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The Orange Pi Zero 2W is a new single-board computer that measures just 65 x 30mm (2.6″ x 1.2″, but which features a quad-core processor, up to 4GB of RAM, and enough ports and connectors for basic computer functions.
In other words, it’s an awful lot like a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W, but it has a different processor, support for up to eight times more memory, and USB-C ports instead of micro USB. The Orange Pi Zero 2W is available now from AliExpress for around $13 and up.
The little computer is powered by an Allwinner H618 processor, which features a 1.5 GHz ARM Cortex-A53 processor and Mali-G31 MP2 graphics. The board features a micro HDMI 2.0 port for audio and video output, two USB 2.0 Type-C ports for power or data, a microSD card reader for storage, and a 40-pin Raspberry Pi-compatible GPIO header.
Wireless capabilities include support for WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0, and the board is designed to work with 5V/2A USB-C power adapters.
Prices for the board range from $13 for a model with 1GB of RAM to $23 for a 4GB model, but there are also 1.5GB and 2GB options.
And you can add a $5 expansion board to your order to get an attachment with a 10/100 Ethernet jack, two USB-A ports, a 3.5mm audio jack, an infrared receiver, and three buttons (one is an on/off switch, while the other two are user-customizable).
The Orange Pi Zero 2W should support a range of operating systems including Android 12 and GNU/Linux distributions including Debian and Ubuntu.
While you’d think that the Orange Pi Zero 2W would be similar to the Orange Pi Zero that the company launched three years ago, the older model has an Allwinner H616 processor, 512MB or 1GB of RAM, and a different shape and port selection: it measures 60 x 53mm (2.4″ x 2.1″) and has a built-in Ethernet jack, USB-A port, a single USB-C port, and a micro HDMI port.
via LinuxGizmos and CNX Software
Thanks ordered 100 /s (but secretly wishing no /s)
HDMI out, extention board, low power draw… Looks really good for a umpc build.
Interesting, could be one of the smallest usable ultra cheap and ultra low power desktop with those 4G ram, would obviously be rather slow but could run for hours on a usb powerbank, paired with a lightweight lcd it could make for a fun combo. Problem as usual with orangepi is their images are hacky mess uploaded on questionable servers so I’d have to look at the shape of mainline for this soc.
Are there images for the OrangePi boards?
Go to orangepi(dot)org, choose Hardware, choose the board you want and press More Info, when it loads on the top left corner there should be a Download tab. In the case of this board, Zero 2W, there isn’t one yet and the manufacturer usually takes some time to populate the download sites (they seem to use links to Google Drive, etc, to provide the downloads). The Zero 3 board is extremely similar to this one, same SoC and features, only different format and GPIO header so its images probably work with this one.
A strange thing is that their images usually use repositories based in China (Huawei cloud, etc). I am a bit wary of that, I have a Orange Pi 5 Plus (awesome board, btw!) and only use images provided by Armbian and from a Github project from Joshua Riek that has Ubuntu 22.04 images for Rockchip based boards built around a custom kernel with the Rockchip patches.
This Zero 2W seems to already have mainline kernel support from kernel version 6.0 onwards (Allwinner H616 does and H618 is pratically the same) but can’t confirm that yet, I just ordered one. Will try official Debian on it when it arrives in a couple weeks.
Ah, that’s good to know about Armbian—I, too, am concerned about the images coming from China. I think I will go ahead and order! I’m tired of waiting for RPiZero 2ws to be in stock!
At this moment Armbian doesn’t officially support these boards, they’re not on the list. The Orange Pi Zero 2 is on the list though, and the SoC is the Allwinner H616 which is the previous version of the H618 used in this Orange Pi Zero 2w (and also on the Orange Pi Zero 3, they seem pratically the same design in a different PCB format).
Mainline support for the H616 has been included since kernel 6.0, H618 is just an updated version to support Android TV 12 (these SoCs were designed for set-top boxes).
According to linux-sunxi(dot)org H618 is fully compatible with H616 and Orange Pi Zero 2 was used to test the kernel, so there’s a good chance that Armbian’s Zero 2 images and official Debian 12 images, both using kernel 6.1, might work directly on the Orange Pi Zero 2W and Zero 3.
This just an assumption though, I will test them when the Zero 2W I ordered today arrives in a couple weeks.
@rpa said: “I will test them when the Zero 2W I ordered today arrives in a couple weeks.”
If you have an Orange Pi Zero 3 you can test today. My guess is the Orange Pi Zero 3 is essentially the same as the Orange Pi Zero 2 plus its expansion board.
The Orange Pi Zero 2W and the Orange Pi Zero 3 seem to be pratically the same design, just a different PCB format. I wonder is the same OS images can be used.
Typo: “… the board is desgigned to work”, correct word would be “designed”?
ups (hat or directly on motherboard)
Power is needed.
and no blobs
I’m waiting for these to be the same size as a micro-usb storage or an SD card… then I will buy simply because of the “wow, it’s cool” factor and frame it for display on a wall, but probably not use it.
Have you seen the *omu USB devices?
*Q, T, S, F
Also, looks like they’re bringing out the FEMU soon (ESP32 with wi-fi and Bluetooth on a USB) – maybe one for you to cover, @Brad Linder?
Are either of those USB-C ports OTG?
Ooh, that looks like it should fit inside most Raspberry Pi Zero cases and has the camera connector. I want to tinker with a couple for MotionEye type applications where the Raspberry just doesn’t have enough horsepower but the smaller form factor works well.
Beware that the ‘camera connector’ is not for a camera, is extending the number of ports and buttons with the adapter board.
Thanks! Nice tip, I didn’t look carefully myself either and thought the same thing!
Ooh, thanks for catching that. That means my idea would have to incorporate a USB camera instead of a RPi/Jetson one.