ASUS Tinker board - Raspberry Pi Killer

[boffin]

Looks like ASUS have got into the game

• Quad Core ARM Cortex A17 @1.8GHz
• 2GB RAM
• GB Ethernet
• Built-in WiFi
• 4k video
• same board layout as the Pi 3, including IO headers

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/01/asus-tinker-board-price-specs-release-date/
https://www.cnet.com/products/asus-tinker-board/preview/
$70

[TheSteve]

Won't kill anything, it's double the price of a pi.

[boffin]

Won't kill anything, it's double the price of a pi.

I disagree
twice the ram
twice the performance
4k video
onboard WiFi.

Just the Wifi makes it a better package for a lot of things, vs hanging a dongle out the side

[TheSteve]

The current raspberry pi (the pi III) has wifi and Bluetooth integrated.

[wraper]

Won't kill anything, it's double the price of a pi.

I disagree
twice the ram
twice the performance
4k video
onboard WiFi.

Just the Wifi makes it a better package for a lot of things, vs hanging a dongle out the side

Then twice the cost and  you may start looking for cheap x86 solution as well. EDIT: and yes, RPi3 has wifi.

[boffin]

The current raspberry pi (the pi III) has wifi and Bluetooth integrated.

/facepalm

Had really stopped thinking about Pis due to the lack of WiFi back in the RPi2 days.  But I still think it has its place

[bitwelder]

I disagree
twice the ram
twice the performance

Well, if someone doesn't need twice the RAM or the performance, then s/he won't be ready to pay twice the price.
Especially if with RasPi 3 one can benefit from the huge hw/sw ecosystem that has developed around it.

[JacquesBBB]

It will not kill the Rpi, but it is a very serious competitor for the Beaglebone Black which is selling at the same price.

[CJay]

Doubt it'll kill the Pi but bring it on, competition stimulates development so with a bit of luck we all win.

There's a couple of advantages to the tinker board, gigabit ethernet, 4K, more RAM, possibility of using external WiFi antennae but the CPU, 32 bit instructions only and the pipe from the GbE PHY, is it fast enough to make it any more than a nice number?

[Kjelt]

It will fail or succeed depending on the SW community adopting it and supporting it.
Lets see what happens, I think it is good that there is more choice, esp. that this has its own PHY for ethernet is what I find important and think the pi is lacking with its crippled USB ethernet solution.

[CJay]

It will fail or succeed depending on the SW community adopting it and supporting it.
Lets see what happens, I think it is good that there is more choice, esp. that this has its own PHY for ethernet is what I find important and think the pi is lacking with its crippled USB ethernet solution.

That's kind of what I was hinting at, the Pi is an excellent little board but the USB peripheral interconnect lets it down badly. The other nice thing about the Tinker Board is the 24 bit audio.

As always, software and ecosystem will determine its success.

I wish it all the luck in the world, these brilliant little boards are the home compuiter revolution of the 2000s and the more the merrier

[Kjelt]

these brilliant little boards are the home compuiter revolution of the 2000s and the more the merrier

Mwah I would rather call it an IoTdevice enabler, these boards make it possible for almost anybody to create their own internet connected device at home.
A lot of them are used as htpc , media player, mame player and that sort of stuff, but due to their low power and processing capabilities, they are in essence great to control and measure domotica stuff.

[Ian.M]

Its not a Pi killer unless it breaks the single host USB 2.0 port <=> networking and off-board mass storage bottleneck^* or offers a *VERY* competitive price:performance ratio . . . .

* The RK3288 datasheet can be found [here] (4.8Mb).  It looks like it has on-chip Ethernet and 2 host capable USB2.0 interfaces so hopefully ASUS haven't cheap-skated it with an all in one USB hub and Ethernet chip.

[tszaboo]

Won't kill anything, it's double the price of a pi.

I disagree
twice the ram
twice the performance
4k video
onboard WiFi.

Just the Wifi makes it a better package for a lot of things, vs hanging a dongle out the side

irrelevant
irrelevant
irrelevant
rPi3 has it also.

There are dongles, which hang out 2-3mm from the USB port, hence irrelevant.

[suicidaleggroll]

These kinds of boards are made or broken by their support.  The RPi ecosystem is fantastic, Rockchip...not so much.  We'll see if ASUS can/will properly step up to the plate, or if they're just going to sluff them off on users and hope the community will test/fix the no doubt numerous holes and bugs in the software for them, like most other "Raspberry Pi Killer" manufacturers do.

