NPi i.MX6ULL (Not So) Industrial-grade Linux SBC Starts at $39

[Update: I was initially informed the temperature range of the board was -40°C to +105°C, but Seeed Studio issues a correction explaining the Core module itself is rated -20℃ ~ 80℃ temperature range, and they haven’t tested the breakout board at all so we just don’t know. That means the board is not industrial-grade at all. I’ve left the rest of the post mostly unchanged]

We’ve covered several NXP i.MX boards in recent days, but here’s another NXP board courtesy of Seeed Studio with NPi i.MX6ULL industrial-grade Linux SBC powered by a low power NXP i.MX6ULL Arm Cortex A7 processor.

The board also comes with 512MB RAM, either an 8GB eMMC flash or 256MB NAND flash for storage, features two Fast Ethernet ports, and various I/Os including two 40-pin GPIO expansion headers.

NPi i.MX6ULL board specifications:

• Core Module
  • SoC – NXP MCIMX6Y2CVM08AB single Cortex-A7 core @ up to 800 MHz
  • System Memory – 512MB DDR3L
  • Storage
    • NPi-i.MX6ULL eMMC module – 8GB flash
    • NPi-i.MX6ULL NAND module – 256 MB NAND flash
• Breakout Board
  • Storage – MicroSD card slot
  • Display I/F – FPC LCD interface with 24-bit RGB and I2C touch control
  • Networking – 2x 10/100M Ethernet ports
  • USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 1x USB Type-C device port
  • Expansion – 2x 40-pin headers including one compatible with Raspberry Pi I/O header with I2C, GPIO, ADC, UART, SPI, CSI, PWM, and the other headers exposing SNVS anti-tampering pins, I2S/SAI, Ethernet, UART, and more GPIOs
  • Debugging – UART TTL for serial console
  • Misc – 1x RTC battery slot, 3x user LEDs, power & heartbeat LEDs, 4x multifunction keys, 8-digit DIP switch for boot mode (USB, NAND, eMMC, or SD)
  • Power Supply – 5V DC via power barrel jack; overvoltage protection circuit
  • Dimensions – 10 x 6 cm
  • Temperature Range – -40°C to +105°C

At first, I thought NPi was a typo for NXP, but it’s not, and instead, it looks like a family of industrial-grade boards from Seeed Studio which will also include a board powered by STM32MP1 Cortex-A7 processor in the future.

You’ll be able to build your own Ubuntu or Debian images using image-builder scripts, and Yocto Linux is also supported. Most Raspberry Pi HAT will be supported. Note documentation and script are will work-in-progress since the board is not quite shipping yet.

NPi i.MX6ULL SBC is best suited for industrial control, rail transit, drone control, audio output, or other embedded projects.

Both NAND and eMMC versions of the board are up for pre-order on Seeed Studio for respectively $39 and $44 with shipping scheduled to start on October 26th. Note that it’s not the only low-cost i.MX 6ULL board around as we previously covered MyIR MYS-6ULX SBC going for around $25.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

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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