Orange Pi 2G-IoT was unveiled at the start of the year as an ultra cheap ($10) Linux development board with 2G cellular connectivity. The board has just launched for $9.90 + shipping on Aliexpress.
Orange Pi 2G-IoT specifications have changed a little since the initial announced as WiFi is confirmed to be supported:
- SoC – RDA Micro 8810PL ARM Cortex A5 processor @ up to 1.0 GHz with 2Gbit (256 MB) on-chip LPDDR2 RAM, 4Gbit (512 MB) on-chip SLC NAND flash , 256KB L2 cache, Vivante GC860 3D GPU, and GSM/GPRS/EDGE Modem (Download datasheet)
- External Storage – micro SD slot
- Display I/F – LCD connector up to qHD resolution
- Video – Decoding up to 1080p30, encoding up to 1080p30 H.264
- Audio I/F – 3.5mm audio +FM jack, built-in microphone?
- Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n + Bluetooth 2.1/EDR module (RDA5991), and 2G GSM/GPRS/EDGE module with SIM card slot
- Camera – MIPI CSI-2 connector for camera sensor up to 2MP
- USB – 1x USB host port, 1x micro USB OTG port
- Expansion – 40-pin GPIO header with SPI, I2C, GPIOs, etc…
- Debugging – 3x pin UART for serial console
- Misc – 8 selection jumpers, power button, boot selection header
- Power Supply – 5V via micro USB port; optional battery
- Dimensions – 68 x 42 mm
- Certifications – CE and FCC (if we can believe the markings on the PCB silkscreen)
Linaro showcased Ubuntu on the similar Orange Pi i96 board at Linaro Connect Budapest 2017 last month, but I have not been able to find an image, nor source code yet. Needless to say, beginners better wait before buying this board, as everything is new, and software support is unclear at this stage. You’ll also have to check 2G sunset status in your countries, as some have stopped supporting 2G already, while others plan on keeping 2G networks for many more years.
Thanks to OvCa77 for the tip.
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.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress
Where can i find the u-boot / kernel sources?
@@lex Yes i know you have not find it yet, I was editing the post to better ask: will be SDK from Xunlong?
@@lex
I have just realized that it is not with Allwinner SOC like the other Orange Pi boards and now I am wondering about the same.
Any info on the power management chip for connecting a battery? I can’t find any info. This could make an excellent cheap platform for a portable console due to the built-in LCD connector.
I think they inverted LCD and CSI connector on picture label. It might be a 40-pin DPI interface.
@DurandA
Regarding LCD connector: decades ago Xunlong started with two Allwinner A20 based boards and used the same 24 pin FPC connector for an LCD they also sold on Aliexpress. But why bother? No linux-sunxi support, no buy. It’s that easy. 😉
And the Intex Aqua G2 has Android 4.2 jellybean
Some people complain of heat problems with Challenger phone which seems aimed at India
Oh, that looks interesting, especially due to the included 2G modem. Remote sensing applications with reporting of values back over the mobile network perhaps?
Do note that if you are in the USA the 2G network is in the process of being shut down and the bandwidth is being redeployed for LTE use. I believe it is supposed to be completely turned off on all carriers within two years. AT&T has already shut down their 2G network. They told 200,000 paying customers, tough luck, we’re still shutting it down.
For USA LTE-M is best for future deployments. Can we get a $10 LTE-M board?
Is Orange Pi taking on FriendlyArm competitively? The pricing of this board and the recent H5 Zero product seem aimed right at FA.
Orange Pi should be worried about Friendly because they do support much better than OPi does. FriendlyArm is underrated and underappreciated, IMHO. I have a FriendlyArm NanoPi NEO and I’m quite pleased with the Ubuntu core image, the available Wiki, the available schematics and other docs, support forums where the company employees seem to appreciate customer feedback.
@Jon Smirl As Jon says Specific Network Turn-Off Dates USA AT&T has now shut down its 2G network. Canada Rogers GSM/GPRS Network is extending availability to 31 December 2020, after which point it will be fully decommissioned. New activations of GSM/GPRS only devices will not be accepted after 1 July 2018. Access to the network from 1 January 2019 will be provided without warranty. Singapore M1, Singtel and StarHub will cease the provision of all 2G services with effect from 1 April 2017. Australia Vodafone Australia has announced the shutting down of its 2G network, with the service to be… Read more »
Can the imei be changed on these boards? Just asking because its incredibly hard to make these run here without a registered imei.
