Orange Pi Development Boards Are Raspberry Pi “Clones” based on Allwinner A20 and A31s

After Raspberry Pi, Waxberry Pi, and Banana Pi boards, here come another fruit-named board with Orange Pi. There are actually three models, with Orange Pi and Orange Pi mini based on Allwinner A20, and Orange Pi Plus powered by a quad core Allwinner A31s processor.

Orange_Pi_Board
Orange Pi Board Description

I’ve drawn a comparison table with the specifications for the three models. Please note that Orange Pi Plus full specifications have not been released yet, so I don’t have all details.

Orange Pi Mini Orange Pi Orange Pi Plus
SoC Allwinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 processor up to 1GHz with Mali-400 MP2 GPU Allwinner A31s quad core Cortex A7 processor with PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU
System Memory 1 GB DDR3
Storage 2x micro SD slot + SATA NAND Flash + micro SD slot + SATA TBD
Video Output HDMI, AV, and DSI I/F HDMI, AV, VGA, and DSI I/F HDMI, AV, and DSI I/F
Audio I/O HDMI, AV, and MIC HDMI, AV, and MIC HDMI and AV
Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet (RTL8211E/D) + Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n + optional Bluetooth Ethernet + 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
Camera Parallel 8-bit I/F CSI connector CSI connector
USB 2x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB OTG 4x USB 2.0 ports, 1x micro USB OTG
Expansion 40-pin header 26-pin “R-Pi” header
18-pin extended interface
Misc Rest, power, and u-boot buttons
Power, Ethernet, and user LEDS
IR receiver
Rest, power, and u-boot buttons
Power, Ethernet, and user LEDS
IR receiver, RTC battery interface
Rest, power, and u-boot buttons
Power, Ethernet, and user LEDS
IR receiver
Power * 5V/2A via DC jack* 5V via micro USB OTG port * 5V/2A via DC jack
* 5V via micro USB OTG port
* Li-Po Battery
* 5V/2A via DC jack
* 5V via micro USB OTG port
Dimensions 94 x 86 mm 112 x 60 mm N/A
Weight 45 grams 60 grams N/A
Price + Shipping $42.11 $51.31 $76.37
Orange Pi Plus Board
Orange Pi Plus Board

Orange Pi boards appear to be software compatible with Banana Pi, and Banana Pi M2 boards, with support for Android 4.4, Debian, Ubuntu, Raspbian, and Scratch, and Orange Pi website is a close copy of lemaker.org, one of the companies promoting the Banana brand. They even have the same “Apply for Orange Pi“, where you can apply for a free board if you have a project, or want to help with Orange Pi “community”.

Orange Pi boards can be purchased for $42 to $76 including shipping on Shenzhen Xunlong Software Aliexpress store, which also includes cheap accessories such as a $5.90 camera.

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39 Replies to “Orange Pi Development Boards Are Raspberry Pi “Clones” based on Allwinner A20 and A31s”

  1. @cnxsoft Orange pi should not be called cloning. We have completely different hardware design.
    Most of the software system is not the same. Please help modify inappropriate title, thank you.

  2. @CNX So when are you going to do a comparison/board shoot out for us ?

    So more expensive than odroid c and lower performance, more like a cubieboard 2/cubietruck but less io.

  3. @Al You said what I was thinking – the Odroid-C1 would appear to be a better board at a much better price than any of these. Not that I’ve had personal experience with either, just going by the specs and the published prices.

  4. @steven
    That’s why I used “clones” with quotes.

    @Al
    @Mike
    ODROID-C1 price ($35) is without shipping, once you add shipping it’s $60, at least if you purchase from Hardkernel website. If you purchase via US or European distributor, you’ll get a different total price. So shipping makes it difficult for a price comparison, since it will depend on your country. Products shipped from China have often a declared value inferior to the actual price you pay, so it’s more likely you won’t have to pay custom fees, whereas Hardkernel *might* have to declare the real value, and since they ship by Fedex (or DHL?), you are more likely to pay custom duties. But again that depends on your country.

