Raspberry Pi & Company: all about SBCs (original and alternatives)

In addition to Arduino, the Raspberry Pi broke into the market to change the world of DIY and education. An extremely cheap board capable of running numerous operating systems. With this SBC you could learn a lot and have a computer without spending large amounts of money.

Like the Arduino, as the Raspberry Pi gained popularity, other many alternatives They have emerged to take advantage of this inertia marked by the original. Some of these alternatives surpass the original Pi in terms of hardware performance, others have certain additional functions or advantages that make them unique, etc. That is why you should know everything you have at your disposal to choose the best one for your case ... It will be through SBCs!

What is SBC?

Abbreviations SBC (single board computer) they refer to a board that includes all the necessary components to build a computer. That is, the microprocessor or CPU, the RAM, GPU, controllers, and the I / O system will be included on the same PCB. All in a small footprint, unlike PC motherboards.

Although Arduino and other similar development boards could also be considered SBCs by having a microcontroller (CPU + Memory + I / O), I'll leave these Single-board microcontroller (SBM) boards out so as not to mess up the readers too much ...

This format is very practical for a multitude of applications such as to constitute a miniPC, for industrial, embedded or embedded systems, robots, etc. In addition, they are usually much cheaper, costing only a few euros in some cases, which makes them especially interesting for maker projects or for the field of education (even systems with few economic resources). However, not all SBC boards are cheap, there are also quite powerful and with somewhat higher prices.

Another advantage of an SBC is its high level of integration to be able to use it in those cases where the space is somewhat limited. Of course, they are lightweight and tend to have better energy efficiency compared to PC motherboards.

However not all are advantages, since its limited size implies that great benefits are not achieved as in larger high-performance systems. In addition, the integration works against you, making it impossible to update or replace your components if they become damaged or out of date. In those cases, the complete plate would have to be replaced ...

Official Raspberry Pi boards

La Raspberry Pi Foundation has created a series of official plates which is updated every so often. A foundation that, by the way, is based in the United Kingdom, and whose CEO is Eben Upton.

The project was unveiled in February 2012, and since then, it has not stopped growing and developing. However, there were concept boards since 2006, with some alpha and beta until the first release. From the first plate of 2021, the popularity has led this SBC to be one of the UK's best-selling computers, reaching 30 million units blessed in December 2019.

As a curiosity, it must be said that many of these plates are fabricated in a Sony factory in Wales, while others are created in Japan and China. And of course, they have chips and elements from many other manufacturers, such as their Broadcom SoC, Micron for their memory, VIA Labs (VLI) for USB controllers, etc.

Specs

You should understand the reviews, which are neither models nor versions as you will see below. The revisions are marked as Rev v1.2, v1.3, Rev v2.0, etc., and are simple tweaks from the old design to improve some aspects.

On the other hand, there are the so-called Model A or A + which are cheaper and limited models in terms of Model B or B +. Typically, Model B is released first and then A is released to satisfy those users who don't need such powerful hardware and want something more affordable.

There are also versions Raspberry Pi Zero, which are boards that share some similarities with the previous ones, but are much smaller and cheaper. In addition, compared to their older sisters, they have lower memory and processing capacities. But they can be practical for projects where too much power is not needed and size is a limiting factor.

Versions

As for the versions, or different releases, that have been appearing over the years, you might find:

Raspberry Pi Model B

Release date: 2012
SoC: Broadcom BCM2835 based on 1x ARM1176JZF-S at 700Mhz + VideoCore IV capable of supporting 1080p @ 30 FPS.
RAM: 512MB
Ports: USB, HDMI, Ethernet, analog video / audio output, SPI, I2C, 26 pin GPIO, serial and SD / MMC card reader
Size and weight: 85.6 × 53.98mm / 45g
Food: 700mA @ 5v via microUSB or GPIO
Price: about $ 35

Compute Module or CM

It was announced on April 7, 2014. It is not a version of the Raspberry Pi itself, but a compatible module with the Raspberry Pi and it contains a Broadcom BC2835 SoC, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of eMMC flash. All in a small 67.6x30mm board and packed in a standard SO-DIMM module to add drives to a compatible board and thus be able to adapt the computing power to your needs ...

