A brand new single board laptop vary provides builders flexibility and the choice of customized {hardware}.
RS Group’s single board laptop improvement and manufacturing unit OKdo is now working with Rockchip vendor Radxa on a variety of SBC programs utilizing Radxa’s ROCK designs. It’s an attention-grabbing partnership, giving Raxda entry to OKdo’s expertise in at-scale manufacturing and to its international help channels.
The intent of the brand new partnership is to provide engineers the instruments they should construct merchandise round Radxa’s designs, whereas nonetheless supporting a maker neighborhood and college students searching for a strong, low-cost computing platform. In addition to OKdo’s personal help providers, ROCK is supported by way of Radxa’s personal on-line neighborhood instruments.
SEE: {Hardware} stock coverage (TechRepublic Premium)
Introducing the ROCK 4 SE
The primary board from the brand new partnership, the ROCK 4 SE, is now out there. Primarily based on Radxa’s Rockchip hexacore RK3399-T processor with 4GB of RAM, it provides a contemporary ARM huge.LITTLE pairing of twin Cortex A72 CPUs with a quadcore Cortex A53 and ARM’s Mali GPU. The result’s a extra versatile possibility than the acquainted Raspberry Pi 4, with help for on-board eMMC storage modules and an m.2 connector for NVMe SSDs.
Extra importantly for makers, the board features a real-time clock with battery connector, so it may possibly hold observe of time even when powered off. Alternatively, there’s the flexibility to avoid wasting energy by powering down parts of the SBC after they’re not in use. You should utilize any USB-C PD energy provide, so that you’re not restricted to anyone provider and might work with fashionable high-density batteries in addition to mains energy.
A 40 pin GPIO port means it’s appropriate with many current off-the-shelf equipment, together with power-over-Ethernet adapters. Different ports embody a full-size HDMI video connection supporting 4K shows, in addition to two USB 2 and two USB 3 ports (one in all which can be utilized for OTG connection to cellular units), and a mixed microphone and headphone socket.
The ROCK 4 SE is OKdo’s spinoff of Radxa’s current household of ROCK 4 SBCs, and is meant to be the primary in a brand new vary of Rockchip-based SBCs and pluggable compute modules. Utilizing the slogan “Your board, your approach,” OKdo is offering not solely {hardware}, but in addition focused help for all customers of its ROCK {hardware}, from particular person makers to massive corporations constructing programs round ROCK-based compute modules.
Coming quickly: The ROCK 4C+
A second board, the ROCK 4C+, is below improvement and shall be launched quickly, together with the CM3 compute mannequin and a next-generation SBC. Usefully, the ROCK 4C+ will add a function that’s normally lacking from SBCs: a bodily on/off swap. It can even embody a separate header for a cooling fan, so that you received’t have to lose any GPIO pins. An extra connector means that you can plug in your personal Wi-Fi antenna, enhancing efficiency for units that is perhaps deployed wherever there’s a weak sign.
Why ROCK?
Ongoing provide chain points had been the rationale behind the RS Group firm OKdo lately stepping away from its Raspberry Pi manufacturing license and adopting a wider vary of silicon suppliers, together with ROCK’s dad or mum firm Radxa and IoT chipset specialists NXP. ROCK’s silicon comes from fabless vendor Rockchip, which makes use of a number of fabs to scale back provide chain danger, as chips are manufactured internationally. Rockchip won’t be as well-known as different IoT processor corporations like Broadcom, however its chips are aggressive and include help from acquainted Linuxes in addition to Android, supplying you with further choices for each utility improvement and consumer experiences.
SEE: Contained in the Raspberry Pi: The story of the $35 laptop that modified the world (cowl story PDF) (TechRepublic)
A bonus that the ROCK platform has over different SBCs is the flexibility to ship boards as customized System-on-Module programs, avoiding part wastage. When you’ve prototyped {hardware} utilizing units just like the ROCK 4 SE, you’ll be able to then work with OKdo to design a SOM in your manufacturing {hardware} that solely contains the options you want, serving to hold prices to a minimal and lowering your publicity to produce chain danger. The flexibility to work with each a producer like OKdo and a board designer like Radxa helps optimize board designs and guarantee your challenge will get the {hardware} it wants, when it wants it.
A customized future for {hardware}
OKdo’s customization service builds on the corporate’s expertise, eradicating elements as wanted and redesigning the SBC board to suit inside {hardware} constraints. This isn’t a service for the house consumer or the hobbyist maker; it requires a dedication to quantity manufacturing the place OKdo will construct hundreds of boards or modules. Typical adjustments embody eradicating the ethernet port in favor of wi-fi operation, not solely saving area however value, as a redesigned board received’t want specialised controller chips and any related elements. OKdo can add elements to a board, altering interfaces or including reminiscence.
As OKdo factors out, there are added advantages to a customized answer. In case you’re delivery hundreds of models, even a small discount in measurement and weight will help with environmental commitments, lowering delivery weight or the quantity of packaging wanted. Working with an organization like OKdo on customized {hardware} means that you can benefit from their current testing providers, making certain that adjustments don’t put the customized board out of compliance with any relevant rules.
Radxa’s confirmed designs have been fashionable in China and the remainder of Asia, so it’s good to see a vendor the scale of RS Group making a dedication to bringing the platform to the U.S. and Europe. Provide chain points are nonetheless making it arduous to purchase many SBCs, with massive prospects getting precedence, so having succesful {hardware} in inventory now ought to give builders entry to the units they should develop new IoT {hardware} with out having to attend any longer.
The ROCK 4 SE is already out there in OKdo’s ROCK store, and extra {hardware} ought to arrive quickly.