There may not be a Raspberry Pi 5 in 2023, but Raspberry Pi alternative Radxa has announced the Rock 5A which bears a striking resemblance to the Raspberry Pi 4 but this particular board offers up to 8K video support and up to 16GB RAM.

Radxa's Rock 5 will be available from the end of Q1 2023. The board features an RK3588S SoC with an octo core CPU. Four of the cores, Arm Cortex A76, run between 2.2 and 2.4 GHz, much higher than the Raspberry Pi 4's 1.8 GHz A72 CPU. The smaller cores of the RK3588S are Arm Cortex A55 running at 1.8 GHz. The RK3588 has been gaining ground and features in a number of SBC, for example the Firefly RK3588S and Pine64's QuartzPro 64. Video decoding is supported at up to 8K 60, a very attractive feature for the $99 price point.

So why is the Rock 5A an interesting alternative to the Raspberry Pi? Chiefly it comes down to price and performance. For around $99 we can per-order the 4GB model, which offers plenty of RAM for most SBC users. Retro game enthusiasts will most likely choose this model as it offers plenty of RAM to emulate classic games, including some from the PlayStation2 era. Yes, PS2 is now considered retro and we feel considerably older for it.

The camera connector looks to be compatible with cameras similar to the official Raspberry Pi cameras, but that can only be confirmed when we get one in our hands. As for the GPIO, don't expect it to be Raspberry Pi compatible.  While it could be electrically compatible with your favorite HATs and add-ons, software support may not be.  The onboard M.2 slot supports SATA and thankfully has a binding post inside the board's footprint. If we can boot from this drive then we have a compact and relatively fast SBC. If you prefer eMMC, then on the underside of the board we have an eMMC interface. Speeds will likely fall between micro SD and SATA. Also on the underside, just by the USB ports, is an RTC (Real Time Clock) battery connector, looking at the silkscreen we can see that this JST connector provides power to an onboard RTC.

We look forward to taking this board for a spin later this year.

The Raspberry Pi Pico W has a new competitor in the form of Pine64’s upcoming Ox64, spotted by CNX Software, which uses the increasingly popular RISC-V architecture to pack a lot of computing power into a tiny space. So much, in fact, that it's starting to blur the boundaries between microcontrollers and SBCs.

There's been no official announcement, the company hasn't tweeted or blogged about it, and there's no way to actually buy the board yet, but we do know a lot about it thanks to a post on the Pine64 Wiki. There's a dual-core Bouffalo Lab BL808 RISC-V SoC at the heart of it, but the cores are mismatched: one is an Alibaba T-head C906 64-bit core running at 480MHz, while the other is an Alibaba T-head E907 32-bit core at 230MHz. There's a massive, for a microcontroller, 64MB of RAM, an AI engine (Bouffalo’s BLAI-100), Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth 5, plus IEEE 802.15.4, better known as Zigbee. There's up to 128Mbit of flash storage too, plus a micro SD card slot, and if you fit it into a carrier board with an Ethernet port, it can use that too.

Data and power are catered for by a Type-C USB 2 OTG port, while the micro SD slot can also accept power. The USB also carries a two-lane MIPI CSI interface for a camera connection. Spread around the edges of the board are 26 GPIO holes, which support protocols such as SPI, I2C and UART. There's an on-board MJPEG and h.264 encoder that can manage up to 1920×1080 at 30fps.

The Ox64 is exactly the same size as a Raspberry Pi Pico, at a breadboard-friendly 51mm x 21mm (2in x 0.8in) and seems likely to run a Linux-based OS, though no images are currently available apart from those for Alpha testing. The board is not yet a final product, and not currently for sale, but is likely to be less than $10.

Owners of Raptor Lake and Arc Alchemist rigs desperate to escape the Microsoft hegemony and explore the world of open-source software awoke to good news today, with the announcement that version 6.0 of the Linux kernel will directly support their cutting-edge platforms. 

It’s also good news for owners of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen3-powered laptops, plus other Arm-based SoCs and Chromebooks, including the Allwinner H616, found in TV streaming boxes and the NXP i.MX93 embedded processor board. Raspberry Pi 4 users also get a v3d graphics driver, updated drivers for AMD’s RDNA 3 GPUs, RISC-V platforms get additional extensions, and the H.265/HEVC codec has moved to 'stable' status. Rockchip RK3588 devices, such as the Pine64 QuartzPro64 (pictured above), also receive an MMC driver for their onboard storage.

Bigger news than that, however, is the improved support for the Chinese LoongArch CPU architecture, which received tentative backing in the previous 5.19 kernel, but was unable to boot thanks to missing drivers. That’s all fixed in kernel 6.0, opening up the OS family to a whole new set of computers. It also improves the amount of hardware that can be used in Linux on LoongArch, with initial support for PCI on the platform. This means Linux could soon run on the recently announced Loongson 16-core server chips.

The jump from 5.19, the kernel used in the new Ubuntu 22.10 beta, to 6.0 comes from a quirk of Linux overlord Linus Torvalds, who doesn’t like to see version numbers get too big. “The major version number change is more about me running out of fingers and toes than it is about any big fundamental changes,” he wrote in a Linux Kernel Mailing List message, adding: “Of course there's a lot of various changes in 6.0 - we've got over 15k non-merge commits in there in total.”

