Shenzhen based MYIR Tech has just launched two new single board computers with Rico board featuring Texas Instruments Sitara AM437x ARM Cortex A9 industrial processor, and Z-Turn board based on Xilinx Zynq-7010 ARM Cortex A9 + FPGA SoC. Both boards sell for $99 in single quantity.
Rico Board
Specifications:
- SoC – Texas Instruments AM4379 single core ARM Cortex A9 processor @ 1.0GHz with PowerVR SGX530 GPU, and 4x PRU @ 200 MHz. Other AM437x on request.
- System Memory – 512MB DDR3 (Options: 256MB or 1GB)
- Storage – 4GB eMMC, 256 or 512 MB NAND flash (reserved), 16MB QSPI flash, 32KB EEPROM, and micro SD slot
- Video Output – HDMI and LCD interfaces (LCD connector located on bottom of the board).
- Connectivity – 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet
- USB – 1x mini USB 2.0 device port, 1x USB 2.0 host post
- Camera – 2x 30-pin camera interface
- Debugging – 1x debug serial port, 1x 20-pin JTAG interface, 1x 14-pin JTAG interface
- Expansion Headers – 2x 40-pin headers with access to 2x SPI, 2x I2C, 2x CAN, 4x UARTs, 1x MMC, and 8x ADC
- Misc – 4x buttons (reset, power, and 2x user), 5x LEDs (reset, power, and 3x user), boot selection jumpers
- Power Supply – 5V/2A power barrel
- Dimensions – 100 x 65 x 1.6 mm (8-layer PCB)
- Temperature Range – 0 to 70°C
The company provides a Linux 3.14.0 SDK for the board with the source code for the bootloaders (SPL and U-boot), the kernel and relevant drivers, and buildroot build system, as well as a complete hardware development kit that includes a Rico Board, various cables, a 4GB micro SD card, a 5V/2A power adapter, and an optional 7-inch LCD Module with capacitive touch screen. Source code is provided with a CD that comes with the board.
You can find more information and order the board or kit on MYiR Tech Rico Board product page. The kit sells for $139, and you’ll need to add $99 for the 7″ touchscreen display.
Z-Turn Board
MYS-XC7010 / MYS-XC7020 boards specifications:
- SoC – Xilinx XC7Z010-1CLG400C (Zynq-7010) with two ARM Cortex A9 cores @ 667 MHz, Artix-7 FPGA fabric with 28K logic cells, 17,600 LUTs, 80 DSP slices. Zilinx Zynq-7020 optional.
- System Memory – 1 GB of DDR3 SDRAM (2 x 512MB, 32-bit)
- Storage – 16MB SPI flash, 512 NAND flash (reserved), and a micro SD slot
- Video Output – HDMI up to 1080p
- Connectivity – 10/100/1000M Ethernet
- USB – 1x mini USB 2.0 OTG port
- Debugging – USB-UART debug interface, 14-pin JTAG interface
- User I/O (via two SMT female connector on the bottom of the board) – 90/106 user I/O (7010/7020), configurable as up to 39 LVDS pairs, or I/Os such as SPI. I2C, LCD, camera, CAN, Ethernet, etc…
- Sensors – 3-axis acceleration sensor and temperature sensor
- Misc – CAN interface, 2x buttons (reset and user), boot selection jumpers, 5x LEDs, 1x Buzzer
- Power – 5V via USB, or 5V/2V power barrel
- Dimensions – 102 x 63 x 1.6 mm (8-layer PCB)
A Linux 3.15.0 SDK is provided with gcc 4.6.1, a binary bootloader, the source code for the kernel and drivers, and a minimal ramdisk and Ubuntu Desktop 12.04 root file systems.
MYiR Tech newsletter claims the board sells for $99, but on the product page, you’ll only find a complete kit with the board, cables, a 4GB micro SD card, a power supply, and CD for source code and documentation for $139, the same price as the TI Sitara kit. Z-Turn board is somewhat similar to the $189 ($125 for education) ZYBO board, so it’s probably the most cost-effective Zynq board available to date.
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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Very nice and affordable ZYNQ board.
Hmm, the Z-Turn Board could be an cheap way to finally port my ancient Spartan-6 Amiga emulator into fairly modern FPGA architecture… Has host CPUs (dual-core Cortex-A9) for handling all conversions between the old school Amiga chipset and the modern HDMI/USB infra.
Whoops, the Zynq 7000 Series is fast becoming obsolete, there is an 16nm FF version coming as Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC Series that has quad Cortex-A53 + dual Cortex-R5 + Mali-400MP… DDR4 @ 2.667Gbps, PCIe Gen4, USB 3.0, SATA 6Gbps, 150G Interlaken, Displayport, etc. etc..
Pretty mindblowing, as the Zynq is supposed to be the “low-end” FPGA chips, to their Kintex and Virtex Ultrascale chips. :-O
I bought the z-turn board and wouldn’t recommend it, at least to a beginner. The documentation is so bad that I didn’t manage to even get a hello world running within 4 weeks.
Does any of the new ZTurn board with Xilinx SoC device that supports USB 3.0?
@anon
The UltraScale+ may be coming soon, but is unlikely that mere mortals will be able to afford them in the near future. So the Z-Turn was a place in the world for now, especially the 7020 version since nobody else seems to be making an inexpensive board with that chip.
Z-Turn Board with Zynq-7020 is on Groupsets for $119 -> https://groupgets.com/campaigns/214-z-turn-board-xc7z020