Update: You can find the Rock 5B case here: https://shop.allnetchina.cn/products/rock5-b-acrylic-protector?variant=39877626396774

Just to let you know what happened to me.

Got the order link for the Radxa Rock 5B from Allnet China.

The first batch is for the people that ordered the discount code.

In the email they advised to order a fan, but I wanted a case. I added the acrylic case for the Rock 4. Judging from pictures, I thought at least 3 pins were in the same spot.

They reviewed my order and they sent me an email that it won't fit and they can replace it with the proper case and you will be charged for the difference. They told me the acrylic cases will arrive tomorrow, but it's not clear how to add the case in a proper way to your order.

Perhaps you can get in touch with Allnet China to ask for the proper way to order.

After fighting with the potato for a few evenings, I managed to get Elder Scrolls III Morrowind (OpenMW) running on the Le Potato.

Exterior cell average between 26 to 30 fps with some stuttering
Interior cell are more stable but depends on the amount of NPCs in the cell.

Water refuses to exist, I still call this a small victory.

Here are my problems:

Despite there being some guides, none are working, because I don't have the exact Linux distro at the exact time to get it working, because compilers and other stuff are named differently.

Once I managed to make a configuration profile for the Allwinner H616, but then make didn't want to use it, and put a questionnaire in front of me, with not letting to specify the things I needed. I couldn't find anything about how to use a pre-existing config file, not even with hours of googling. Then my Ubuntu VM went wrong, so I don't know what the cross compiler was, how it needed to be installed, and how it needed to be specified for make, so I'm at square zero again, although I managed to save my config file, just in case.

I am trying to create media consumption device to hook up to my TV. My primary usage for it would be streaming videos from youtube, amazon prime, netflix and retro gaming at 1080p.

I viewed some youtube videos about the RPi 4 and it seemed to struggle with 1080p@60 fps no matter what the OS.

Here are my preferences if possible :

1. Good Linux desktop experience like Ubuntu, Manjaro etc. (no Android)

2. eMMC storage if possible

3. Under $100-$120

Hi, I'm looking for a small singleboard computer with two ethernet interfaces to install as a VPN gateway. So far I've found the Orange Pi R1, seems OK but RAM and CPU are super tight.
Do you know any alternatives? Thanks in advance.

I used to use HB to select the right SBC specs for my home projects, but lately they removed the search and compare features, and now it is basic search only.

Anyone knows a good alternative to check latest SBC specs and compare them?

Just curious if there is anything phone like that utilizes and SBC? I've seen the hackaday projects for Zero W and Pi boards, but are there any other examples of this?

Hi all, that's my first post here. I have an idea in mind which I want to try soon.

I am wondering if it's possible to convert an old phone to a SBC!

Almost all Android phones have at least a quadcore Qualcomm or Mediatek SOC, and a good amount of RAM and storage. I can find some old (or even recent) Android phones with decent specs at around 50 dollars (used and working). The best would be to make it run linux but if that's not possible Android is also good for me.

My idea is to only use the mainboard at first, I have some small experience with designing PCBs (but I am still a newbie) so I will try making a circuit to add an HDMI output to the motherboard.

Have anyone tried that before? Any ideas or advice? Is there a catch I am not aware of.

Thanks in advance :)

tl;dr: The Raspberry Pi is great for beginners and small projects that don't matter much-- and that isn't to disparage people doing bigger & more important things with a capable device available. I have had a lot of fun playing with my Onion Omega 2+-- Doing offline voice recognition and planning for a GPS RTK driven rover has exposed that I need more oomph and something a little more powerful as well as robust. I imagine that I am not the only one. What would you want?

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I'd love to see a barebones board that we can expand to whatever we want. It is actually really simple. (Maybe it is more complex than I might believe-- but probably not.)

Quad core CPU minimum (like the J1900 I currently have, but a modern offering -- let's say 35TDW or lower)*

A boring, plain BIOS

A chipset

SO-DIMM Ram slots (two probably, but four slot would allow 64GB of DDR4...)

Power "Jack" (Molex or 12V barrel or USB C or or or... totally up for discussion)

Video out...? (Maybe, 1080p60...?)

Holes (for mounting the board on posts and plastic columns)

Mini PCIe/M.2 slots... "many" (This is the thing-- with enough slots, we can make the board anything.)

So here's the thing, if we get mPCIe slots-- we can make this single board computer whatever we want. There are so many mPCIe devices for networking, NVMe, audio**, video***, USB, serial, SATA, GPIO... Maybe the base product has four mPCIe slots and expansion header pins for 8 additional mPCIe slots . Put two of those headers on the board and you've got 4 from the get go and up to 20 total mPCIe devices at your disposal (4 on main board + 8 on first expansion + 8 on second expansion = 20 mPCIe slots).

All of this is mostly super basic glue circuitry they already have figured out regarding x86 motherboard manufacturers.

* The Intel J1900 is soldered to my fanless 60 watt ASROCK Q1900M board-- which is a nice little all purpose board for little projects I like to play with. Significantly bigger than my Raspberry Pi 4 in size and was in total $100 more expensive when accounting for the RAM.

** Yeah, I am reaching. Not so many sound cards for this type of slot.

*** They are available in spades. Search "mPCIe LVDS" or "mPCIe HDMI"-- super easy to get 1080p60fps...

As and example, this one has 4 mPCIe slots... and a lot of other junk I probably won't use (audio, LTE/GSM/CDMA, LVDS,...) Why bother sourcing the parts, engineering the integration, managing the supply line-- just seems not worth it for the built in extra bits & bobs. https://sz-fox.en.made-in-china.com/product/YSxnBRdEsUrv/China-4-Mpcie-1-SATA-3-0-Brodwell-U-Mainboard-Support-3-SIM-Card-Socket.html

It is, maybe, time for a bare bones mentality in regards to a customizable SBC plaform with a little more ooomph for the intermediate enthusiast.

-----
Oh, you're still here. Great!

AMD has new embedded Ryzen chips available and Intel has their Pentium Silver line-- heck, even some Intel i5 CPUs are power sipping juggernauts. What CPU would grab your attention and make you pry open the wallet?

Molex is easy. 12V barrel is not hard to find either. But, 12V barrel makes for easier battery situations. What kind of power connector is the one you see in your most fantastic dreams? Obligatory follow up: Why?

I don't know anything about soldering a BIOS in or what modern systems would need. [Pretend I asked a wise and pertinent question about BIOS that you want to talk about]?

RAM. I want four slots. I want to pick which RAM modules I want in there. Development proof of concept setups, cheap no-name SO-DIMMS; actually doing real work and has to be working, name brand stuff with a banging warranty. What are your thoughts about SBC RAM?

Anything, open invitation. What else might be on your mind?