orange pi News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

July 15, 2024July 15, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Rockchip RKLLM toolkit released for NPU-accelerated large language models on RK3588, RK3588S, RK3576 SoCs

Rockchip RKLLM toolkit (also known as rknn-llm) is a software stack used to deploy generative AI models to Rockchip RK3588, RK3588S, or RK3576 SoC using the built-in NPU with 6 TOPS of AI performance. We previously tested LLM’s on Rockchip RK3588 SBC using the Mali G610 GPU, and expected NPU support to come soon. A post on X by Orange Pi notified us that the RKLLM software stack had been released and worked on Orange Pi 5 family of single board computers and the Orange Pi CM5 system-on-module. The Orange Pi 5 Pro‘s user manual provides instructions on page 433 of the 616-page document, but Radxa has similar instructions on their wiki explaining how to use RKLLM and deploy LLM to Rockchip RK3588(S) boards. The stable version of the RKNN-LLM was released in May 2024 and currently supports the following models: TinyLLAMA 1.1B Qwen 1.8B Qwen2 0.5B Phi-2 2.7B Phi-3 […]

July 11, 2024July 12, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

High Torque Robotics Mini π is a bipedal robot powered by an Orange Pi 5 SBC

High Torque Robotics mini Pi bipedal robot

High Torque Robotics’ Mini π is a 54cm high bipedal robot that can walk and dance with two legs and leverages the Orange Pi 5 SBC’s features such as the 6 TOPS AI accelerator in the Rockchip RK3588S processor. The robot offers 12 degrees of freedom (DOF) and can run, jump, and even flip thanks to its twelve join motors that were developed by the company. The Mini π is designed for locomotion algorithm research and education and supports ZMP (zero moment point), MPC (Model Predictive Control), reinforcement learning locomotion control algorithms, and ROS SLAM navigation features. Mini π bipedal robot highlights: SBC – Orange Pi 5 RK3588S single board computer Controller – Custom-design “high-performance underlying controller” using 4x CAN FD communication DOF – 6 DoF per leg, or 12 in total Joint motors 8x HTDM-5047-36-NE with gear ratio: 36, 16Nm peak torque 4x HTDM-4438-32-NW with gear ratio: 32, […]

July 3, 2024July 6, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

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, […]

June 20, 2024June 20, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments

Orange Pi KunPeng Pro SBC features a quad-core Huawei CPU with an 8 TOPS AI accelerator

Orange Pi KunPeng Pro is a single board computer powered by an unnamed KunPeng quad-core processor from Huawei that features an 8 TOPS NPU for AI workloads. It’s not the first time Orange Pi has launched an SBC based on a Huawei SoC, as the company introduced the Orange Pi AIPro last year with another unnamed Huawei Ascend SoC with a 20 TOPS NPU. The new Orange Pi KunPeng Pro board has basically the same layout as the AIPro model, but with lower specs overall, although it still comes with 8GB or 16GB LPDDR4x memory. Orange Pi KunPeng Pro specifications: SoC – Unnamed Huawei Kunpeng quad-core 64-bit SoC with unnamed GPU, 8 TOPS AI accelerator System Memory – 8GB or 16GB LPDDR4X Storage 32MB SPI flash connector for 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB eMMC flash module MicroSD card slot M.2 2280 socket for SATA/NVMe drive Video Output 2x HDMI 2.0 […]

June 7, 2024June 7, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Orange Pi 3B V2.1 SBC has been revamped with better WiFi 5 connectivity, M.2 2280 NVMe/SATA SSD socket

Shenzhen Xunlong Software has introduced the Orange Pi 3B V2.1 SBC with an M.2 socket that supports 2280 NVMe or SATA SSDs, and a new Ampak AP6256 WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5 wireless module replacing the Allwinner AW859A-based CDTech 20U5622 module in the first revision of the board. The Orange Pi 3B SBC was first introduced in August 2023 as a Rockchip RK3566 SBC with Raspberry Pi 3B form factor and support for M.2 2230 and 2242 NVMe or SATA storage. The new Orange Pi 3B V2.1 supports longer M.2 2280 SSDs at the cost of being slightly bigger than a credit card (89×56 mm) and offers better WiFi 5 connectivity. Orange Pi 3B V2.1 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 1.8 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 2EE GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.1 NPU – 0.8 TOPS […]

June 4, 2024June 3, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

SBC software news – Armbian 24.5.1, DietPi 9.4, and Otii server for the Raspberry Pi 4/5

There’s been some notable software news for single board computers (SBCs) in the last few weeks with the release of Armbian 24.5.1 Havier with a focus on stability and UX improvement, the release of DietPi 9.4 lightweight Debian distritions for SBCs, and Otii server, the software for Qoitech Arc power supply, meter, and DAQ, has been finally released for the Raspberry Pi 4/5. Armbian 24.5.1 Havier Armbian announced 24.5.1 Havier on May 25 with bug fixes and improvements as a point release, but also some new boards. Here are some of the highlights. New boards Orange Pi 5 Pro FriendlyElec CM3588 NAS board Radxa ROCK 5 ITX Radxa Zero 3E/3W Avaota A1 SBC SK-AM68 board tqma8mpxl board CSC Hinlink H6xk boards RK3588-based Cool Pi CM5 EVB Improve Khadas support Resolve Rockchip patch maintenance nightmare Add functionality to freeze git resources Improve support for Radxa Rock S 0 and test USB […]

May 5, 2024May 6, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

LibreELEC 12 released with Kodi 21, 64-bit Arm support for Raspberry Pi 4/5, and platforms

As one should have expected after the Kodi 21 “Omega” release last month, the LibreELEC 12 lightweight Linux media center distribution is now out with many devices updated to 64-bit, including the Rasberry Pi 4 and 5 SBCs. LibreELEC 11 was released last year based on Kodi 20 “Nexus” and bringing back support for Amlogic devices. LibreELEC 12 builds on that and benefits from the new features added to Kodi 21 such as FFmpeg 6 and works on Arm platforms based on Allwinner, Amlogic, Broadcom (Raspberry Pi), and Rockchip processors, as well as generic x86 computers. It’s an easy option to create a dedicated HTPC based on a range of hardware with all the features brought by Kodi 21 media center. Since so many platforms are supported there are always some limitations for each and known problems: Raspberry Pi – 50/60fps H.264 HW decoding may need force_turbo=1 or core_freq_min=500 in […]

April 30, 2024April 29, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

SBC Case Builder v3.0 can create thousands of cases for popular SBCs and standard motherboards (mini-ITX, Pico-ITX, NUC…)

SBC Case Builder V3.0 case design utility has just been released with the ability to create over 1,000 standard cases – not including customization – for popular SBCs from Raspberry Pi, Hardkernel, Orange Pi, Radxa, and others, as well as standard motherboards following Mini-ITX, Pico-ITX, NUC, Nano-ITX, etc.., and SBC adapters following these standards, meaning you could install a Raspberry Pi 5 into a mini-ITX case if needed. SBC Case Builder started as a command line utility for designing DIY case for SBCs relying on OpenSDAD in April 2022, but Edward Kisiel (hominoids) quickly released version 2 with a GUI in October or the same, and has now further improved the utility with the release of SBC Case Builder v3.0. Version 3.0 comes with many improvements but the main focus was to reuse existing and new PC standard form factor cases by creating SBC adapters and custom I/O Shields since […]