortage. The previous RK3568 metal-can type packaging lead time is much longer than the more common plastic package of the RK3568B2 according to Hardkernel.
Hardkernel says the CPU & GPU performance is similar to the Amlogic S905X3 based ODROID-C4 SBC. An stress test increased temperature up to a little over 50°C in a room with a 35°C ambient temperature. The company will provide Ubuntu 20.04 LTS & 22.04 LTS images and Android 11 images based on Linux 4.19. But somehow the Ubuntu images will come with Linux 4.19.219, while Android will be based on the older Linux 4.19.193 and support HDMI and MIPI-DSI at the same time. Support for the Panfrost open-source GPU driver and mainline Linux is expected in the next few months.
If you like your boards to be protected by an enclosure, Hardkernel also provides a metal case kit in which the ODROID-M1 SBC together with its heatsink can be inserted via a “sliding slot”, and the company says the front and rear side covers are made with gold plated PCBs.
ODROID-M1 is available now for $90 with 8GB RAM, but the $70 variant with 4GB RAM is currently out of stock. Rockchip guarantees supply for the RK3568B2 for the next 15 years, and Hardkernel expects to be able to supply the ODROID-M1 boards to B2B customers until the year 2036 or beyond.
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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