Torvalds did, however, hint at big things to come in the future: “Tomorrow I'll open the merge window for 6.1. Unlike 6.0, which has a number of fairly core new things lined up.”

The new kernel should be available to install in major Linux distros with a simple update as soon as the package maintainers push it through. Of course, users of smaller or more exotic flavors of the OS may have to take matters into their own hands, but that’s the joy of Linux.

The humble soldering iron has come a long way. From a simple piece of hot metal which melts a mixture of tin and lead, to RISC-V powered, temperature controlled precision instruments. Soldering is a great skill to learn, it can be used to create custom circuits, or to solder the GPIO pins on your Raspberry Pi Pico W. But which soldering iron do you buy?

In the past, when choosing a soldering iron, it was a decision between a cheap “getting started” solder iron, or a brand leader such as Weller or Haako.The cheaper irons often had a fixed temperature. In stepped Pine64, mostly known for its range of Raspberry Pi alternative single board computers, Linux powered phones and Arm laptops, with its Pinecil temperature controlled soldering iron. Version 1, released in 2020 was a lower cost alternative to similar irons from Waveshare. But Pinecil introduced a RISC-V CPU inside the low-cost soldering iron.

Pinecil V2, released in August 2022 for $26, is more of an update on the original model. The two look the same, with only a shorter soldering tip and a colored band to distinguish them. Under the hood there is a more powerful RISC-V CPU, more memory, and the option to use higher wattages for those heavier connections.

We took Pinecil V2 to the bench and put it through its paces as we soldered, and desoldered a selection of boards.

Pinecil V2 Specifications

Pinecil V2 Look and Feel

Pinecil V2 doesn’t look any different than its predecessor. Apart from the green sleeve of the V2, the two are virtually identical. The body of the iron is simple, with just two buttons (+ and -) which are our only interface with the iron’s OS. The business end of Pinecil is the tip, and this is held in place via an M2 screw. The supplied tip, a conical general purpose tip, is a ST (short tip) B2 that is much shorter than the stock tip supplied with the Pinecil V1. 

The Pinecil V2 measures 157mm with the supplied tip. The V1 comes in at 175mm. The size difference is impressive, but it isn’t a reason to throw away your Pinecil V1. The body size is the same between V1 and 2. At 103mm long, the body is comfortable to hold for extended periods. Button placement, with + at the hot end of the iron, - at the opposite, is decent. It keeps the buttons away from our fingers, minimizing the chance of a stray finger changing the temperature. 

When powered up, Pinecil V2 defaults to a basic start screen, waiting for user input. Pressing the - button will open the configuration menu and additional pushes will navigate the main menus. Pressing + will go into a menu and enable us to tweak the settings, of which there are many. 

We can configure the power source, set the soldering tip to auto heat up to a lower sleep temperature (150 degrees Celsius by default), or have it heat to your preferred temperature. The sleep mode menu is how we configure the iron to go into low temperature mode if left for a user determined time. The user interface menu is used to change animation speeds, temperature units and to set a detailed standby screen (we recommend this as it shows the voltage and temperature.) The advanced menu is where we can calibrate the iron’s temperature and voltages.The onboard accelerometer can detect the orientation of the iron, flipping the UI on the OLED display accordingly.

Soldering with Pinecil V2

We’ve been through the menus, so now let's get Pinecil V2 ready to solder. Pressing the + button will heat the iron to your preferred temperature. Subsequent short presses of the + and - buttons will adjust the temperature by single digits, long presses will adjust by 10 degrees. 

The Pinecil V2 is quick to heat up. Using the included conical tip and connected to a 20V USB-C power source, Pinecil went from 35 degrees Celsius to 350 degrees Celsius in 20 seconds. This is great for those of us that need to solder something quickly. Pinecil V2 is a temperature-controlled soldering iron, and typically irons of this standard come with a large base unit where we control the temperature. Waveshare’s TS100 (and later TS80) set the standard for temperature controlled soldering irons, without a base unit. Pinecil offers the same features, but at half the cost.

We tested Pinecil V2 with a simple flashing LED project kit. We used the supplied conical short tip and connected the iron to a PinePower desktop power supply with a USB C port capable of delivering 65 Watts. Pinecil V2 made short work of the kit, the lead solder melted perfectly, with peaks that connected the PCB to the component. There were no cold solder joints (where the solder doesn’t bridge between the PCB and component) and our LEDs flashed happily. 

For 90% of the projects Pinecil will be used for, it will sail through with no issue, but where it could struggle are boards that soak heat via large ground plains or multi-layer boards with huge amounts of copper. PC motherboards are notorious for soaking every last degree of heat from a soldering iron, trust us, we’ve tried to desolder a capacitor from an early 2000s Asus motherboard and it required a heat gun and a soldering iron. We tested the power of Pinecil V2 by trying to desolder the alignment tabs of a USB 2.0 port on a dead Raspberry Pi 3. Our normal soldering temperature of 350 degrees Celsius didn’t work, even flowing fresh lead solder did nothing. We bumped the temperature up to 400 degrees Celsius and repeated the steps. It worked! Taking the iron to 450 degrees Celsius produced better results, with less time stressing the components, reducing the risk of damaging the PCB.

