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Melon S3 FPGA Arduino & Raspberry Pi Compatible Board is Programmable over WiFi using ESP8266 WiSoC

Q-Wave Systems, an embedded systems company based in Thailand, has designed Melon S3 FPGA board powered by a Xilinx Spartan 3E FPGA with WiFi connectivity added through a ESP8266 module programmable with the Arduino IDE , and featuring two Raspberry Pi compatible headers. The FPGA bitstream can be updated over  WiFi, and does not require a JTAG debugger. Melon S3 FPGA specifications: FPGA – Xilinx Spartan XC3S500E FPGA with 500K gates, 73Kb Distributed RAM, 4 Digital Clock Manager (DCM), 20 Multipliers (18×18), 360 Kb Block RAM WiFi module – WROOM-2 with Espressif ESP8266 32-bit MCU @ 80 MHz supporting 802.11 b/g/n WiFi. Storage – 4MB SPI flash in total with 1MB for ESP8266, 3 MB for FPGA Expansion – 2x 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible headers; 3.3V tolerant Debugging – Onboard USB-UART Silicon Labs CP2104 for configuration, debugging and power; 6-pin JTAG port for debugging/programming Misc – 8x Users LEDs, 4x […]

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$40 NanoPi K2 Board Powered by Amlogic S905 Processor Competes with ODROID-C2, Raspberry Pi 3

Hardkernel ODROID-C2 board is getting some direct competition with FriendlyELEC’s NanoPi K2 development board powered with Amlogic S905 processor with 2GB RAM, a very similar form factor, and many of the same features, which together with Khadas Vim (Pro) brings the number of low cost Amlogic based development boards to three. NanoPi K2 board specifications with differences compared to ODROID-C2 highlighted in bold or stricken-through: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core cortex-A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with penta core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – eMMC module socket, micro SD slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60 Hz Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet (Realtek RTL8211F), 802.11 b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0 (AP6212 module) with chip antenna + IPX connector USB – 4x USB 2.0 host ports (GL825G USB hub) + micro USB OTG port for power and adata Expansion Header 40-pin header with GPIO, […]

Graperain Samsung, Rockchip, and Qualcomm CPU modules, SBCs, and carrier boards
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AAEON RICO-3288 Pico-ITX Board is Powered by Rockchip RK3288 Processor

When Rockchip RK3288 was launched in 2014 we got a few development boards like Firefly-RK3288, PopMetal, and Radxa Rock 2, and later on MiQi board. ASUS Tinker board made the processor popular again in 2017, and now AAEON, an industrial embedded company of ASUS group, has just unveiled RICO-3288 Pico-ITX Board based on the processor, and targeting OEMs instead of hobbyists & makers. RICO-3288 board specifications with RICO-3288F & RICO-3288V models adding wireless connectivity & battery options, as well as CAN and an extra RS-232 port for for the latter: SoC – Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex A17 processor @ 1.8GHz with ARM Mali-T760 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3L RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, micro SD slot up to 64GB Video Output / Display IF mini HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kx2K @ 60Hz (Note that 4K @ 60 Hz may not work with all HDMI 2.0 TVs). eDP  […]

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NanoPi NEO2 Development Board Powered by Allwinner H5 64-bit ARM Processor Sells for $15

NanoPi NEO is a cool little board, and I’ve been using it with Armbian as a 24/7  MQTT + Domoticz server for several weeks without any issues so far. FriendlyElec has now an update with NanoPi NEO2 featuring Allwinner H5 quad core Cortex A53 processor instead of Allwinner H3 Cortex A7 processor, a faster Gigabit Ethernet connection, and a new audio header. NanoPi NEO2 specifications: SoC – Allwinner H5 quad core Cortex A53 processor with an ARM Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet (via RTL8211E-VB-CG chip) USB – 1x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB OTG port, 2x USB via headers Expansion headers 24-pin header with I2C, 2x UART, SPI, PWM, and power signals 12-pin header with 2x USB, IR pin, I2S 5-pin audio header with microphone and LINE out signals Debugging – 4-pin header for serial […]