From the version 1 or CM1, the CM2, CM3, CM3 Lite, and CM3 + would also arrive. All with some improvements and modifications, in addition to slightly different prices.

This same 2020 the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, the new version of the CM that adds a quad-core ARM Cortex-A72 processor, dual video output, with a range of RAM and eMMC flash memory to choose from, and with or without wireless connectivity.

Raspberry Pi Model A +

Release date: 2014
SoC: Broadcom BCM2835 with 1x ARM1176JZF-S + VideoCore IV at 700Mhz
RAM: 256MB
Ports: USB, HDMI, SPI, I2C, GPIO, serial and SD / MMC card reader
Size and weight: 65 × 56.5mm / 23g
Food: microUSB or GPIO at 200mA

Raspberry Pi 2 Model B

Release date: 2015
SoC: Boradcom BCM2836 4x Cortex-A7 + VideoCore IV at 900Mhz
RAM: 1GB
Ports: USB, HDMI, Ethernet, SPI, I2C, GPIO, serial and SD / MMC card reader
Size and weight: 85.6 × 56.5mm / 45g
Food: microUSB or GPIO at 800mA

Raspberry Pi Zero

Release date: 2017
SoC: Broadcom BCM2835 1x ARM1176JZF-S + VideoCore IV 1Ghz
RAM: 512MB
Ports: USB, HDMI, SPI, I2C, GPIO, serial and SD / MMC card reader
Size and weight: 65x30mm/9g
Food: microUSB or GPIO at 180mA

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B

Release date: 2016
SoC: Broadcom BCM2837 4x Cortex-A53 64-bit 1.2Ghz + VideoCore IV 1080p @ 30FPS
RAM: 1GB DDR2
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, HDMI, Ethernet, analog video output, SPI, I2C, GPIO, serial and SD / MMC card reader
Size and weight: 85.6 × 56.6mm / 45g
Food: microUSB or GPIO at 1.34A @ 5V

Raspberry Pi Zero W

Release date: 2017
SoC: Broadcom BCM2835 1x ARM1176JZF-S + VideoCore IV at 1Ghz
RAM: 512MB
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, HDMI, SPI, I2C, GPIO, serial and SD / MMC card reader
Size and weight: 65x39mm / 9g
Food: microUSB or GPIO at 180mA

Raspberry Pi Zero WH

* The only difference with the Zero is that it includes headers or heads in the GPIOs.

Release date: 2018
SoC: Broadcom BCM2835 1x ARM1176JZF-S + VideoCore IV at 1Ghz
RAM: 512MB
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, HDMI, SPI, I2C, 26 pin GPIO, serial and SD / MMC card reader
Size and weight: 65x39mm / 9g
Food: microUSB or GPIO at 180mA

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B +

Release date: 2018
SoC: Broadcom BCM2837 4x Cortex-A53 64-bit 1.4Ghz + VideoCore IV 1080p @ 30FPS
RAM: 1GB DDR2
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, HDMI, Ethernet, analog video output, SPI, I2C, GPIO, serial and SD / MMC card reader
Size and weight: 85.6 × 56.6mm / 45g
Food: microUSB or GPIO at 1.13A @ 5

Raspberry Pi 3 Model A +

Release date: 2018
SoC: Broadcom BCM2873B0 4x Cortex-A53 64-bit + VideoCore IV at 1.4Ghz
RAM: 512MB DDR2
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, HDMI, analog video output, SPI, I2C, GPIO, serial and SD / MMC card reader
Size and weight: 65x56mm / 29g
Food: microUSB or GPIO at 1.13A @ 5

