FriendlyELEC NanoPi R3S is a low-cost Rockchip RK3566 SBC and router with two gigabit Ethernet ports, a USB 3.0 host ports, a USB-C port for power and data, a microSD card slot, Reset and Mask buttons, and a few LEDs. It also features a MIPI DSI connector for people wanting to connect a display. Its design and size are similar to the NanoPi R5C dual 2.5GbE SBC and router, so it could be viewed as a low-cost alternative with dual GbE, no M.2 socket for WiFi & Bluetooth, only one USB 3.0 port, and no HDMI video output. The company promotes it as an inexpensive platform for IoT applications, basic NAS solutions, and so on. NanoPi R3S specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 MP2 GPU NPU – 0.8 TOPS AI accelerator VPU 4Kp60 H.265/H.264/VP9 video decoder 1080p60 […]
Comparison of Raspberry Pi 5 with 2GB and 8GB RAM – Hardware, benchmarks, and power consumption
The Raspberry Pi 5 with 2GB RAM was launched last week, and since I got a sample for review, I decided to compare it to the Raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB RAM to see if I could find any noticeable differences between the two boards. I’ll start with a visual inspection to show differences on the PCBA, then check system information, run some benchmarks, check power consumption, and finally try to open as many tabs in Firefox until the 2GB RAM is filled and the system becomes unusable. Raspberry Pi 5 2GB vs Raspberry Pi 8GB – visual inspection We should first have a quick look at the boards and packages there’s no obvious difference apart from seeing 2GB RAM and 8GB RAM on the respective packages. But if we look closer, we can see the resistors for memory capacity detection are in different locations for “2G” and “8G”, and […]
Nuvoton NuMicro MA35D1-powered industrial SoM and dev board features dual GbE ports, cellular connectivity, and more
MYIR has recently introduced MYC-LMA35 industrial SoM and its associated development board built around the Nuvoton NuMicro MA35D1 microprocessor with two Arm Cortex-A35 cores and one Arm Cortex-M4 real-time core for processing. The SoM comes in a BGA package with connectivity options such as dual Gigabit Ethernet, cellular connectivity, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, and various other interfaces like RS232, RS485, USB, CAN, ADC, GPIO, and more. All these features make this SoM and its associated dev board useful for demanding edge IIoT applications like industrial automation, energy management systems, smart city infrastructure, and remote monitoring solutions. Previously we have seen MYIR introduce various SoM and development boards like the MYC-LR3568 Edge AI SoM, and the MYC-YF13X SoM and we have also written about similar industrial dev boards such as the Firefly ROC-RK3576-PC, the Nuvoton NuMicro M2L31 development board, and many more. Feel free to check those out if you are interested in the topic. […]
Raspberry Pi 5 PCIe HAT+ board features gigabit Ethernet, 4G LTE (mini PCIe), two USB 3.2 ports
Waveshare has recently introduced the PCIe to MiniPCIe GbE USB3.2 HAT+ for Raspberry Pi 5 adding gigabit Ethernet, a mini PCIe socket for 4G LTE, and two USB 3.2 Gen1 ports to the popular Arm single board computer. The HAT+ is compatible with IM7600G-H-PCIE/EG25-G-mPCIe series 4G LTE modules with 4G/3G/2G global band and GNSS positioning. Additionally, it has a gigabit Ethernet with an onboard RJ45 port, two USB 3.2 Gen1 ports, an onboard power monitoring chip, and EEPROM. All these features make this HAT useful for applications such as industrial routers, home gateways, set-top boxes, industrial laptops, industrial PDAs, and much more. We have previously written about many different types of HATs for the Raspberry Pi 5 designed by Waveshare including the Waveshare UPS HAT (E), the Waveshare PoE HAT (G), the Waveshare PCIe to USB 3.2 HAT+, and many other products. Feel free to check those out if you […]
Mekotronics R58-4×4 3S Arm PC and digital signage player features 3-inch display, 8K HDMI output, 4x HDMI inputs
