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Raspberry Pi-Compatible Development Board Released

Posted by Soulskill on from the chips-and-dips dept.

kodiaktau writes: Hardkernel has released a new Raspberry Pi-compatible development board based on the Samsung Exynos SoC. The board is smaller than a typical Pi, keeping basic HDMI, USB and CSI interfaces. It also has a 26-pin expansion board with more GPIO available, though it lacks an Ethernet jack. Initial prices as estimated around $30. The article makes the interesting point that this and other devices are marketed as "Raspberry Pi-compatible." The Raspberry Pi Foundation may run into name retention issues (similar to the ones Arduino had) as related hardware piggybacks on its success.

30 of 47 comments (clear)

  1. NOT Samsung Exynos by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    The ODROID-W board uses the same Broadcom 2835 SoC as the Raspberry Pi board, that's why it's 100% software compatible.

    There's also a Smart Watch implementation based on it.

    1. Re:NOT Samsung Exynos by Guspaz · · Score: 1

      And it's too bad, too. The Raspberry Pi is a really neat little device, but the CPU performance limitations are really tough for a lot of use cases. As I read the description, I was excited at the idea of having an Exynos with modern ARM processors at the $30 pricepoint, but... nope.

    2. Re:NOT Samsung Exynos by Charliemopps · · Score: 1

      So you want to have your cake and eat it to is what you're saying?

      The lack of CPU power isn't just to save money, it's to make it more efficient. Getting a faster CPU very well could make battery and solar not an option and therefor reduce use-cases far more than the lack of cycles does. About the only big use case that it fails on because of the CPU is the MediaPC angle. And there are alternatives for that all over the place.

      http://www.solid-run.com/wiki/...
      http://www.bananapi.org/p/prod...
      Keep in mind, both of those use at least double the power as a standard RPI. If you're running them on AC or in your car, no big deal... but not so hot for science experiments or weather balloons.

    3. Re:NOT Samsung Exynos by Guspaz · · Score: 1

      The description says an Exynos SoC for $30. The description is incorrect. Is it really so insane to have hoped that the information in the description was accurate?

    4. Re:NOT Samsung Exynos by Guspaz · · Score: 1

      Realize what now? The description said an Exynos for $30, and it isn't.

      The Pi is too slow to do things at which it would otherwise be well suited, like for digital signage applications. A cheap little machine that can be stuck on the back of a TV doing nothing but running a fullscreen web browser would be handy.

  2. Pi has poor flash file system by rfengr · · Score: 2

    Call me when they develop a reliable file system for sd-card flash memory. I have had nothing but trouble with the Pi.

    1. Re:Pi has poor flash file system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The Raspberry Pi suffers from poor power stabilization and distribution. Brownouts cause the problems with SD card storage. The file system can't do much about hardware problems.

    2. Re:Pi has poor flash file system by redelm · · Score: 1

      Ring ... Ring ... I'm calling as you requested.

      My RPi is rock solid -- months of uptime, reboot only to upgrade. Two helpful factors (1) High quality microUSB power supplies (I also feed through a lipstick for UPS) (2) RPi ModelA (no ether, single USB) for lower power consumption.

      On the filesys, anything with `noatime` should be good to cut the write-cycles. Personally, I don't like journalling.

    3. Re:Pi has poor flash file system by MoonlessNights · · Score: 1

      I have never had problems with my Pi, either (Model B). It is powered by a USB port on my Odroid-U3. All that is attached to it is ethernet and the USB UART connector to the Odroid's serial interface.

      I have never had problems with it and, when I am running my stress tests on it, the load average gets up to around 30 for about 20 minutes so it is sustained activity on the CPU and RAM (although I never use its GPU for anything, so maybe that helps). I also do wonder of the power draw of some of those USB WiFi dongles, since they probably need a lot.

      In terms of filesystems (these are just partitions on the SD), my root is just the Raspbian default (which I think is ext4) but my write-heavy file system where my tests run is BtrFS, which is supposed to do better on such devices.

    4. Re:Pi has poor flash file system by pebecker · · Score: 1

      One thing I've found helpful is to use the distro called IPE. It has a read-only filesystem and doesn't care much about power problems.

    5. Re:Pi has poor flash file system by petes_PoV · · Score: 1
      Well if you hardly ever reboot, then of course you won't have problems. (Just so long as you don't wear out the flash used for /tmp and /var/log

      The whole point, as raised in the observation about crappy SD-card + power regulation is that when the board experiences power failures, then it is likely to corrupt its filesystem. Since your board doesn't suffer from outages, it's no surprise you don't have these issues.

      --
      politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
  3. Here's a novel idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Instead of making yet another "Raspberry Pi clone", none of which turn out to be compatible in any meaningful way, perhaps you could make something that is better than a Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi is actually pretty shit (with two exceptions, price and GPU), so there is room for improvement. Use it!

    1. Re:Here's a novel idea by wiredlogic · · Score: 3, Informative

      BeagleBone Black is that board. Better GPIO, no broken USB stack and other Broadcom SOC BS.

      Without Ethernet, I don't see how this is supposed to be competitive against RPi considering that TI has the nice EK-TM4C1294XL Tiva C Series Connected Launchpad for $20.

