Ringing in 2. 01. Our New Year’s guide to hacker- friendly single board computers turned up 9. Io. T platforms. Community backed, open spec single board computers running Linux and Android sit at the intersection between the commercial embedded market and the open source maker community.
Hacker boards also play a key role in developing the Internet of Things devices that will increasingly dominate our technology economy in the coming years, from home automation devices to industrial equipment to drones. During 2. 01. 6, we identified 9.
SBCs running Linux and/or Android. This is up from 8. June, which was followed later that month by a survey in which readers picked their favorite boards. A year ago in our New Year’s catalog we showcased 6.
Our annual winter round- up does not include a reader survey, which acts as a mid- year update, but below you will find individual summaries of all 9. SBCs with the most recent prices and updates. We also supply links to Linux. Gizmos coverage and project websites, plus an extensive comparison table of major features of all 9.
Hacker board expansion standards and other trends. We have seen plenty of new SBCs since last June, including major new products from well- known hardware communities. These include the Banana Pi M2 Ultra, Minnow. Board Turbo Quad, Udoo X8. Nano. Pi A6. 4, to name a few.
Description. Aircrack-ng is a complete suite of tools to assess WiFi network security. It focuses on different areas of WiFi security: Monitoring: Packet capture and. This domain name is for sale (100,000 USD): uploading.com Write us for more information @.
There are also some newcomers such as the Khadas Vim. The new entries reinforce the trends we examined in June: more 6. ARMv. 8 boards and more under- $2.
ARMv. 7 SBCs in which shipping costs in some cases rival the prices of the boards themselves. Board sizes have continued to shrink, and price/performance has improved for both 3. SBCs. For example, we’ve seen an increase in boards with onboard flash storage and wireless functions.
Prices of existing boards, however, have tended to stay flat or creep up rather than drop. The most significant price cut since June was found with Firefly’s Rockchip- based SBCs. Although the hacker board market is still wonderfully diverse, several expansion interface standards continue to emerge to make it easier to find add- on boards. Most notably there’s the Raspberry Pi’s 4. SBCs make use of most RPi expansion boards. Similarly, we’re seeing Arduino- compatible I/O connectors showing up on many SBCs and computer- on- module carrier boards, and on So. C vendors’ reference designs.
Unlike the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Beagle. Board. org offers a certification program for the growing number of boards that borrow the Beagle. Bone Black’s TI Sitara processor, dual 4. Other popular third- party expansion connector standards include Grove and Mikro. Bus Click extensions.
The closest thing the community hacker board world has to a formal hardware standard is Linaro’s 9. Boards spec. Over a half dozen 9.
Boards- compatible SBCs are officially supported, most using the Consumer Edition spec, which requires standardized 4. Selection criteria.
Selecting the final mix of products for this New Year’s round- up was a challenge. First, there is the matter of defining which boards can be called community- backed and open spec.
Our requirements, which start with a $2. June 1, 2. 01. 6 catalog that accompanied our mid- 2.
Hacker SBC Survey. There, we said. Additionally, they need to offer open source Linux or Android distributions for download.
In the case of recently introduced SBCs, we allow a bit of a grace period to post the above resources in a timely manner, although we recognize there’s a growing problem of projects that are tardy in posting schematics, or more importantly for most users, optimized firmware. The boards must also offer at least some community and technical support for individual developers. Ideally, there would be explicit open source licensing for creating derivative hardware, although this is not required. In our winter edition, instead of requiring current availability as we did for our mid- 2.
Q1 2. 01. 7. This is a tighter window than used with our last winter edition, which stretched the deadline to Q2. As projects spawn more and more minor variations of hacker boards, it can be tricky to determine when a variant deserves to stand on its own. In some cases, we mention very similar models in passing rather than giving them their own coverage. Older boards sometimes fall off the list when there’s very little reason to buy one in light of the price, performance, and backward compatibility of newer, more current models from the same family.
Some boards and entire projects have been dropped for other reasons. Marvell’s Andromeda Box Edge never seemed to quite materialize, and the Arndale project and Rockchip based Radxa project appear to have faded away, with no way to buy products. Some have argued, with some justification, that none of the Raspberry Pi boards should be on our list since they lack the complete schematics offered by most of our boards. However, their enormous popularity, as well as their superior support on other open source checklist items lets them in the door. Finally, per popular request, we have attempted to add some more details on software support, including some discussion of mainline Linux support. We realize that with so many boards sharing similar hardware feature- sets and prices, software support grows increasingly important.
Still, given the fast- changing nature of software support, and the many different distributions, versions, and sources used even within the same family of boards, we did not attempt a comprehensive comparison here. Mainline Linux support in particular seems to be changing month to month in some categories, especially among Allwinner- based SBCs, and there’s not usually a yes/no answer, as support can be partial or otherwise compromised. We welcome reader comments on all of the above, especially in regard to your experiences with software and support. Please participate in the discussion area at the conclusion of this post. And keep your eyes open for an updated survey — complete with prizes — this June. Brief Descriptions and Key Specs of All 9.
