As RISC-V continues to develop, so does the plethora of products around the open source processor. Unlike the Raspberry Pi which uses proprietary ARM processors, the new Lichee Pi 4A uses open source RISC-V C910 architecture. This small desktop SBC is manufacturered by Sipeed and comes in a variety of configurations. Today we’re happy to get a close look at the edition with 8GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard memory thanks to Christopher Barnatt with ExplainingComputers in his recent unboxing video over at YouTube.
| Spec | Lichee Pi 4A |
|---|---|
| CPU | RISC-V C910 |
| RAM | 4GB, 8GB, 16GB 64-bit LPDDR4X-3733 |
| Internal Storage | TF Card | 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB eMMC |
| GPU | OpenGL ES3.0-2, OpenCL 1.1-2.0, Vulkan1.1-1.2, 50.7 GFLOPS |
| Network | Dual Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi4 w/ BT5, WiFi6 w/ BT5 |
| USB Ports | 4x USB 3.0 Type-A, 1x USB 2.0 Type-C |
| Video Output | 1x HDMI 2.0 (4K @60fps) |
| GPIO | 2x 10 GPIO |
Overall, Barnatt reported the out-of-the-box experience as generally positive. It comes with Debian pre-installed so very little had to be done in the way of first-time setup beyond connecting all the hardware and necessary peripherals. Although it comes with Debian preloaded, you can customize it entirely from the inside out.
The most glowing praise came after testing the unit for several hours. After observing no crashes, Barnatt said he considered this to be the most stable Linux experience he’s has so far with RISC-V. It has quality graphics processing showing excellent results with 720p video playback albeit less so with 1080p.
It comes with a selection of preinstalled tools that most average users will find handy to have readily available—such as LibreOffice. Overall the unit is very user friendly making it a great platform for RISC-V development as well as casual use.
You can find more information about the Lichee Pi 4A on the official Sipeed website. For an in depth look at its performance, check out the full unboxing and demo test video from ExplainingComputers over at YouTube.
