FriendlyElec’s latest single-board computer looks like a Raspberry Pi 3 and has a lot of the same features, including a 40-pin header, WiFi, and a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor.

But while the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ uses a 1.4 GHz Broadcom BCM2837 system-on-a-chip, FriendlyElec’s NanoPi K1 Plus has a 1.3 GHz Allwinner H5 ARM processor with ARM Mali-450 hexa-core graphics.

The NanoPi K1 Plus also has 2GB of RAM, which is twice as much as you get with the latest Raspberry Pi computer, and in addition to having a microSD card reader, you can use an optional eMMC module for storage.

The NanoPi K1 Plus is available for purchase from FriendlyElec for $35.

The little computer also features Gigabit Ethernet, an HDMI 1.4 port with support for 4K@30fps or 1080p@60fps video playback, a 3.5mm audio jack, and three USB 2.0 ports.

There’s also a micro USB OTG port that can be used to connect a power adapter or for data transmission.

FriendlyElec also equipped the system with an onboard microphone and an infrared receiver, which could make this an interesting choice for use in a kiosk or digital signage system. You could also theoretically use it as a media center system.

The Linux Sunxi community reports that initial support for the Allwinner H5 chipset was added to the Linux kernel starting in 2017, and FriendlyARM offers an Ubuntu Core-based operating system image for the NanoPi K1 Plus called FriendlyCore.

You can find more details about the hardware and instructions for setting up the software at the FriendlyElec Wiki.

Or you could just stick with the Raspberry Pi platform, which already has a huge user community and support for a bunch of different operating systems.

via CNX-Software

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7 replies on “$35 NanoPi K1 Plus is a Raspberry Pi-like computer with twice the RAM (and a different CPU)”

  1. Have an 8GB EMMC unit coming to install LAMP on. Hoping for better disk write performance than the horrible SD 2.0 controller the Pi features. It’s a toy for any reasonable SQL performance.

  2. I want this instead:

    Retrostone
    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/583173617/retrostone-ultimate-retrogaming-console

    Could probably use a thumbstick and some sort of thumbroller throttle for playing old flight / space sims, maybe another gig of memory, but aside from that pretty darn close to perfect otherwise.

    Only downside is I don’t see any built-in wifi / bluetooth support mentioned, and it could probably use some goodies for preventing ingress of dust ‘n stuff…

  4. So another machine that is basically headless. Unaccelerated framebuffer with a promise of eventually getting accelerated video playback. But no roadmap to a 2d or 3d accelerated Linux desktop.

    1. That about sums it up John. I was looking at the ASUS Tinker Board and almost hit the buy button a couple of times, but I can’t justify the cost, vs. the 99 dollar Chinese Celeron boxes with 4GB/32GB…doesn’t make sense.

  5. Seems to be too good to be true – I had to order one to test it! :))
    There was a KickStarter project: “Allwinner VPU support in the official Linux kernel”, I’m one of the backers, so I need a device to test the progress on.

    1. You might still need to wait for H5 support to come. They have been successful, but still focused on older models.

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