The Orange Pi RV SBC powered by a StarFive JH7110 RISC-V SoC was first introduced at the Orange Pi Development Conference 2024, a little over one year ago. But somehow, the company first launched the Orange Pi RV2 SBC based on Ky X1 SoC (rebranded Spacemit K1) earlier this month, and has only started taking orders for the Orange Pi RV board. The credit card-sized SBC ships with 2GB to 8GB RAM, supports M.2 NVMe SSD storage, provides gigabit Ethernet, built-in WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0, four USB 3.0 ports, HDMI and MIPI DSI video interface, a MIPI CSI camera interface, a 40-pin GPIO header, and more. Orange Pi RV specifications: SoC – StarFive JH7110 CPU – Quad-core RISC-V processor (RV64GC) at 1.5 GHz GPU – Imagination BXE-4-32 GPU with support for OpenCL 1.2, OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.2 VPU H.264 & H.265 4Kp60 decoding H.265 1080p30 encoding JPEG encoder / […]
Radxa Orion O6 Preview – Part 2: Debian 12 – What works, what doesn’t
I went through an unboxing and Debian 12 installation on the Radxa Orion O6 at the end of January, but decided to work on other reviews since software support still needed to be worked on. Since then, there’s been some work done, but no new image released. After waiting for almost two months, I’ve decided to carry on with the review by testing the Debian 12 image in a way similar to the Rock 5B SBC preview I did with Debian 11 in 2022 to check what works and what doesn’t on the Orion O6 at the time of the review. That will involve testing all ports, including 5GbE networking and the PCIe slot with an (old) NVIDIA graphics card, running some benchmarks, and also trying the Debian 12 image with a self-built Linux 6.13 kernel using ACPI instead of UEFI for the default image. Orion O6 SBC benchmarks on […]
Radxa CM3J industrial-grade Rockchip RK3568J SoM is compatible with Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4
Radxa CM3J is a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 compatible SoM powered by a Rockchip RK3568J industrial-grade quad-core Cortex-A55 SoC and equipped with up to 8GB LPDDR4x and up to 256GB eMMC flash. It’s an update to the Radxa CM3 based on the Rockchip RK3566 SoC with an industrial temperature range and only two board-to-board connectors, and can also be viewed as a cost-down version of the Radxa CM3i with RK3568 and four B2B connectors. It competes directly against the industrial-grade Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 introduced at the beginning of this month. Radxa CM3J specifications compared to the Radxa CM3 and Raspberry Pi CM4: The Radxa CM3J has been tested with the official Raspberry Pi CM4 IO Board, WaveShare CM4‑POE‑UPS‑BASE, WaveShare CM4‑IO‑BASE‑B, and WaveShare CM4‑NANO‑B, but other carrier boards for the Compute Module 4 may also be supported. Like with other such modules, there’s no 100% pin compatibility with […]
SOMDEVICES µSMARC RZ/V2N system-on-module packs Renesas RZ/V2N MPU in a 82x30mm “micro SMARC” form factor
SOMDEVICES µSMARC RZ/V2N is a system-on-module powered by the Renesas RZ/V2N AI MPU and offered in a micro SMARC (µSMARC) form factor that’s quite smaller at 82x30mm than standard 82x50mm SMARC modules. The company told CNX Software it’s still 100% compatible with SMARC 2.1 with a 314-pin MXM 3.0 edge connector. It’s also cost-effective with a compact PCB and can be used in space-constrained applications. The µSMARC features up to 8GB LPDDR4, up to 128GB eMMC flash, two gigabit Ethernet PHY, and an optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1 wireless module. µSMARC RZ/V2N specifications: SoC – Renesas RZ/V2N CPU Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.8 GHz Arm Cortex-M33 @ 200 MHz GPU – Arm Mali-G31 3D graphics engine (GE3D) with OpenGL ES 3.2 and Open CL 2.0 FP VPU – Encode & decode H.264 – Up to 1920×1080 @ 60 fps (Renesas specs, but SOMDEVICES also mentions up to 4K @ 30 […]
EDATEC ED-IPC3630 Raspberry Pi CM5-powered industrial PC gets eight DI, eight DO, and two CAN Bus
