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ROCK 3C SBC – A $39+ Raspberry Pi 3 lookalike with Rockchip RK3566-T AI SoC, M.2 NVMe SSD support

Radxa ROCK 3C, also called ROCK 3 Model C, is a Rockchip RK3566-T Arm SBC with up to 8GB RAM and WiFi 5. It mostly follows the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B form factor, but also adds an M.2 PCIe socket for NVMe SSDs. The single board computer also comes with a MicroSD card slot and eMMC flash module socket to boot the OS, a 4Kp60 capable HDMI 2.0 port, a MIPI DSI connector, a MIPI CSI camera connector, a 3.5mm jack with microphone, four USB ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and a 40-pin color-coded GPIO header. ROCK 3C specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566-T quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.6 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 GPU, 0.8 TOPS NPU (AI accelerator) System Memory – 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB LPDDR4 2112MT/s Storage MicroSD card slot eMMC module socket M.2 Key-M PCIe socket for 2230 NVMe SSD Video Output HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60 2-lane […]

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Windows 11 shown to run on Rock 5B Arm SBC (Rockchip RK3588)

Most people will probably want to run Linux on their Arm SBC, but Windows 11 could also be an option with the Rock 5B and other single board computers based on Rockchip RK3588 and other powerful Arm SoCs thanks to the Windows on Raspberry project. The project, also known as “Windows on R” is maintained by Mario Bălănică who recently tweeted a screenshot showing Windows 11 running on the Radxa ROCK 5B SBC powered by a Rockchip RK3588 Arm Cortex-A76A/A55 clocked at 1.2 GHz (instead of the usual 2.2/2.4 GHz), but with USB 2.0/3.0 and display interface apparently working just fine. PCIe appears to be detected, but not working. He also noted that virtualization worked out of the box unlike with Raspberry Pi 4 SBC showing Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL 2) and PowerShell in the screenshot below. Virtualization also enabled running Android apps in Windows 11 Arm as shown […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC
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NanoPi R6S RK3588S mini PC & router review – Part 2: Ubuntu 22.04

NanoPi R6S is both a mini PC and a router based on Rockchip RK3588S processor. I received some samples in November and started the NanoPi R6S review with OpenWrt/FriendlyWrt quickly testing the 2.5GbE interfaces and routing with iperf3, and it worked pretty well. But using a system with an octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor and 8GB RAM as an OpenWrt router only feels like a waste of resources, so I wanted to install a more versatile operating system – Ubuntu 22.04 – for further testing. My struggles installing Ubuntu 22.04 on NanoPi R6S FriendlyELEC provides various images on the Wiki either booting from an SD card, installing from a MicroSD to the eMMC flash (aka eFlasher imagers), or flashing through USB with Windows tools. I like the eFlasher images since the OS runs from the internal eMMC flash and no special tools are needed. I had just used the FriendlyWrt eFlasher image, […]

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Embit EMB-LR1280-mPCIe-4x is a 2.4GHz LoRa mPCIe module based on Semtech SX1280 chipset

Embit EMB-LR1280-mPCIe-4x is an mPCIe (mini PCIe) module based on four Semtech SX1280 2.4 GHz LoRa transceivers and designed for OEM gateways that can work worldwide thanks to the use of the 2.4GHz ISM band and supports ranging. We first covered 2.4GHz LoRa and the SX1280 transceiver two years ago as a solution to design region-independent products specially suited to maritime and intercontinental logistics applications. We haven’t seen it used that much although we covered an ESP32 board with SX1280 last year, and it turns out that Italian company Embit has also made a mPCIe module based on the SX1280 chipset. Embit EMB-LR1280-mPCIe-4x specifications: LoRa connectivity Chipsets – 4x Semtech SX1280 transceiver with 3x LoRa Rx Channels + 1x LoRa Tx Modulation – LoRa Spread Spectrum Frequency – 2.4 GHz ISM band Frequency Range – 2400 to 2500 MHz RF Output power – Up to +12 dBm Sensitivity -129 dBm […]

