The Raspberry may be the most popular credit card-sized, low-power, single-board computer, but over the past few years we’ve seen plenty of imitators including the Orange Pi, Lemon Pi, ODROID family, and many others.
Now there’s a Kickstarter campaign to build one of the first models to features an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 Cherry Trail processor as well as Raspberry Pi-compatible headers.
It’s called the UP, and if the developers can raise about $57,000 for the project they hope to deliver the first units in February, 2016. Backers who opt for an “Innovators Kit” could get an early version of the hardware as soon as December.
UP is more expensive than  Raspberry Pi. You’ll need to pledge at least €89 ($102) to reserve a unit. But the system is also a lot more powerful than most devices in this category: it has a quad-core Intel x86 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of eMMC storage. In addition to support Linux and Android, the system should be able to run the full desktop version of Windows 10.
The board measures 3.4″ x 2.2″ and the base unit features HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, four USB 2.0 ports, an extra USB 2.0 10-pin header, and a USB 3.0 OTG port. There’s also a Raspberry Pi-compatible 40-pin GPIO connector and a camera interface.
You can pledge more money to get a model that comes with a power supply and USB WiFi adapter. Higher-priced pledge levels also come with kits that will let you add a 7 or 10 inch display, or use the UP to power smart home solutions.
The UP team currently has a working prototype of the hardware, and is working to finalize the software that will be available for the system at launch. You can find out more about the project at the UP Kickstarter page.
via CNX Software and /r/Linux_Devices
Get ready for a lawsuit with Volkswagen…
Oh wait, Volkswagen is kinda busy… never mind, continue
Hmmm… No open (and/or crappy) video drivers and Intel’s AMT Big Government back-door built in. What’s not to love? It is x86 (sort-of), after all…
If you are going to bother giving it a more powerful CPU then why handicap with limited support structures? This should have 2GB of RAM at a minimum and those should be set up to take advantage of the memory controller properly for best speed. It should also have USB 3 on it, which again is natively supported by Cherry Trail I’d think.
I fully agree 1GB is a deal killer for me. I really like the form factor, but 4GB ram with HDMI 2.0 are my minimums. I am thinking about rooting an amazon fire tv 2015 to get a generic 4k media box, and it’s only $100 for 2GB.
There is no “deal”, it’s a kickstarter project. If you believe in the project, you pony up some money and wait and hope the project succeeds (or help publicize it to a wider audience) If you want something in the here and now, I suggest you order that amazon fire tv.
Yeah. I’m saying I’ll leave it. And I’m saying why.
Because this isn’t a product that is being sold to the general public, it’s a kickstarter project. Take it or leave it. If you want something better, build your own.
Yeah. I’m saying I’ll leave it. And I’m saying why.
What would make more sense is to build these with two laptop memory slots instead of the onboard chip. This would reduce the production cost of the units, and buyers could then BYO memory.