11-12-2018, 01:41 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-31-2019, 09:02 AM by Brian Beuken.)
While we all wait for the Raspberry Pi4 which, if it exists won't be announced until Pi Day (14th March)
A possible contender for best SBC ever, has come up, and almost immediately gone down in my estimations.
![[Image: ZxgRW6ZIAFOqQEXJuob55uwKq4J6rYrKHl97-asG...mFYcg=s0-d]](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/ZxgRW6ZIAFOqQEXJuob55uwKq4J6rYrKHl97-asGLWbyK3p8tYMFQu_7gxFeFCyVVm7PoLYanZwmXRplLwny9ygvNNVytY0Cz58BhymFYcg=s0-d)
the Rock Pi 4, visible at http://rockpi.org/
Looks like a total beast of a machine, a Raspberry config but based on a Rockchip 3399..... that's a beast...
At first glance I was salivating, I'm already falling in love with my T4 and Neo4 from Friendlyarm, and a $39 RK3399 equiped chip with full ports is a bargain.
But nothing about the company behind the launch of this newcomer inspires me, its touted in the press releases as costing $39 up...nope, after a few days of being unable to find a retail supplier, it turns out the base price is closer to 68euros, excluding postage, or heat sinks that almost certainly will be needed for an RK3399.
So its going to be around twice the price of a 3B+, but you will get about twice the power in theory, the hexacore RK3999 is extremely fast and smooth to use, and the GPU is also wonderful, though I have fears about the drivers not being fully implemented yet.
In short this is a sexy beast, but it looks like they announced it a couple of weeks too early. The sites are basic , the retail is non existent, and no idea what the final cost is going to be. And who knows how effective performance really is until we see an OS running.
Its locked itself into its own drawer of shame, but I'll check back in a month or so to see if they've got the price, the supply, and most important the software under control
A possible contender for best SBC ever, has come up, and almost immediately gone down in my estimations.
the Rock Pi 4, visible at http://rockpi.org/
Looks like a total beast of a machine, a Raspberry config but based on a Rockchip 3399..... that's a beast...
At first glance I was salivating, I'm already falling in love with my T4 and Neo4 from Friendlyarm, and a $39 RK3399 equiped chip with full ports is a bargain.
But nothing about the company behind the launch of this newcomer inspires me, its touted in the press releases as costing $39 up...nope, after a few days of being unable to find a retail supplier, it turns out the base price is closer to 68euros, excluding postage, or heat sinks that almost certainly will be needed for an RK3399.
So its going to be around twice the price of a 3B+, but you will get about twice the power in theory, the hexacore RK3999 is extremely fast and smooth to use, and the GPU is also wonderful, though I have fears about the drivers not being fully implemented yet.
In short this is a sexy beast, but it looks like they announced it a couple of weeks too early. The sites are basic , the retail is non existent, and no idea what the final cost is going to be. And who knows how effective performance really is until we see an OS running.
Its locked itself into its own drawer of shame, but I'll check back in a month or so to see if they've got the price, the supply, and most important the software under control
Brian Beuken
Lecturer in Game Programming at Breda University of Applied Sciences.
Author of The Fundamentals of C/C++ Game Programming: Using Target-based Development on SBC's
Lecturer in Game Programming at Breda University of Applied Sciences.
Author of The Fundamentals of C/C++ Game Programming: Using Target-based Development on SBC's