Orange Pi CM5 – A Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with up to 16GB RAM, 256GB eMMC flash

Orange Pi CM5 Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative

Orange Pi CM5 is a system-on-module mostly compatible with the Raspberry Pi CM4 (and upcoming Raspberry Pi CM5?) powered by a Rockchip RK3588S octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor that supports up to 16GB LPDDR4 and 256GB eMMC flash compared to the Pi CM4 module that is limited to 8GB RAM and 32GB flash. Since the Rockchip RK3588S has more interfaces than the Broadcom BCM2711 found in the Raspberry Pi CM4, the company added an extra 100-pin board-to-board connector with extra interfaces such as native USB 3.0, SATA III, CAN Bus, and an additional PCIe 2.0 x1 interface for a total of two. Orange Pi CM5 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588S octa-core processor with 4x CortexA76  cores @ up to 2.4GHz, 4x CortexA55 core @ 1.8GHz Arm Mali-G610 MP4 “Odin” GPU with support for OpenGL ES1.1/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.2 and Vulkan 1.2 Video decoder – 8Kp60 H.265, VP9, AVS2, 8Kp30 H.264 AVC/MVC, 4Kp60 AV1, […]

Orange Pi 5 Pro – A low-cost Rockchip RK3588S SBC with up to 16GB LPDDR5 RAM, dual HDMI video output

Orange Pi 5 Pro

As mentioned in the Orange Pi Developer Conference 2024 article, the Orange Pi 5 Pro launch was just around the corner, and the latest Rockchip RK3588S SBC is now available on Amazon or Aliexpressfor $109 and up with 16GB LPDDR5 RAM, but cheaper 4GB ($60) and 8GB ($80) variants are coming soon. One would think the Orange Pi 5 Pro would be an evolution of the Orange Pi 5 SBC with LPDDR4 memory, and in some ways it is, but there are enough changes to display ports, storage, wireless, GPIO header, and even the form factor that make a direct comparison challenging. Orange Pi 5 Pro specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588S CPU – Octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G610 MP4 GPU with OpenGL ES 3.2,  OpenCL 2.2, and Vulkan 1.2 support VPU – […]

PALMSHELL NeXT H2 SBC and micro server offers 10GbE for $199 and up

Palmshell Next H2 10GbE 2.5GbE micro server

PALMSHELL NeXT H2 is an affordable AMD Ryzen Embedded R1505G-powered micro server, also available as an SBC for developers, that features two 10GbE SFP+ cages and one 2.5GbE RJ45 port, as well as expansion sockets for wireless connectivity. The system supports up to 32GB RAM plus an M.2 NVMe SSD and two SATA drives for storage, offers several wireless connectivity options with WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and 4G LTE/5G, and is equipped with two 4Kp60-capable HDMI ports, and four USB ports.   PALMSHELL NeXT H2 specifications: SoC – AMD Ryzen Embedded R1505G dual-core/quad-thread processor @ 2.4GHz up to 3.3GHz with AMD Radeon Vega 3 graphics; TDP set to 25W System Memory – Optional 8GB or 16GB DDR4 @ 2400 MT/s via 2x SO-DIMM slots Storage Optional 256GB or 512GB NVMe (PCIe 3.0) SSD via M.2 Key-N 2280 socket 2x SATA III connector MicroSD card socket Video Output – 2x HDMI […]

Orange Pi 800 Keyboard PC gets 128GB flash storage

Orange Pi 800 Keyboard PC 128GB eMMC flash

The Orange Pi 800 keyboard PC, launched as an alternative to the Raspberry Pi 400 last year with a Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core Cortex-A72/A53 processor and 4GB RAM, has gotten an upgrade to 128GB of eMMC flash instead of just 64GB. The keyboard PC still comes with HDMI 2.0 and VGA video outputs, built-in speakers and microphone, Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi 5 connectivity, a few USB ports, and a 78-key QWERTY keyboard, plus a 26-GPIO connector accessible without opening the device.     Orange Pi 800 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 2x Arm Cortex-A72 cores up to 1.8GHz, 4x Arm Cortex-A53 cores up to 1.4GHz, and an Arm Mali-T860MP4 GPU System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 128GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot Video Output HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60 VGA port up to Full HD resolution Audio 3.5mm audio (headphone+mic) jack Integrated speaker(s) and microphone […]