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B @ 4GB

Release date: 2019
SoC: Broadcom BCM2711 4x Cortex-A72 ARMv8 64-bit + VideoCore VI at 1.5Ghz
RAM: up to 4GB LPDDR4
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, HDMI, Ethernet, analog video output, SPI, I2C, GPIO, serial and SD / MMC card reader
Size and weight: 85.6 × 56.5mm / 46g
Food: USB-C 1.25A @ 5v

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B @ 8GB

Release date: 2020
SoC: Broadcom BCM2711 4x Cortex-A72 ARMv8 64-bit + VideoCore VI at 1.5Ghz
RAM: 8GB LPDDR4
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, HDMI, Ethernet, analog video output, SPI, I2C, GPIO, serial and SD / MMC card reader
Size and weight: 85.6 × 56.5mm / 46g
Food: USB-C 1.25A @ 5v

Raspberry Pi Peak

This is not just another SBC, but rather a development board more similar to Arduino than to a Raspberry Pi, since you cannot install an operating system. Simply create sketches to program it.

SoC: RP2040, with DualCore Cortex-M0 + @ 133Mhz microcontroller, 264 kB SRAM, 2MB flash on-board.
Connection: microUSB with support for USB 1.1 Host
Programming: Drag & drop using languages like C / C ++ and MicroPython.
GPIO: 26-pin multifunction
Other pins: 2x SPI, 2x I2C, 2x UART, 3x 12-bit ADC, 16x PWM channels.
Food: 3.3v
More: temperature sensor, fast floating point libraries in ROM, and 8x PIO (Programmable I / O) to be able to adapt the board to support peripherals, etc. For example, with PIO it can be configured to emulate VGA, sound, SD card reader, etc.
Size: 51x21mm
Price: approx. € 5

Which one do I need?

Well, this will depend on your needs and what you want to spend on the SBC, but basically here are some keys to help you choose the most suitable:

General use- Choose a Raspberry Pi 3 or 4.
Retro gaming or applications that demand higher performance:Raspberry Pi 4
For control of IP cameras, home automation, IoT, robotics, etc..: Zero W and WH models better.
Mount a server: Compute Module and Raspberry Pi 4.

Remember that all of them are compatible with a multitude of OS (in its ports for ARM), such as Windows IoT, Ubuntu, Raspbian OS, Debian, Arch Linux, RISC OS, TizenOS, Android, openSUSE, Slackware, Gentoo, FreeBSD, Moebius, Tiny Core, openMandriva, NetBSD, CRUX, Void Linux , Plan 9, and a very long etc.

Alternatives to the Raspberry Pi

The officers have been quite tough competitors, both in prices, as in benefits and functions. Here are some of the numerous alternatives that has the official Raspberry Pi ...

Based on ARM

If you prefer processors ARM-basedEither because there are many packages compiled for this architecture or because you are interested in developing for it, here is a list of the best alternatives to the Raspberry Pi:

OrangePi4B

Manufacturer: Shenzhen Xunlong Software CO.,Limited
SoC: Rockchip RK3399 6x ARM 64-bit 2Ghz (2x Cortex-A72 + 4x Cortex-A53) + Mali-T864 GPU + NPU SPR2801S for IA
RAM: Dual 4GB LPDDR4
Storage: 16GB eMMC flash
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, HDMI, Ethernet, DisplayPort, Sound Jack, GPIO
Food: USB-C 3A @ 5v

Le Potato AML-S805X-AC (La Frite)

Manufacturer: Free Computer
SoC: Amlogic S805X 4x ARM Cortex-A53 at 1.2 Ghz + 2G - 3P Mali-450 @ 650Mhz
RAM: 1GB LPDDR4
Storage: 128MB SPI Nor flash eMMC 5.x
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, HDMI, Ethernet, GPIO, IR
Food: microUSB

BeagleBone Black

Manufacturer: DrinkableBoard
SoC: Texas Instruments AM335x Sitara 1Ghz ARM Cortex-A8 + 3D Aclerator + 2x PRU 32-bit MCUs
RAM: 512MB DDR3
Storage: 4GB eMMC
Ports: USB, Ethernet, HDMI, GPIO
Food: USB

