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Genuine question, but what's the use case for this? I do a ton of embedded compute, but it all requires extensive GIPO/PWM, etc. Then I do a lot of desktop com
by loki1725 2y ago
Genuine question, but what's the use case for this? I do a ton of embedded compute, but it all requires extensive GIPO/PWM, etc. Then I do a lot of desktop compute, but it all requires a GPU and a fair bit of horsepower.
What's the use case for a SBC made to be embedded in a project box, but without extensive IO?
- 0cf8612b2e1e 2y agoEmphasis on the low power. It’s just a computer, but one that is cheap and yet still capable of doing work. Host a blog. Home automation. Dedicated SNES emulator. Personal Minecraft server. DIY NAS controller. Maybe good enough to act as a TV media player. Anywhere you might want a bit of always on compute without paying a ton.
- transpute 2y ago> DIY NAS controller Needs ECC memory to compete with low-power Ryzen with ECC.
- kvemkon 2y agoIntel N97 seems to support a so called In-Band ECC with non-ECC UDIMMs, thus there is a slight performance hit (both memory bandwidth and processing resources). I'm curious whether N100 does support it too, though considering a huge difference in a recommended price, it could support, but it would be artificially forced disabled.
- transpute 2y agoGood to know, since ODROID H4 uses N97 and has 4 SATA ports + NVME with M.2 bifurcation, https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-h4-plus/ https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-h4-plus/ & https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/m-2-4x1-card/ https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/m-2-4x1-card/
- kvemkon 2y agoYeah, that's exactly where I've learned this from. It's just the very huge price if you need this board in Europe, which stays in the way.
- lmz 2y agoAre there any low-power Ryzen boards in the same price range?
- transpute 2y agoAre there any low-power Intel boards in the same price range, since this one is sold out?
- lmz 2y agoWell, there's plenty of N100 mini PCs around, but Ryzen Embedded ones (which is I assume what you mean by low power Ryzen) are a bit more scarce.
- transpute 2y agoThere's also some 15W Ryzens for mobile, https://www.extremetech.com/computing/amds-15w-ryzen-7-7840u-apu-rivals-high-end-desktop-cpus-on-geekbench https://www.extremetech.com/computing/amds-15w-ryzen-7-7840u... & https://cwwk.net/products/amd-ryzen-r5-5600u-r7-5800u-r7-5825u-low-power-8-core-16-thread-soft-routing-mini-host-i226-v-aluminum-case-1?variant=44262711427304 https://cwwk.net/products/amd-ryzen-r5-5600u-r7-5800u-r7-582...
- rcarmo 2y agoThere are comparable (but beefier) things made by ASRock Industrial. I’ve been trying to get my hands on them, but it’s hard.
- jsheard 2y agoThis does have provisions for GPIO, there's an RP2040 microcontroller integrated onto the board which is wired to the N100s USB bus on one side and the exposed pin headers on the other. It's set up such that you can flash your own code onto the RP2040 so it should be quite flexible, you could just use it as a simple USB to GPIO bridge, or you could implement low level application logic on the RP2040 itself for stronger realtime guarantees.
- gary_0 2y agoI wonder how good the software/driver support is? That's a neat feature to have on an Intel-based SBC, but not if getting software to talk to it is next to impossible.
- pkaye 2y agoThey are connected by an UART.
- gary_0 2y agoWhat do you mean? I looked up the RP2040 datasheet[0], and it looks like it can be used as a plain USB device, and can be booted from USB. If that's how it's connected on this SBC, I'd imagine software support would be quite good since Linux probably has a built-in USB driver for it. [0] https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/rp2040/rp2040-datasheet.pdf https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/rp2040/rp2040-datasheet.p...
- 15155 2y agoLinux doesn't have any driver for the "RP2040" in the abstract - you have to design the USB device you want (which you could implement on any other USB capable microcontroller as well usually.) You can use the standard USB CDC classes with the RP2040 to obtain Linux support without writing your own driver - but you still have to build this. You can only access the USB boot ROM after programming if you are able to toggle the boot selection pins with the host CPU's GPIO - no idea if that's connected here.
- Aurornis 2y agoRaspberry Pi sized computers are very popular as second systems for experimenting and as home servers on a budget. For many people, it’s an easy and cheap way to get a Linux server running in their home, apartment, or dorm, without spending a lot of money or having a noisy, hot, large old server box. They do okay for a lot of tasks. This board has a decent GPU for the power envelope. They can’t keep up with a $1000 workstation or server build, but it’s a lot of horsepower for under $100 and around a dozen watts.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- mulletbum 2y agoVery popular for a plex server right now.
- seanlane 2y agoYou can find versions that have 4+ NICs that make great routers running opnsense: https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/cwwk-topton-nxxx-quad-nic-router.39685/ https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/cwwk-topto...
- adrian_b 2y agoThere are 2 kinds of uses for this. Those that require a very small computer and those that require a very cheap computer. You can buy 4 or 5 Radxa X4 for the money that would be used for one NUC-like small computer with an AMD CPU or with an Intel Core CPU. Radxa X4 is much slower, but there are applications for which it is good enough, so there is no need for a more expensive computer. For example I would use it to replace an old Intel NUC that I am using (together with several USB Ethernet interfaces) as router/firewall/DNS server/DNS proxy/e-mail server/Web server/NTP server etc. Radxa X4 would be good enough to ensure the routing and filtering for four 2.5 Gb/s Ethernet ports, while cheaper devices like those using quadruple Cortex-A55 cores are not good enough. For that Internet gateway, which must work 24/7 without downtime, I keep a spare unit ready to replace the main unit, if necessary. That means a double cost. With Radxa X4, the cost for two units remains very small, which is an incentive for using it instead of a more expensive SFF computer. The alternatives at the same price, i.e. Rasberry Pi and the similar SBCs that use RK3588, have a much lower peripheral throughput aggregated over all their peripheral interfaces than Radxa X4. With external USB hubs, Radxa X4 could be extended to 8 full-speed 2.5 Gb/s ports or more, or I could use up to three 10 Gb/s Ethernet ports instead of the 2.5 Gb/s Ethernet ports. The small size of Radxa X4 would be handy if I would use it as a portable firewall for a laptop. Unfortunately the modern laptops cannot be trusted due to the hardware backdoors that are implemented in them for remote management. So a paranoid user would want to disconnect the internal antennas and connect to wired or wireless networks through an external firewall, for which a Radxa X4, which has a published schematic, would be a good choice.
- rcarmo 2y agoYou need to factor in storage, cases/cooling and PSUs. Never consider just the bare board.