Orange Pi 5B SBC adds up to 256GB eMMC flash, built-in WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 module

Orange Pi 5B

Orange Pi 5B is a variant of the Rockchip RK3588S powered Orange Pi 5 SBC with up to 256GB eMMC flash and a soldered-on wireless module offering WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, at the cost of losing the M.2 2242 socket and 16MB QSPI NOR flash found in the original board. The board still comes with HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4 (USB-C), and MIPI DSI display connectors, three camera connectors, a Gigabit Ethernet interface, a few USB ports, and a 26-pin GPIO header for expansion. Orange Pi 5B specifications with the new features highlighted in bold, and the missing ones as strikethrough text: SoC – Rockchip RK3588S octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz, Arm Mali-G610 MP4 GPU, 6 TOPS AI accelerator System Memory – 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB LPDDR4/4x (32GB RAM is also listed, but not for […]

Orange Pi 800 Keyboard PC – A Raspberry Pi 400 alternative powered by Rockchip RK3399

Raspberry Pi 400 Keyboard PC alternative

There’s now a Raspberry Pi 400 alternative with the Orange Pi 800 Keyboard PC that offers a very similar design, but it is powered by a Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core Cortex-A72/A53 processor. Like the Raspberry Pi model, the Orange Pi 800 comes with 4GB RAM, Gigabit Ethernet, dual-band WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0, two USB 3.0 ports, and one USB 2.0 port, but it also adds 64GB on-board flash storage and features one full-size HDMI port capable of 4Kp60 resolution plus a VGA port, instead of two micro HDMI ports. Orange Pi 800 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 2x Arm Cortex-A72 cores up to 1.8GHz, 4x Arm Cortex-A53 cores up to 1.4GHz, and an Arm Mali-T860MP4 GPU System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot Video Output HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60 VGA port up to Full HD resolution Audio 3.5mm […]

MNT Pocket Reform 7-inch modular mini laptop takes a range of Arm (and FPGA) modules

MNT Pocket Reform

MNT Pocket Reform is an open-source hardware mini laptop with a 7-inch Full HD display, an ortholinear mechanical keyboard, and trackball, that follows the path of its older and bigger sibling:  the MNT Reform 2 laptop initially launched with an NXP i.MX 8M quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 module. The new laptop will not only support a similar “NXP i.MX 8M Plus” module but also a range of other Arm modules namely an NXP Layerscape LS1028A module with up to 16GB RAM, the Raspberry Pi CM4 module via an adapter, Pine64 SOQuartz (RK3566, up to 8GB RAM), as well as based on AMD Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA for industrial use. MNT Pocket Reform specifications: Available system-on-modules Standard: NXP i.MX 8M Plus quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.8GHz with 4 or 8 GB DDR4, Vivante GC7000UL GPU, 2.3 TOPS NPU NXP Layerscape LS1028A dual-core Arm Cortex-A72 with 8 or 16GB DDR4, Vivante GC7000UL GPU Raspberry […]

Quartz64 Model B SBC with 4GB RAM is now available for $59.99

buy Quartz64 Model B

While it may be hard to buy a Raspberry Pi these days, there are various alternatives with the Raspberry Pi 3/4 form factor, including Pine64’s Quartz64 Model B SBC powered by a Rockchip RK3566 processor that has just launched for $59.99 with 4GB RAM. The Quartz64 Model B is a smaller version of the Quartz64 Model A launched earlier this year, that comes with HDMI 2.0a and MIPI DSI display interfaces, a MIPI CSI camera interface, Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0, as well as several USB 2.0/3.0 ports, and of course, a 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible GPIO header. Quartz64 Model B specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor up to 1.8 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.1, 0.8 TOPS NPU for AI acceleration System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage 128 Mbit SPI Flash optional eMMC module from 16GB up to […]

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