Pine64 RockPro64

Manufacturer: Pine64
SoC: Rockchip RK3399 ARM + Mali T860 MP4 GPU
RAM: 4GB LPDDR4
Storage: 4GB eMMC
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, Ethernet, HDMI, GPIO, microSD, PCIe 4x, PI-2 Bus, expansion bus, TP, DSI, eDP, MiPi-SCI, IR,
Food: 5.5 ″ 12V 3A / 5A

Banana PI BPI-M4

Manufacturer: Banana Pi
SoC: Realtek RTD1395 4x ARM Cortex-A53 64-bit + Mali 470 MP4
RAM: 2GB DDR4
Storage: 8GB eMMC
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, Ethernet, HDMI, Jack, GPIO, microSD, M.2 PCIe, UART, I2C, SPI or PWM
Food: USB-C 5v or PoE

Rock PI 4

Manufacturer: Rock Pi
SoC: Rockstar RK3399 6x ARM (2x Cortex-A72 at 1.8Ghz + 4x Cortex-A53 at 1.4Ghz) + Mali T860MP4 GPU at 600Mhz + NPU with AI capabilities
RAM: 4GB LPDDR4
Storage: up to 128GB eMMC flash
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, Ethernet, HDMI, miniDP, MIPI CSI, Jack, GPIO, microSD, M.2 PCIe
Food: USB-C (supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 adapter)

Android C4

Manufacturer: HardKernel
SoC: Amlogic S905X3 4x Cortex-A55 at 1.9Ghz + Mali G31 MP2 at 650Mhz + VPU graphics accelerator
RAM: 4GB DDR4
Storage: up to 64GB eMMC flash
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, Ethernet, HDMI, IR, Jack, GPIO, microSD, UART, SPDIF, I2C
Food:DCjack

NanoPC-T3 Plus

Manufacturer: friendlyarm
SoC: Samsung S5P6818 Octa-Core Cortex-A53, 400M Hz - 1.4G Hz + ARM GPU
RAM: 2GB DDR3
Storage: 16GB eMMC flash
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, Ethernet, HDMI, IR, MIPI DSI, Jack, GPIO, microSD, UART, SPDIF, I2C
Food: DC jack 5v / 3A

STM32MP157A-DK2

Manufacturer: STMicroelectronics
SoC: STM32MP157 2x Cortex-A7 32-bit + Cortex-M4 32-bit MPU
RAM: 4GB DDR3L
Storage-
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, Ethernet, HDMI, Jack, GPIO, MIPI DSI, microSD
Food: USB-C 5v / 3A

Based on RISC-V

The open ISA RISC-V RISC-V Foundation, now under the Linus Foundation, is also giving a lot to talk about lately. Even more after NVIDIA's purchase of Arm. If you want to test this new architecture or develop for it, you can count on these SBC boards similar to the Raspberry Pi:

SiFi HiFive Unleashed

Manufacturer: YesFive
SoC: SiFive Freedom U540 SoC RISC-V 64-bit 4 + 1 core at 1.5Ghz
RAM: 8GB DDR4 with ECC support
Storage: 32MB Quad SPI flash ISSI
Ports: USB, Ethernet, microSD, M.2 PCIe, FMC Connector, SATA

PicoRio

Manufacturer: RIOS Lab
SoC: 4x RISC-V 64-bit 500Mhz + 1 RISC-V 32-bit + Imagination PowerVR GPU
RAM:LPDDR4
Ports: USB, UART, I2C, SPI and microSD

PolarFire SoC Icicle Kit

Although it is not a normal SBC, but a development kit for testing on the PolarFire SoC Based on RISC-V and with Linux, it may be interesting to investigate this chip and test how Linux works on this architecture. It has a multitude of possible applications, from industrial, automotive, networks, aerospace, defense, etc.

If you want to know more technical characteristics, here are some:

SiFive PolarFire 1xRV64IMAC + 4x RV64GC. Secure Boot support.
2GB LPDDR4 x32
1GB SPI flash
8 GB eMMC flash + SD card slot
JTAG pins, UART, PCIe Gen2, Gigabit LAN Ethernet (RJ45), microUSB 2.0 OTG, SPI, CAN, I2C, 40-pin GPIO compatible with Raspberry Pi, ...

BeagleBoard (coming soon)

An internal source of BeagleBoard He has personally confirmed to me that SBC boards from this group with RISC-V chips are coming soon. The biggest drawbacks they are finding is getting the SoC cheap enough to be able to guarantee that they are affordable boards, but they work on it ...

X86-based

If there is a popular family, that is x86. This architecture is the most widespread in the PC and also in HPC. There are a huge number of operating systems and binary packages for it. Therefore, it could be a great option for many users. In addition, some of these chips that are in these alternative SBCs to the Raspberry Pi tend to have higher performances than other architectures:

ASUS Tinker Board

Manufacturer: ASUS
SoC: Rockchip RK3288-C QuadCore 1.8GhzU + Mali T764
RAM: 2GB DDR3
Storage: 64GB eMMC flash
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, Ethernet, HDMI, Jack, GPIO, microSD
Food: microUSB 5v / 3A

UDOO X86 II Ultra

Manufacturer: UDOO
CPU: Intel Pentium N3710 2.56 Ghz QuadCore + Intel® Quark SE 32 MHz + 32-bit ARC core 32 MHz + Intel HD 450 A 700Mhz
RAM: 8GB DDR3L DualChannel
Storage: 32GB eMMC flash
Ports: USB, HDMI, microDP, Ethernet, M.2, SATA, Audio Jack, S / PDIF, UART, I2C, SPI, 12-pin analog output, IR
Food:DC12v 3A

Axiomtek Machine Vision

Manufacturer: axiomtech
APU: AMD Ryzen V1807B 3.2 Ghz (4 cores / 8 threads) + integrated Radeon GPU
RAM: 16GB DDR4
Storage: 32GB eMMC flash
Ports: USB, HDMI, DisplayPort, Ethernet, M.2, SATA3, Audio Jack, SPI, LVDS,
Food:DC12v

IDF GHF51

Manufacturer: DFI
APU: AMD Ryzen R1606G DualCore + Integrated Radeon VEGA GPU
RAM: up to 8 GB DDR4
Storage-
Ports: USB, HDMI, miniPCIe, SMBus, Ethernet, microHDMI
Food: DC 12V

LattePanda 4G / 64

Manufacturer: LattePanda
APU: Intel Atom X5 Cherry Trail Z8350 Quad Core 1.9Ghz + Integrated Intel HD GPU 500Mhz
RAM: 4GB DDR3L
Storage: 64GB eMMC flash
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, HDMI, MIPI DSI, Ethernet, GPIO,
Food:DC5V/2A

Odyssey

Manufacturer: Seed
APU: Intel Celeron J4105 Quad-Core 1.5GHz to 2.5GHz + Integrated Intel UHD 600 + Arduino ATSAMD21 Cortex-M0 + coprocessor
RAM: 8GB LPDDR4
Storage: 64GB eMMC flash
Ports: WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI, USB, Ethernet, M.2 PCIe, GPIO 40-pin, SATA
Food: DC Jack 12v or USB-C

Based on MIPS

MIPS It was "the ARM of the past", using these chips for a multitude of different applications, not just for computers, but for a multitude of controllers for other devices. But little by little it was moving until it disappeared. Now, since it has been opened, positioning itself alongside openPOWER and RISC-V, the ISA MIPS has become even more popular. If you are interested in testing or developing it, you can find the following alternatives to the Raspberry Pi:

Onions Omega 2

Manufacturer: Onion.io
APU: MT7688AN MIPS 580Mhz
RAM: up to 128MB DDR2
Storage: up to 64MB OM-O2P
Ports: USB, WiFi, Ethernet, GPIO, UART, I2C, SPI, microSD
Food: DC 3.3v 800mA