@Jon
The Qualcomm patent licensing alone for LTE must be $10!
But yes this is a generally useless board with no future. No buy from me.
I think this is a great iot board for markets, that still plan to keep 2g networks up.
And since this has battery support, it makes it great for embedded projects (like pulling data from sensors)
lets just hope we get a half decent working linux distro for this. I know, big ask for xunlong 🙂
Verizon is promising LTE M hardware for as little as $6. “I expect this price to go below $8 and maybe over time to approach … $6,” Karam said. “With this Cat-M what you are trying to do is make a solution that is really as cheap as a 2G solution, and 2G is really today in the $6 range. Cat-M is replacing 2G because 2G is [being]refarmed and Cat-1 is replacing 3G.” http://www.rcrwireless.com/20160216/internet-of-things/lte-iot-sequans-cat-m-verizon-tag4 You can buy modules with those Sequans chips right now, but the modules are $70 Not sure how to achieve that $6 price point. Maybe CNX… Read more »
Here’s the $75 module.
https://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/n/nimbelink/skywire-4g-lte-cat-m1-embedded-modem
http://www.lightreading.com/iot/iot-strategies/verizon-takes-iot-network-nationwide/d/d-id/731714
Cat M1 (also called LTE-M) is also a licensed-spectrum solution, and, in addition to reaching the market before NB-IoT, it does have some performance advantages over that recently standardized technology. However, pricing may keep Cat M1 from gaining the competitive edge it needs. According to Verizon, the company plans to offer $2-per-month data plans for Cat M1-connected devices, with additional options available for volume purchasing. In contrast, Actility estimated at the LPWAN conference in Paris last week that average costs across the market for devices connected to low-power, wide-area networks are closer to $1.
@Jon Smirl
LTE M is another game altogether!
Pycom has pre-orders (May/June deliver) for their G01 modules with an ESP32 WiFi/Bluetooth micro + Sequans module for about €24: https://www.pycom.io/product/g01-oem-module-shipping-may-2017/
They’re also about to ship the FiPy board with the ESP32 micro + Sequans LTE CAT M1 / NB1 module + LoRa and Sigfox (both via Semtch SX1276 chip) very soon at €49: https://www.pycom.io/product/fipy-preorder-shipping-april-2017/
I think $6 for the Sequans module alone in large quantities isn’t too far off.
anyone can recommend a ZigBee IOT dev board?
@@lex
The Ubuntu image demonstrated at LCB 2017 was made by Xunlong. I’m not sure Linaro is actually involved in software development for Orange Pi i96, maybe 96Boards is just used as a form factor/brand here?
@fkpwolf
No recommendation per se, but you may want to check out Samsung Artik development boards.
Alternatively browse http://www.cnx-software.com/tag/zigbee/ for solutions (not only dev boards though).
Another strange animal from Xunlong, this time not even Allwinner 😉 1. Can a CVBS/ AV port, more flash/ RAM, mic/speaker ( if not already) and a DC jack be attached on a cheap shield, similar to the $2 shield for the ill fated OPi0? SD cards are slow and most people regret buying cheaper ones later. eMMC will standardize and be cheaper. No harm with both options that all xPi vendors ought to consider. 2. Can an Ubuntu distro (or Android 4.4.4) fit in 512MB flash and have room for apps including NodeRed and MQTT etc? 3. Maybe the… Read more »
@Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)
Small addition for the Wi-Fi: the chip appeared in at least one Allwinner tablet and one developer already ported the Android driver to be useable with mainline kernel: https://github.com/jelly/sunxi-rda5990
Keep in mind that aside of the US, Canada and Australia, the majority of the world population (Asia, Africa) will use 2G for a long time, so this is a very attractive board.
Besides Ubuntu there are plenty of distros which fit on 512MB. And you don’t need a full blown desktop environment.
@Athar
This SoC is in Videocon Challenger v40ld, runs Android 4.4, so if you look at the products already using this SoC since 2016, you get a idea of it’s abilities as the Ram and Nand Flash are the same.
@Theguyuk
Yes I saw your comment but then it disappeared and others appeared !
I have experienced some site loading issues.
