Banana Pi BPI-RV2 is a low-cost RISC-V router with a 2.5GbE port and five gigabit Ethernet ports

We briefly mentioned the Banana Pi BPI-RV2 router in our article about the Siflower SF21H8898 quad-core 64-bit RISC-V SoC designed for industrial gateways, routers, and controllers. But we now have more information about Banana Pi’s latest RISC-V router, and it’s available for purchase for $34.50 on AliExpress. So let’s have a closer look.

The Banana Pi BPI-RV2 ships with 512MB DDR3 RAM, 128 MB SPI NAND, and 16 MB SPI NOR flash for storage redundancy. The router features one 2.5GbE port with optional PoE support, five gigabit Ethernet ports, an M.2 2242/2230 PCIe Gen 2 x1 interface for NVMe SSD storage, and a mini PCIe socket for a WiFi module.

Banana Pi BPI-RV2 specifications:

• SoC – Siflower SF21H8898 quad-core 64-bit RISC-V @ 1.25GHz
• System Memory – 512MB DDR3
• Storage
  • 128 MB SPI NAND Flash for U-Boot and Linux
  • 16 MB SPI NOR flash for U-Boot and Linux; write protected by default (protection can be disabled with jumper)
  • M.2 2230/2242 (PCIe Gen2 x1) socket for NVMe SSD
• Networking
  • 2.5GbE RJ45 port
  • 5x gigabit Ethernet RJ45 ports
  • Optional WiFi and Bluetooth via mPCIe module
  • Optional 4G LTE/5G via M.2 socket plus Nano SIM card slot
• USB – USB 2.0 Type-A USB HOST port
• Expansion
  • M2 Key-B socket (PCIe Gen2 x1 + USB 2.0) for NVMe SSD, 5G cellular module, etc…
  • mini PCIe socket (PCIe Gen 2 x1) for WiFi module, wired network card, etc…
  • 26-pin GPIO header
• Debug – USB-C port or 3-pin connector via serial console access
• Misc
  • Reset and user buttons
  • LEDs – CPU, KEYB, and MPCIE
  • RTC with CR1220 battery holder
  • Boot selection: NAND (default) or NOR via jumper
• Power Supply –
  • 12V/2A via 5.5/2.1mm power barrel jack
  • Optional 802.3at/af PoE module providing power through the 2.5GbE port
• Dimensions – 148 x 100.5 mm

The Banana Pi BPI-RV2 runs a fork of OpenWrt with Linux 5.10. You’ll find more technical details and a link to the OS image on the documentation website. The source code for the OpenWrt fork (“OpenWrt BSP”) for the SF21H8898 SoC and BPI-RV2 board can be found on GitHub. Note that the list of supported/tested WiFi and 5G modules has not been provided. I mention this as driver support for RISC-V target was reported as a concern.

While the name of the board implies it may be the second RISC-V router from the company, it’s the first one. Banana Pi previously launched router boards such as the Banana Pi BPI-WiFi5 router with a Siflower SF19A28 dual-core MIPS SoC and the BPI-WiFi6 Mini board based on a Triductor TR6560 dual-core Arm Cortex-A9 processor, as well as a RISC-V SBC with dual GbE: the Banana Pi BPI-F3. The MangoPi MPi-GW1 was the first (dual-port) RISC-V router we came across, but it was only ever available in limited quantities, and it now seems discontinued.

Two variants of the Banana Pi BPI-RV2 router board are for sale: one with PoE ($38.50) and the other without ($34.50). Sadly, there’s no enclosure at this time. However, the board’s dimensions are the same as for the Banana Pi BPI-R3, and an inexpensive metal case exists for that model, so it’s just a matter of a few modifications to the front panel, and one may become available soon.

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