      --
      I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
    2. Re:Here's a novel idea by Anon-Admin · · Score: 3, Informative

      As much as I hate to say it, have you looked at the Banana Pi? Dual core 1ghz A20 with a gig of ram, sata port, etc, etc, etc.

      I did a review of them not long ago at http://www.xganon.com/index.ph...

    3. Re:Here's a novel idea by danknight48 · · Score: 1

      Excellent, exactly what the Pi 2.0 should be. Good find.

    4. Re:Here's a novel idea by MoonlessNights · · Score: 2

      Their main products (if you look at their web site) are much more substantial.

      I am writing this while using Ubuntu on one of their Odroid-U3 devices, right now. It is a great little machine. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a low-power, low-cost, small ARM Linux machine.

    5. Re:Here's a novel idea by don.g · · Score: 1

      Price, availability, and community. What software (distros, etc) is available for this week's raspberry pi killer? What will be available in a year's time?

      --
      Pretend that something especially witty is here. Thanks.
    6. Re:Here's a novel idea by John+Bokma · · Score: 1

      typos: Single borad computer & Reapberry Pi & Respberry & Pi Raspbery Pi & SATA is 2T not 2G. I almost have the feeling you did some (bad) SEO... Anyway, thanks, I like to stay somewhat up to date with SBC. My current favorite is the CubieTruck, though.

      --

      Perl Programmer for hire
    7. Re:Here's a novel idea by fnj · · Score: 1

      I second the endorsement of the Beaglebone Black. Note that it is ARMv7 with a proper openly documented TI CPU, compared to the crappy RPi which is ARMv6 with the locked-up Broadcom abortion.

      I was crushed when they discontinued the original $45 BB rev and slipstreamed the "improved" $55 rev C with more flash and RAM. I consider the added flash and RAM to be completely wasted and pointless, but I recognize that the $45 price point was just a bit unsustainable. They should have just admitted overoptimism and raised it to $47 or $49 without touching the specs.

      But let's face it, even for $55 it is far and away the best choice out there. ARMv7 with Thumb2 is properly supported by mainline Debian, unlike ARMv6 with Thumb1. The latter is really only a dead end of limited historical interest.

    8. Re:Here's a novel idea by Anon-Admin · · Score: 1

      Guess I owe you one John, Thanks for pointing that out.

      The 2G in place of 2T could have been me, I have made that one a few times, the ones I can not explain are the various spellings of Raspberry Pi. I am wondering if the SEO plug-in I installed had anything to do with it.

    9. Re:Here's a novel idea by petes_PoV · · Score: 1
      The world has moved on since the BBB was the game in town.

      Now there are much better boards (though maybe not all with the BBB's size) that, unlike the BBB support audio in & out, have more RAM, dual-core processor and more flexible power options.

      Some of the new generation boards also make the BBB look quite expensive - both for what you get and in absolute terms.

      --
      politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
    10. Re:Here's a novel idea by CaptainOfSpray · · Score: 1

      Banana Pi has one serious problem. The GPIO etc connectors have a non-standard pitch (not 0.1 mm). No industry-standard connector/shield/daughter-board fits onto it. AVOID.

      --
      "Cock Up Your Beaver" does not mean what you think. This sig is intended to clog filters and annoy do-gooders
    11. Re:Here's a novel idea by Anon-Admin · · Score: 1

      That is not my findings, I have plugged a 26 pin cable into the connector and ran it to a breakout board without an issue. The only issue I have run into with the connector was the fact that the composite out port is too close to the 26 pin connector for the daughter cards.

  4. Real time clock by xonen · · Score: 1

    The board integrates a real time clock. This makes it ideal in remote, disconnected or power-safe configurations. From a wild-life camera to an embedded dishwasher controller. Being compatible, low-cost, running Linux and 'just works an community supported' is a big plus. I'd say, bring more of those clones.

    --
    A glitch a day keeps the bugs away.
    1. Re:Real time clock by petes_PoV · · Score: 1

      Yup. Smaller, better, cheaper. This is exactly what the RPi people should have been developing for the past 2 years.

      --
      politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
  5. That's not a Exynos SoC by phoenix_rizzen · · Score: 3, Informative

    What makes this thing truly "Raspberry Pi-compatible" is that it uses the same Broadcom SoC. There's nothing Samsung about this thing.

    1. Re:That's not a Exynos SoC by hattig · · Score: 1

      The article even makes the clear. How the submitter misread that is beyond me.

      The advantages of this board: Smaller. eMMC connector. ADC. RTC. Better power management. Small LCD module option ($30 incl. usb hub and ethernet).
      Disadvantages: USB/Ethernet on a different board ($20), connectors sold separately ($4).

      The RPi B+ resolves the power management issue.

      The advantage of being compatible is that the software support for the RPi is actually very good, and there is a massive community.

  6. The new Pi has a redesigned power supply by Marrow · · Score: 2

    Maybe that will solve the problems. The form factor is a little different though, so not all the old toys work.

  7. NOT A Samsung SoC! by EmagGeek · · Score: 1

    WTF Slashdot editors? It says plain as day right on the product page that it's a Broadcom SoC.

  8. First? by dohzer · · Score: 1

    How did this take so long? Why is this the first?