@Theguyuk I looked up online and yes the same spec is being sold as a $35 Android 4.4.2 phone in India ! http://www.mobilesdirect.in/40300/videocon-v40ld-512-mb-black So hopefully Xunlong might have less software support headaches here. That XR819 on OPi0 is still a fail, rebranded by some loudmouths as “low end, to be fixed with the new driver.” The 2G SIM idea is quite nice for $10. A 2G dongle alone looks like $6, about same cost as for a 3G dongle, without the integration. So this could be a better deal than the $8 WiFi Lichee Zero, which seems to promote its… Read more »
@Adam
Agree. And if an SDK/BSP relying on a somewhat recent kernel version will be provided there’s no doubt someone will port OpenWRT/LEDE to it.
@fkpwolf
There are several Zigbee USB sticks on the market. That is a lot simpler than messing with integrated boards. With the USB stick you can even work on your desktop. I’ve used both Zigbee and Zwave sticks this way.
@tkaiser
it will, Steven Zhao says he’s having trouble uploading it to github from China and it keeps dropping the connection and he doesn’t feel like dealing with it until next week/until there are more shipped orders(?).
In another email he also told me that he would patch it to 3.10.105 and fix the newer CVEs (I sent him links).
I cannot believe. Today arrived new model: https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Orange-Pi-Prime-Development-Board-H5-Quad-core-Support-linux-and-android-Beyond-Raspberry-Pi-2/1553371_32803048527.html
Will they stop making new boards every day?
Germany actually decided to keep 2G longer than 3G (which will be eol’d ~2020)
@parrotgeek1 So 3.10 is confirmed. 3.10 LTS was already EOL at the end of last year and only due to a kind soul taking over maintainership it will be EOLed now in October. And there’s also a difference how to deal with these BSP kernels: Taking mainline of same version, then import BSP stuff to have an idea what the hardware vendor has changed (auditing) and then simply apply mainline kernel branches. Or you just take the BSP kernel as it is and apply mainline patchsets. That way you might fix some CVEs but things like Allwinner’s ‘rootmydevice’ will be… Read more »
Yet another
Orange Pi Win Plus board, A64
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Orange-Pi-Win-Plus-Development-Board-A64-Quad-core-Support-linux-and-android-Beyond-Raspberry-Pi/1553371_32803012893.html?spm=2114.12010611.0.0.ASNx8C
@TheJerry
And another one: https://forum.armbian.com/index.php?/topic/3946-rk3399-orange/ (features also a SIM card slot so it is somewhat comparable to Orange Pi 2G-IoT, isn’t it?)
Orange Pi software support team are going to be so busy writing all that fully functioning software with so many diverse boards.
@tkaiser
That appears to have a slot for a MiniPCIe modem, a lot of other boards have that (and a SIM slot connected to the right pins on the modem slot). It has no actual WWAN modem on board as far as I can tell.
Well if Aliexpress figures can be trusted, seems Orange Pi main Xunlong site has 328 orders already for 2g IoT, do remember boards are sold elsewhere too.
@Theguyuk What’s the purpose of you posting untrue claims all the time? The ‘328’ appear in this sentence: ‘328 transactions in last 6 months.’, then there is written ‘435 orders’ in this moment and if you understand Aliexpress just a little you search for these 2 words ‘pieces available’. There it’s 1331 right now and since it has been 2000 in the beginning you can do the math yourself (or most probably not 😉 ) To get back to something newsworthy: the OS images for this board seem to be only on Baidu now so it’s time to install aria2,… Read more »
@tkaiser
Good find.
For future reference, here’s the link to Orange Pi’s Baidu account with all images: https://pan.baidu.com/share/home?uk=1077680202#category/type=0
There’s also the OrangePi_2G_IOT_android_V0_5.rar for those interested in Android instead.
@tkaiser
Screen grab from when I posted
//i.imgsafe.org/5022a4d28a.png
But hey why let’s facts get in the way when your out insult people, like a self entitled bighead with a potty mouth and master race issues.
@Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) Just had a short look into the 2G_IOT_Ubuntu1604_Server_V0_5 thing and already deleted everything. Partition table already tells us that this is just an Android image with an Ubuntu userland: Number Start End Size File system Name Flags 1 131kB 2228kB 2097kB bootloader msftdata 2 2228kB 4325kB 2097kB factorydata msftdata 3 4325kB 6423kB 2097kB misc msftdata 4 6423kB 10.6MB 4194kB modem msftdata 5 10.6MB 19.0MB 8389kB boot msftdata 6 19.0MB 29.5MB 10.5MB recovery msftdata 7 30.4MB 1394MB 1363MB ext4 12345678 Number Start End Size File system Name Flags 1 131kB 2228kB 2097kB bootloader msftdata 2 2228kB 4325kB 2097kB factorydata msftdata 3 4325kB 6423kB 2097kB misc msftdata 4 6423kB 10.6MB 4194kB modem msftdata 5 10.6MB 19.0MB 8389kB boot … Read more »
Fortunately I’Almost forgot. That’s the rootfs: /dev/loop7 1.3G 1.2G 39M 97% /mnt/loop7 1 /dev/loop7 1.3G 1.2G 39M 97% /mnt/loop7 A ‘little bit’ too fat to fit into the 512MB flash. Fortunately a lot of scripts are in /usr/local/ (many of them from loboris who made the first H3 based Orange Pis useable) and one of the first tasks should be rootfs expansion by running loboris’ fs_resize script. The OS image seems to be either loboris’ Ubuntu Mate 15.10 upgraded to Xenial (/boot is full of garbage only useable with H3 legacy kernel) or just a weird mixture of anything (apt history starting… Read more »
@tkaiser
Why are there no kernel sources??!! This board will be unusable without them.
I’ve emailed Steven MULTIPLE times and, even when I ask multiple questions in an email he answers every question except “Will you upload the RDA8810 kernel source?”
@tkaiser
the following kernel command line is hard coded into u-boot. would be hard to boot from nand
mem=236M selinux=1 androidboot.selinux=permissive console=ttyS0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p7 rw rootfstype=ext4 noinitrd init=/sbin/init
parrotgeek1 : @tkaiser the following kernel command line is hard coded into u-boot. would be hard to boot from nand Depends. There’s something called ‘Boot selector’ on the PCB so you might be able to transfer an OS image from SD card to the SLC flash, then adjust this and boot happily from a different device with the partition still being /dev/mmcblk0p7. But obviously not with this OS image since too fat. Time will tell, at least I lost any interest in this platform some hours ago after checking kernel version and the state of the OS image (could’ve been… Read more »
@tkaiser
Addendum: it’s rather easy to take this overweight Ubuntu image, throw the userland into the bin and replace it with a random armhf OpenWRT/LEDE userland. Then it would easily fit into the SoC’s flash but no one right in his mind would spend time on this since smelly kernel and stinky OS image format (being an Android with exchanged rootfs) so this is something you would need to hire someone for (I’m a bit surprised that this hasn’t happened but maybe it just needs some patience)
Personally this is what I will do
Remove recovery, misc partition
Change uboot config & default environment to instead use the former boot partition as FAT, with zImage and initrd.gz on it.
@parrotgeek1 Good idea but I wonder why Xunlong’s software guy didn’t do that already? If there are sources available stuff like this should be rather simple, if not even trivial fixes will be impossible. BTW: I also forgot to look whether/how Wi-Fi would be enabled on this OS image (in the past sometimes it took months until such ‘features’ became available on the official images). I also forgot to check the ‘fs_resize’ script since if it’s not modified it will fail dealing with mmcblk0p7. Now sales exceeded 700 pieces already, I wonder how many of the buyers aren’t aware that… Read more »
@tkaiser
The board has been featured on some larger news sites (ZDnet, PC Magazine, CNET Japan…) , so many of the orders may come from those sites with people that may not be that familiar with Orange Pi boards.
@Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)
Oh dear…
According to github.com/OrangePiLibra/OrangePi_Settings commits Wi-Fi should work on the board but who knows…
BTW: really scary that people in 2017 still do silly things like putting Wi-Fi credentials in world-readable files… but hey, the Internet of shitty things needs to grow.
BuddyZhang1 has a really strange style of programming (in C it’s even worse) and naming files, that makes me think he’s almost entirely self taught.
