Geniatech XPI-3566-ZERO is a Rockchip RK3566 powered single board computer (SBC) that provides an alternative to the Raspberry Pi Zero 2W with a more powerful quad-core 1.8 GHz Arm Cortex-A55 processor, support for 4Kp60 video playback and output, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0, a built-in eMMC flash, and so on.
Geniatech XPI is a family of SBCs that closely follows the design of various Raspberry Pi boards, and after introducing the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B-sized XPI-3566 board last year, the company has now designed a more small Rockchip RK3566 SBC that follows the Raspberry Pi Zero form factor.
Geniatech XPI-3566-ZERO specifications:
- SoC – Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 1.8 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 2EE GPU, 1 TOPS AI accelerator
- System Memory – 512MB LPDDR4 (up to 8GB optional)
- Storage – 8GB eMMC flash (up to 128GB optional)
- Video Output – mini HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60
- Camera I/F – MIPI CSI connector
- Networking – Dual-band WiFi 5 up to 433 Mbps and Bluetooth 5.0 via Ampak AP6256 module
- USB – 1x USB 2.0 OTG Type-C port, 1x USB Host port also used for power
- Expansion – 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible GPIO header with up to 28x GPIOs, UART, SPI, I2C, PWM
- Misc – IR receiver, button
- Power Supply – 5V/2A via USB Type-C port
- Dimensions – 63 x 30 mm
Genitech says the board supports Android 11, Debian 10, and “Rasberry Pi OS emulater”. I suppose they mean “Raspberry Pi OS emulator”, but I still cannot find out what it is. Maybe they made a distro with Raspberry Pi OS rootfs that works on Rockchip RK3566, or are running Raspberry Pi OS through a virtual machine?
From the hardware point-of-view, the Geniatech XPI-3566-ZERO is better than the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W except for the missing micro SD card socket, but that’s because they are using an eMMC flash. That’s actually a plus to me, but I’ve noticed some people prefer using microSD cards. As noted in the introduction, the faster processor, 4Kp60 video support, WiFi 5, and Bluetooth 5.0 are all pluses, and the board may also consume less since it’s using a Cortex-A55 SoC and Geniatech claims 5V/2A does the job, while 5V/2.5A is recommended for the Pi Zero 2W.
Geniatech focuses on B2B sales and is not currently selling the XPI-3566-ZERO on its online shop. A few more details may be found on the product page. Alternatively, it’s not the only company that has designed a Raspberry Pi Zero-shaped Rockchip RK3566 board, as we previously covered the LubanCat Zero N SBC that also includes an Ethernet port and is currently sold for $44 with 1GB RAM, and the LubanCat Zero Wireless board going for about $54 with 2GB RAM.
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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Good spot but better replace the 512 with a ‘1’ instead since only 512MB RAM with an arm64 userland is not a really good idea (unfortunately with a 64-bit userland almost everything needs almost twice as much memory compared to a 32-bit userland you would run on a RPi Zero 2W).
“Geniatech focuses on B2B sales”… Yeah, I learned that when trying to ask them when their A684 USB tuner would be available to the “general public”, in their online chat.
I never did get an answer, and am just going to guess it was a language barrier issue.
I even pointed out their own online store and added a different item to the cart showing that item was available to the “general public”.
I already have their (rebranded?) Mygica USB tuner from a decade ago and wanted to upgrade to ATSC 3.0.
Mygica is the retail brand of Geniatech, but they don’t seem to put too much effort into it.
Interesting.
…no audio…