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Turtle Board is a Raspberry Pi 2 Like FPGA Board for J-Core J2 Open Source SuperH SH2 SoC

J-core J2 is an open source processor and SoC design implemented in VHDL, and using  SH2 instruction set found in some Renesas (previously Hitachi) micro-controllers. The code available royalty free under a BSD license, and it’s also patent-free since all SH2 related patents expired expired in October 2014. The developers used to run the code on Xilinx Spartan 6 based Numato Mimas v2 board since it was cheap ($50) and mostly did the job. “Mostly”, because it still lacked Ethernet, capability for SMP and the serial port was slow, so they decided to design their own Turtle Board to address those issues. Turtle Board preliminary specifications: FPGA – Xilinx Spartan 6 LS25 or LS45 FPGA MCU – 8-bit Atmel MCU for load/update flash at power on. Storage – micro SD slot, 8MB SPI flash System memory – 256 MB RAM Video & Audio Output – HDMI and AV jack Connectivity […]

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FriendlyELEC NanoPi M1 Plus Allwinner H3 Board Adds Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi & Bluetooth, and an 8GB eMMC Flash

FriendlyELEC has introduced an update to NanoPi M1 board, aptly named NanoPi M1 Plus with a similar form factor and Allwinner H3 processor, but adding Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi & Bluetooth, and an 8GB eMMC flash, at the expense of one USB port that had to go to make place for the new features, and it got a little wider too.NanoPi M1 Plus board specifications:   SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.2 GHz with an ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU up to 600 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI and 3.5mm jack for CVBS (composite + stereo audio) Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 dual mode (classic + low energy) with chip antenna and IPEX/u.FL connector USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x 4-pin USB 2.0 […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
SOPINE-A64-Model-A-Carrier-Board
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PINE64 Introduces SOPINE A64 Allwinner A64 SoM and SOPINE “Model A” Baseboard

Following yesterday’s Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 launch, we have a new development board turned into system-on-module (SoM) today with PINE64 launching SOPINE A64 SO-DIMM module based on Allwinner A64 processor with 2GB RAM together with SOPINE “Model A” baseboard. SOPINE A64 CPU module specifications: SoC – Allwinner A64 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2 GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 Storage – 128 Mbit SPI flash, micro SD slot (on the back) I/Os via 204-pin SO-DIMM edge connector Video Output / Display – HDMI + CEC, MIPI DSI Audio – I2S, HP, headphone, microphone 2x USB 1x Gigabit Ethernet (RGMII) UART, I2C, PWM, GPIOs, etc… Power Supply – AXP803 PMIC Dimensions – 67.9 x 31.0 mm (DDR3 SO-DIMM form factor) SOPINE A64 will basically run the same firmware as used for PINE A64+ development board, except for some modifications for LPDDR3 RAM support. Support operating […]

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ASUS Tinker Board is a Raspberry Pi 3 Alternative based on Rockchip RK3288 Processor

Regular readers may remember MQMaker MiQi board, a $35 (and up) development board powered by Rockchip RK3288 quad core ARM Cortex A17 processor, based on Raspberry Pi 3 form factor, but much faster according to benchmarks. Sadly, the board’s crowdfunding campaign was not that successful, possibly because of the “its’ a 2-year old processor” syndrome. But now, Minimachines has found that ASUS has designed a very similar board, dubbed Tinker Board, with an extra WiFi and Bluetooth LE module, audio jack, MIPI DSI connector, and a few other modifications. Asus Tinker Board specifications (bold highlights and strike-through show differences with MiQi board): SoC – Rockchip 3288 quad core ARM Cortex A17 up to 1.8 GHz with Mali-T764 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 /3.0, and OpenCL 1.1 System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3, dual channel Storage – 8 or 32 GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot Video output & Display I/F 1x HDMI 2.0 up to 3840×2160@60p […]

Boardcon LGA3576 Rockchip RK3576 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications