Introduce ROCK 5B - ARM Desktop level SBC

#330

If you look at relatively close other product then the Mediatek Kompanio 820/824 is a good ballpark which is sort of considered mid level chromebook or basic entry level desktop.
You could do like firefly and have your ITX motherboard RK3588 but for $450 you would have to be very casual about spending to pay that for what is still a RK3588.
I think some other manufactures have also similar ITX offerings and prices seem to be $250 to firefly’s confusing price as with $450 there is a hell of a lot you can buy for that.

I think Radxa have the format of the Rock5 as near perfect you can get it and have amazingly competitive price tag, but its still a mid level chromebook style processor and anything from the Rock5B isn’t gaining anything but cost.
Rockchip have announced a lower cost RK3588s will be available and the loss of the PCIe x4 for the likes of a eMMC budget desktop is not that big a deal especially if its cheaper.
The PCIe x4 on the RK3588 for NAS is sort of pointless as its hugely bottlenecked by the network available whilst Rockchip just released some perfect NAS style Socs with the Rk3566/68.

I will never understand why the RK3568 was released without a single USB3.0 OTG, 2.5Gbe & 1x sata so that with a x5 port gives great options of 6x sata on a budget board that isn’t that stupid pi format needing a riser.
Or even a RK3566 with x3 sata and the normal 1gbe as a super low cost ready to go NAS.
The RK3566/68 where incredibly unique SoCs primed for router / NaS roles and still scratching my head to the formats released and would find a SoC that is primed for entry desktops/set-tops being used as a router/NAS as equally as strange.
The RK3566/68 have that cut down mp1 Mali-G52 EE as I don’t think rockchip had any intentions for a desktop role apart from video modes.

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#331

Stuff like you described already exist, they are sold as Network Version AD Player, by Mekotronics.

RK3588 Run Android 12 and Debian OS 11.

Also Rupa H01 RK3588 8GB

#333

Where’s the PCIe expansion slots? And they seems not like mini-ITX either :sweat_smile:

#334

Pine QuartzPro64 SBC has a pciex4 slot but the price tag $300+
Mixtile Blade 3 has this weird arrangement that joins x2 together for high performance clusters
The firefly is the only one that is standard ITX I know with a whopping costs $489 / $589 price tag

Mekotronics still uses a m.2 pciex4

#335

Yep I understand, and it is really interesting because it should cost more than building a Ryzen APU based ITX, defeating the whole purpose of using such a SBC.

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#336

I saw firefly site today after cnx-software Posts,I tried to buy 3588J and tried to choose ram options: I was very attracted by LPDDR5 but there is no choice in their site.

#337

Can I get R3 code now？

#338

Still seems to be running

#339

I have a Chromebook Duet with a Helio P60T and 4GB RAM. I’m pretty excited to see the difference in performance of the Rock5 with 16GB RAM and NVMe. This will be ultimately my 3rd SBC, but the first with some decent power behind it. Hopefully LXD will work without issue. :crossed_fingers:

#340

I think you will b quite happy threadripper it aint but there is a sort of level we get from what we use and especially with lite OS such as Chromebooks, Android and Linux OS with LXD and other lighter desktops it should be a really good experience.
For JeOS such as Kodi it should be an absolute ripper.

I think it will be good but sometimes think some others are getting a little carried away as like a x4 NVME is almost going to be like permant virtual memory where likely the CPU will bottleneck access speeds at time.

I went for the 8gb Rock5b and think that sits in a nice niche but think if Radxa can then do a real stripped down version on the RK3588s eMMC as digital exclusion is such a huge problem for many in this unequal world.

PS I think the RadxaZ2 might be making an appearance soon and I think that is going to be a really fun SBC that is like a Pi4+ with a decent GPU than that videocore sh it :slight_smile:
I hope so as it will make the Rock5b wait more tolerable, but also hoping it will be very cost effective as not a good desktop as the Rock5b but for those on a real tight budget could still perform as a desktop.

#341

Hi all! Ordered R3 code for 16Gb version and while waiting for release have some questions, hope will find answers to them)

  1. Will the board support connectin the LiPo backup batteries? This will be useful for short-term operation and correct shutdown in case of mains loss.
  2. Will SPL(uboot?) support nvme boot from release or should we wait (as it was with RPI CM4, not a fan of it…)?
  3. And the cooling fan? Will the board have the ability to connect and programmatically control the fan?

Thanks!

#342
  1. Will the board support connectin the LiPo backup batteries? This will be useful for short-term operation and correct shutdown in case of mains loss.

It’s possible to power from the GPIO header +5V

  1. Will SPL(uboot?) support nvme boot from release or should we wait (as it was with RPI CM4, not a fan of it…)?

This will be supported later in u-boot. We have on board SPI Flash

  1. And the cooling fan? Will the board have the ability to connect and programmatically control the fan?

There is a fan header on the board, PWM control is supported, but not linear control nor speed read.

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#343

Again about the fan: The fan header on the board looks like a 3-pin one. Is that right?
Will the fan be running on 5V or 12V?

#344

Btw, if PWM is supported shouldn’t the header have 4 pins and not 3?

#345

Its PWM controlled fan without linear control nor speed read so you can set a speed might even be 2pin I expect.
PWM is just the fan voltage with a mark/space whose ratio gives approximate Voltage without the loss of torque as just lowering the voltage does.
Its not a standard 3/4 pin mobo header it prob purely to assist cpu cooling with cost effective 2 pin 5v fans at guess.

#346

We will just use 2P fan header, the voltage is 5V.

#347

Is there any information on when will the product start shipping? I hope the lockdown didn’t delay the development and production too much.

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#348

@jack

I noticed the Rock5 has a headphone out due to the RK3588 having a DAC which is really great for audio DSP as likely it shares the same clock as mic inputs being on the same device.
You did a mic array for the RockPiS which was great to have but for me was problematic as with the speed of sound 343Ms even at 96Khz only gives a single sample for each 3.6mm time of travel.
So small fixed arrays can produce much more load than just simply widening the array.
Also you might not want linear for more than just azimuth processing such as square or circular arrays.

Might not even be an array purely a opposite facing pair for adaptive noise cancellation or acoustic isolation and the list goes on where a set format array has quite a number of disadvantages.

Do you think it would be possible to provide a daughter board to allow individual mics or you can just buy the mics with cable strings to go to GPIO be it PDM or I2S as still haven’t worked out the VAD on the RK3588 and the audio functionality.
Totally open to any solution as long as its not the relatively tiny fixed 4 mic format that was done for the RockPiS and maybe could be used on both? (RockPiS / RK3588)

#349

So I ordered the other day 2 discount codes, had the order confirmed by AllNet but never received an email with discount codes. Is that the way it should work?

#350

Yes! That is!
When the board will be available, you’ll receive another email with payment details including discount.

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