A RISC-V CPU in a Soldering Iron?

Pinecil V1 introduced a 32-bit RV32IMAC RISC-V “Bumblebee Core” CPU running at 108 MHz. This CPU was the brains that worked with IronOS (the soldering iron’s operating system) to coordinate reading temperature, voltage and motion sensors, all of which are necessary for using the iron. For Pinecil V2, we get a spec bump to a 32-bit RV32IMAFC RISC-V “SiFive E24 Core '' running at 144 MHz.

An optional breakout board, which plugs into the USB C port and passes power through it, provides GPIO pins which can be used to test, debug and create projects using the iron as a controller. The RISC-V CPU doesn’t really come into play for most users. We turn on the iron, heat it up, and start soldering. Its inclusion is more of an example of what can be done with the alternative architecture, an architecture which is steadily gaining ground in open source projects.

Flashing IronOS to Pinecil V2

Did you ever think that you would need to update the firmware of your soldering iron? Well you can. Our Pinecil V2 came with version 2.18 of IronOS, and we went to Pine64’s wiki to learn what the latest version was (2.19 at the time of writing) and how to update Pinecil.

The Pine64 Updater app, for Windows and Mac is the tool for the job. You can just download and run the app, elect our Pinecil, then power the iron on while holding the - button. But when we tried this, nothing happened. Was our Pinecil V2 faulty? Did we do something wrong? Luckily we have a V1, so we performed the same steps. The updater detected the iron and proceeded to update V1 to the latest firmware. For now, V2 is either stuck at v2.18, or there is a bug in the updater. Time will tell.

Powering Pinecil V2

Pinecil V2, like its predecessor, can work with voltages between 12 and 24 Volts. The higher the voltage, the faster the iron will heat up. The DC5525 barrel jack offers flexibility for those of us soldering in the field. DC power supplies with 5525 jacks are common and that means we are never far away from a viable power source.

If you are truly “in the field” with no access to an outlet, you can power Pinecil V2 from a USB C powerbank, as long as it can produce the necessary voltage. You can also use LiPo batteries in 3 / 4 or 5S configurations, or in a pinch an 18-20V Lithium Ion tool battery can be used.

Pinecil V2 is capable of reaching 450 degrees Celsius, and at that temperature, the iron is pulling 66 Watts (20 Volts at 3.3 Amps), the maximum we can supply from our USB-C power source. Pinecil V2 differs from V1 in its power range. With V1, we could get between 17 and 65 Watts. V2 takes this further with a range of 18 to 88 Watts. You’ll need a decent power source to reach the 88W target (24V at 3.66 Amps), and soldering at this level of power is not the norm.

Pinecil V2 Soldering Tips

Every maker has their preferred soldering iron tip, and the Pinecil V2 comes with a decent conical short tip that will do the job. It isn’t the most precise tip, but it is able to solder through hole components, and the GPIO of a Raspberry Pi.

The tips of the Pinecil V2 are compatible with those of the V1, and by extension they are also compatible with Waveshare’s TS100 soldering iron. Pine64 offers a selection of replacement tips, and Waveshare TS100 tips can also be found via Aliexpress.

We have a range of soldering iron tips as we own each of the aforementioned soldering irons. The ones that we use the most are a chisel tip and bevel. Both provide enough thermal mass to make contact with the component and PCB, but the chisel affords a little more precision. When purchasing a soldering iron, it is wise to grab a few different types and take them for a test drive before settling on just one.

Bottom Line: Who is Pinecil V2 For?

If you have a Pinecil V1, there isn’t much reason to upgrade to V2. The extra power (88W) is nice to have, but how often do we really need it? On the other hand if you are looking for a soldering iron, then Pinecil V2 is an ideal starter iron. We get a low cost iron, with high-end features.

We don’t need to dedicate a spot on our workbench, but we get the benefits of a temperature controlled iron. Even a cheaper soldering iron will come in at around $15-20, so for the little bit extra, we get a lot more functionality.If you are getting started, or a seasoned maker, Pinecil V2 is a great iron for your workshop.

A little while ago we reported on noted SBC manufacturer Pine64 teasing a new board. This new board is based on the popular RISC-V architecture rather than the company’s usual Arm chips. The new board’s name hadn’t yet been announced, but Pine64 published a riddle that, when solved, would reveal the name. It was all very exciting, and despite not actually solving the riddle, we predicted that the board’s name would end in 64.

Well we were right! The name of the board is Star64 (the riddle required knowledge of astronomy and the London Underground to get there) and thanks to Pine64’s July update post, we also now know the specs.

The Star 64 is comparable to the Quartz64 model A, apart from the presence of a StarFive JH7110 64bit RISC-V CPU. This chip features four SiFive FU740 1.5GHz cores and comes complete with a BXE-2-32 GPU from Imagination Technologies, and boards will be available with 4GB and 8GB of RAM. Standard features include  an open-ended PCIe port, USB 3.0 and GPIO, as well as two gigabit Ethernet ports. A cheaper version with only one Ethernet socket is expected to follow. 

The Star64 is in its final layout stage, with some testing still needed, but Pine64 reports that the “initial review has yielded some very positive results, partly because the SoC runs cool without the need for passive or active heat dissipation, even under load”. The post also notes that it will still be some time before the board is available at retail, but they’re working on it. The Star64 is the first board in a whole range of RIAC-V computing products from Pine64, so the company clearly wants to get it right.