Creator CI20

Manufacturer: MIPS
APU: Ingenic JZ4780 SoC which includes 1.2 GHz, DualCore MIPS32 + PowerVR SGX540 GPU
RAM: 1GB DDR3
Storage: 4GB eMMC flash
Ports: USB, WiFi, Ethernet, HDMI, GPIO, UART, I2C, SPI, 14-pin EJTAG
Food: D.C. Jack

For AI

Finally, for machine learning, AI or artificial neural networksThere are also some boards similar to the Raspberry Pi SBC, but specially designed for this task, with specific functions or tensor cores ...

NVIDIA Jetson

Platform NVIDIA Jetson has variants like:

jetson nano: NVIDIA it has an interesting development board for artificial intelligence like the Jetson Nano. With NVIDIA Maxwell GPU with 128 CUDA cores, ARM Cortex-A57 MPCore QuadCore processor, 4GB LPDDR4, 16GB of eMMC 5.1 flash, and MIPI-DSI, Ethernet, HDMI, DP, USB, PCIe, GPIO, I2C, SPI connections, I2S, etc.
Jetson Xavier NX: It is a SOM module with the power of a supercomputer with compact size. With up to 21 TOPs or 21 teraoperations per second.
Jetson AGX Xavier: another module with great energy efficiency and computational density.
Jetson TX2- High-speed and efficient development board based on NVIDIA Pascal, with 8GB of RAM and a bandwidth of 59,7GB / s.

Google coral

Like the NVIDIA platform, this one from Google also has several plates, accessories and modules for your AI projects. For example, your Dev Board, the development board, has an NXP i.MX 8M CPU with four Cortex-A53 and Cortex-M4F cores, GC7000 Lite Graphics GPU, Google Edge TPU (coprocessor) with up to 4 TOPS or 2 TOPS / w. It comes equipped with 1GB LPDDR4, 8GB of eMMC flash and microSD, and WiFi, USB, Bluetooth, Ethernet, Jack, HDMI, MIPI-DSI, and USB-C DC 5v connectivity.

Khadas VIM3

khadas VM3 It is another one of the development boards for AI that you should know. Broadly speaking, it should be noted that it has a CPU A311D x4 Cortex-A73 2.2Ghz and x2 Cortex-A53 at 1.8Ghz. With a 5 TOPS NPU, 16GB Samsung eMMC, and MIPI-DIS, HDMI, WiFi, Ethernet, microSD, USB, PCIe, etc. connections.

HiSilicon HiKey 970 (Huawei)

HISILICON it also has another interesting plate called HiKey 970. If you want to use the Huawei SDK with this board, you will have at your fingertips a board with UEFI, ARM Kirin chips with Cortex A73 QuadCore + Cortex-A53 QuaCore, Mali G72 MP12 GPU, dedicated NPUs, 6GB of LPDDR4, WiFi, microSD, HDMI , USB, etc.

Sophon BM1880 (hybrid ARM + RISC-V)

Sophon BM1880 de sophon.ia It is another of the possibilities that you have at your fingertips for AI. In this case you come across a board with a 2x Cortex-A53 CPU at 1.5Ghz + RISC-V at 1Ghz, with 1 TPUs @ INT8 thanks to the Tensor processor, 4GB LPDDR4, 32GB eMMC, Ethernet, WiFi, USB, microSD, Jack, etc.

Conclusion

There are also other SBC boards of the above architectures that I have not listed, but I think the most relevant ones are covered. Many possibilities to satisfy almost all users.

There are also in terms of IA, such as Intel Neural Stick (a pendrive with IA capabilities), JeVois (small device with video sensor, microSD slot, QuadCore CPU, USB, serial port), Rockchip RK3399Pro, etc.

I hope I have helped you with this article to have a somewhat broader vision. Also, if you have any suggestions or questions, you can leave your comments...