[james_s]

I could see it having uses, but for what I'm doing with my Raspberry Pi the higher cost is a deal breaker. I don't need a lot of power, what I do need is a low cost machine with low power consumption.

Also as mentioned already, the software support is very important, more so than the cost or the horsepower even.

[Kjelt]

I could see it having uses, but for what I'm doing with my Raspberry Pi the higher cost is a deal breaker. I don't need a lot of power, what I do need is a low cost machine with low power consumption.

Does the pi support automatic low power modes, so not sleep but for instance running on 20MHz instead of the high frequency?

[james_s]

I could see it having uses, but for what I'm doing with my Raspberry Pi the higher cost is a deal breaker. I don't need a lot of power, what I do need is a low cost machine with low power consumption.

Does the pi support automatic low power modes, so not sleep but for instance running on 20MHz instead of the high frequency?

I don't know, it only draws something like 2.5-3 Watts at full power so I never had any reason to try to reduce the power consumption. My alarm clock draws more than that.

[a_beaglebone]

Its not a Pi killer unless it breaks the single host USB 2.0 port <=> networking and off-board mass storage bottleneck^* or offers a *VERY* competitive price:performance ratio . . . .

* The RK3288 datasheet can be found [here] (4.8Mb).  It looks like it has on-chip Ethernet and 2 host capable USB2.0 interfaces so hopefully ASUS haven't cheap-skated it with an all in one USB hub and Ethernet chip.

The same is shown in this diagram as well, http://www.rk3288.com/images/schema.png
It has a separate interface for USB 2.

[a_beaglebone]

I think ODROID-XU4 is a better option than this, but it does not come with built in wireless. 

[slicendice]

The Tinker Board is a great device. It won't however KILL anything. It is more of an alternative.

If one needs twice the CPU, Memory, Networking etc... performance gain compared to the R-Pi then this board is an excellent choice. As far as I know this board is fully R-Pi and Arduino compatible. You can even stick it into an original R-Pi case. The software/OS is/are however not as mature as R-Pi. Asus has been working hard on fixing bugs. For serius Python developers on IoT devices, this board is a great alternative. But there are even more powerful IoT boards out there, that are more than twice the price of the Tinker Board.

In the end it is all about your own requirements. For some an Arduino or a single ATMega chip is enough, for others R-Pi 1/2/3, and for some the Tinker Board and the better performing devices gives that small advantage some tinkerers need.

I believe that the most enthusiastic IoT fanatics own them all. :-)

[brucehoult]

Doubt it'll kill the Pi but bring it on, competition stimulates development so with a bit of luck we all win.

There's a couple of advantages to the tinker board, gigabit ethernet, 4K, more RAM, possibility of using external WiFi antennae but the CPU, 32 bit instructions only and the pipe from the GbE PHY, is it fast enough to make it any more than a nice number?

32 bit instructions only?

Hands up all those who have ever run a 64 bit instruction on a Pi 3...

There is still a year and a half later no 64 bit Raspbian, no 64 bit Debian. There have been some individual hacks, and SUSE put up their hand in January, but how many people have used that?

As opposed to the Odroid C2 which came out about the same time as the Pi 3, only $5 more, a lot faster, twice the RAM, much faster SD interface (and eMMC), gig ethernet .. and a 64 bit OS from day one. No WIFI though.

[amyk]

At least it's not Broadcom. RK3288 documentation looks to be quite available.

[CJay]

I prefer to think of all these boards as alternatives, there's the usual tribalism around Beaglebone Black, Pi, Orange Pi, Banana Pi, Arduino etc.etc. and they all have a place, the main thing Pi has is an incredible community and the manufacturers are very active too.

I once got lectured about how Pi wasn't good enough because they were being bought and used as media players and that it was sad but to me that's an amazing advantage, because those people who know nothing about Linux, programming etc. have contributed to a huge maker community and helped pay for further development, it's also sparked a huge number of clones, alternatives, all sorts. I've spoken to all sorts of people who are tinkering with Pi and Linux because of Pi and other boards.

If the popular, cheap boards encourage people to hack (classical use of the word) hardware, software etc. then it's all good as far as I'm concerned.