Pine64’s other news includes a new version of the Pinecil temperature-controlled soldering iron, which itself uses a RISC-V processor, and may be available by the time you read this. Plus the shipping of the first batch of QuartzPro64 boards to developers. This board is powered by the eight-core RK3588 chipset, and should make a very interesting addition to the maker space when it becomes generally available.

Pine64, maker of many fine SBCs including the Rock64 and Quartz64, is preparing to dip its toe into the choppy waters of RISC-V, including news of an upcoming “powerful, yet affordable” board based on the versatile open-source architecture in its most recent product update.

The nascent board, which doesn’t currently have a named SoC attached (though we do know it contains the  Imagination Technologies BXE-2-32 GPU, which is licensed to RISC-V manufacturers including RIOS Lab, SiFive, and Yadro) but which is targeting the same sort of performance as the Arm-based Quartz64, will follow the form factor of the Quartz64 Model A.  The as yet unnamed board will feature both USB 3.0 and PCIe, as well as a choice of 4GB or 8GB of RAM. The price-tag is also expected to fall in the same area as that of the Quartz64, which is for sale from the Pine64 store for $60 in its 4GB incarnation.

The name of the board is currently the subject of a competition to win the first production model off the line, with a riddle posted on the website to be solved to reveal the name, and guesses to be posted in the comments section below. Guesses currently range from Rainbow64 through various chemical elements to Blue Jellyfish and references to Harry Potter, with an update promised next month. Whatever the name turns out to be, we're fairly certain it'll have 64 on the end.

Pine64’s Lukasz Erecinski, community manager and the author of the product update, took pains to point out that this leap to RISC-V won’t affect the company’s popular range of Arm boards. “The RISC-V platform is something we wish to pursue in parallel to our well established ARM-based hardware,” he wrote. “We have some candidate devices for a RISC-V conversion and ideas for future iterations of hardware based on the architecture, which is something I believe many of you will find exciting. In short: we have made a decision to commit to the RISC-V platform.”

Other news in the update included the July availability of the Pinebook Pro, an EU launch for the company's products, improvements in the PineNote's implementation of Linux, and that the Pinephone Pro can play Doom just using its modem.

The Raspberry Pi and other single board computers have a plethora of operating systems to choose from. Popular lightweight distro Diet Pi has released version 8.3 which sees fixes, updates and new options added to the Swiss Army knife of Linux distros.

As the name may suggest, Diet Pi is lightweight with a low impact on the processing cores and RAM of some of our favorite SBCs. It’s Debian Bullseye underneath, but highly optimized for minimal resource usage. 

Compatible boards include the Raspberry Pi 4, on which it operates as a 64-bit OS, along with boards from Odroid, Pine64, Radxa, Allo, Asus, NanoPi and more. You can even run it on a PC or a VM if you want to, with images available for direct installation or ready for a number of popular VM applications. The new version also contains initial support for container systems, though containerized apps have to use the host network interface.

Along with its optimized nature, Diet Pi uses the Whiptail terminal menu system to manage software installation, and system maintenance. Optimized versions of popular Linux apps include Kodi media center, Plex, RPi Cam Control, the Apache web server, and VirtualHere for sharing USB devices over a network. Plus there’s an automated installation process, a full backup system, and the usual smooth Debian updates. 

Diet Pi provides benchmarks and comparisons against other popular SBC OS, which show RAM usage as 58% lower than Raspberry Pi OS, with disk usage 41% lower. The uncompressed image for installation is also half the size of R-Pi OS’s. Against Armbian on an Odroid C4, it sees a reduction in RAM usage of 65%. The only OS Diet Pi loses out to is Debian on an X86 PC, where it uses slightly more RAM and takes three times as long to boot.

The Diet Pi team is active on Github, where you can find images and the latest comments, but its main website is also very useful, with quickstart guides and a blog with posts on recent Linux issues such as the Dirty Pipe vulnerability and why the OS is a good match for the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W.

Pine64, makers of the PinePhone and line of Linux-powered devices, has announced the QuartzPro64, a professional development board based on the powerful RK3588 chipset.

The SoC, which also powers the ITX-3588J from Firefly and the BPI-R2 Pro from Banana Pi, is the successor to the RK3399 used in the ROCKPro64 board from Pine64. The manufacturer is keen to make it clear, however, that the ROCKPro64 isn’t going anywhere ‘anytime soon’.

With eight cores (4x A55 and 4x A76 cores clocked at 1.8 GHz and 2.4 GHz respectively) and capable of driving an 8K display, there's a lot to like about the RK3588. Pine64’s QuartzPro64 will ship with 16GB of of LPDDR4X RAM and 64GB of eMMC storage, and with as much of the SoCs fearsome array of IO exposed as possible. 

The board will be 180mm x 180mm (7.1 x 7.1 inches) in size, and features heatsink mounting holes plus system KEY buttons on the PCB. The ports include a whole lot of USB, PCIe 3.0, 2 x SATA, 2 x HDMI out and 1 x in, 2 x gigabit Ethernet, 2 x SMA antennas, USB-C with video-alt mode, 2 x MIPI D-PHY display connectors, 2 x MPI DPCHY (which we suspect may be a typo, as a Google search links only to the QuartzPro64 announcement page), and an SD card slot. Power comes via 12V DC.

