Rock Pi 4 Plus SBC gets Rockchip OP1 processor, eMMC flash pre-loaded with Twister OS Armbian

The low-cost Rock Pi 4 SBC was unveiled in 2018 with a Rockchip RK3399 processor, up to 4GB RAM, and Raspberry Pi 3 form factor. Rock Pi 4 Plus builds on the relatively popular single board computer with an upgrade to Rockchip OP1 processor, which is a higher performance RK3399 SoC typically used in Chromebooks and ASUS Tinker Board 2.

The new board also adds 16 to 128 GB eMMC flash, instead of relying on an optional eMMC module, and will come pre-loaded with Twister OS Armbian lightweight desktop OS based upon Armbian Focal 20.04.1 LTS (aarch64) for Rockchip RK3399-based SBCs.

Rock Pi 4 Plus

Four variants of Rock Pi 4 Plus share most of the same specifications:

  • SoC – Rockchip OP1 big.LITTLE hexa-core processor with  2x Arm Cortex-A72 @ up to 2.0 GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.4 GHz, a Mali-T864 GPU with support OpenGL ES1.1/2.0/3.0/3.1, OpenVG1.1, OpenCL, DX11, and AFBC, and a VPU with 4K VP9 and 4K 10-bit H265/H264 decoding
  • System Memory & Storage
    • Rock Pi 4B Plus B2E16 – 2GB RAM + 16GB eMMC flash
    • Rock Pi 4B Plus B4E32 – 4GB RAM + 32GB eMMC flash
    • Rock Pi 4B Plus B4E64 – 4GB RAM + 64GB eMMC flash
    • Rock Pi 4B Plus B4E64 – 4GB RAM + 128GB eMMC flash
    • Common
      • MicroSD card slot
      • M.2 socket for NVMe SSD (M.2 extension board plus heat-sink is recommended for proper mounting)
      • 4MB SPI flash soldered with NVMe booting from SPI supported
  • Video Output / Display Interface
    • HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz
    • 2-lane MIPI DSI via FPC connector
    • Dual independent display support
  • Audio – Via HDMI and 3.5mm audio jack; HD codec supporting up to 24-bit/96Khz audio
  • Camera – MIPI-CSI2 connector for camera up to 8MP
  • Connectivity
    • Gigabit Ethernet with PoE support (additional HAT required)
    • Dual-band 802.11ac WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.0 with on-board antenna (external antenna also supported, but an u.FL connected must be soldered)
  • USB – 1x USB 3.0 host port, 1x USB 3.0 OTG port (host/device selectable by switch), 2x USB 2.0 host ports
  • Expansion – 40-pin expansion header with 1x UART, 2x SPI bus, 2x I2C bus,  1x PCM/I2S, 1x SPDIF, 1x PWM, 1x ADC, 6x GPIO, and power signals (5V, 3.3V and GND)
  • Misc – RTC
  • Power Supply – Via USB-C port supporting USB PD 2.0 (9V/2A, 12V/2A, 15V/2A, or 20V/2A) and Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0/.0 (9V/2A, 12V/1.5A). It’s also possible to power the board via a 5V/3.4A power adapter, but it is not recommended
  • Dimensions – 85 x 54 mm

Rock Pi 4B PlusThere’s some conflicting information about the specs, as the newsletters’ announcement lists four models, two model B as above, and two model A without WiFi:

  • Model A 2GB LPDDR4 + 16GB eMMC: 49$
  • Model A 4GB LPDDR4 + 32GB eMMC: 65$
  • Model B 2GB LPDDR4 + 16GB eMMC: 59$
  • Model B 4GB LPDDR4 + 32GB eMMC: 75$

But for example, Aliexpress lists four model B boards with up to 128GB eMMC flash, albeit the largest capacity is not available (yet).

Twister OS Armbian

The original Rock Pi 4 would not ship with an operating system since internal storage did not include, but since Rock Pi 4 Plus does include at least 16GB of eMMC storage, Radxa decided to flash Twister OS Armbian to the board maintained by Pi Labs.

