New Single Board Computers (SBC)

Award Winning Stereo Systems
saikatbiswas82

saikatbiswas82

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Dear All,

I am creating this thread keeping the fact in mind that in today's world we need a HTPC (Home Theater PC) or All-rounder PC which consumes less energy yet delivers high (or very good) performance. Let's discuss more on this. I am requesting you all to put your views/thoughts/experience on these small little wonders.

This year some very interesting SBCs (Single Board Computers) are being launched from two major competitors:

1. RASPBERRY PI 3
2. ODROID-C2



Some key features of both the SBCs:

Raspberry Pi 3
ARM Cortex-A53 1.2GHz quad-core 64 bit
1GB LPDDR2
802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi (inbuilt), Bluetooth 4.2
10/100 Ethernet
Price: $35 (or GBP 30)

HardKernel ODROID-C2
ARM Cortex-A53 2GHz quad-core 64 bit
2GB DDR3 SDRAM
Gigabit Ethernet
Price: $40

Expecting some more competition from Solidrun, Cubieboard etc as well.

The only thing that is missing (I believe) is USB 3.0 or SATA port. Odroid XU4 has 2 USB 3.0 ports but yet that costs almost double of Odroid C2.

Let's hope that some cost-effective SBC will be launched in near future with USB 3.0 or SATA ports inbuilt, so that we don't have to pay huge amount of money to create a hi-speed (data transfer) NAS out of it.

The motto could be like - Lets consume less energy. Let's make earth greener!!!
 
Check out orange pi plus 2

Most bang for buck single board


Supports all pi distros
 
venkatcr said:
Before you consider other SBCs, read this Introducing the Raspberry Pi 3 | Hackaday. In particular, read the comments.

It might make more sense to stick with RPI as it seems to have a large ecosystem. In India, support will always be an issue.

Cheers
Click to expand...

It will hardly take anytime before the distros start supporting the internal WiFi and better cpu, if at all it needs some major modifications to the code

Apart from a little higher price I don't see any reason why we should not buy it.
I am a little confused with what support issues we will have in India
 
rikhav said:
Check out orange pi plus 2

Most bang for buck single board


Supports all pi distros
Click to expand...

Orange Pi Plus 2 looks really promising. Especially with the SATA port. I think it has the full potential to become a full fledged media player with internal HDD (like mede8er or kdlinks). All it needs is a nice little enclosure. :)

One thing worth mentioning is - I think the community support for orange pi is not that huge. On the other hand, raspberry pi community support is very wide spread. Odroid has a community as well but not as large as raspberry.

As long as HAT (hardware attached on top) boards are concerned, raspberry pi has the most manufacturers around the globle. For example hifiberry, iqaudio etc.

The only negative point I feel about RPI 3 is - they removed the gigabit ethernet from it.
 
saikatbiswas82 Thank you very much for starting the thread.I think RASPBERRY PI 3 have very good future implementation as they introduced inbuilt WiFi & Bluetooth.

Orange Pi Plus 2 looks promising for audio purpose
 
rikhav said:
I am a little confused with what support issues we will have in India
Click to expand...

What I meant was minor repair and service if the SBC breaks down or has some issues. I am not sure there is anyone in India who understands these boards and what to do with them in terms of servicing.

Of course, I do understand that if there is a HW failure, you may just have to replace it.

Thanks
 
venkatcr said:
What I meant was minor repair and service if the SBC breaks down or has some issues. I am not sure there is anyone in India who understands these boards and what to do with them in terms of servicing.

Of course, I do understand that if there is a HW failure, you may just have to replace it.

Thanks
Click to expand...
I think in most of the cases of all motherboard failure, replacement is the only option. With my little experience, I think all pc motherboards (atx, mini atx, micro atx etc) components are soldered using automated machines. The only components that can be replaced by service center guys are through hole components like capacitors IMHO.

Now, considering the price point of these SBCs, I think they are worth giving a shot.
 
saikatbiswas82 said:
The only negative point I feel about RPI 3 is - they removed the gigabit ethernet from it.
Click to expand...

Was it there in the original specs?

Honestly gigabit is in name only. Rest of the h/w has not caught up so you are always limited to SATA 3, USB 3, HDD, SSD, etc. speeds. The fastest I've gotten is to 350 mbps, and the fastest I've seen is around 550 mbps.

