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The Cabin >> Raspberry and Other Pies >> O-Pi Zero Updated too?
http://www.hondosackett.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1489811643

Message started by Fernando on Mar 18^th, 2017, 12:34am

Title: O-Pi Zero Updated too?
Post by Fernando on Mar 18^th, 2017, 12:34am

Competition seems to drive the technology. First the Raspberry Pi 0 come out with Wifi and Bluetooth - making the R-Pi 0W. Shenzhen Xunlong (makers of the Orange Pi) just released the Orange Pi Zero Plus 2 and wants to sell it at $18. The Orange Pi 0 (512MB version) is $10 less, so what could it have to increase the price so high?

Simple: HDMI Video and 8GB of FlashRAM memory in the same size tiny board. This, on top of the 512MB board. It's not out on the market yet (AliExpress sells them first and they do not have it, yet, give them 2 weeks from now for it to be on their shelves). To make the HDMI Video work, they removed the Ethernet Port and the board's only USB (full) Port, leaving 1 USB-OTG port on the board. If you need a full USB Ports, you to add an expansion board onto it.

The 8GB Flash is great in that you do not need to need an SD Card to boot it (Like the BeagleBone Black, BUT changes are you will need an SD Card with an OS to set it up and install an OS to the FlashRAM. At least the BeagleBone Black came with an OS in their FlashRAM and can boot it up out of the box and you can update or change the OS with an SD card on it later.)

It is odd that for these two features and taking away Ethernet and the full USB Port that they would charge so much for it. OS Support for the O-Pi Zero (and the other O-Pi boards) are not the best supported by their maker - Shenzhen Xunlong. And compatibility might be an issue as the O-Pi 0 (with the expansion board) supports Composite Video and not HDMI, but the O-Pi 0 + 2 has it, needing more video drivers for it in the OS. And the Ethernet Drivers would have to be configurable on Boot as the O-Pi 0 has it and the O-Pi 0 + 2 does not; both does have blue tooth and Wifi. That means that the O-Pi can be made to physically bridge wired and wireless network connections and the O-Pi 0 + 2 can not.

The issue here is that for Under $20, there are other O-Pi boards that has HDMI Video and other components; while under $35 O-Pies have 8GB of FlashRAM and 1GB of RAM. Makes you wonder what are they trying to do here.

Is it worth is? As I see it. No. It's a good board to have and try out but not something to invest money into. Unless you need something that fits the O-Pi 0 foot print and must have HDMI video and not use an SD Card, then it might be doable. The O-Pi 0 (512MB version) is $8, and the Expansion board that gives you composite video is $4, so for $12 you got a full system you can directly connect to a network. If they updated the RAM to 1GB, then I would say it is worth it.

We will have to see when it is released into market and see what it will be sold at. Until then all I got is this link:
$18.9 Orange Pi Zero Plus 2 Board: Allwinner H3, WiFi + Bluetooth LE, HDMI and 8GB eMMC Flash (http://www.cnx-software.com/2017/03/17/18-9-orange-pi-zero-plus-2-board-allwinner-h3-wifi-bluetooth-le-hdmi-and-8gb-emmc-flash/)

Title: Re: O-Pi Zero Updated too?
Post by Hondo I. Sackett on Mar 18^th, 2017, 7:22am

Hmm, that's interesting but like you said where are they going with this? Can't see the market benefit of this with this design change.

Title: Re: O-Pi Zero Updated too?
Post by Fernando on Mar 18^th, 2017, 12:32pm

Neither do I, and it's 3X the price of the 256mb O-Pi 0 ($6) and 2X the 512mb O-Pi 0 ($9).

I also realize that they added a Camera Port to O-Pi 0 + 2, which the O-Pi PC has. And despite its size, many are complaining that the GPIO could have been expanded to 40 (like the R-Pi B+) or 80 pins (like the BeagleBone Black) instead of the 26 pin GPIO it has (like the older R-Pi Model B). Technically the O-Pi 0 can 186 GPIO pins, which were never extended outside to the board from the CPU.

Another thing I realized is that there was a CPU change between the O-Pi 0 and O-Pi 0 + 2. The O-Pi 0 uses a H2 (Allwinner CPU with the Mali 400 GPU) while the O-Pi 0 + 2 uses an H3 (Allwinner/Cortex 7 Hybrid CPU with the Mali 400 GPU. What does this mean? Nothing really. All it means is that the H3 can run at a higher speed than the H2, but that is comparing 1.2GHz for the H2 and 1.4 - 1.6GHz for the H3. This is not exactly a significant gain. The H3 is on the O-Pi's higher priced boards like the O-Pi PC (their lowest end board with this CPU which also sells for $18). They also use the H5 and A64 Allwinner CPUs on their high end boards, which gives better op-code efficiency and 64 bit operations compared to the H2 and H3 which gives 32/64 bit operations.

So there is no improvement in the video processing as both uses the Mali 400 GPU (a dual core GPU system for high speed video rendering). Only difference is the HDMI vs Composite video port. And there is very little in the CPU improvement with the H2 vs H3 CPUs as they come out the box running at 1.2 GHz though the H3 can be overclocked at a higher rate and the H2 overclocked at a slower rate.

Since these systems are running over 1 GHz, they will need heatsinks. An added fan is an option may are taking. Many are complaining of their boards running too hot without heatsinks and there are a couple of O-Pi deaths due to running them without a heatsink. This is not limited to the the O-Pi 0's but to all O-Pies across the board.

The only market benefit I can see is making a mini arcade console, which many in the RetroPi and HyperPi are doing and have ported them over to O-Pi from the R-Pi system and claim that the O-Pi is better in emulation. This is probably because of the better GPU used in the O-Pi than in the R-Pi.

Before the the O-Pi 0, the smallest boards were the O-Pi Mini and O-Pi Lite, both are the same size and the only difference is that one is wireless (bluetooth and Wifi with 1 USB Port) and the other is Wired (Ethernet and 2 more USB Ports). Putting them side by side, the O-Pi 0 is 25% smaller than the O-Pi Mini. But the O-Pi 0 is square in shape while the R-Pi 0 is a slim rectangle.