To purchase the board you’ll ideally need to be a developer, at least at first. This is because the software for the board has yet to be developed, and the device isn’t end-user ready. Other manufacturers have posited Linux and Android compatibility for their RK3588 products, so we’ll likely see the same here.

Pine64’s announcement also delved into the vexed issue of pricing, with the board likely to retail “north of $300”, putting it out of Raspberry Pi competitor territory. The manufacturer hasn’t yet settled on a price-point, but it is likely to be sold at cost or even subsidized. “Here’s the take-away,” the announcement concludes. “This is an amazing platform, but it will take time for it to mature.”

In the same news posting, Pine 64 also announced that the Quartz64 Model B board would be available on the Pine Store soon. It’s supported by the most recent Manjaro Linux update, and contains a quad-core Rockchip RK3566 CPU at 2.0 GHz, backed by 8GB of RAM and with an M.2 slot. It’s not available yet, but the 8GB version of the Model A retails for $80.

A Mini-ITX case, the Tokyo capsule apartment of PC living spaces, might seem big on a Raspberry Pi, and ALFTEL has capitalized on the extra space by designing a Mini-ITX carrier board that fits the Compute Module 4. And, as reported by CNX Software, it’s got lots of ports. 

The Seaberry is compatible with all variants of the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 as well as the Pine64 SoQuartz and Radxa CM3. Seaberry features a micro SD card slot, a 1 x M.2 socket for an NVME SSD, dual HDMIs and a MIPI DSI connector, the usual camera connector, a gigabit Ethernet port, two USB 2.0 ports plus an extra micro USB port to flash Compute Modules with on-board flash, the familiar 40-pin HAT compatible GPIO, SATA header, a PoE header, and a power plug. 

Then there's the PCIe expansion, which adds a 16x-length PCIe connector running at 1x, another 1x side port for PCIe addon cards, four mini PCIe slots, four more M.2 slots running at 2x, and an M.2 Key M slot running at 1x. Seaberry is designed for use with PCIe cards, and while not all cards will be compatible there is a growing database maintained by Jeff Geerling.

A video from tech enthusiast and friend of the Tom’s Hardware Picast Jeff Geerling shows an additional board with USB 3.0 ports on it. He takes the carrier through its paces on YouTube, installing it in a standard Mini-ITX case.

The Seaberry is listed on Tindie for $435 plus tax and shipping, but is out of stock at the time of writing. There's a waiting list, naturally, so why not read the documentation on GitHub or check out the best Raspberry Pi projects we've seen?

Pine64 today announced its latest Linux-powered device, the PinePhone Pro, an update to the original PinePhone which sees a more powerful device running mainline Linux (Manjaro in this case) on a mobile device that works as a cell phone and a desktop computer. 

This combination of hardware and software makes the still slightly futuristic idea of confluence between mobile and desktop devices seem a step closer. Carry it around with you, and it’s a phone. Plug it into a monitor, and it’s a desktop PC. The KDE Plasma Mobile front-end adapts to the circumstances. 

This isn't Pine64's first mobile Linux device, the original PinePhone was released in July 2020 and has seen much interest from the Linux community who have used it for a diverse range of projects, including some light system administrator work.

Inside, it’s much like any other phone, with a Rockchip RK3399S six-core SoC operating at 1.5GHz, 4GB of dual-channel LPDDR4 RAM, and 128GB of internal eMMC flash storage. It features a 13MP main camera sensor and a 5MP front-facing camera. There's a Micro-SD slot for expanded storage, and a six-inch 1440 x 720 IPS touchscreen. The PinePhone Pro is not a typical cell phone, rather the concept of convergence, the ability to use your phone as a computer is intriguing. Plug your PinePhone Pro into an external display and use it as a low-power desktop computer is something that has been attempted by a number of companies, including Canonical's attempt with Ubuntu Edge.

PinePhone Pro offers something that is missing from the majority of phones, privacy. A series of hardware DIP-switches, hidden under a rear cover, cut off access to the cameras, microphone, Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 4.1 chips, headphone jack, and LTE modem (including GPS) should you ever need to. The layout and Pogo Pins of the new phone are identical to the original PinePhone, so all existing accessories should work. 

Retailing at $399, the PinePhone Pro’s makers are realistic about the challenges of putting desktop Linux on a mobile device, especially in an ecosystem dominated by iOS and Android. “Contemporary mobile Linux operating systems have a way to go before they can be considered true alternatives to Android or iOS,” they say in a statement accompanying the announcement. “While mobile Linux isn’t in a state that could satisfy most mainstream electronics consumers, we recognize that a sizable portion of our community is ready to make the jump to a Linux-only smartphone today. The PinePhone Pro has the raw horsepower to be your daily driver, granted you’re ready to accept the current software limitations.”

It’s an interesting glimpse of a possible future, one already being explored by Samsung’s DeX mode and Android’s built-in (but often not activated) desktop environment. It’s encouraging that the original PinePhone was enough of a success to warrant an upgraded version being released, and we look forward to getting things such as more RAM, and a higher-resolution screen, in the future.

