FOXCONN Super Pi, SoC mini motherboard, 1GB RAM, 2x USB 2.0 [Super PI]

The extent of possible applications ranges for example soldered LEDs or LCD displays on control units for wireless printers, self-timed wildlife cameras, hot air balloons, drones, electronic musical instruments equipped with sensors air pollution measuring equipment, home-built routers, NAS data storage, Media Center PCs, Thin Clients , micro server, smartphones and tablets out to voice-controlled coffee machine. Fans of versatile handheld computers is undoubtedly the Banana Pi or cubieboard 2 a term with which the Foxconn Super Pi divides the technical basis.

Unlike the first Raspberry Pi, which relied on a 700 MHz single-core SoC with ARMv6 architecture including Video Core IV GPU Broadcom, the Super Pi is used as well as other modifications of Raspi faster Allwinner A20 dual core SoC with 1,000 MHz clock and more modern ARMv7-A architecture, which also has a ARM Mali GPU 400MP2 is set aside. In addition, corresponding to the available memory with 1 GB DDR3 RAM the current Raspberry Pi 2 and compared to the original model of the memory expansion of the Super Pi was simply doubled.

The associated with this platform comparatively high power makes itself at media center applications noticeable, but shows mainly in applications in desktop operating systems and calculations effects. A great advantage is also that in addition to conventional Linux distributions also Google's Android may be used, the use of adapted versions is recommended. However, the Super Pi required to power a 5V power supply with at least 2 amps power, which is connected via a Micro-USB cable or GPIO.

The biggest selling point of the Banana Pi and thus also the Foxconn Super Pi is the integrated SATA connector for the connection of mechanical hard drives, provide their data transfer rates, the SD card completely into the shade. Even elsewhere the peripheral ports updates have experienced, so the Super Pi provides a RJ45 LAN port with Gigabit speed, the up is therefore to ten times as fast as the 100-MBit-LAN port on a Raspberry Pi.

Also on board are an integral remote control infrared receiver or multimedia applications, a microphone, a Micro-USB port with OTG functionality and three buttons for power on / off, reboot and for the bootloader. For separate power supply of a connected hard disk, there is also a special SATA power socket on the device.

The remaining external I / O ports largely correspond to those of the first Raspberry Pi: 2x USB 2.0, 1x 3.5mm jack Audio, 1x composite video (RCA) and 1x HDMI are available. The internal interfaces accordingly largely those of other single-board computer and offer 1x GPIO port with 16 pins, in addition to which there are still 8 + 2 additional pins, added a CSI camera interface plus a DSI Display Interface.

Notes: The Super Pi is not compatible due to its dimensions and the connection configuration with housings for the Raspberry Pi. The display and camera interface can not be used with appropriate equipment for the Raspberry Pi due to differing connections. Add-on boards for the GPIO port are compatible in principle, disabilities by the extra pins of the GPIO interface can not be excluded.

Technical details:

    Format: Mini-PCB
    Color green
    Dimensions: 92 x 60 x 20 mm (L x W x H)
    Weight: 48 g
    Processor: Allwinner A20 ARM Cortex-A7 dual-core (2x 1 GHz)
    Graphics: Mali 400MP2 GPU (supports OpenGL ES 2.0 / 1.1)
    RAM: 1 GB DDR3
    Slots (physically):
    1x SD (HC) card slot
    Internal connections:
    3x GPIO header (26 + 8 + 2 pins)
    1x DSI (Display Interface)
    1x CSI (camera interface)
    External connections:
    1x Micro USB (5V power)
    1x Micro USB (OTG-capable)
    2x USB 2.0
    1x Gbit LAN
    1x SATA
    1x SATA Power
    1x Composite Video (RCA)
    1x audio out (3.5mm jack)
    1x HDMI
    Power supply:
    1x 5V via microUSB (from 2 A)
    Compatibility: (compatible ARMv7-A) Linux, Android