Twister OS Armbian version of Twister OS specific to Rockchip RK3399/OP1 board such as Rock Pi 4B, Rock Pi 4C, and RockPro64 boards. It should be noted that 4 GB of RAM is recommended, so the versions of the board with 2GB RAM may not work in an optimal manner. Twister OS Armbian relies on XFCE desktop, a recent Linux kernel, and supports hardware video decoding, as well as 2D/3D GPU acceleration. If you prefer another Linux distribution or Android, you can also download and install an alternative image found in the Wiki

Rock Pi 4 Plus (B4E32) with 4GB RAM, 32GB eMMC flash and WiFi/Bluetooth can be purchased for around $100 on Amazon or Aliexpress.

Via Radxa Newsletter

Share this:

Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress

ROCK 5 ITX RK3588 mini-ITX motherboard
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
The comment form collects your name, email and content to allow us keep track of the comments placed on the website. Please read and accept our website Terms and Privacy Policy to post a comment.
22 Comments
oldest
newest
Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago

Very cool to see Twister OS getting some love.

If you can’t wait for RK3588 to exist and get supported, this seems like a good option.

“Raspberry Pi 4 Plus (B4E32) with 4GB RAM, 32GB eMMC flash and WiFi/Bluetooth can be purchased for around $100 on Amazon or Aliexpress.”

That ain’t it, chief. xD

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago

Twister OS also gets in a conflict with people that creates value in open source. They provide images in binary form only. Without disclosing sources you are violating GPL licence or tl;dr; provide pirated software. All open source vendors should know that, but some doesn’t care probably because they don’t make much value in software support, contrary, they use open source to support hardware sales.

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago

In the end we ended up with a raspberry pi 4 plus:

> Raspberry Pi 4 Plus (B4E32) with 4GB RAM, 32GB eMMC flash and WiFi/Bluetooth can be purchased for around $100 on Amazon or Aliexpress.

Theguyuk
Theguyuk
3 years ago

Why not use Chrome OS on this SBC, to bad a experience or not?

itchy n scratchy
itchy n scratchy
3 years ago

Can chromeos do something more/better than a “proper” linux?

RK
RK
3 years ago

Run android apps 😀

itchy n scratchy
itchy n scratchy
3 years ago
  RK

Oh really? I thought that was android’s domain 😀 sorry having absolutely no clue when it comes to chromeos

Noloqoq
Noloqoq
3 years ago

There is libhybris in Linux. Jing OS say they will add support for android application in there GNU/Linux system (Ubuntu derivated), 1.0 release next month (in 2021 June).

tonny
tonny
3 years ago

I wish Radxa, HardKernel, etc would make SBC with reasonable size, have good default casing that we can put hdd/ssd and/or m.2. Something like intel nuc, maybe.

diizzy
diizzy
3 years ago

RockPro64 + NAS case?
There’s also a NAS case for the Rock Pi 4 boards.

Dan
Dan
3 years ago

Odroid h2? Helios 64?

tonny
tonny
3 years ago

H2 case is not that good. Helios64 is superb. But the price is superb too. 🙂

David Willmore
David Willmore
3 years ago

Clearly you haven’t looked at what HK offers if you even post that question. They’ve been making such devices for years.

tonny
tonny
3 years ago

AFAIK, the case is not that good for H2. As for N2, yes. The case is superb. But not that good anymore when you want to use 2.5″ ssd/hdd.

Buy 1 intel nuc. Choose i3 at minimum. You’ll know what I mean.

minardi
minardi
3 years ago

realized that the mighty nanopi neo4 and M4 is discontinued

Theguyuk
Theguyuk
3 years ago

Noticed M4B and M4V2 are temporarily stopped, guess chips shortage.

Randomguy
Randomguy
3 years ago

Is this another sbc with power only USB-c? I would like to be able to use sbc with USB-c hub with power pass-trough 🙁

Randomguy
Randomguy
3 years ago

Yeah, I was there when you posted it. At the time it looked like it’s first sign of what will be standard soon but it never really materialized.

geokon
3 years ago

I don’t know if anyone from Radxa will see this, but your Taiwanese distributor doesn’t answer email inquiries. Seems there is no way to purchase your product from Taiwan (maybe this is intentional?)

geokon
3 years ago

errr, to clarify. This is from the Radxa website and the “ALLNET Taiwan” distributor’s contact details. Seems you can order through amazon – with a wonderful $25.30 shipping

j_c
j_c
2 years ago

there is a new ROCK PI 4 Model C+ is now listed in radxa allnetchina store but is not OP1 processor

Khadas VIM4 SBC