Hello, I have been playing with the Orange PI 2G IOT board and was able to retrieve a LOT of data from it. Using the serial connection on the three pin header and minicom in LOGmode I was able to make an ls -lR of the root directory, dumps of the flash images. Initially it was spewing a lot of data, but after some 15 miniutes it got quiet. With ‘su’ i could reach root level and with cat *.rc all init scripts were read. shell@etau:/ # ls acct cache config d data default.prop dev etc file_contexts fstab init init.environ.rc… Read more »
Source code is now available @ http://www.cnx-software.com/2017/04/18/rda-micro-rda8810-android-sdk-with-linux-u-boot-source-code-for-orange-pi-2g-iot-board-released/
Setting wifi on armbian image
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XiXrGEZtEY
@lolek
Instead of manually editing files, another way of configuring Wifi from the command line is to use nmcli or nmtui.
For nmcli see beginning of http://www.cnx-software.com/2017/02/19/how-to-use-chip-board-as-a-linux-printer-scanner-server/
Not tried nmtui myself. See manpage -> http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/wily/man1/nmtui.1.html
@Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) Well, nmtui is just the single step variant of nmcli suited for most common tasks. You can either choose your SSID from a list or if you know it already (or it’s ‘hidden’ — funnily still people do this BS in 2017) you then do just ‘nmtui-connect SSID’, enter the password and you’re done. Way too easy! People fear this would be worse than editing plain text files. Well, both nmcli and nmtui just create a ‘profile’ below /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/ which is such a plain text file but only readable by root (so unlike the irresponsible /etc/network/interfaces approach… Read more »
i got this error with armbian image
“Timed out waiting for device dev-ttyS0.device”
,it seems it doesnt go to login prompt..
Hello, Does anyone know where I can purchase a card with a developed board that has SIM card slot and will work on AT&T or T-Mobile broadband wireless service?
It would be similar to theOrange Pi 2G-IoT, I am not sure if that is compatible? It would be going into one of our MDVR GPS 3 dash cam system.
@Gabe
Normally, any 2G compatible SIM card would be compatible.
In case AT&T or T-Mobile don’t support 2G network anymore, then you may have to get a board with 3G support. There are several but are normally more expensive. Some examples:
http://www.cnx-software.com/2016/01/16/pixiepro-board-combines-nxp-i-mx6q-processor-with-wifi-802-11ac-bluetooth-4-2-nfc-gps-and-a-3g-modem/
http://www.cnx-software.com/2017/03/28/archermind-mediatek-x20-pro-development-board-adds-3g-4g-lte-and-more-ios/
http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/12/17/adboard-3g4g-digital-signage-board-is-powered-by-allwinner-a83t-octa-core-processor/
http://www.cnx-software.com/2016/04/22/boardcons-rockchip-rk3288-single-board-computer-runs-android-4-45-1-supports-3g-gps-5-display-interfaces-and-more/
Alternatively, if you use virtually use any Linux board with a 3G or 4G USB dongle of your choice.
In the US use a USB dongle if possible. They are plug and play with Linux. This is a cheap place to get them.
http://stores.ebay.com/networldoverstock
They have 3G USB modems for as low as $12.
Can a USB to HDMI TV out be used with this board?
@theguyuk
You’d need a DisplayLink adapter that’d cost more than the board, then you’d have to hope the DisplayLink graphics stack works on the board, which does not seem guaranteed, as other people had troubles on other ARM Linux board.
Is it possible directly connect a 800×480 40pin 5″ LCD display (like the adafruit.com–product–1680) to this board?
@angelo
The only compatible display I know of is that one: http://www.cnx-software.com/2017/06/14/10-smartphone-display-released-for-orange-pi-2g-iot-board/
For other displays, it’s less clear. You’d need to study Orange Pi 2G-IoT schematics, and RDA8810PL datasheet to find out if it’s compatible with the display you want to use.
Orange Pi 4G-IoT is coming at the end of the month.
HDMI, 4G (obviously), WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, 3x USB, camera and LCD display interfaces, audio jack, built-in mic, and 40-pin header.
@Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)
Orange Pi 4G-IoT is based on Mediatek MT6737 quad core Cortex A53 processor with LTE Cat 4.
It will be found in Android Go smartphones that will be sold for $30 in India in the next few weeks.
Price should quite competitive for the board, hopefully below $40.
Based on that info, it will likely be an Android board, but Linux support never really taking of like for Orange Pi 2G-IoT.
Orange Pi 4G-IoT board launched -> https://www.cnx-software.com/2018/03/23/orange-pi-4g-iot-development-board-launched-for-45