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The Cabin >> Raspberry and Other Pies >> The Banana Pi
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Message started by Fernando on Dec 6^th, 2014, 2:06am

Title: The Banana Pi
Post by Fernando on Dec 6^th, 2014, 2:06am

I ordered a Banana Pi around Thanksgiving, it arrived today.

For $50, its a totally different system to the Raspberry Pi but at the same time it's compatible to it. Lets face the facts...

The Banana Pi is a Chinese Clone of the Raspberry Pi put onto steroids. Where the R-Pi was developed in the UK for the educational market, the Chinese developed the B-Pi for the same reason but adding more functions and ports to it. The Chinese gov't and companies contracted to make the R-Pi for both the UK, Asian and World-Wide markets decided on their own to make the B-Pi and make it compatible to the R-Pi.

Problem with this is to make the B-Pi more powerful, a more powerful ARM processor was use; the R-Pi uses the A10, and the B-Pi uses the A20 (a dual core version of the A10 with added functions, same cpu used on the Cubie Board). This keeps the software compatibility with the R-Pi as high as possible. But the OS used on the R-Pi can not work on the B-Pi though the OS for the B-Pi can be used on the R-Pi. So to use Raspbian on the B-Pi, you need to get the version made for the B-Pi. But once you have it, you can download all the R-Pi software and it will work for the most part. There might be a couple of pieces of software that will not work for the B-Pi, but that is yet to be tested thoroughly.

The Banana Pi with it's more RAM and Dual Core Processor can support the Android system. The Raspberry Pi was supposed to support the Android system but there has been problems; both Pi's use more or less the same CPU/RAM set up used in many tablets and smart phones that uses the Android OS.

Currently I am downloading Raspbian for the B-Pi. More posts to follow.

From a forum/wiki that supports the Banana Pi ( http://wiki.lemaker.org/Main_Page ):
http://wiki.lemaker.org/images/9/9e/Layout.jpg

Hardware Specifications

Banana Pi Hardware Specific Sheet

Item	Description
CPU	Allwinner A20* (ARM Cortex-A7 dual-core 2 x 1.0GHz[ch65289]
GPU	ARM Mali400MP2 - complies with OpenGL ES 2.0/1.1)
System Memory (SDRAM)	1GB DDR3 (shared with GPU)
Onboard Storage	SD/MMC card slot max. 64GB; up to 2TB on a SATA disk
Onboard Network	10/100/1000 Ethernet RJ45 (optional USB WiFi Dongle)
Video Output	HDMI, Composite (AV video), extendable with the on-board LVDS connector
Audio I/O	HDMI, 3.5mm stereo jack output, on-board microphone input
USB	2 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x OTG micro-USB port, 1 x micro-USB for power supply
Expansion	Extendable 26-pin GPIO (General Purpose Input/Output) headers, camera connector, display connector for LVDS and a touch screen
Misc	3 x on-board buttons(Power Switch, Reset, U-boot key); IR receiver
Dimensions	92mm x 60 mm
Weight	48g

Due to the limited power output from a computer's USB port, we suggest only powering the B-Pi with a good quality 5V/2A PSU.

Title: Re: The Banana Pi
Post by Fernando on Dec 6^th, 2014, 1:06pm

My mistake, the Banana Pi uses the A20 and the CubieBoard uses the A10, while the Raspberry Pi uses the A7 or A11 - all this stems from the ARM company designations of their CPUs is very confusing. Further more ARM's partnership with Samsung, Micron, Hynic and other Asian companies, have added other things to the CPU to make a System-On-A-Chip.

The Banana Pi and the CubieBoard uses a Dual core CPU, the Raspberry Pi uses a single core CPU though they say its a Dual core because it has the GPU (Graphics chip) in with the CPU. This does not make the Raspberry Pi CPU Dual Core.

Also, the though the Dual cores in the Banana Pi and the CubieBoard are different, they run the same machine code as the Raspberry Pi. So the CPUs are not the same as I stated before but they are compatible with each other.

Title: Re: The Banana Pi
Post by Fernando on Dec 25^th, 2014, 4:20pm

I have not been able to get the Banana Pi running, because I have not been able to get Raspian to download from their site. Every attempt I try, the download stops midway and is not able to continue from where it left off. I have Android for the Banana Pi but I'm not going to use Android on it yet, that is for a future project later on down the line.

I just have to keep trying.

BTW, the worldwide shipper of the Banana Pi is a German company for the Chinese Gov't called Lemaker. Their website is: http://www.lemaker.org

They are announcing a New Banana Pi, like Raspberry Pi did with the Model B+. It is called the Banana Pro, it has more options and ports built in but still 3 USB ports and 1GB of RAM like in the Banana Pi. The GPIO is also expanded like on the Raspberry Pi Model B+. It's on their main page of their website.

Title: Re: The Banana Pi
Post by Fernando on Dec 31^st, 2014, 12:11am

Second Banana Pi came in today. Been out of if to do any work on it, but first thing I notice is that this Banana Pi is cleaner (not as much flux on the board like the first one). It also came with the SATA Hard Drive Cable with it, all for under $49 (the Cable alone is $8) and FREE SHIPPING. The prices on the Banana Pi has been dropping lately, probably because of the Banana Pro having came out. The Box also has a "Banana Pi" silver label, not just a White Box like the first one.

Chinese Customs is also going faster lately, I noticed. This was supposed to be here around 1/12!

Just got Raspbian downloaded from friend's machine but have yet did anything to get it on an SD.

Recommendation: If you have the Raspberry Pi, if you can find the Banana Pi for under $50 with Free Shipping, get it. Duo Core 1GHz (Over clocked to 1.4GHz by software) Processing at under $50, that's a bargain!

Title: Re: The Banana Pi
Post by Hondo I. Sackett on Jan 18^th, 2015, 3:56pm

Great info. I want to get one here soon. i do have a cubie board with the A20 and 1 GB of ram. haven't messed with it yet, unfortunately.