[Freedombox-discuss] Korean company's tiny quad-core ARM Linux computer packs a punch at $129

[Eugen Leitl]

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/07/korean-company-offers-3-5-inch-quad-core-arm-linux-computer-for-129/


Korean company's tiny quad-core ARM Linux computer packs a punch at $129

Need a powerful alternative to the Raspberry Pi? Check out this 3.5-inch
board.

by Ryan Paul - Jul 13, 2012 1:30 pm UTC

    Development Mobile Computing

Hardkernel's little Linux computer, with a quad-core Samsung Exynos CPU

Little Linux computers have attracted a lot of interest from hobbyists this
year. The $35 Raspberry Pi ARM board, which met with huge demand when it
launched in February, is a compelling solution for affordable embedded
projects. But what if you need more power than the 700MHz ARM11 board can
offer?

A Korean hardware manufacturer called Hardkernel is launching a high-end
alternative. The company’s new ODROID-X board comes with a Samsung Exynos 4
processor, a quad-core CPU clocked at 1.4GHz. The board also has a quad-core
Mali 400 GPU, 1GB of RAM, six USB host ports, an ethernet adapter, headphone
and microphone jacks, and an SDHC card slot for storage.

With four times as much RAM as the Raspberry Pi and a much more powerful
processor, the Hardkernel board seems like a nice option for more
computationally-intensive usage scenarios. The system is still highly
compact, measuring at about 3.5 x 3.7 inches.

Because the Hardkernel board is based on the Cortex-A9, which uses the ARMv7
architecture, it is capable of running the latest version of Ubuntu in
addition to Android. Ubuntu doesn’t support the Raspberry Pi’s ARM11
architecture (the Raspberry Pi foundation recommends using Fedora on its
board).

Of course, users can expect to pay more for the higher specs of Hardkernel
board. It is available for $129, which is a lot more than the Raspberry Pi’s
hobbyist-friendly $35 price tag. It’s still less than the $183 PandaBoard ES,
however, which has a dual-core 1GHz ARM CPU and 1GB of RAM.

We’ve seen a growing number of hobbyist-centric ARM boards materialize, with
a wide range of prices and hardware specifications. The more affordable
options are making it easier than ever before for hobbyists and independent
developers to experiment with embedded computing systems.