Orange Pi has released two RISC-V boards so far: the Orange Pi RV with a StarFive JH7110 quad-core SoC, and the Orange Pi RV2 with a Ky X1 octa-core processor, either a clone of the SpacemIT K1/M1 SoC or one with different CPU markings.
The third RISC-V board from the company, named Orange Pi R2S, also features a Ky X1 RISC-V SoC, but is designed for headless and networking applications with two 2.5GbE ports, two GbE ports, and two USB 3.0/2.0 ports, and not much else.
Orange Pi R2S specifications:
- SoC – Ky X1
- CPU – 8-core X60 RISC-V (RV64GCVB) processor @ 1.6 GHz
- GPU – Imagination IMG BXE-2-32 @ 819 MHz with support for OpenGL ES3.2, Vulkan 1.3, OpenCL 3.0; 20 GFLOPS
- VPU
- H.265, H.264, VP8, VP9, MPEG4, MPEG2 decoder up to 4K @ 60fps
- H.265, H.264, VP8, VP9 encoder up to 4K @ 30fps
- Support simultaneous processing
- 1080p60 encoding + 1080p60 decoding
- 1080p30 H.264/H.265 encoding + 4Kp30 H.264/H.265 decoding
- AI performance – 2.0 TOPS (INT8) through “CPU core fusion”
- RVA 22 Profile RVV 1.0 compliant
- System Memory – 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB LPDDR4X
- Storage
- 8GB eMMC flash
- 10-pin MicroSD card transfer connector (not sure what it is for and how to use it yet)
- Video Output – N/A
- Networking
- 2x 2.5GbE RJ45 ports via RealTek RTL8125BG controllers
- 2x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 ports via YT8531C-CA controllers
- USB
- 1x USB 3.0 port
- 1x USB 2.0 port; also used for OS flashing and updates
- Debugging – 3-pin header for serial console
- Misc
- MaskROM key
- Power LED
- 4x LEDs for 2.5GbE and GbE
- Power Supply
- 5V/3A via USB Type-C port
- SpacemIT P1 PMIC
- Dimensions – 79.2 x 46 mm
- Weight – 60 grams
The Orange Pi R2S is quite smaller than the Orange Pi RV and RV2 boards since it does without display and camera interfaces, nor GPIO headers. It also offers a more compact alternative to the Banana Pi BPI-RV2 quad-core RISC-V router board that ships with 512MB RAM, 128MB SPI flash, 1x 2.5GbE + 4x GbE configuration, M.2 expansion sockets, and PoE support. The Orange Pi R2S lacks the latter two, but ships with more memory and storage that could be useful for headless computer vision or other Edge AI applications in combination with the Ky X1’s 2 TOPS AI performance.
Orange Pi will soon provide OpenWrt 24.10 and Ubuntu 24.04 images with Linux 6.6.xx for the octa-core RISC-V router board. However, right now, the download section of the product page only points to empty Google Drive folders, except for a 126-page user manual providing more hardware details and instructions to get started with OpenWrt and Ubuntu.
Orange Pi kept the exact same prices for the R2S as for the earlier RV and RV2 SBCs:
- 2GB RAM – $30.00
- 4GB RAM – $39.90
- 8GB RAM – $49.90 (TBD)
Right now, only the 2GB and 4GB models are listed on the company’s AliExpress store, and the Orange Pi R2S is also listed on Amazon, but marked as unavailable.
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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It’s so bizarre that they keep using the Realtek Dragon gaming Ethernet chips.
Also, it would be interesting to see if this thing really can route enough data, considering it’s a general purpose chip with no offloading for any of the network features you expect to find in a router.
What firmware does this run to make it a full featured router ? Will it require a prebuilt binary to be linked in, or can you build the firmware completely from open source with absolutetly no pre-built binaries, and does this include pre-firmware ie the bootloader ? If you dont trust the first executing code ie anything before even the bootloader, then I suppose it doesnt really matter anyway.
Take the https ://www.cnx-software.com/2025/04/22/banana-pi-bpi-rv2-low-cost-risc-v-router-siflower-sf21h8898/ and put a ath9k wifi card inside. Then you have your free software only based router.
Here the official OpenWrt images: https ://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/siflower/sf21/
I understand: a 6.6.x vendor BSP, an OpenWRT image and an Ubuntu 24.04 server image both based on that BSP.
Without SD card, system could be quiet complicated to install (eg: with some obscure proprietary software, all in chinese, to write the image on the EMMC)
Apparently you need a USB-A to USB-A cable, which is technically in breach of the USB spec… The tool is in English though, check the link to the manual, as they have detailed instructions.
The board also has a header for what I presume is an optional, attachable microSD (TF as the xinese like to write) reader.
It also does seem to have a TF card interface connector, maybe you can connect an external sd card socket to it
Where is a metal case? I would rather go into similar SBC from Radxa.
Also I am not familiar with 5V 3A input.
It looks like there’s a metal case in the works, but it’s not available yet.
The problem is that the SBC is missing mounting holes, so without a case, it is useless for me.
Yeah, there are a few mm margins on the PCB on right and left, thus I think it’s designed to slide into an enclosure and be closed by the front panel.
Oh! With a metal enclosure to come, this would have been a better buy than a (used) Seeed ReRouter. I don’t expect to use it as anything else then a router, so I don’t need any gpio or camera connectors, etc.