Mekotronics R58-4×4 3S is another Rockchip RK3588-based Arm PC and digital signage player from the company with unusual features such as a 3-inch display on the front panel as well as four HDMI inputs supporting up to 4Kp60 sources. The embedded PC features up to 16GB RAM and 128GB eMMC flash, an M.2 PCIe socket for NVMe storage, an 8Kp60-capable HDMI 2.1 video output port, gigabit Ethernet and WiFi 6 connectivity, a mini PCIe socket and NanoSIM card slot for a 4G LTE/GPS module, and more. Mekotronics R58-4×4 3S specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588 octa-core processor with CPU – 4x CortexA76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x CortexA55 core @ 1.8 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G610 MP4 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.2, Vulkan 1.2 Video decoder – 8Kp60 H.265, VP9, AVS2, 8Kp30 H.264 AVC/MVC, 4Kp60 AV1, 1080p60 MPEG-2/-1, VC-1, VP8 Video encoder – 8Kp30 H.265/H.264 […]
NanoPi M6 – A Rockchip RK3588S SBC and fanless HMI solution with an integrated 3.5-inch touchscreen display
NanoPi M6 is a Rockchip RK3588S SBC (single board computer) that is also offered as a complete fanless HMI solution with a metal case and a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen display with 800×480 resolution. The M6 is offered with 4GB to 32GB LPDDR5 memory, supports microSD, eMMC flash module, and M.2 NVMe SSD bootable storage, features one HDMI 2.1 port, two MIPI DSI connectors, two MIPI CSI camera connectors, gigabit Ethernet, an M.2 E-Key socket for WiFi and Bluetooth, and a 30-pin GPIO header for expansion among a few other ports and features. NanoPi M6 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 compatible with OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.2, and Vulkan 1.2 APIs VPU – 8Kp60 video decoder for H.265/AVS2/VP9/H.264/AV1 codecs, 8Kp30 H.265/H.264 video encoder AI […]
The Raspberry Pi 5 SBC is now available with 2GB RAM for just $50
The Raspberry Pi 5 has now a cheaper variant with 2GB of RAM going for just $50 following the launch of the Broadcom BCM2712 SBC in October 2023 with either 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4X-4267 SDRAM for respectively $60 and $80. At the time of the release, we also noted that cheaper variants with 1GB and 2GB RAM should become available later on simply because of the options on the silkscreen. When Eben Upton contacted CNX Software about the release of the Raspberry Pi 5 2GB RAM he explained that Raspberry Pi was “bringing the power of our most modern platform, and all of the optimisations we’ve developed since the launch of the larger memory SKUs last autumn, to a new lower price point”. Raspberry Pi 5 2GB RAM specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2712 (cost-optimised D0 stepping) CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A76 processor @ 2.4 GHz with crypto extensions, 512KB per-core […]
Radxa ROCK 5 ITX RK3588 mini-ITX motherboard review – Building an Arm PC and NAS with Debian KDE
In this review, I’ll show how I installed Debian on the ROCK 5 ITX mini-ITX motherboard powered by a Rockchip RK3588 octa-core Arm Cortex-A76/A55 processor, before building a computer/NAS with the Arm mini-ITX motherboard, testing various features and running benchmarks. In the first part of the review, we checked out the Radxa ROCK 5 ITX (Arm) and Jupiter (RISC-V) mini-ITX motherboards with specifications and unboxing, and the Auriga 6-Bay NAS mini-ITX chassis used in this review. I already built the computer with the Jupiter RISC-V mini-ITX motherboard, so here I simply switched the RISC-V motherboard with the Radxa ROCK 5 ITX Arm motherboard and installed a few SATA drives. Radxa ROCK 5 ITX first boot – A tricky start… Radxa provides getting started instructions on the documentation website which I mostly follow to hopefully boot within a few minutes. I had to prepare the hardware first. So I installed a […]