Sipeed Longan Pi3H is a Raspberry Pi Zero-sized single board computer (SBC) powered by an Allwinner H618 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor and equipped with full-size connectors namely an HDMI 2.0 video output, two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, and a gigabit Ethernet RJ45 jack.
It also offers WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity, features the usual 40-pin GPIO header found in Pi Zero boards and relies on a USB OTG Type-C port for power. Its design is unusual for a board of that size, not only because of the full-size ports, but also because it’s comprised of a carrier board and a replaceable LM3H CPU module with the Allwinner H618 SoC, RAM, and eMMC flash.
Sipeed Longan Pi3H specifications:
- SoC – Allwinner H618
- CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.5GHz with 1MB L2 cache
- GPU – Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.0/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.1
- VPU
- VP9-10 Profile-2 up to 6Kp30
- H.265 HEVC MP-10 @ L5.1 up to 6Kp30
- H.264 AVC HP @ L5.1 up to 4Kp30
- H.264 MVC up to 1080p60
- System Memory – 2GB or 4GB LPDDR4
- Storage
- MicroSD card slot
- Optional 32GB eMMC flash,
- Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4Kp60
- Networking
- Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port
- Dual-band WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 with a ceramic antenna
- USB – 2x USB 2.0 Type-A ports, 1x USB 2.0 OTG Type-C port
- Expansion – 40-pin Raspberry Pi-compatible GPIO header with I2C, SPI, UART, up to 28x GPIOs, etc…
- Debugging – 4-pin debug UART (3.3V)
- Misc – FEL and Reset buttons; 2x user LEDs
- Power Supply – 5V via USB Type-C port or 4-pin Debug UART header
- Dimensions
- SBC – 65 x 30.8 x 23.6 mm
- LM3H module only – 46.1 x 25 x 2.9mm
Sipeed provides Debian and Android 12 images with the SDK released on GitHub. We are also told mainline Linux for the board is supposed to be merged in Q1 2024 based on the code on GitHub. There’s supposed to be documentation at wiki.sipeed.com/lpi3h, but that page is not working at the time of writing. In the meantime, you can check hardware documentation such as schematics and mechanical drawings on the “Download” page.
I really like the design of the board with all those features and easy-to-use ports in a small form factor. I just wish they had used a different processor than the Allwinner H618, but since the design is modular, the company may end up offering multiple CPU modules, and the LM3H looks very similar to the Allwinner D1 RISC-V module used in the LicheeRV board.
Sipeed has started to take pre-orders on Aliexpress for $23.90 (2GB RAM, no eMMC flash) to $34.90 (4GB RAM and 32GB eMMC flash) with shipping expected to start on February 11. If you only need the LM3H module prices start at $17.90.
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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