    Software support should be much better with the Hardkernel board, at least for now, as they have an established community, and they’ve delivery Android and Linux images in the past with 2D/3D graphics, and VPU support.

  5. When comparing with Banana Pi it seems this one is a bit better equipped (it has wifi).
    Then again a banana can also be ordered for 41.60. See http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-Banana-pi-fully-compatible-with-Raspberry-Pi-cubieboard-with-Gigabit-ethernet-port-SATA-Socket/1839648169.html?s=p

    And banana is supported directly by Fedora 21: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/ARM/F21/Installation
    Odroid C1 is also nice but as cnxsoft says: much more expensive shipping. Also it lacks a sata port (it would make a nice box )

    Then again a banana M2 can be found for $ 59 on aliexpress whereas the A31 orange is $ 76.

    @Steven:
    What is the nand flash size of the orange pi?
    And what does bluetooth optional mean? Do I need a usb dongle for that?

  6. Website lists Raspbian as a supported OS. I doubt this is true since Raspbian is compiled for armv6 on the original Pi.

  7. Sander yes, and links you found are a proof this is a typical chinese RIPOFF

    Lubuntu_For_BananaPi_v3.1.1Version: 3.1.1
    Release date: 2014-08-07
    Default login: bananapi/bananapi & root/bananapi
    Kernel version: 3.4.90
    Release notes: Link
    CheckSum: MD5: ED3E31854AFB4A01F1039920E283CAF3
    ​SHA1: 6DFF841C694EFBCB6E8FB2E75F9FC2C27FC81659
    CRC32: 065E18EB

    Lubuntu_For_OrangePi_v1.0.0Version: 1.0.0
    Release date: 2014-11-29
    Default login: Orangepi/Orangepi & root/Orangepi
    Kernel version: 3.4.90
    Release notes: Link
    CheckSum: MD5: ED3E31854AFB4A01F1039920E283CAF3
    ​SHA1: 6DFF841C694EFBCB6E8FB2E75F9FC2C27FC81659
    CRC32: 065E18EB

    they simply COPIED whole website, there will be ZERO support for this board. Standard fly by night, boards today toilets tomorrow kind of business.
    Its amazing how people argue about single dollar price difference when whole product is useless. Look, you can buy piece_of_shit_Y $.50 cheaper at ripoff’r’us! It will sit idle in your drawer, but at least it was cheaper!

    Hardware is “easy” when you have access to manufacturer SDK, they give you gerbers to reference design, push few components around in Altium and you have “new” product. Dev boards are not hammers or lamps. You cant simply buy one, plug power and expect it to work. You need support, you need documentation, you need a clue. “steven” has no clue and seems to be speaking google translate instead of english
    “orange pi is HW acceleration supported in Linux” <- lie

    Hardkernel isnt perfect, but at least they DO have developers on payroll and support stuff they sell. Same goes for pee foundation, beagleboard foundation etc.

    Buying devboard from someone who:
    -lies
    -doesnt speak your language
    -rips off whole website
    -is too clueless to copy said website properly and ends up with bunch of non working mess

    is like buying Lasik surgery do it at home kit on ebay from china. Good luck.

  8. @rasz_pl
    It’s clear they’re riding the work done by Lemaker and other Banana Pi companies, and they don’t even have a github account for the source code. But if the Orange Pi is indeed software compatible with Banana Pi, that means any distributions for the Banana Pi will be running on Orange Pi.

    @Al
    Don’t get me wrong, I definitely thing ODROID-C1 is incredible money for value, but just not as much as the $35 price tag implies. As rasz_pl mentioned support from Hardkernel will be much better, and they don’t spam Google+ like SinoVoip (One of the companies involved with Banana Pi).

  9. The Orange Pi seems very good, is the camera connector compatible to the Raspberry camera?? (Omnivision 5647)
    I will buy it immediately if it is compatible!

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