Orange Pi 2 is a board powered by Allwinner H3 quad core processor that sells for $25. Shenzhen Xunlong Software has now launched a lower cost version with Orange Pi PC, still based on Allwinner H3 SoC, but getting ridiculously cheap at $15 + shipping ($3.43 in my case). Orange Pi PC specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.6 GHz (likely 1.2 GHz instead) with an ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU up to 600 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot (up to 64GB) Video Output – HDMI with CEC and HDCP support, AV port Audio I/O – HDMI, AV port, on-board microphone Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB OTG port Camera – CSI Interface Expansions – 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible header with 28 GPIOs, UART, I2C, SPI, PWM, CAN, I2S, SPDIF, LRADC, ADC, LINE-IN, […]
$39 Beaglebone Green Loses HDMI and DC Jack, Gains Grove Connectors
The original BeagleBone launched in 2011 $89, then Beagleboard.org released an updated version with HDMI, a faster processor, and more RAM called BeagleBone Black for $45 in 2013, possibly as a competitor to the Raspberry Pi, and since then the price has bumped up to $55 because of a larger eMMC flash. There’s now a new version – and a different color – with BeagleBone Green selling for $39 on SeeedStudio with shipping starting on August 20, 2015. BeagleBone Green board specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments Sitara AM3358BZCZ100 Cortex A8 @ 1 GHz with NEON + PowerVR SGX530 GPU System Memory – 512 MB DDR3L @ 800 MHz Storage – 4GB eMMC + micro SD slot USB Access to USB0, Client mode via Micro USB Access to USB1, Type A Socket, 500mA LS/FS/HS Serial Port – UART0 via 6-pin 3.3V TTL header (populated) Ethernet – 10/100M Ethernet , RJ45 Expansion […]
Linaro 15.07 Release with Linux 4.2 and Android 5.1
Linaro 15.07 has been released with Linux 4.2-rc3 (Baseline), Linux 3.10.83, 3.14.45 and 3.18.17 (LSK), and Android 5.1.1_r8. The Linux kernel got various bug fixes, and a power reduction technique has been implemented for Qualcomm processor. Progress has been made to boot Android with UEFI on Hikey board, and work is still on-going on 96boards including Hisilicon Hikey, Qualcomm DragonBoard 410c, and an upcoming and yet-to-be-formally-announced Marvell PXA1928 board called Helium. Highlights of this release: Linux Linaro 4.2-rc3-2015.07 linaro-android topic updated to 4.2-rc3 and recent AOSP/android-3.18 included GATOR version 5.21.1 llct-misc-fixes topic: “HACK: of: Limit FDT size for CRC check on arm64” has been dropped. FVP model was the last target to require this hack, but the new FVP firmware doesn’t need it anymore updated integration-linaro-vexpress64 topic by ARM LT: Versatile Express TC2 support is back, HDLCD display now works on TC2, the topic will be renamed to integration-linaro-vexpress next […]
NanoPi is a $16 WiFi and Bluetooth LE Linux Development Board
NanoPi is a new Linux development board powered by Samsung S3C2451 ARM9 processor with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE connectivity, connectors for a camera and an LCD display, as well as two expansion headers including a 40-pin “Raspberry Pi compatible” header. NanoPi specifications: Processor – Samsung S3C2451 ARM9 @ 400Mhz System Memory – 64M DDR2 Storage – micro SD slot Connectivity – AP6210 module for 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 1x USB 1.1 host port, 1x micro USB OTG port for power and data (serial or Ethernet) Display I/F – LCD Interface: 0.5mm pitch SMT FPC seat, support full-color LCD (RGB: 8-8-8) Camera I/F – DVP Camera Interface: 0.5mm pitch FPC connector, including ITU-R BT 601/656 8-bit, I2C and GPIOs Debugging – Serial Port Expansion Headers “GPIO1” – 40-pin header including UART, SPI, I2C, GPIO pins (Raspberry Pi compatible) “GPIO2” – 12-pin header including I2S, I2C, UART pins Power – […]
96Boards Enterprise Edition Specification Published
