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Most of the Allwinner boards will quite happily boot and run on 100% open source code these days,

Awesome! Can you provide any instructions or links to make my CubieBoard 4 with Allwiner A80 not useless?

sunxi linux still lists most things as not supported and not worked on: http://linux-sunxi.org/Linux_m...

Under GPL violations they list:

As is usual, there are the libnand and libisp violations. But with A80, Allwinner decided to step this up a notch, or two, or all the way to 11.

I haven't checked recently but Ubuntu and Debian were both at least 1-2 versions out of date.

And that's putting aside the reset issues if you put it under any sort of load for over a few minutes.

slipshod ARM's infrastructure is.

That and the quazi-open status of most chips is what kills it for me. I had a SheevaPlug years ago that was great. It ran my house's HVAC and web server and did some light downloading. The uBoot was fairly straight forward and the Kirkwood chipset made its way into Debian. I never had a reason to replace it so I didn't.

Recently I got a CubieBoard since it billed itself as "Open Source Hardware". It was shit. Nothing on it was open. uBoot was a mess. It only ran specific versions of Ubuntu that didn't have anything 'opensourced' from a Chinese manufacturer. It overheated and shut itself down constantly. Then had the same experience with a OLinoXino and Wandboard.

With what I spent on useless ARM paperweight I wish I just got myself an old low powered embedded x86 board. BIOS and UEFI may not be all that, but for the most part it's consistent.

I've held out hope for years for someone to introduce a cheap ARM laptop that had a 12 hour run time.

--Look into the Cubietruck. I've been running it for the last ~3 years or so as a standalone Linux+Squid cache with an SSD drive attached.

http://www.amazon.com/Cubieboa...

http://www.amazon.com/Eleduino...
^^ I haven't used this one personally, but looks like it may be useful for you...

--REFS:

http://cubieboard.org/

http://www.cubietruck.com/

http://www.cubieforums.com/

Cubieboard 4 (CC-A80). There's some stuff at Sunxi Linux page. A10-OlunuXino-LIME as well.

My SheevaPlug is still easier to use than both of them.

is the right expression?

cubietruck has SATA also.

http://cubieboard.org/2013/09/...

check out Cubieboard because it has lots of great features including a SATAII port but it doesnt have wireless. you can get the newest model for $60.

Shame about that PowerVR GPU, I don't see it ever actually being able to take advantage of the newer display architecture. I do like the move towards Device Tree.

For $50 Cubieboard has similar specs but comes with a mail400 gpu instead.

Features
        Allwinner A10 SOC
        96 pin extended interface
        Built-in IR receiver
        SATA supported
        Supports 2.4GHz wireless keyboard and mouse

Specifications
        CPU: 1G ARM cortex-A8 processor, NEON, VFPv3, 256KB L2 cache
        GPU: Mali400, OpenGL ES GPU
        Memory: 1GB DDR3 @480MHz
        Video output: HDMI 1080p Output
        Network: 10/100M Ethernet
        Internal storage4GB NAND Flash
        IO ports: 2 USB Host, 1 micro SD slot, 1 SATA, 1 ir
        Extended interfaces: 96 extend pin including I2C, SPI, RGB/LVDS, CSI/TS, FM-IN, ADC, CVBS, VGA, SPDIF-OUT, R-TP
        Supports systems: Running Android, Ubuntu and other Linux distributions

Those hardkernel boards sure are interesting but lack the GPIO of these boards. I think a better comparison is to the Cubieboard. It also has a 1 GHz Cortex-A8 with lots of GPIO pins, but has 1 GB of RAM, 4 GB of flash and a SATA port. It's also a bit more expensive, but I'm pretty sure TI has been subsidising the Beagle boards.

--At times like this I feel compelled to mention the Cubieboard - it can run at 500mA / 1W (altho 2W is preferred IIRC; personally I power mine off the USB port on my Router or TV), has better hardware specs than the Pi -- including a SATA port, and can actually *max out* its Ethernet 100Mbit connection. It's a bit pricier, but a much more capable Linux board - it's become my primary Squid server for the household.

http://cubieboard.org/

--Look into the Cubieboard; it has better specs than the PI, comes with USB power cord and SATA cable, and is capable of actually maxing out its 100Mbit Ethernet:

http://cubieboard.org/

I'd previously seen that, and also the Cubieboard.

I think the SATA probably isn't worth the slower CPU and 1GB less RAM than the Odroid-U2.

There's the Cubox and the Cubieboard. I have the former running as NAS and (XBMC) media center with a couple of HDDs attached.

Funny thing, I ordered a cubieboard this morning before this story was posted:
http://cubieboard.org/

Two of my roommates have RPis. One of them has two of them. I watched them both struggle with the RPi units when they were first setting them up. Those things are god awful. Graphics requires a binary blob, and the USB power source causes a lot of stability problems. Since the Ethernet is attached by USB, this normally manifests by the Ethernet dropping off, the kernel spewing messages about it, and the whole system reduced to a grinding mess as syslogd tries to write all that noise to the SD card. Running off of USB power is just ridiculous.

The cubieboard is 2x as fast, has 2-4x the memory, a SATA port, and Ethernet on the SoC rather than via USB. And, since it doesn't power off of a USB port I expect it to be a lot more stable. Most importantly to me: it doesn't require a binary blob for standard graphics.

