ROCK Pi E Engineering Sample is available now

#1

Dear community,

I am happy to announce that we now have the ROCK Pi E engineering sample available. We have around 100pcs samples, in two configurations:

ROCKPIE_es
ROCKPIE_es.jpg939×1025 292 KB

  • D4W1
  • D8W2

The features are following:

  • RK3328 Quad A53
  • One USB 3.0 A
  • One 100M ethernet + one 1000M ethernet
  • audio jack
  • same eMMC connector as ROCK Pi 4
  • uSD card
  • micro HDMI for debugging(not available for MP)
  • Audio Jack
  • Realtek 8723du wifi bt(D4W1) or 8821cu wifi/bt(D8W2)
  • USB C for power, 5V/2A

These engineering samples are full functional and to distinguish with MP version, the board color is green.

Software:

Currently ROCK Pi E is running Debian Buster or Ubuntu Server with Rockchip 4.4 kernel.

We are working on the OpenWRT support for ROCK Pi E, the patch for mainline u-boot support is sent some time ago.

If you are an open source software developer, you can reply this thread send me PM or to apply for a free sample. If you want to evaluate ROCK Pi E for your project, you can contact us for the samples.

5 Likes
#2
#3

Hi

If it’s still possible to change final design a bit, I would suggest:

  1. Replace 100mbps LAN port with 2x USB 2.0 or 2x USB 3.0 ports with top/bottom ports as on RockPi 4 or sideways as current USB 3.0 port in it’s place.
    It would be difficult to use USB storage and a USB airmouse/keyboard with only 1 USB port.
  2. Make sure USB ports have enough power to power 1TB USB hard-drive without clicking sounds if there isn’t enough power.
  3. Use DDR4 RAM if price is not too much extra
  4. Offer 4GB RAM option
  5. Maybe can add an ir sensor and ir remote?
  6. Bundle external wifi antenna and connector so it’s position can be fixed for users that require it for an optional extra.
  7. Offer casing, heatsink, power cable, adaptor as bundle to buy.
  8. Make emmc easily accessible so casing doesn’t have to be removed to flash emmc or Linux option from micro-sd card to flash Linux/Android onto emmc easily.
  9. Support mainline Linux support early on.
  10. Also get Android 10, since main usage will be Linux, Radxa doesn’t have to officially support Android(only add initial kernel support) but I and other developers can then use Android SDK to build images for others to use.

Hope some things are possible or could help.

Regards

1 Like
#4

You will be better served by buying Rock Pi 4 4GB, an NVMe SSD, and a USB 3 to Gigabit ethernet adapter. Sadly, I haven’t seen Rock Pi 4 with 2 gigabit ethernet ports.

#5

Those guys are chip integrators and are limited with a chip design. They made more or less best possible what can be done around this chip - there are few media boxes seen with this chip an boards such as https://www.armbian.com/nanopi-r2s/ and https://www.armbian.com/rock64/

With one word - you have to talk to Rockchip to make you a chip with wonders. You have to understand chip limitations to give valuable suggestions.

Not possible.

On a quick look, this should not be a problem without any changes.

On a device that suppose to be a small router? And you probably want to keep the price <20 USD?

This could be possible and usually is.

They don’t support Linux. But mainline Linux supports this chip fairly well so there is not much expensive work to bring this device in. Still, somebody has to do it.

Who needs that crap? :slight_smile:

1 Like
#6

I’m always in to try a new board. Haven’t got new gear since a while. So More than enough time to put into it, and to review it afterwards.

A great replacement for my OPi+ that I’m using as NAS and MP3 player.
Also waiting for the RockPiX to be finished. That one I’m for sure going to reivew.
Greetings.
NicoD

1 Like
#7

I’d love to buy a D8W2 sample with micro HDMI if possible, but I am not a developer…

#8

I believe this is something called ROCK Pi M series(Multi Media :-), not for the E series. E series is for network and iot applications.

2 Likes
#9

I would like to give it a try. Since it has USB 3.0, I want to use it with google coral usb accelerator as a smart gateway.

#10

Hi,

I am interested with this board. The USB 2.0 OTG coupled with a GigE network makes it a really nice board for a small IoT device. How can I try it? Is the D4W1 enough for GigEth combined with USB 2.0 and a web server?

Thank you

#11

We did not route the USB OTG on the USB type C, we route the USB OTG on the 40P GPIO header instead. If you want to use it as USB gadget device, you will have to make a custom cable, which one side is DuPont line(D+/D-) and other other side USB A male.

custom_usb_cable
custom_usb_cable.jpg800×1067 175 KB

#12

I am new to the Radxa forum and processes. How do you request engineering samples? I’m working on a few projects that might be great for a RockPi E.

#13

Maybe I’m looking bad, but I can’t see how much RAM memory is being used ?

#14

‘ROCK Pi E comes in various ram sizes from 512MB to 4GB DDR3’

#15

Why did not you route the OTG within the usb power connector? Do you think we can modify manually the board somehow to support it? Or can we power the board also through GPIO?

#16

I am a maintainer at Manjaro ARM and I like this device. I have been searching for something like this and I see there are many competitor board for this, but most of those options are coming with zero support with a dead forum. (NPi/OPi).

I am quite interested in Zeroshell linux router concept, I was looking to purchase OpiR1 but good that no one replied to me on their forum. I would like to receive one of Rock Pi E for the Zeroshell Linux project.

From my knowledge of routers and firewall appliance, 4Gb memory is an overkill for any router os like openwrt, while recommended to be used as a firewall appliance software like opnsense/pfsense. Can’t wait for stable opnsense release for RK3399 though.

My recommendation for this device as a router.

  • A decent case.
  • Strong Wifi Antenna

HAHAHA nice one.

1 Like
#17

Would be great to have 2 GBE ports, but i guess it’s impossible without removing USB 3.0 port…

P.S. Just for general information, I guess 1 GBE port is created from 2 USB ports?

#18

Hi Jack,

So what is the process to follow to get an engineering sample?
Thank you,
Armand

#19

Hey it is mentioned in the Opening Post here is the last paragraph which explains how to apply for the sample.

Also If you’re not a developer but you plan to contribute to the Radxa Pi E Router project then please explain what you plan to do with the sample and how will you contribute your work back to the community.

#20

Hi,

So my plan would be to provide high speed network connectivity to legacy systems that do not have ethernet. First can be using the otg usb 2.0 always coupled with the gigE interface and setting a webserver for configuration of settings. It would be a perfect board for that.

I would share the source so that other can contribute and enable faster dev process.

Thank you,