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The ASUS Tinker Board is a compelling upgrade from a Raspberry Pi 3 B+

jeffgeerling.com

181–190 of 232 posts

Re: The ASUS Tinker Board is a compelling upgrade from a Raspberry Pi 3 B+

#181
post #74

Some more cheap SBCs from my bookmarks: - BananaPi (Allwinner, MediaTek): http://www.banana-pi.org/ - Le Potato (Amlogic) and Renegate (Rockchip): https://libre.computer/ - NanoPi (Samsung, Allwinner) : http://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/category&... - OLinuXino (open hardware, Allwinner A20, A64, etc, iMX, Ralink): https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/ - Odroid (Amlogic, Samsung): http://www.har…

There are also a few interesting options in the ~$100 price range.

One example is the new WandPi 8M. It's based on the NXP i.MX8M and has a few key advantages (particularly, true gigabit Ethernet and USB 3.0). I've ordered one myself, but I'm not sure exactly when they're supposed to start shipping.

There's also the x86 based UP boards. They're based on newer Intel Atom SoCs, so my guess is that the out-of-the-box Linux support would be fairly decent.

Re: The ASUS Tinker Board is a compelling upgrade from a Raspberry Pi 3 B+

#182
post #74

Some more cheap SBCs from my bookmarks: - BananaPi (Allwinner, MediaTek): http://www.banana-pi.org/ - Le Potato (Amlogic) and Renegate (Rockchip): https://libre.computer/ - NanoPi (Samsung, Allwinner) : http://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/category&... - OLinuXino (open hardware, Allwinner A20, A64, etc, iMX, Ralink): https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/ - Odroid (Amlogic, Samsung): http://www.har…

When shopping for SBCs, I find archlinuxarm's supported devices list very useful.

https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms

For ARMv8 specifically: https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv8

Re: The ASUS Tinker Board is a compelling upgrade from a Raspberry Pi 3 B+

#183
post #95
post #4

Also of note: Tinkerboard has b/g/n 2.4Ghz wifi. Pi 3B+ also has 802.11ac 5Ghz wifi. Tinkerboard has a superior sound chip, supporting 24-bit, 192kHz audio. Pi 3B+ has a totally garbage mono only analog sound (and presumably fine HDMI digital sound).

Would 802.11n be better than 802.11ac with a lot of constraints on the networking bandwidth?

For me, the 5ghz is really important. I work on products that only use the 5ghz (because of interference and crowding @ 2.4 ghz). Also, I am not en expert, but the chipset now used on the RPi will have an easier path to FCC approval?

"This has allowed us to certify the entire board as a radio module under FCC rules, which in turn will significantly reduce the cost of conformance testing Raspberry Pi-based products."

I think the Rpi is one of the few SBCs that have 5ghz support on the board.

Re: The ASUS Tinker Board is a compelling upgrade from a Raspberry Pi 3 B+

#184
post #182
post #74

Some more cheap SBCs from my bookmarks: - BananaPi (Allwinner, MediaTek): http://www.banana-pi.org/ - Le Potato (Amlogic) and Renegate (Rockchip): https://libre.computer/ - NanoPi (Samsung, Allwinner) : http://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/category&... - OLinuXino (open hardware, Allwinner A20, A64, etc, iMX, Ralink): https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/ - Odroid (Amlogic, Samsung): http://www.har…

When shopping for SBCs, I find archlinuxarm's supported devices list very useful. https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms For ARMv8 specifically: https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv8

I've recently been converting most of my home pi's to arch linux, as I use Arch as my daily driver. Add cockpit on top and it becomes a very modern generic platform.

https://github.com/sthysel/archlinux-arm-cockpit

Re: The ASUS Tinker Board is a compelling upgrade from a Raspberry Pi 3 B+

#185
post #11

I think the main issues with all of these rasbi alternatives is the software. As ... quirky ... as the rasbi is, the software support and optimisation is excellent. There are several speed comparisons on youtube where the rasbi beats a lot of the competition through sheer software optimisation. Honestly, without complete Upstream Kernel support and Open Sourcing of all necessary drivers, none of these Boards is reall…

This is my take away also. I have all the rpi models, a few beaglebones, banana pi, and odroid.