Boards. The following summaries are listed in alpha order, and are based on specs and lowest available pricing recorded in the last week of Dec. Q1 2. 01. 7. DM& P’s x.
Duino boards are some of the smallest x. SBCs around, with the One coming in at 1.
The boards offer Arduino- compatible expansion, low power consumption, and a modular COM+baseboard design. Features include Fast Ethernet, USB 2.
SD connections, plus 1. I/O pins and 6x analog inputs. A $6. 9 One model adds HD audio and more expansion I/O. There’s also an Edu. Cake mini- PC version and a Seeed.
Studio version of the One. Company/project — Olimex, Olinu. Xino, Mouser. Product page Processor — Allwinner A2. Cortex- A7 @ 1. GHz); Mali- 4.
GPU. Memory — 1. GB DDR3 RAM; optional 4. GB e. MMC version. Price — $4. 7 (4. Euros); $5. 7 (5. Euros) for 4. GB version. The A2. 0- Olinu.
Xino- Lime. 2 and Lime. GB (previously the Lime. MMC), double RAM to 1. GB compared to the Lime. Euros and 4. 3 Euros (4. GB NAND). They also move up to Gigabit Ethernet (Gb.
E, or 1. 0/1. 00/1. Mbps) from Fast Ethernet (1. Mbps). The 8. 4 x 6. SD, HDMI, LCD, 3x USB, battery support, and 1. GPIOs. Android 4. Debian Jesse with Linux 3. The Lime. 2 recently switched to the same PCB Revision G used by the Lime.
GB/e. MMC, bringing up- to- date RTL8. E Ethernet PHY, grounded mount holes, and a streamlined shape without the cutouts found on the 4. GB model. Company/project — Olimex, Olinu. Xino, Mouser. Linux. Gizmos coverage. Product page Processor — Allwinner A2. Cortex- A7 @ 1. GHz); Mali- 4.
GPU. Memory — 1. GB DDR3 RAM; optional 4. GB NAND flash. Price — $5. Euros); $6. 5 (6. Euros) for 4. GB version. The A2. 0- Olinu.
Xino- Micro has all the I/O of the first- gen Lime models, and adds VGA, LCD with touch support, and audio I/O. This larger, 1. 42 x 8. Assistir Filme Risco Maximo Dublado more. I/O modules. The 4.
GB NAND version is otherwise identical. Company/project — Olimex, Olinu. Xino, Mouser. Product page Processor — Allwinner A3. Cortex- A7 @ 1. 2.
GHz); Mali- 4. 00 GPU. Memory — 1. GB DDR3 RAM; 4. GB NAND flash version available. Price — $3. 7 (3. Euros) or $4. 6 (4. Euros) for 4. GB version. The new, Io. T focused A3.
Olinu. Xino- Lime advances to a quad- core A3. So. C, but is otherwise a far simpler board than Olimex’s Lime.
Micro Olinu. Xino. The only real world ports are a mini- USB OTG port, audio jacks with 1. B codec, and a 5.
V jack. Two unassembled 4. GPIO, as well as up to 1. LCD and dual MIPI- CSI (5- and 8- megapixel) interfaces. Other features include a debug connector, a Li. Po charger, and a step- up converter. The 7. 1 x 6. 6mm SBC is somewhat smaller than the A2. Lime and Lime. 2 boards, and is similarly available in a 4.
GB flash version. You can download images for Android 4. Debian Jesse with Linux 3. The promised 5. 0 x 5. H3- OLinu. Xino- NANO has yet to reach market. Company/project — Arduino Srl.
Linux. Gizmos coverage. Product page. Processor — Qualcomm Atheros AR9. MIPS2. 4k @ up to 4. MHz). Memory — 6. MB DDR2 RAM; 1. 6MB SPI flash. Price — $4. 0The Arduino wars are now over, thankfully, but it remains to be seen which boards will survive within 2.
Arduino Holding company. The sandwich- style Arduino Industrial 1. Linux- oriented Arduino Srl fork. The board injects the Linux/Wi. Fi capability of the discontinued Arduino Yun into a COM that is integrated with an Arduino- enabled baseboard. The module incorporates a soldered down Linino Chiwawa LGA module that runs Linino (a version of Open. Wrt) on an AR9. 33.
Wi. Fi So. C, accompanied by 6. MB DDR2 RAM and 1. MB SPI flash. The carrier adds a 1. MHz ATmega. 32u. 4 MPU along with 2. KB SRAM and 3. 2KB flash. There’s also a USB OTG port and 2. DIO pins that include UARTs, 7x PWMs, Ethernet, and 1.
You can find it at Robot. Shop for $4. 0. Company/project — Arduino Srl. Linux. Gizmos coverage.
Product page. Processor — Qualcomm Atheros AR9. MIPS2. 4k @ up to 4. MHz). Memory — 6. MB DDR2 RAM. Price — $6. This Arduino Srl update to the original Yun runs the Open. Wrt- based Linino on Qualcomm’s 4. MHz AR9. 33. 1 Wi.