PINE Microsystems, producer of Raspberry Pi alternative single board computers, has announced the PineNote, an e-ink tablet powered by the same SoC as found in the Quartz64 single-board computer. The first batch of units comes with a caveat, don't expect to write your dissertation or read too many e-books, unless you have the coding skills to make it happen.

For those unfamiliar with the Quartz64, it was released in June 2021, and packs a Rockchip RK3566 Quad-Core ARM Cortex A55 64-Bit Processor with a MALI G-52 GPU. Key features include a PCIe x4 open ended slot (on the model A, which also has the e-ink interface) or M.2 (for the model B) using one Gen 2 lane electrically, and up to 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM.

The CPU in the PineNote is clocked at 1.8 GHz, and uses the full complement of eMMC, plus 4GB of RAM. Wireless connectivity is taken care of by Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5, and the 10.3in e-ink screen has a resolution of 1404x1872 pixels, for a density of 227ppi. The screen can be rotated thanks to a built in rotation sensor. The screen may only be able to display 16 levels of grayscale, but is a full multi-touch panel with a pen digitizer, and the front light has 36 levels of intensity. There are stereo speakers and four microphones built in, but no webcam. Charging the onboard 4000mAH LiPo battery is via USB-C.

At just over 7mm (0.27in) thick, it’s thinner than a Kindle Oasis 3, and should be available later this year for $399 - though there are some pretty sensible warnings on the web page about the state of its software when you first get it: “...you must expect to write software for it, not to write notes on it. The software shipping from the factory for the first batch will not be suitable for taking notes, reading e-books, or writing your dissertation. It may not even boot to a graphical environment”. So be warned.

Pine64 today announced that its Quartz64 single-board computer is now available and revealed a system-on-module (SoM) based on that design called the SOQuartz.

The company said in February that the Quartz64 model-A would feature a Rockchip RK3566 SoC, a veritable smorgasbord of ports, and between 2GB and 8GB of LPDDR4 memory in a board measuring 5.2 x 3.1 x 0.7 inches (133 x 80 x 19mm).

Pine64 isn’t offering any Quartz64 models with 2GB of RAM at launch, however, opting instead for a 4GB model that costs $60 and an 8GB model that costs $80. It didn’t say when a base model featuring 2GB of memory is expected to debut, either.

The Quartz64 model-B is supposed to arrive “in the coming months.” Pine64 said the model-B will feature either a “BL-602 RISC-V 802.11n and BLE 5.0 module, currently undergoing open-sourcing, or an AP6256 802.11ac WiFi + Bluetooth 5.0 module.”

Meet the SOQuartz

Quartz64 laid the foundation for a new SoM called the SOQuartz. The new device should look awful familiar to Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 owners.

”On the bottom of the PCB you will find the now industry-standard 100-pin high density connectors,” it said. ”This means that it will be possible to use the SOQuartz as a drop-in replacement for the most popular solution on the market.”

Put directly: SOQuartz could possibly be a drop-in replacement for the  Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 as the pair appear to be based on the same connector, but hardware and software compatibility is still unknown at this time. 

Pine64 said the SOQuartz will feature the RK3566 SoC, the Azurewave AW-CM256SM WiFi 802.11ac Bluetooth and WiFi module with a U.FL antenna connector, and the option of using its eMMC modules or shipping with soldered-on storage.

SOQuartz appears to be in the prototyping stage. Pine64 didn’t offer additional details about the SoM’s specs, expected release date, or price.

It is true to say that 2020 wasn't a great year, period. There have been both CPU and GPU shortages in the electronics world, but a recent drought in Taiwan could affect all sectors, including the many single board computers (SBC) such as the Raspberry Pi. TSMC has been asked to reduce its water use by 7%, which should help keep the island's reserves at sufficient levels until the rainy season ends in May. Could this impact the Raspberry Pi range of boards, including the Pico? 

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) makes chips for many different customers such as Apple and Intel, so the drought in Taiwan may impact chip production for many different types of consumer electronics. The latest to be affected are the many makers of SBC. In a post on ameriDroid, an unnamed manufacturer states.

"Just wanted to give you a heads up that there are severe component shortages happening globally now; this certainly is affecting all SBC manufacturers such as PINE64, ODROID, and also Raspberry Pi. We are trying to navigate this difficulty and minimize the impact. It looks like this shortage can last a long time, possibly into 2022." If this turns out to be true, then we could be in for a lean year.

We asked Raspberry Pi creator and Chief Executive of Raspberry Pi Trading, Eben Upton, to comment on this issue. "We're not expecting any impact from this (or the other factors causing tightness in global supply chains) at present: we're getting great support from our component vendor partners." 

The impact on some SBC is starting to be felt, and Pine64, makers of cellphones, laptops, and RISC-V powered soldering irons, announced via a tweet that "Due to component shortages, component price-increases & related issues, we will only open orders/pre-orders when production is securely underway. " 

Pine64 isn't the only company to have announced that there could be an impact. In an ODROID forum post, we read that there could be a four to five month delay in chips for the company's H2+ board. It seems that 2021 could be another year of shortages, but this time on a much larger scale, affecting sectors such as consumer electronics and the automobile industry.

