A new product like this seems to come out every month! Lots of fun for embedded folks. This is a higher-end one, and the power-per-price keeps going down. You can get small dual-thread processors for a few bucks (only 1Mb RAM etc) on up to things like this for $49. Seems like the ecosystem is filling out nicely.
Tiny quad-core system-on-module for makers and hardware startups
11–20 of 123 posts
Re: Tiny quad-core system-on-module for makers and hardware startups
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is all about the details. Industrial DDR3 with -25C temperature is quite expensive, but it is a requirement for any company building a product that could be used outdoors. Quad-core GHz A53 in such tiny footprint, but really with everything needed onboard. Very motherboard and embedding friendly and with proper software support. I think I will give some backstory which might be relevant. This product was born out…
"Neutis runs modern Linux kernel based on the mainline version. Unlike other modules that are stuck with old legacy kernels without updates, Neutis will get security fixes and new features on time." You must clarify that. You are on a technical forum and that simply is not acceptable. "Mainline" is 4.16-rc2, there is only one mainline, so you are saying it's shipping with an rc quality kernel that is still in active…
In the context of ARM devices its understood that it isn't based off a custom fork maintained only by the SOC manufacturer.
Re: Tiny quad-core system-on-module for makers and hardware startups
#13I could see this costing $30, but $49 is quite a stretch. What are your main advantages over Orange Pi Zero [1] which costs $8.49? I can only see the DDR3 rated to -25 and the secure enclave.
Re: Tiny quad-core system-on-module for makers and hardware startups
#14Eh, I'll stick with the PocketBeagle board. It is half the price, very easy to source, doesn't require any special connectors and has those extremely useful PRUs.
Slightly larger, slower and no wireless connectivity but that is a worthwhile tradeoff.
Re: Tiny quad-core system-on-module for makers and hardware startups
#15What secure element chipset are you using? This could be very interesting for a project I am working on. Does it run JavaCard / GlobalPlatform and are the access keys available?
Re: Tiny quad-core system-on-module for makers and hardware startups
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a 64-bit 4-core ARM. So I expect it to cost a little more than a Raspberry Pi.
This is the identical CPU of a Raspberry Pi 3. 512 MB of RAM with 64 bit is a pain, and that Mali GPU is a proprietary piece of shit. What's the market for a SoM for "makers and hardware startups" that has negligible upstream support. That's before you consider that they chose a SoC with considerable GPU/VPU capabilities that can only do HDMI or composite, the first you would never use in an embedded application wher…
It's not identical to the RPi 3. Raspberry Pi is using a Broadcom chip, this one is an Allwinner H5. They are similar, but at least the H5 has far better support in mainline Linux.
Still Mali, though. Which I totally agree is crap. And no drivers for other display types.
Re: Tiny quad-core system-on-module for makers and hardware startups
#17Would you kindly shed more light on what kind of Crypto chip are you using? What are its capabilities?
Re: Tiny quad-core system-on-module for makers and hardware startups
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is all about the details. Industrial DDR3 with -25C temperature is quite expensive, but it is a requirement for any company building a product that could be used outdoors. Quad-core GHz A53 in such tiny footprint, but really with everything needed onboard. Very motherboard and embedding friendly and with proper software support. I think I will give some backstory which might be relevant. This product was born out…
"Neutis runs modern Linux kernel based on the mainline version. Unlike other modules that are stuck with old legacy kernels without updates, Neutis will get security fixes and new features on time." You must clarify that. You are on a technical forum and that simply is not acceptable. "Mainline" is 4.16-rc2, there is only one mainline, so you are saying it's shipping with an rc quality kernel that is still in active…
Currently our main focus is on Yocto, since this is what most people would use in production. Right now BSP runs on 4.15 and the processor is well supported in mainline. Since our own product is based on Neutis we put a lot of effort in testing of stability of the system and peripherals.
There is so much work done by the great linux-sunxi community, you can see the mainlining progress for H5 processor here: http://linux-sunxi.org/Linux_mainlining_effort
Sorry, it is the middle of the night here and I am not ready to confirm on the exact Debian version, but I believe that it has not been decided yet. You can contact us directly and we will get back to you with more info on this.
Re: Tiny quad-core system-on-module for makers and hardware startups
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the identical CPU of a Raspberry Pi 3. 512 MB of RAM with 64 bit is a pain, and that Mali GPU is a proprietary piece of shit. What's the market for a SoM for "makers and hardware startups" that has negligible upstream support. That's before you consider that they chose a SoC with considerable GPU/VPU capabilities that can only do HDMI or composite, the first you would never use in an embedded application wher…
It's not identical to the RPi 3. Raspberry Pi is using a Broadcom chip, this one is an Allwinner H5. They are similar, but at least the H5 has far better support in mainline Linux. Still Mali, though. Which I totally agree is crap. And no drivers for other display types.
Mali 450 just won't die. Atleast it is not the Mali 400.
Re: Tiny quad-core system-on-module for makers and hardware startups
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the identical CPU of a Raspberry Pi 3. 512 MB of RAM with 64 bit is a pain, and that Mali GPU is a proprietary piece of shit. What's the market for a SoM for "makers and hardware startups" that has negligible upstream support. That's before you consider that they chose a SoC with considerable GPU/VPU capabilities that can only do HDMI or composite, the first you would never use in an embedded application wher…
It's not identical to the RPi 3. Raspberry Pi is using a Broadcom chip, this one is an Allwinner H5. They are similar, but at least the H5 has far better support in mainline Linux. Still Mali, though. Which I totally agree is crap. And no drivers for other display types.
We were talking about the CPUs, and these are pretty identical. Both use quad ARM Cortex A53, the H5 has 100 MHz more top clock rate and is probably manufactured in a more modern process, but real-world performance isn't going to be much different.