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I am thinking to adopt a SOM standard like Qseven or COMExpress etc. in the (a bit more far) future. What do you think about that? SBCs are not really a good fi

by mntmn 5y ago

I am thinking to adopt a SOM standard like Qseven or COMExpress etc. in the (a bit more far) future. What do you think about that? SBCs are not really a good fit for laptops in my opinion because you have to adapt everything with individual cables that are meant for external use. And: are there any SBCs you would like to use except for the Raspberry Pi?

marcodiego 5y ago
>What do you think about that? I understand that the Raspi form factor is not the most adequate for a laptop, but it is a very common form factor. Anything else doesn't even comes close to its popularity. So I think we have to adopt what we have. The only other possibility I can think of is the 96boards standard. >SBCs are not really a good fit for laptops in my opinion because you have to adapt everything with individual cables that are meant for external use The CrowPi2 seems to work well around that. Never seen one personally but it seems good enough for me. >are there any SBCs you would like to use except for the Raspberry Pi? Yes. I want to use a Rock-Pi-4. AFAIK it is the only ARM SBC that is 100% functional without any proprietary blob.
- jbotz 5y ago
  I think the same is true for the Rock64 from Pine64 and the Libre Computer Board ROC-RK3328-CC. And probably others based on the Rockchip SOCs.
myself248 5y ago
EOMA68 is/was another attempt at this concept, and worth looking into the challenges they faced and addressed. IMHO it's a brilliant idea hobbled by bad thermals and not quite enough pins.
mschuster91 5y ago
Qseven won't get you much in terms of performance, neither in available CPU/GPU nor in features (only 4 x1 PCIe lanes)... if you want actual beasts go for Comexpress Type 6 (or, if you're willing to deal with embedding a GPU yourself and need more PCIe lanes, Type 7) but be prepared the connectors aren't cheap, the standard isn't open (although there are some copies floating around on the 'net) and routing all the high frequency stuff is a pain that requires at least three if not four layers.
- mntmn 5y ago
  The MNT Reform motherboard has 6 layers, which I consider a small number. Also, I was thinking about adopting MXM for a GPU slot.

by mntmn 5y ago

marcodiego 5y ago

>What do you think about that? I understand that the Raspi form factor is not the most adequate for a laptop, but it is a very common form factor. Anything else doesn't even comes close to its popularity. So I think we have to adopt what we have. The only other possibility I can think of is the 96boards standard. >SBCs are not really a good fit for laptops in my opinion because you have to adapt everything with individual cables that are meant for external use The CrowPi2 seems to work well around that. Never seen one personally but it seems good enough for me. >are there any SBCs you would like to use except for the Raspberry Pi? Yes. I want to use a Rock-Pi-4. AFAIK it is the only ARM SBC that is 100% functional without any proprietary blob.

jbotz 5y ago
I think the same is true for the Rock64 from Pine64 and the Libre Computer Board ROC-RK3328-CC. And probably others based on the Rockchip SOCs.

myself248 5y ago

EOMA68 is/was another attempt at this concept, and worth looking into the challenges they faced and addressed. IMHO it's a brilliant idea hobbled by bad thermals and not quite enough pins.

mschuster91 5y ago

Qseven won't get you much in terms of performance, neither in available CPU/GPU nor in features (only 4 x1 PCIe lanes)... if you want actual beasts go for Comexpress Type 6 (or, if you're willing to deal with embedding a GPU yourself and need more PCIe lanes, Type 7) but be prepared the connectors aren't cheap, the standard isn't open (although there are some copies floating around on the 'net) and routing all the high frequency stuff is a pain that requires at least three if not four layers.

mntmn 5y ago
The MNT Reform motherboard has 6 layers, which I consider a small number. Also, I was thinking about adopting MXM for a GPU slot.