BTW, I get 60 mbps from the Pi 2 on wired LAN. I've never gotten it to 100 mbps even via ethernet. Pi 3 might be faster though I intend to use it only in wireless mode. That's more than enough for any intended use or media consumption. I'm running multiple things like a torrentbox, media streamer, VPN server, and personal cloud. 60 mbps is more than enough for even 4K streaming (4K needs 25-30 mbps).

Also, if you want you can bump the Pi speeds to around 200 mbps (from the 60 mbps) by going for USB gigabit ethernet adapter. Use one of the USB ports and add in a device like the one below and you'll be able to bump to around 200 mbps, maybe more, all comes down to what h/w you have like SSD, SATA 2 or 3, etc.

QuantumZERO QZ-AD02 USB 3.0 to RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet LAN Adapter Supporting 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet, Wake-on-LAN, IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.3u, IEEE 802.3ab, IEEE 802.3az, FDX, HDX, [ASIX AX88179 Controller]: Amazon.in: Electronics

Amazon.com: TRENDnet USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet LAN Wired Network Adapter for Windows, Mac, Chromebook, Linux, and Specific Android Tablets, ASIX AX88179 Chipset, TU3-ETG: Computers & Accessories
 
venkatcr said:
What I meant was minor repair and service if the SBC breaks down or has some issues. I am not sure there is anyone in India who understands these boards and what to do with them in terms of servicing.

Of course, I do understand that if there is a HW failure, you may just have to replace it.

Thanks
Click to expand...


Only thing repairable seems to be various connectors like USB, HDMI

For any other failure no one will waste precious labour and just buy a new one
In India there are many freelancers who can bring alive dead graphics cards
 
Forget about servicing of these boards.Its use and throw devises.But these are very stable products mainly RASPBERRY.Also you can see the price point now we need to forget about repairing and all stuff just think how to convert this small beautiful power house to a hi quality (audiophile ) musical server.
 
Last edited:
Cubie truck (around $90 range) is a good option with hosts of interface ports (USB 2, Gigabit Ethernet, Onboard wifi, HDMi, VGA, SPDIF, On Board IR, 3.5 Headphone jack, SATA 2.0 port and I2C support ) and with 8 GB NAND flash built-in in addition to the microSD slot. The USB and Ethernetbus are not shared like in RPI.

Another option is Beaglebone Black (BBB) which has limited interface ports...

I have Pi2,BBB and Cubietruck running MPD/ LMS and I prefer cubietruck for audio. BBB is also good
Challenge with Cubietruck is the forum support in case of issues and the availability of patches and updates (which are not as frequent as RPI)
 
Hi ajesh
Would like to know your views on why you like cubietruck then others for audio?

Better sq for what ever reason or ease of use or faster?

Rgds
 
rikhav said:
Hi ajesh
Would like to know your views on why you like cubietruck then others for audio?

Better sq for what ever reason or ease of use or faster?

Rgds
Click to expand...



Hi Rikhav,

I am not an audiophile and will attempt to answer :)


SQ is better in Cubietruck than rpi/ BBB ( better by 10 -15%). RPI orBBB is not bad. Same tracks sounded fuller and the instrument separation is better in cubietruck.

Other positive features are
1. on board SPDIF optical port is quite useful. HW is capable of 24/192 but there are some SW issues in supporting 24/192. However Patches are available
2. On wifi is good
3. onboard dac not bad. output from 3.5 headphone jack is reasonable
4. there is 2 GB RAM and can enable Ramplay in MPD

Not so positive

1. Limited software and forum support. Only Volumio and RuneAudio has Cubietruck support
2. finicky about the powersupply. You need 2.3 A consistently for all the connected devices (USB etc) to work
3. I2C is not plug n play. will have to remove some SMD components and solder some resistors to enable it.

Hope this helps
 
rikhav said:
Read about this few days ago
Not sure what's the price but being intel based not sure how many popular raspberry distros will get converted to be used with this board
Click to expand...
The higher end might be priced around $134. I think this board has been developed keeping full version win 10 support in mind which rpi lacks as of now. This cannot be a direct replacement of rpi, uddo, hardkernel or something like that. But this could be a nice solution for a win lover.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
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