$49 Cubieboard Allwinner A10 + 512M/1GB DDR3 , 4Gb Nand Flash, 10/100M Ethernet, HDMI, 2 USB Host, 1 micro SD slot, 1 SATA, 1 ir, 96 GPIO pins ncluding I2C, SPI, RGB/LVDS, CSI/TS, FM-IN, ADC, CVBS, VGA, SPDIF-OUT, R-TP
http://cubieboard.org/

£40 Allwinner A10 + 1GB RAM, 4Gb NAND, Wifi: 802.11 b/g/n, 3.5mm Earphone Jack, 1x Mini Usb, 1x Hdmi Out, Micro Sd slot,
http://gooseberry.atspace.co.uk/

$65.00 Allwinner A10 1GB RAM, 4GB NAND, 3.5mm microphone jack, 3.3v TTL 4-pin header, 2 x USB A 2.0, 10/100 Ethernet, Realtek 802.11n WiFi, HDMI up to 1080p, 3.5mm composite AV, 3.5mm component Y/Pb/Pr, SDHC card slot
https://www.miniand.com/products/Hackberry%20A10%20Developer%20Board

$89 Freescale i.MX6 Duallite, 1 GB DDR3, Audio, Optical S/PDI, HDMI, Camera interface, SD Slot, Serial, Expanison header GPIO, USB, USB OTG, GB-LAN, WiFi 802.11n, Bluetooth
http://wandboard.org/

$89 Exynos4412 1.7Ghz ARM Cortex-A9 Quad Core, 10/100Mbps Ethernet, 2 x High speed USB2.0 Host,HDMI, SD Slot, Headphone jack
http://www.hardkernel.com/renewal_2011/products/prdt_info.php

If you need IO breakout get a $49 Cubieboard, http://cubieboard.org/

Same ARM Cortex CPU/RAM/flash/HDMI as the Android sticks plus a 96 pin header including I2C, SPI, SATA, RGB/LVDS, CSI/TS, FM-IN, ADC, CVBS, VGA, SPDIF-OUT, R-TP..

There are a few others in the RPi space now. This board might be more up your alley: Cubieboard

Not the only one, actually. The CubieBoard and other chips that use the Allwinner A10 system-on-a-chip have source code for their graphics drivers.

http://cubieboard.org/ and also on http://www.indiegogo.com/cubieboard

It uses the A10 and has more features. The A10 is a full featured version of the A13

1G ARM cortex-A8 processor, NEON, VFPv3, 256KB L2 cache
Mali400, OpenGL ES GPU
512M/1GB DDR3 @480MHz
HDMI 1080p Output
10/100M Ethernet
4Gb Nand Flash
2 USB Host, 1 micro SD slot, 1 SATA, 1 ir
96 extend pin including I2C, SPI, RGB/LVDS, CSI/TS, FM-IN, ADC, CVBS, VGA, SPDIF-OUT, R-TP..
Android, Ubuntu and other Linux distributions

Found this relatively interesting board in rpi price range.

Official site: http://cubieboard.org/
They sold small numbers last month and are now trying to fund a 1k+ run via indiegogo: http://www.indiegogo.com/cubieboard

Some difference highlights from specs:
        1G ARMv7 cortex-A8 processor (2x as fast per clock), NEON, VFPv3, 256KB L2 cache vs 700MHz ARMv6
        Mali400, OpenGL ES GPU (lima reverse-engineered drivers) vs VideoCoreIV (free "shim")
        1GB DDR3 @480MHz vs 512MB DDR2
        10/100M Ethernet MAC built in the SoC vs USB 10/100M ethernet
        4GB Nand Flash vs nothing
        SATA2 port vs none
        2 USB Host vs 2 USB + ethernet from 1 USB via builtin hub
        MicroSD vs SD
        Costs $59, shipping included.

This is the system I'm watching, http://cubieboard.org/ 1GHz ARM cortex-A8, Mali400, 1GB RAM, Ethernet, USB, SATA, $49. I would need to learn more about both to compare GPIO. From their web page (and links), they've shipped one batch, getting ready to ship another, and larger batch in about a month.

If Cubieboard was available now I would have picked one up, but with the Raspberry Pi upgraded to 512MB and this source code release it's going to be a much more difficult choice with that SATA weighing very much on the Cubieboard side.

This is the system I'm watching, http://cubieboard.org/ 1GHz ARM cortex-A8, Mali400, 1GB RAM, Ethernet, USB, SATA, $49. I would need to learn more about both to compare GPIO. From their web page (and links), they've shipped one batch, getting ready to ship another, and larger batch in about a month.

If Cubieboard was available now I would have picked one up, but with the Raspberry Pi upgraded to 512MB and this source code release it's going to be a much more difficult choice with that SATA weighing very much on the Cubieboard side.

If specs matter, at $49 there's the cubieboard, which is many times better than the Raspberry Pi, with Allwinner A10 SoC.

They have 1-1.5 GHz Cortex A8, Mali400 GPU (which has LIMA free drivers), 1GB RAM, 1xSATA 3GB/s, microSD slot, 4GB NAND storage builtin, 2 USB host, 1 USB OTG, 100M Ethernet (not through USB crap), uboot as bootloader and many other things I forgot.

http://cubieboard.org/

Nope... Not even close.

Igloo
Cubieboard- once they get into production

To be sure...there's more if you look. The big deal about Pandaboard is more that it's very readily available and it's the cheapest in the Cortex-A9 class.