Diversity is the key to Pine64's business model. From RISC-V powered soldering irons to Arm powered laptops, Pine64 seems to have its fingers in many pies -- including the single board computer market dominated by the Raspberry Pi. In their February update, Pine64 has announced the Quartz64 model-A AM SBC, which seems to have an impressive set of features.

Powered by a Rockchip RK3566 SoC, the Quartz64 comes with a quad-core Arm Cortex A55 CPU running up to 1.8GHz and a Mali-G52 GPU running at 800 MHz which supports Vulkan 1.0 and 1.1. Quartz64 supports up to 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM, but there will be models starting from 2GB of RAM.

Quartz64 model-A is quite a large board, larger than a Raspberry Pi 4 for sure. Measuring 5.2 x 3.1 x 0.7 inches (133 x 80 x 19mm), the Quartz64 offers plenty of extra space for extra features and a port layout that takes advantage of all the extra space.

Around the perimeter are the usual selection of two USB 3.0 and two 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, Micro SD, and a full-size HDMI port capable of 4k60 video output. Wireless connectivity is provided via an optional (model-A) WiFi and Bluetooth expansion, but the Quartz64 wiki indicates that this will be built into the model-B. Power comes via a DC barrel jack requiring a 5V 3A power supply.

Moving inwards, we see a plethora of ports and connections, including those for external displays (DSI) and cameras (CSI) and a 4xPCIe slot for additional expansion, but we doubt an RTX 3080 will be compatible. A single SATA 6.0 port, which can be used for mass storage and as a boot device, resides behind the USB ports. A vacant eMMC slot offers the chance to purchase an optional eMMC module between 16GB and 128GB.

Something new with the Quartz64 is a native e-ink port, compatible with a 10-inch e-ink panel, which will be released at the same time as the Quartz64. According to teaser information in an earlier update, the e-ink display will support a capacitive pen. Quartz64 comes with an integrated battery charging circuit, enabling the board to run from battery power. 

How much and when can we expect the Quartz64? Well, those questions remain unanswered for now, but we are looking forward to learning more about this board.

Developers at Pine64 today unveiled a list of upcoming hardware planned for a 2020 release, one of which is a new single-board computer (SBC) called the HardRock64. With its small form factor, GPIO pins, wireless support and four USB ports, it's hard not to compare it to the Raspberry Pi.

Below we compare the HardRock64 to the most recent Pi, the Raspberry Pi 4. 

HardRock64 vs. Raspberry Pi 4 Specs

This board is a successor to the previously released RockPro64 SBC. It's very similar in design, with the biggest difference being a lack of PCIe and USB-C support.

"The board will run all RockPro64 OS images with little or no tweaks (we checked) and probably most Pinebook Pro OS with a ‘simple’ device tree tweak. In other words, if you don’t need all of the ROCKPro64’s functionality – e.g. PCIe or USB-C – then this may just be the board for you," the announcement said. 

Pine64 noted that the board is known for running hot, and you will definitely need a heatsink, so add that to the price of the board. The HardRock64 board will be available with the options of 1GB ($35), 2GB ($45) or 4GB ($55) of RAM, just like the Pi 4. 

This new SBC has a tentative release date of April 2020. It doesn't seem to have any immediately obvious advantages over the Pi 4, but if you're in the market for a new SBC or just want to try something different from the usual Pi, you may want to check it out. 

Pine64 opened pre-orders for its Pinebook Pro laptop, which is an open-source project based on the Rockchip RK3399 SOC, on July 25.

Pine64 is probably best known for competing with Raspberry Pi in the single-board computing market. It released the Pine H64 Model B to developers in March; the board is now available in 2GB and 3GB versions from the Pine64 online store. But it's not exclusively focused on single-board computers: Pine64 has also been working on two Pinebook laptops, a PinePhone smartphone, the PineTab tablet, and devices in other product categories.

The Pinebook Pro "is meant to deliver solid day-to-day Linux or *BSD experience," Pine64 said on the laptop's product page, "and to be a compelling alternative to mid-ranged Chromebooks that people convert into Linux laptops." Because the entire project is open source, the Pinebook Pro is also supposed to offer more expandability than most consumer laptops without having to compromise on component quality along the way.

To wit: the Pinebook Pro features a 14-inch 1080p display, 4GB of memory, 64GB of eMMC storage, and a 10,000 mAh capacity battery. Expansion options are offered via USB 2.0 and 3.0 hosts as well as a microSD card slot and optional PCIe M.2 NVMe slot. There's also a USB Type-C port used for power delivery, data transfers, and video output at up to 4K resolution at 60Hz. Networking is offered via 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 support.

Pine64 announced on July 5 that the Pinebook Pro would feature privacy switches that can deactivate the networking modules, webcam, and microphones by pressing the F1, F2 or F3 keys for 10 seconds. These switches are controlled via firmware that runs separately from the operating system. When activated, the switches cut off power to the affected component, and the power state is remembered even if the device is rebooted.

That announcement also revealed that the Pinebook Pro would offer three different operating system choices at launch: Linux, Chromium OS, and Android 9. Pine64 will ship the device with Debian, its Linux distro of choice, but its partners could ship the device with other distros. The entire point of making an open-source laptop is letting people decide exactly how they want to use the device, and that extends to which operating system they use.