When AMD announces its 96Boards Enterprise Edition complaint server board, I could read quite a few complains because the board used a non-standard form-factor such as mini-ITX. The first version 96Boards Enterprise Edition specification has now been published, and the goods news is that there are two versions: the low cost ($199 to $399) “Standard version” with the new proprietary format, and likely more expensive “MicroATX version” that must complies with MicroATX v1.2 specs. The minimum hardware requirements are listed as follows: Small form factor Standard EE version – 160 x 120mm microATX EE version – 244 x 244mm Design is SoC independent (targets 32 or 64 bit SoCs) 1GB RAM (16GB strongly recommended for server software development) Minimum on-board connectors and expansion I/O 1x Serial over USB UART with microUSB interface 2x USB 1x RJ45 Ethernet Standard version board power from low cost 12V DC Jack connector or standard […]
Banana Pi BPI-M3 Development Board Features Allwinner A83T Octa core Processor
Banana Pi developers, in this case SinoVoIP, and not LeMaker, are about to launch a new board: BPI-M3 powered by Allwinner A83T octa core Cortex A7 processor with 2GB RAM and 8GB eMMC. Banana Pi M3 board specifications: SoC – Allwinner A83T octa-core ARM Cortex-A7 @ 2.0 GHz with PowerVR SGX544MP GPU supporting OpenGL ES 2.0/1.1, OpenCL 1.1, DX 9.3. System Memory – 2 GB LPDDR3 Storage – 8 GB eMMC + SATA (via Genesys GL830 USB bridge, shared with 2 USB ports) + micro SD slot Display Interfaces / Video Output – HDMI 1.4 up to 1920×1200, MIPI DSI connector Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack, microphone, HDMI audio Camera I/F – MIPI CSI and Parallel camera interfaces Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet (Realtek RTL8211E/D), 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 (AP 6212 module) USB – 2x USB 2.0 host port, 1x micro USB OTG Debugging – UART for console Headers […]
Allwinner H3 Based Orange Pi 2 Board Price Drops to as Low As $25
As Raspberry Pi Model B+ price got reduced to $25, some competitors also decided to bring their price down. Shenzhen Xunlong Software, the maker of Orange Pi board, decided to decrease their Orange Pi 2 and Orange Pi 2 Mini boards by $5 to respectively $30 and $25 plus around $2 shipping. Both boards are based on the same PCB, but the mini version lacks WiFi. Let’s refresh our memory with the specs: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.6 GHz with 256KB L1 cache, 1MB L2 cache, and an ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU up to 600 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot (up to 64GB) Video Output – HDMI (CEC and HDCP support), AV port Audio I/O – HDMI, AV port, on-board microphone Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi (Realtek module, not found on mini version) USB – 4x USB […]
Orange Pi Plus (Allwinner H3) Firmware Images and Linux SDK Released
Orange Pi Plus is a development board based on the new Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 processor that supports 4K video output and decoding. The boards comes with 1GB RAM, 8GB eMMC, HDMI output, Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi, SATA and more, and sells for $49 on Aliexpress. When I first covered the board in February, it was already listed on Aliexpress, but I could not find any firmware image, or source code, but this has now changed. There are now four firmware files: Lubuntu_1404_For_OrangePiplus_v0_8_0_.img.xz – Lubuntu 14.04 image Raspbian_For_OrangePiplus_v0_8_0.img.xz – Raspbian for Allwinner H3 orangepi-plus-debian-server-card-v0.9.img.xz – A Debian server image sun8iw7p1_android_orangepi-plus_uart0.rar – Android 4.4.2 image that needs to be flash with PhoenixCard in Windows (Linux tools are not working yet) Beside the firmware images, the company also releases a Linux SDK (h3-lichee-1.0.tar.gz) with Linux 3.4 kernel source code, u-boot, and relevant tools. I assume these should also work on Orange […]