Makers looking to build a project with a low-cost dev board have tons of options. Thanks to a new Kickstarter project, one of those options now features an Intel Cherry Trail Atom processor.
The Atomic Pi is a new dev board that is powered by an Atom x5-Z8350 quad core with a top speed of 1.92GHz. Despite being almost three years old it’s still a very capable chip. With 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage, the Atomic Pi’s core is pretty similar to a Cherry Trail Compute Stick.
That should give you a fairly good idea of what you can expect to do with the Atomic Pi. Back in 2016 Brad installed Ubuntu 15.10 on a Compute Stick and found it to be pretty snappy.
You won’t have to go through the process of installing a Linux-based OS on the Atomic Pi yourself, however. It ships with Ubuntu 18.04LTS preinstalled. Want to replace it with Windows 10? Go right ahead… the hardware is fully supported.
Speaking of hardware, let’s take a look at what else comes standard on the Atomic Pi. When hardwired connections are an option, you can plug in to the board’s gigabit Ethernet. When it’s not, there’s a dual-band 802.11N wireless adapter that can handle network connectivity duties.
Need to connect some peripherals? The Atomic Pi has both USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports and integrated Bluetooth 4.0 support. A 26-pin GPIO lets you wire in sensors, servos, or just about anything else you want to control or monitor. The board also has its own 9-axis inertial navigation sensor and compass, perfect for projects that are made to move.
The add-on breakout board gives you even more hardware hacking options with dual serial interfaces, multiple sets of screw terminals, and a clever prototyping area where you can lay out custom circuitry.
The Atomic Pi is a pretty nice deal if you can score one at the $34 early bird price. Even if you miss out on securing one of the first 500 you’ll only be on the hook for another $10.
via Geeky Gadgets
This thing needs 4GB of RAM.
I wish it had hevc 10 bit decoding. Then I could use it as a media center.
I hope this product to succeed. We need some x86 small and cheap systems like Raspberry-Pi, because right now there are available only System-On-Modules with ARM processors.
Not really…there’s really no advantage to x86 on the hobby tinker hardware marketplace. For specific purpose boards quite possibly, but the market is already glutted with Chinese NAS and network appliance boards.
USA shipping only. Sigh.
for router i need 5-10 ethernet port
for nas i need raid hardware device
for …..
hm… who would like to buy this?
But it’s Kickstarter, so they will probably promise lots, then run off with the cash having delivered nothing. Come back when they actually start supplying them. I’m surprised at you for advertising this.
If it looks too good to be true…
It’s not too good, its quite “meh”. The only thing it has going for it is the price, I much sooner expected a $49 price tag.
Even so, anything less than an Intel Atom X7- Z8750 with 4GB’s RAM and 64GB’s of NAND seems a bit pointless. Because otherwise it seems pointless to diverge from your standard Raspberry Pi 3B+. And while more power is always welcome, then you must be able to distinguish it from the likes of the $250 LattePanda Alpha.
so it has more cpu, onboard storage & faster networking than a similarly priced pi but you’re comparing it to a $250 board? really?
They have actually delivered in the past, so its probably not a scam.
I went ahead and backed this board. I should work well for a project I have been thinking about. They reached their KS funding goal 2 days after launch. They sent out a note to all backer to come to tour their facilities anytime, watch the boards being assembled and ask questions. I’ve backed many Kickstarter campaigns and that is a first.
Looks way bigger than an UP Squared, but also significantly cheaper. Kinda wanna see someone make something even smaller than the UP Squared instead.