UP Squared Is A Very Capable Intel SBC For Makers & IoT

[Guest]

This device has significant more (and better) connectivity, an Altera Max10 FPGA, and it also has a true heatsink so its CPU won't be gated to as low power levels as the one in a tablet.

But yeah, feel free to compare a dune buggy to a truck just because both use internal combustion engines and have 4 wheels.

If you don't care that much about I/O, you could grab the cheapest tablet with specs you want, tear it appart, add passive cooling, and you'd get something quite comparable at a cheaper price.

[blueweb]

Did a Clean run on the Odroid N2 on the eMMC so that the possible Bottleneck is gone.
Nginx Benchmark did not work. Pearl Interpreter did only run on the A53. The Result Graphs are now comparable.

For Single Core Performance does the Up still win but s922x-b andA311D will run at higher frequencies like the VIM3 by Khadas(A311D - 4x 2.2Ghz A73 andx2 1.8Ghz A53)

https://openbenchmarking.org/result/1908297-HV-1908263AS24&obr_sor=y&obr_rro=y&obr_hgv=Hardkernel+ODROID-N2+4GB

Did you use the pts docker image or a native installation?

I failed to get the pts docker to run on a Odroid HC2 and I'm not sure if it's due to arch compatibility issues or my own lack of proper configuration.

[starshipeleven]

If you don't care that much about I/O

Still does not make this device overpriced. It only means that this device has features you don't need.

grab the cheapest tablet

Eh, no I would disagree. Tablets are very limited and unless you really need just a raspi-sized device that has one USB 2.0 and wifi only as connectivity, it's more cost-effective to go for the mini-PCs, with around 100-120$ you get an Atom x5 like that tablet you mentioned, but with Gbit eth, at least one USB 3.0 port and some USB 2.0, plus an HDMI (and also a VGA on select models).

Although if you don't mind getting used stuff (why would a DIY guy mind that, right?) it's better to aim for HP and Dell thinclients.

For example at the moment the rage is HP 610 thin clients, you can get one for 50$ or less and it's pretty decent, dualcore AMD T56N with decent integrated graphics , fanless, 2 USB 3.0 ports, gigabit ethernet, UEFI firmware with a lot of options (also AMD's VT-x feature for virtualization), a displayport (but it cannot drive 4k screens), can take 8 or even 16GB of RAM even if the specsheet says its max is 4GB, in 2 SO-DIMM (Laptop) slots, has 2 Sata ports + power for laptop hard drives and even a PCIe x4 slot on the board. Great value. It's big as a eating plate and a few cm thick.

As a general rule, go for old thinclients, If you don't need a GUI you can deploy even old shit with 256MB ram as long as they do have a BIOS of some kind (i.e. if they ran some form of Windows embedded when they were new). Stay away from the diskless clients as they rarely can be repurposed (and suck hard).

An old thin client is basically a small and weak PC, you can have some reasonable assurance that they were designed to last and for 24/7 operation, and will have stuff like watchdog or autoreboot or whatever else feature in their UEFI/BIOS, while most chinesium boards have barely the boot options.

[Toggleton]

Did you use the pts docker image or a native installation?

I failed to get the pts docker to run on a Odroid HC2 and I'm not sure if it's due to arch compatibility issues or my own lack of proper configuration.

I did use in that run the .deb Ubuntu/Debian Package.

I tried the Docker image. i get that Error on arm64 Manjaro too(but i have no real experience with Docker)
standard_init_linux.go:211: exec user process caused "exec format error"

[coder]

Thanks for clearing that up.

I am actually a fan of the N2, I really wanted one, but after doing some research have learned that ARM based SBCs have plenty of drawbacks still so I'm on the fence. So as much as I'd like a decent SBC powered from a USB-PD power bank, it seems for now x86 is worth the extra $50 or so.

A couple years ago, frustrated by the lack of progress in ARM SBCs, I took the x86 plunge and went with an ASRock J4205 mini-ITX board. It burned more power than I wanted, but it's still passively cooled and GPU drivers + everything just worked. Plus, it has native SATA ports.

I know I was interested in Up-boards. I forget why I didn't buy an Up^2, actually. Maybe I got impatient, waiting for them to finally release it. It should've been good to save some power, at least. Anyway, the ODROID-H2 is certainly worth a look, for anyone interested in x86-based options.

These days, like you, I'd be tempted by the ODROID-N2. I hope they get those issues cleared up, because it seems like a nice piece of kit. At one point, I actually predicted I'd have an ARM-based PC, by now... POWER is actually more tempting, but realistically, I think AMD is likely to be my next purchase.

[polarathene]

Plus, it has native SATA ports.

RockPro64/RK3399 has PCIe 2.0 x4 slot, kinda allows for native SATA?

If m.2 socket is sufficient, there's a more expensive board similar to the N2(SoC is roughly the same), Khadas Vim3(https://www.khadas.com/vim3), should be available soon. It has a bunch of features I don't really need and probably a higher power draw as a result(does support USB-PD which is great for supplying the power). I'll be keeping an eye on how well it pans out. Just noticed the M.2 appears to be over PCIe 2.0 x1 lane..

These days, like you, I'd be tempted by the ODROID-N2. I hope they get those issues cleared up, because it seems like a nice piece of kit.

The USB issue might not be fixable, or at least highly unlikely beyond workarounds. Amlogic uses a third-party IP for their USB support, so they'd not only need to be more open-source / mainline kernel support on their end but also get that vendor to be willing to do such., or at least fix the driver if it's not a hardware issue. AFAIK, it's been a common problem with Amlogic SoCs for years(at least with multiple odroid products). They have managed to resolve some issues with the N2 USB storage recently at least.

Products like RockPro64(https://www.pine64.org/rockpro64/) aren't as great, but the RK3399 has been making more progress with reaching mainline support IIRC. Not as appealing though, doesn't run as cool passively like the N2(then again that ships with a massive heatsink attached to it). Maybe once the next iteration comes out with the next Rockchip SoC(assuming Google picks it up for Chromebooks, as that helped RK3399 a fair bit I think?), then it seems you have to wait about a year for a board to be in a more reliable state. At least panfrost is coming along nicely.

I'll give the H2 some consideration, wasn't that the one that had stock issues though?

[hajj_3]

some of you guys are comparing the price of bare arm boards then adding ram, psu, emmc etc. You should be comparing to this: https://www.geekbuying.com/item/Beel...ox-416147.html

This has 4GB ram, 64GB emmc, case, psu, remote and costs $109. Considerably cheaper than an intel board.

[Toggleton]

some of you guys are comparing the price of bare arm boards then adding ram, psu, emmc etc. You should be comparing to this: https://www.geekbuying.com/item/Beel...ox-416147.html

This has 4GB ram, 64GB emmc, case, psu, remote and costs $109. Considerably cheaper than an intel board.

Are you sure that is not only a Sale Price?
Looks like it is build for Android TV. Same CPU like the Odroid N2 - Amlogic S922X (Realy not sure if the 2.2GHZ are true, AFAIK the S922X does have Problems over ~1.9GHZ and there will be a S922X-b Source
Not sure how hard it is to use Linux on the Beelink GT once the Mainline Kernel gets usable (minimal support in 5.3. I will wait for 5.4 to use it on the N2)

As a TV Box i think it does use the Hardware decoder so not sure if it has a good heat sink like the Odroid N2 for non Video work
The Amlogic Video Engine (AVE) decoder/encoder Support is still not in Mainline but usable with Openelec and libreelec AFAIK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MZ-hrD9hYU&feature=youtu.be
http://linux-meson.com/doku.php - The Roadmap for Kernel Mainlining. Maybe we will see decoder Support in 5.4

The Price for the Board with 64GB eMMC sounds nice but for me the Odroid N2 was the better deal cause i use it as a low Power Desktop replacement and need the big heat sink and 4x USB3 Ports are better for my use case than 2xUSB3 +1x USB2. I don't need WiFi and Remote Control.
Odroid N2 has official Support for Linux and Android and not only a pre Build Android TV

I think once the Mainline Support is good usable and Panfrost does Support Bitfrost the N2 will be a realy nice device

I did Pay for my N2 in Germany €94,95+€5,99(Power)+€37,95(32GB eMMC) - the Beelink GT would be without Tax on geekbuying if i have looked right. On Amazon it is listed for Germany with 130Euro

[coder]

RockPro64/RK3399 has PCIe 2.0 x4 slot,

That's its best feature, IMO. I hope it's the beginning of a trend in these type of SoCs.

I'll give the H2 some consideration, wasn't that the one that had stock issues though?

I think it's affecting everyone. This is from the order page of the Up Squared:

**Due to the CPU shortage, we will not be able to fulfill Celeron SKU in short time, please choose other SKUs**

Link: https://up-shop.org/home/270-up-squared.html

However, they do provide other CPU options that ship in as little as 7 days.

[polarathene]

some of you guys are comparing the price of bare arm boards then adding ram, psu, emmc etc. You should be comparing to this: https://www.geekbuying.com/item/Beel...ox-416147.html

This has 4GB ram, 64GB emmc, case, psu, remote and costs $109. Considerably cheaper than an intel board.

I'm not aware of anyone turning the TV type units into usable systems? I mean if you want to run actual linux distro, not Android. Do you know of any that have a community? I doubt the vendor cares to support such usage with their products like the SBC boards that are being discussed. And you can run into numerous issues regarding that.

Have you got experience doing such? Or are you just finding these products online and assuming they'll be simple to get working with custom linux like an x86 machine? My own experience suggests otherwise(not that I've tried to use one of those products). Definitely more effort than an x86 based system.