Before Allwinner launched their popular A10 Cortex A8 processor earlier this decade, the company had Allwinner F-series ARM9 processors found in E-ink readers, vehicle multimedia systems, audio products and so on.
I would not expect a new board based on of those processors in 2018, but LicheePi Nano looks to be exactly that with an Allwinner F1C100s processor, a form factor roughly the size of an SD card, and support for RGB LED displays.
LicheePi Nano board specifications:
- SoC- Allwinner F1C100s ARM926EJS processor clocked at up to 900MHz
- System Memory – 32MB DDR integrated into SoC
- Storage – Micro SD card, and optional 8M SPI flash (unpopulated in the photo above)
- Display I/F – 40-pin RGB LCD FPC connector supporting 272×480, 480×800, 1024×600 and other resolutions resistive and capacitive displays
- Video Decoding – H.264 / MPEG up to 720p
- I/Os via 2.54mm pitch through holes and 1.27mmm pitch castellated holes
- SDIO for WiFi module
- 2x SPI, 3x TWI (I2C),3x UART
- 1x TV out, 2x TV in
- 2x PWM
- 1x LRADC
- 2x speaker output, 1x mic input
- USB – 1x micro USB OTG port
- Power Supply
- Input 5V via micro USB port, 3.3 to 5V via pin
- Output – 3.3V, selectable input RTC voltage
- Power Consumption – 54mA (idle) with Linux, 250mA with display
- Temperature Range – Storage:: -40~125°C; operating: -20 to 70°C
The board works with 3 different operating systems: Linux, RT-Thread (RTT), and Xboot. With the amount of RAM in the board don’t expect to run a desktop environment though. There’s what appears to be good documentation in a dedicated website, with the main downside that it is currently only in Chinese language. The company however offers support via Telegram, and they can speak very good English there.
I first found the board in Banggood where it is sold for $8.46 shipped without SPI flash, and $9.59 with 8MP SPI flash. A 5″ capacitive display with 800×480 resolution is also available for $27.43 including shipping.But the board is also listed in Taobao for 9.99 RMB and up. So that’s under $2. The only problem is that it looks to be out of stock. We can also see other versions of the board with WiFi, and kits with a 5″ display. Banggood includes a USB to OTG adapter and worldwide shipping, but still I’d expect the “oversea” price to eventually drop closer to $5 or $6 with shipping.
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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