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URVE Board Pi RK3566 SBC comes with RTC, eMMC flash, and M.2 SSD socket

URVE Board Pi is a single board computer (SBC) powered by a Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor, 2GB RAM, 8GB eMMC flash, plus the same interfaces as the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B as well as an RTC with a coin-cell battery and an M.2 SSD socket. More specifically, the Rockchip RK3566 board comes with a 4Kp60 capable HDMI 2.0 port, a MIPI DSI/LVDS display interface, a MIPI CSI camera connector,  Gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.0/2.0 ports, a dual-band WiFi 5.0 and Bluetooth 4.2 wireless module, and the usual 40-pin GPIO header. URVE Board Pi specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 Quad Core Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.8 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 GPU, 0.8 TOPS NPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR4  (up to 8GB) Storage 8GB eMMC flash (up to 128GB) M.2 PCIe socket for 2242 NVMe SSD MicroSD card slot Video Output HDMI 2.0 with HDCP 1.4/2.2, up to 4Kp60 4-lane […]

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EDATEC CM4 Industrial – An Raspberry Pi CM4 computer for IIoT, automation, and industrial control

EDATEC CM4 Industrial is both a Raspberry Pi CM4 carrier board and a computer for industrial IoT, control, and automation that expands on the company’s CM4 Sensing and CM4 Nano solutions with more features and interfaces. The system notably offers two RS485, one RS232, three analog inputs, two digital inputs, and one relay output through terminal blocks, as well as optional WiFi, Bluetooth, and 4G LTE + GPS connectivity, and a wide DC voltage range of 8V to 36V. EDATEC CM4 Industrial specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi CM4 module with SoC – Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Arm Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5GHz with VideoCore Vi GPU supporting OpenGLES 3.1, Vulkan 1.x, H.265 (HEVC) (up to 4Kp60 decode), H.264 (up to 1080p60 decode, 1080p30 encode) System Memory – 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM Storage Optional 8GB/16GB/32GB eMMC flash for system boot MicroSD card slot for booting the system on a Raspberry […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
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WinLink E850-96Board SBC is powered by Samsung Exynos 850 Octa-core Cortex-A55 SoC

WinLink E850-96Board is a 96Boards CE Extended-compliant single board computer (SBC) based on a Samsung Exynos 850 octa-core Cortex-A55 processor plus 64GB flash and 4GB RAM found in a single eMCP (embedded Multi-Chip Package) chip. While the Samsung Exynos 5422 based ODROID-XU4/XU4Q was one of the most popular SBCs when it launched in 2015 thanks to its features set and affordable pricing, we haven’t really seen other interesting Samsung Exynos SBCs in recent years. I did notice a WinLink E850-96Board based on Exynos 850 in the Linux 5.17 release last March, but there was not enough information then. The good news is that the board has now launched so let’s have a closer look. WinLink E850-96Board “All-in” board specifications: SoC – Samsung Exynos 850 CPU – Octa-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 2.0GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 MP1 GPU supporting OpenGL ES1.1/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.0 Full Profile, and Vulkan 1.0/1.1 […]

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Radxa ROCK 5A SBC – A Raspberry Pi 4 lookalike with up to 16GB RAM, Rockchip RK3588S SoC

Radxa has just unveiled the ROCK 5A single board computer (SBC) following Raspberry Pi 4 form factor and powered by a Rockchip RK3588S octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor coupled with up to 16GB of RAM as a way to celebrate Chinese New Year 2023. The Radxa ROCK 5A (aka ROCK5 Model A) closely follows the Raspberry Pi 4 layout, including two micro HDMI ports, a 3.5mm AV port, a microSD card, a 40-pin GPIO header, four USB ports, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. The MIPI DSI connector is there too, and so is the MIPI CSI camera connector, but in a different location. Radxa also added some features such as an M.2 socket for a wireless module (since there’s none on board) and eMMC flash module connectors, among other smaller changes (e.g. Power button!). ROCK 5A specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588S CPU – Octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC