Results 1 to 2 of 2

Thread: ARm Cortex-A9 DBC boards

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Leiden, the Netherlands
    Posts
    4,372

    ARM Cortex-A9 DBC boards

    DBC? -I can hear you thinking- wasn't it SBC, single-board-computer?

    Yes, most ARM development boards are SBCs, but in the Cortex-A9 landscape we've seen some interesting things.
    The same Cortex-A9 of which I've written "Compared to their first ARMv7-A SOC, the ARM Cortex-A8, the Cortex-A9 offered an overall performance enhancement of well above 50%. Unfortunately some licencees saw that as an argument to sell their Cortex-A9 products at a much higher price too..."

    We already had the CuBox and the Hummingboard. Pro's for the HummingBoard and CuBox, both made by SolidRun, are the versailabilty of the design with four -some argue even six- cariers boards and five different SOMs (i1, i2, i2eX, i4Pro, i4x4) to combine them with. As con I've named the price, and that still stands.

    Now there's a competitor in Cortex-A9 land, offering a combination of baseboard and SOM at a very competing price, the LeMaker Guitar.
    We already know Lemaker of one of the producers of the original Banana Pi and as makers of the Banana Pro. The Guitar is no slouch either. Our Belgium, Dutch and German members can buy one at Conrad.be, Conrad.nl or Conrad.de, for just under 56 Euro's.

    Let's compare SolidRun's offerings against the quad-core Guitar:

    SOM Features LeMaker Guitar
    SOC Actions Semiconductor Torch S500
    Speed 1300 MHz
    Video PowerVR SGX544
    RAM 1 or 2 GB
    eMMC 8 GB (standard), 4 to 32 GB (optional)
    Picture
    Base board Features LeMaker Guitar
    WiFi Wi-Fi AP6181 802.11 b/g/n
    IR Yes
    Bluetooth Yes, 4.0
    USB micro USB 3.0 host/device port, 2x USB 2.0 host ports
    LAN 10/100
    Picture
    Price $45


    What does SolidRun offer, and what prices do they ask for it?

    SOM Features Som i1 Lite Som i1 Som i2 Som i2ex Som i4Pro Som i4x4
    SOC Freescale iMX.6 Lite Freescale iMX.6 Solo Freescale iMX.6 Dual Lite Freescale iMX.6 Dual Freescale iMX.6 Quad Freescale iMX.6 Quad
    Cores 1 1 2 2 4 4
    Speed 1000 MHz 1000 MHz 1000 MHz 1200 MHz 1200 MHz 1200 MHz
    GPU Vivante GC320 + GC355 Vivante GC880 + GC320 Vivante GC880 + GC320 Vivante GC2000 + GC320 + GC355 Vivante GC2000 + GC320 + GC355 Vivante GC2000 + GC320 + GC355
    RAM 512 MB, 32 bit, 800 MT/s 1 GB, 32 bit, 800 MT/s 1 GB, 64 bit, 800 MT/s 2 GB, 64 bit, 1066 MT/s 2 GB, 64 bit, 1066 MT/s 4 GB, 64 bit, 1066 MT/s
    WiFi No Optional Optional 802.1 b/g/n (BCM4330) 802.1 b/g/n (BCM4330) 802.1 b/g/n (BCM4330)
    Bluetooth No Optional Optional Yes, 4.0 Yes, 4.0 Yes, 4.0
    LAN 10/100 10/100 10/100 10/100/1000* 10/100/1000* 10/100/1000*
    IR Receive only Receive only Receive only Receive and transmit Receive and transmit Receive and transmit
    Price $? $50 $67 $81 $120 $130
    Carrier board Features CuBox Carrier Base CuBox Carrier Pro Hummingboard Gate Hummingboard Edge Hummingboard Base Hummingboard Pro
    USB 2x USB 2.0 2x USB 2.0 4x USB 2.0 4x USB 2.0 2x Host USB 2.0 2x Host USB2.0, 2x Header USB 2.0
    Price $70 $80 $70 $102 $70 $85
    *= Note that due to internal i.MX6 buses the 1000Mbps interface speed is limited to 470Mbps.

    The only thing where the SolidRun offerings seem to have things going for them is the amount of RAM per core and the speed of the LAN connector in their Quads and deluxe dual models.
    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 12-12-2015 at 10:12 AM.


  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Leiden, the Netherlands
    Posts
    4,372

    DBC: The Return of the Motherboard

    They don't sit still at Lemaker, they've improved their Guitar. No longer is there a Baseboard and a 1 or 2 GB SoM, you now also can choose between three different Baseboards:
    • Model A (with 14 Grove interfaces)
    • Model B/B+
    • Model D (which supports up to four Guitars)

    So far I can only order the 1 GB SoM with the original Model B board here in the Netherlands. On Amazon.co.uk however....
    The 'D' board seems a potential 16-core, 4 to 8GB -headless- cruncher now and might become even more interesting when they bring out more SoMs (e.g. Cortex-A7 and Cortex-A17 -to mix these, or the same with Cortex-A53 and Cortex-A57) to go with their Baseboards.
    What the 'C' board is like can only be guessed at..
    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 07-13-2016 at 07:37 PM.


Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •