2014 brought us plenty of new open-spec, community-backed SBCs — from $35 bargains, to octa-core powerhouses — and all with Linux or Android support. Ringing in 2015 with 40 Linux-friendly hacker SBCs article is a good overview of the Linux friendly single board computers in around $35 to $200 range. Nowadays there is so huge variety of those, that it can be sometimes hard to choose from all of them,
Ringing in 2015 with 40 Linux-friendly hacker SBCs article notes that deciding which boards are hacker friendly is becoming more difficult, especially as traditional embedded SBC vendors have begun experimenting with the low-end “maker” market. The success of the Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, and several other open-spec boards have motivated embedded vendors to offer more information about their products, as well as open source Linux and Android builds, and in some cases, full hardware specs and open licensing. This trend has clearly accelerated. Traditional vendors are feeling the pressure from the community SBC world, and many are gradually changing their approach, addressing the needs of hobbyists, educators, and smaller developer shops that prefer open source boards for prototyping.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
UP – Intel x5-Z8300 board in a Raspberry Pi2 form factor
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/802007522/up-intel-x5-z8300-board-in-a-raspberry-pi2-form-fa
UP, the credit card computer board for makers powered by Intel Quad Core Atom X5-8350 1.92 GHz, running Linux, Windows 10, and Android
http://www.up-board.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
FriendlyARM: A Different Flavor of Raspberry
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/27/friendlyarm-a-different-flavor-of-raspberry/
[Eric Brown] recently compared several inexpensive development boards from FriendlyARM including the NanoPi M3, the NanoPi M1, and the NanoPC-T3. These range from about $11 to $60 with the M3 costing $35. You can see an M1 booting on an HDMI screen in the video below.
Open-spec, octa-core “NanoPi M3” SBC sells for $35
http://hackerboards.com/open-spec-octa-core-nanopi-m3-sbc-sells-for-35/
FriendlyARM’s NanoPi M3 SBC runs Linux or Android on a 64-bit, octa-core Samsung S5P6818, and offers WiFi, BT, GbE, and a 40-pin RPi connector.
In April, FriendlyARM blew away the scant competition in octa-core, 64-bit hacker SBCs with its $60 NanoPC-T3 board. Now it has stepped even harder on the affordability scale with a smaller, somewhat stripped down NanoPi M3 featuring the same Samsung S5P6818 octa-core SoC. The open-spec, community-backed boards sells for only $35, plus $10 shipping to the U.S.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top 10 Single Board Computers From $9 to $569
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328008&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hacker-Friendly SBCs: Which ones?
http://hackaday.com/2016/07/14/hacker-friendly-sbcs-which-ones/
Catalog of 81 open-spec, hacker friendly SBCs
Jun 1, 2016 — by Eric Brown
http://hackerboards.com/catalog-of-81-open-spec-hacker-friendly-sbcs/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Another Small Linux Computer With Pi In Its Name
http://hackaday.com/2016/07/13/another-small-linux-computer-with-pi-in-its-name/
Since the introduction of the Raspberry Pi, the embedded Linux scene has been rocked by well supported hardware that is produced in quantity, a company that won’t go out of business in six months, and a huge user base. Yes, there are a few small problems with the Raspberry Pi and its foundation – some stuff is still closed source, the Foundation itself plays things close to their chests, and there are some weird binary blobs somebody will eventually reverse engineer. Viewed against the competition, though, nothing else compares.
Here’s the NanoPi Neo, the latest quad-core Allwinner board from a company in China you’ve never heard of.
The NanoPi Neo is someone’s answer to the Raspberry Pi Zero, the very small and very cheap single board Linux computer whose out-of-stock percentage has led some to claim it’s completely fake and a media conspiracy. The NanoPi Zero features an Allwinner H3 quad-core Cortex-A7 running at 1.2 GHz, 256MB RAM, with a 512MB version being released shortly. Unlike the Raspberry Pi Zero, the NanoPi Neo features a 10/100 Ethernet port. No, it does not have PoE.
http://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=132
Tomi Engdahl says:
The $5 Onion Omega2 Gives Raspberry Pi a Run For Its Money
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/16/08/18/2027250/the-5-onion-omega2-gives-raspberry-pi-a-run-for-its-money
Onion’s Omega2 computer may give the Raspberry Pi a run for its money if the success of the Kickstarter campaign is any indication. The Daily Dot reports: “With an initial goal of just $15,000, over 11,560 backers have pledged the company $446,792 in hopes of getting their hands on this little wonder board. So why are thousands of people losing their minds? Simple; the Omega2 packs a ton of power into a $5 package. Billed as the world’s smallest Linux server, complete with built-in Wi-Fi, the Omega2 is perfect for building simple computers or the web connected project of your dreams
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/onion/omega2-5-iot-computer-with-wi-fi-powered-by-linux