inexpensive X86 Single Board Computer

Seeed sent me an ad/newsletter describing a potentially interesting SBC. <https://www.seeedstudio.com/Rock-Pi-X-Model-B-4GB-p-4277.html> (Seeed is a Chinese company that's a bit like Adafruit. If you like SBCs and playing with circuit's, Seeed's newsletter is worth subscribing to. It's not just advertising.) Summary: quite a bit of machine for the price. But fairly niche. You will likely want to add a case , a power supply, and a battery for the clock. Software support is really easy since it is X86-64. Details: Rock Pi X B4E32 pre-order: US$75 + shipping - Atom X5-Z8350 (old Atom; 64-bit) - 4GiB RAM (64-bit dual channel) - 32G eMMC. Should be faster than SD. Large enough for a full Linux distro. - microSD socket - HDMI 2.0 up to 4k@30Hz (I would have expected HDMI 1.x; this doesn't seem to match Intel's spec for the chip) - WiFi 802.11ac - BlueTooth 4.2 - gigabit ethernet - one USB 3.0 (OTG: can be host or device, if I understand correctly) - three USB 2.0 - a 40-pin expansion header for hanging your circuits off My Impression: - quite a lot for the same price as a Raspberry Pi 4 with 8GiB of RAM - processor is old: introduced in early 2016 but little different from z8500 introduced in early 2015. "Cherry Trail" - I have a tiny PC (a Kangaroo) with the similar z8500 processor. It doesn't quite cut it for streaming video under Windows 10 at FullHD. By that I mean: it works but sometimes struggles. Intel's site suggests that the Z8500 should be faster but perhaps cooling is an issue on my Kangaroo or the 2 GiB RAM is pinching <https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/compare.html?productIds=85474,93361>

On 2020-10-05 10:54 a.m., D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
Seeed sent me an ad/newsletter describing a potentially interesting SBC.
I also get their weekly emailings. I saw the mentions of the Rock Pi. They have also been promoting the Wio Terminal. Seeed has all sorts of interesting items and modules that can be used with Arduino boards or other embedded systems devices. -- Cheers! Kevin. http://www.ve3syb.ca/ | "Nerds make the shiny things that https://www.patreon.com/KevinCozens | distract the mouth-breathers, and | that's why we're powerful" Owner of Elecraft K2 #2172 | #include <disclaimer/favourite> | --Chris Hardwick

On Mon., Oct. 5, 2020, 11:33 Kevin Cozens via talk, <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
They have also been promoting the Wio Terminal.
Seeed sent me a Wii Terminal a couple of months ago for review. Quite a nifty and powerful little microcontroller box. Very nicely made. Only issue is that it's a bit new, and the dev environment is a little fragmented: - all the features (incl wifi and BT) only work under Arduino - some of the features (not wifi or BT) work under Seeed's fork of MicroPython - a different subset of features work under CircuitPython, Adafruit's own incompatible fork of MicroPython. Again no wifi or BT, but some of the onboard peripherals are easier to access Cheers Stewart

On Mon, Oct 05, 2020 at 10:54:51AM -0400, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
Seeed sent me an ad/newsletter describing a potentially interesting SBC.
<https://www.seeedstudio.com/Rock-Pi-X-Model-B-4GB-p-4277.html>
(Seeed is a Chinese company that's a bit like Adafruit. If you like SBCs and playing with circuit's, Seeed's newsletter is worth subscribing to. It's not just advertising.)
Summary: quite a bit of machine for the price. But fairly niche. You will likely want to add a case , a power supply, and a battery for the clock. Software support is really easy since it is X86-64.
Details:
Rock Pi X B4E32 pre-order: US$75 + shipping
- Atom X5-Z8350 (old Atom; 64-bit)
- 4GiB RAM (64-bit dual channel)
- 32G eMMC. Should be faster than SD. Large enough for a full Linux distro.
- microSD socket
- HDMI 2.0 up to 4k@30Hz (I would have expected HDMI 1.x; this doesn't seem to match Intel's spec for the chip)
Not sure what makes it HDMI 2.0, since 4k@30Hz is HDMI 1.4 speed. Could also be they are wrong and it is in fact HDMI 1.4.
- WiFi 802.11ac
- BlueTooth 4.2
- gigabit ethernet
- one USB 3.0 (OTG: can be host or device, if I understand correctly)
- three USB 2.0
- a 40-pin expansion header for hanging your circuits off
My Impression:
- quite a lot for the same price as a Raspberry Pi 4 with 8GiB of RAM
- processor is old: introduced in early 2016 but little different from z8500 introduced in early 2015. "Cherry Trail"
- I have a tiny PC (a Kangaroo) with the similar z8500 processor. It doesn't quite cut it for streaming video under Windows 10 at FullHD. By that I mean: it works but sometimes struggles. Intel's site suggests that the Z8500 should be faster but perhaps cooling is an issue on my Kangaroo or the 2 GiB RAM is pinching <https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/compare.html?productIds=85474,93361>
Interesting little board though. Not that I have any use for one at this time. -- Len Sorensen
participants (4)
-
D. Hugh Redelmeier
-
Kevin Cozens
-
lsorense@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-
Stewart Russell