Embedded electronics specialist Sipeed has unveiled a brand new, compact single-board pc (SBC) — borrowing the tough footprint of the favored Raspberry Pi Zero vary however together with wired gigabit Ethernet, full-size USB ports, and a replaceable system-on-module with as much as 4GB of LPDDR4 reminiscence.
“Sipeed’s newest Linux SBC product line is split into Lichee (high-performance RISC-V) and Longan (cost-effective Arm) primarily based on CPU cores. The Longan Pi 3H is the primary cost-effective product within the Longan Arm product line,” the corporate explains of its launch. “The Longan Pi 3H design philosophy: on the dimension of the Raspberry Pi Zero, the LPi3H supplies customers with the identical expertise as the usual large-size Raspberry Pi.”
Sipeed’s new Raspberry Pi Zero-alike packs as much as 4GB of RAM, a quad-core processor, and full-size ports. (📷: Sipeed)
Sipeed’s assertion, delivered to our consideration by CNX Software program, is maybe over-egging the pudding — however solely a bit. Regardless of its compact footprint, matching that of the Raspberry Pi Zero vary, the Longan Pi 3H features a full-size HDMI port, a wired gigabit Ethernet port, and two USB 2.0 Kind-A ports — down from the 2 USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports obtainable on trendy full-size Raspberry Pi boards, however up from the one micro-USB On-The-Go (OTG) port of a Raspberry Pi Zero. There’s additionally a USB 2.0 Kind-C On-The-Go port and microSD storage, the latter discovered on the underside of the board.
The underside additionally reveals a shock: the Longan Pi 3H is not a real single-board pc in any respect, however a system-on-module (SOM) put in in a Raspberry Pi Zero-like service board. The present SOM providing relies across the Allwinner H618 system-on-chip, giving it a quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor operating at as much as 1.5GHz, an Arm Mali-G31 MP2 graphics processor, and a imaginative and prescient processing unit with VP9/VP10 decode as much as 6k30, H.265 as much as 6k30, and H.264 as much as 4k30 — dropping to 1080p60 for H.264 MVC. That HDMI port, in the meantime, delivers 4k60 video and digital audio.
The board features a pre-populated GPIO header following the Raspberry Pi pinout. (📷: Sipeed)
The service board additionally features a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 radio with a ceramic dual-frequency antenna, whereas there is a populated 40-pin general-purpose enter/output (GPIO) header which follows the frequent Raspberry Pi customary pinout. For storage, the microSD slot can be utilized — or a module with an built-in 32GB eMMC can be obtainable. There’s even room for 2 user-addressable LEDs, together with bodily reset and FEL buttons. For software program, the board helps Debian Linux and Android 12, with mainline assist deliberate for subsequent yr.
The Sipeed Pi 3H is offered to order on the corporate’s AliExpress retailer forward of deliberate mid-January transport, priced at $23.90 for a model with 2GB of RAM and no eMMC, $29.90 for 4GB of RAM and no eMMC or $34.90 for 4GB of RAM and a 32GB eMMC; the SOM itself will also be ordered with out the service for $17.90, however solely in 2GB and no eMMC variant.