If there is something specific you are trying to do, you'll want an SBC that is geared towards that purpose (sata, adc, etc). If you just want an SBC as a general computer, rpi is your best bet.

Re: The ASUS Tinker Board is a compelling upgrade from a Raspberry Pi 3 B+

#186

I've been looking at the new Rockchip RK3399 based devboards. Of note is the $99 Rock960[1]. The major draws for me are the DisplayPort support, so I can use it with my iPad 3/4 display controller board, M.2 PCIe 4-lane, eMMC, 802.11ac. Firefly makes a similar one as well. [2] 1. https://www.96boards.org/product/rock960/ 2. http://shop.t-firefly.com/goods.php?id=45

I wonder what wifi chipset it has. Supports 802.11ac which I need. I should investigate this board, see if it allows monitor mode (low level wifi packet access). The RasPiB+ supports 802.11ac but the Broadcom based wifi doesn't allow monitor mode.

Re: The ASUS Tinker Board is a compelling upgrade from a Raspberry Pi 3 B+

#187

I've been looking at the new Rockchip RK3399 based devboards. Of note is the $99 Rock960[1]. The major draws for me are the DisplayPort support, so I can use it with my iPad 3/4 display controller board, M.2 PCIe 4-lane, eMMC, 802.11ac. Firefly makes a similar one as well. [2] 1. https://www.96boards.org/product/rock960/ 2. http://shop.t-firefly.com/goods.php?id=45

I wonder what wifi chipset it has. Supports 802.11ac which I need. I should investigate this board, see if it allows monitor mode (low level wifi packet access). The RasPiB+ supports 802.11ac but the Broadcom based wifi doesn't allow monitor mode.

"The wifi/bt module used on ROCK960s is AP6356s from AMPAK Technology." https://www.96boards.org/documentation/consumer/rock960/hard...

"AMPAK combines Broadcom Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips in single modules." https://wikidevi.com/wiki/AMPAK

Broadcom + Linux is a very mixed bag. Would require more investigation.

Re: The ASUS Tinker Board is a compelling upgrade from a Raspberry Pi 3 B+

#188
post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When shopping for SBCs, I find archlinuxarm's supported devices list very useful. https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms For ARMv8 specifically: https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv8

I've recently been converting most of my home pi's to arch linux, as I use Arch as my daily driver. Add cockpit on top and it becomes a very modern generic platform. https://github.com/sthysel/archlinux-arm-cockpit

How much cpu/ram does this take up on a pi? I imagine it's a nice interface to have.

Re: The ASUS Tinker Board is a compelling upgrade from a Raspberry Pi 3 B+

#189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a common theme in these SBC threads, but I've also had a pretty good experience with microSD cards in the Pi—one time I had corruption after unplugging the Pi. Two things that are immensely helpful if you want a stable experience with the Pi: 1. A good power supply. 2. A good microSD card. Most cheap power supplies (like those you get free with a phone) don't supply 2A or more consistently, which the newer Pi…

Indeed, I've had nothing but good experiences with Samsung EVO and SanDisk Ultra cards. BTW, your link seems to end up on your front page, rather than the card comparison article.

Oops, it gets cut off if I paste the whole thing. Here’s a [text link](https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2018/raspberry-pi-microsd-...) instead.

Re: The ASUS Tinker Board is a compelling upgrade from a Raspberry Pi 3 B+

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t forget the Espressobin: http://espressobin.net/

That is an exceptionally good looking board at that price.

It's quite nice. Doesn't run pfSense yet, but apparently that's being worked on. There's a version of Arch that runs wonderfully on it though. I bought it a few days ago after reading this[1] guide to try to replace my pfSense router (stupid AES-NI...).

[1]https://blog.tjll.net/building-my-perfect-router/

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