You can pre-order the Pinebook Pro via the Pine64 online store for $200. The company said that it doesn't make a profit off sales of the device--it's "offering the Pinebook Pro at this price as a community service to PINE64, Linux and BSD communities." It also warned that the Pinebook Pro can't ship with other Pine64 devices because it features a lithium-ion battery and that a few dead pixels on the LCD display are to be expected.

Raspberry Pi isn't the only single-board computer maker. Other companies have developed their own takes on diminutive systems, with one of the most notable being Pine64. Now, its latest board, the Pine H64 Model B, appears to be getting closer to  seeing general availability. 

Pine64 revealed the Pine H64 Model B in a January blog post. It also shared previews of laptops, phone dev kits and other devices. Now the Model B is available for order on AmeriDroid, if you're a developer. 

The Pine H64 Model B is an update to the Pine H64 Model A that debuted in 2017. This version has been shrunk down to the same footprint and I/O layout of the company's Rock64 single-board computer, which should make it compatible with Rock64 accessories.

Pine64 announced at the time that it equipped the Pine H64 Model B with onboard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities at users' requests. The company said it was planning three variants of the board based on its RAM configurations: 1GB at $25, 2GB at $35 and 3GB at $45.

Pine H64 Model B Specs and Availability

The Pine H64 Model B's page on AmeriDroid, meanwhile, revealed more information about its specs. The retailer said the model boasts an Allwinner H6 Arm Cortex-A53 processor clocked at 1.8GHz, an Arm Mali T-722MP2 dual-core GPU and an assortment of slots and sockets.

AmeriDroid seemingly plans to offer two variants of the board 2GB (price not yet listed) and 3GB ($48.95). The 1GB version is not mentioned.

Both companies noted that the Pine H64 Model B is currently early in its development cycle, advising that anyone who isn't a developer refrain from buying one. (Not that it's possible via Pine64, since all three variants of the board are "out of stock.")

"Until a functional OS boot image is available, we will not be selling this product, except by special request (for developers, etc.). Please send an email to orders@ameridroid.com to submit your request," the AmeriDroid product page reads as of writing. 

Still, those who are willing to deal with even more tinkering than is usual for these single-board computers can email AmeriDroid to request a unit. As for everyone else? Well, they'll have to wait.

Want to comment on this story? Let us know what you think in the Tom's Hardware Forums.

The Raspberry Pi is about to get a powerful new competitor in the Pine A64. Designed by Pine64, the Pine A64 looks a lot like the Raspberry Pi at a glance, but the similarities between the two systems are only on the surface.

Looks Like Pi

Essentially, the Pine A64 can be viewed as a more powerful next-generation Raspberry Pi device. The Pine A64 contains a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU clocked at 1.2 GHz. Compared to the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B that was released earlier this year and uses four Cortex-A7 cores clocked at 900 MHz, not only does the Pine A64 have a higher clock speed, but it also has a more advanced architecture, which consumes less power and achieves greater performance.

For graphics processing, the Pine A64 uses the dated Mali-400 MP2 GPU. Although we cannot compare the performance of the GPU inside of the Pine A64 to the VideoCore IV inside of the Raspberry Pi without testing both devices, Pine64 stated that the Pine A64 will be capable of 4K video playback, whereas the Raspberry Pi is limited to a resolution of 1920x1200. This gives the Pine64 an edge and should help to attract users planning to use it as a small HTPC system.

The 64-Bit Issue

As the Raspberry Pi was designed primarily as an educational device for students to learn computer programming, it stands to lose the most in this market. This is because the mobile market is transitioning to 64-bit hardware and software, and 64-bit programming for Android- and ARM-based devices should grow considerably over the next few years. All current Raspberry Pi devices feature 32-bit support and lack the ability to process 64-bit software, preventing students from developing these types of programs.

The Pine A64, on the other hand, uses a 64-bit processor architecture and supports the latest 64-bit version of Android (Lollipop 5.1.1) as well as 64-bit distributions of Linux.

There will be two models, the Pine A64 and the Pine A64+, which differ primarily in the amount of RAM (there’s 512 MB on the A64 and 1 GB on the Pine A64+) and the A64+ has a few extra connections available.

The Pine A64 purports to offer more performance and features than the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B in nearly all areas, but that doesn’t make it a clear winner. As the Raspberry Pi devices have been on the market for some time and have been widely used, they have a significant amount of software support with which the Pine A64 currently can’t compete.

Depending how you look at it, the Pine A64 may also lose to the Raspberry Pi financially. The two models of the Pine A64 are priced at $15 and $19, respectively, about half the cost of a Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, but the Raspberry Pi Zero costs only $5. The Raspberry Pi Zero also has significantly weaker hardware, a single 32-bit CPU core, so it depends on what you plan to do with the device if the extra $10-$14 is worth investing.

The Pine A64 and Pine A64+ are available for pre-order now via the Kickstarter page.

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Michael Justin Allen Sexton (or MJ) is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware. As a tech enthusiast, MJ enjoys studying and writing about all areas of tech, but specializes in the study of chipsets and microprocessors. In his personal life, MJ spends most of his time gaming, practicing martial arts, studying history, and tinkering with electronics.

Follow Michael Justin Allen Sexton @EmperorSunLao. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.