EDATEC ED-IPC3630 is an industrial PC (IPC) built around the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 (CM5) with up to 8GB RAM and designed for industrial automation, IoT, and control applications with features like a wide 9V to 36V DC power input and a DIN-rail mount. The industrial computer also offers dual GbE, optional WiFi 5 and/or 4G LTE cellular connectivity, HDMI video output, a few USB ports, eight digital inputs (DI), eight digital outputs (DO), and two CAN Bus interfaces. ED-IPC3630 Specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi CM5 SoC – Broadcom BCM2712 quad-core Cortex-A76 processor @ 2.4GHz with VideoCore VII GPU System Memory – 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB LPDDR4-4267 SDRAM (the 16GB model is not offered, maybe due to supply issues) Storage – Options for 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB eMMC flash Wireless – Optional dual-band WiFi 5 and Bluetooth LE 5.0 module Storage M.2 Key-B socket optionally fitted with 128GB, 256GB, […]
rpi-image-gen build system creates custom images for Raspberry Pi boards
Raspberry Pi has just released the rpi-image-gen build system to generate custom Raspberry Pi images designed for a specific application and based on packages from the Debian and Raspberry Pi OS repositories I was initially surprised by this announcement, as there are already build tools like the Yocto Project or buildroot designed for this purpose. They are however somewhat complex to use and there’s a steep learning curve, so maybe Raspberry Pi made something easier to use. Let’s have a look. The build is mostly defined by a configuration file which defines the profile and image layout. The company explains the main reasons for creating yet another build system. First, the images are quick to build with the rpi-image-gen build system since you don’t have to build the whole project from source, contrary to something like the Yocto Project which can take hours (for the first build at least). That’s […]
Waveshare CM5-NANO-B is a compact Raspberry Pi CM5 carrier board with the same dimensions as the Compute Module 5
Waveshare has just released the CM5-NANO-B, a compact Raspberry Pi CM5 carrier board, with the same dimensions as the Compute Module 5 and multiple peripheral interfaces making it suitable for industrial automation, IoT, embedded computing, AI development, and other space-constrained applications. Key features include a Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port, an unpopulated 40-pin Raspberry Pi GPIO header, a USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A port, dual MIPI 4-lane interfaces, a mini HDMI port supporting 4K output, a USB audio 3.5mm jack, a microSD card slot, and a 16-pin PCIe Gen2/3 x1 connector. Power is supplied via a USB-C port (5V/5A), and additional features include an RTC battery header, a 4-pin PWM fan header, a dual-color LED indicator, and user-configurable buttons. Waveshare CM5-NANO-B specifications: Compatibility – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 (CM5) Storage – MicroSD card slot (for Raspberry Pi CM5 Lite) Display Mini HDMI output up to 4K resolution Up to 2x MIPI […]
Updated PineTab-V RISC-V tablet ships with Debian 12-based Linux image
Pine64 has launched an updated version of the PineTab-V RISC-V tablet with the same StarFive JH7110 SoC, 8GB RAM, and 128GB eMMC flash, but a few small hardware changes, and a Debian-based Linux image maintained by StarFive themselves. The PineTab-V is not exactly a new RISC-V tablet since it was launched in 2023, but at the time it was reserved for developers since it shipped with nothing… Users had to install the OS (that did not support the display yet) themselves, and work on the software/OS to improve it. The new model still targets developers and enthusiasts/early adopters, but at least now there’s a Debian 12 image optimized for the PineTab-V. The hardware is mostly the same, except Pine64 added an accelerometer, a status LED, an ID for the PineTab-V in the EEPROM, and a fix for slow charging while the tablet is turned off. PineTab-V (2025) specifications: SoC – […]