SBC Single-board computers

[AndreyB]

I am a bit Internet-of-things-curious. Raspberry universe looks great but it looks like all their boards with WiFi are relatively large and not dirt cheap. External USB Wifi dongle looks like one extra thing to care about and too much trouble.

First unsuccessful attempt to look outside of Raspberry is https://rusefi.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1761. While trying to troubleshoot 2G IOT I have found a very nice-looking armbian community, they have an impressive list of supported boards which actually includes many boards by Orangepi, just not my 2G IOT.

Still open question what is the best small SBC with Wifi, GPIO and SPI. For instance Orange Pi Zero while supported has the "wireless connection issues are expected" comment

PS: We are definitely and absolutely not planning to run ECU itself on Linux.

[mck1117]

best small SBC with Wifi, GPIO and SPI

this is unequivocally the Raspberry Pi

[AndreyB]

TL,DR: Orange Pi Zero looks very promising!

I've ordered my Orange Pi Zero H2 512 before I've noticed the scary warning on https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-zero/ and was planning to throw it away in light of the wifi drama - but now that it has finally showed up I've installed Armbian_20.05.1_Orangepizero_buster_current_5.4.43.img.xz.torrent on it and WiFi just works. It's a $10 computer with WiFi which _works_.

No video output by default so we need UART to set WIFI. Baud rate 115200.

https://www.armbian.com/ is definitely an important part of the overall positive impression. Default root password 1234 with a requirment to change of first boot. Nice. orange1 would be a good password option
orange is a great username for non-root user.



It's not RPI so manual does not contain UART pinout thank you https://lucsmall.com/2017/01/19/beginners-guide-to-the-orange-pi-zero/ for that.
It's not RPI so nice pinout was done by https://oshlab.com/orange-pi-zero-pinout/
It does not have HDMI but there are SPI options like https://kaspars.net/blog/spi-display-orange-pi-zero

Code: Select all

sudo armbian-config
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install openjdk-11-jdk-headless
sudo apt-get install openjdk-11-jdk

[AndreyB]

PS: cool image comparing board sizes from https://kaspars.net/blog/orange-pi-zero-gpio

[Joey120373]

Raspberri pi zero W?

Has WiFi, $10 usd

https://www.adafruit.com/product/3400

[AndreyB]

Raspberri pi zero W? Has WiFi, $10 usd

Very interesting, I've missed that one! THANK YOU!

[Joey120373]

your welcome! as you can see, its very small.

It's not a powerhouse, but its comprable to a pi3 i think, Im not into the pi stuff.
I have the first version of the zero, it does not have the wifi, and it was $5 !

Dunno if it will fit the bill as i don't know what the plans are, dedicated RusEfi machine for programming and tuning? Wifi GUI interface?
With it being a raspberry pi though, it should be solid and well supported.


If the goal is to load firmware and or tune via wifi, the ESP32 is pretty cheep and powerful, not a SBC at all, but has SPI, wifi and can be used as an access point, so any web browser can log onto it and talk to it and anything its attached to....

[AndreyB]

ESP32 is pretty cheep and powerful

Cost of development for ESP32 is just soooo much higher. SBC with java allows code reuse with rusEFI console which brings the human hours down.

[puff]

okay, but if your plan is to use it for java rusefi console, why do you need those gpios?

[AndreyB]

"plan is to use it for java rusefi console" is a bit different from "code reuse with rusEFI console"

rusEFI means a screen and probably a large screen. code reuse with rusEFI console means sharing code while potentially not having GUI. This is prototyping and brainstorming at this point, it's unclear what is the plan exactly.

[Joey120373]

Ive always thought a small dedicated machine for a GUI would be a great idea. With raspberry Pi ( and similar ), a low cost LCD
You could have the tuning GUI and a digital dash all in one for a lot less $$$ than a tablet and/or laptop...

I am pretty sure that Tuner Studio has been ported to rasbian,

I may have to dust of that pi-zero i have and see if i can get something on it...

[mck1117]

I am pretty sure that Tuner Studio has been ported to rasbian,

I may have to dust of that pi-zero i have and see if i can get something on it...

Doesn't even need a port. Just download the linux version of TS and it works fine (albeit slowly)

[AndreyB]

Raspberri pi zero W? Has WiFi, $10 usd

Limit 1 per customer, lame.

[puff]

Yet another custom order at jlcpcb?

[AndreyB]

Yet another custom order at jlcpcb?

I have no idea what you are saying. I am sure that jlcpcb does not have all RPI components.

[AndreyB]

Should not be a surprise to anyone that I am now looking into 4G connectivity options. So far I am mostly confused. Trying to find $30 hardware and $15 data plan.

eBay has 4GDONG001 which might simply not work in USA. eBay sellers might not care about it https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0728KYBNY

GSM LDW922 around $26 has American version LDW922L $26.34 4G LTE: B2/B4/B5/B7

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_frequency_bands for bands

Digikey has a nice page https://www.digikey.com/en/resources/iot-resource-center/iot-cellular-data-plans

So far the best I could find for USA is https://tello.com/ - virtual operator running on top of CDMA Spring, these guys have a 1Gb for $6 monthly plan. eBay is full of U301 USB modems - those cost $8 (!!!) since no one on Earth needs those. I am going to try this combo! https://web.archive.org/web/20150919232921/https://forums.freedompop.com/discussion/8602/just-thought-i-would-share-complete-raspbian-setup-for-u301

PS:

Code: Select all

sudo apt remove unattended-upgrades
cat /proc/net/dev

[kb1gtt]

I've had success with this PLC setup. It's sereil to the modem. We could figure out the stream and mimic it with an stm. https://unitronicsplc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/The_GSM-17J_Modem_Kit_Cinterion-EHS6T_08-15.pdf

[AndreyB]

23 minute long boring video where all I do is set wifi and java in a fresh armbian installation.

login with root, default password 1234
change root password
create user orange
"sudo armbian-config" to set wifi password & install sshd
"sudo apt-get update" to update packet information
"sudo apt-get install openjdk-11-jdk" to install java but maybe "sudo apt-get install openjdk-11-jdk-headless" would be a smarter choice

"wget https://rusefi.com/build_server/rusefi_bundle_mre_f4.zip" to get rusEFI bundle
"unzip rusefi_bundle_mre_f4.zip" to unzip the bundle

[AndreyB]

Oragne Pi Zero comes with huge Ethernet connector and side-mounted tall USB connector Raspberry Pi Zero comes very very slim

Orange-Pi Zero has USB vias Raspberry Pi Zero only has USB pad

Image from https://othermod.com/raspberry-pi-zero-external-usb-connector/

image.png (888 KiB) Viewed 2477 times

[AndreyB]

Custom slim Orange Pi Zero+. Pliers, heat gun, love.