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+--- Thread: Got it today...DAMN its big?? (/showthread.php?tid=906)
Got it today...DAMN its big?? - Brian Beuken - 05-03-2016
Happy to say it arrived today, along with a case and wifi board (I really don't like that wire antenna)
I honestly don't know why, but I thought this was going to be small board, smaller than a Raspberry Pi, boy was I wrong.
its a monster...
I can't understand why its so large, given every other SBC maker has made their boards small and compact?
Anyway, pleased its here at last, will go hunt for an image and boot it up.. It certainly looks cool in its big perspex case
Here it is compared to a Nano Pi M2
![[Image: 13131024_10156871853150187_3028156254427583794_o.jpg]](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QiJjgBRkszY/VyijRJPjqvI/AAAAAAAABhA/eWNbMixJU9ErSNnwSmIChr6wOxw-DrMMQCLcB/s1600/13131024_10156871853150187_3028156254427583794_o.jpg)
Got it today...DAMN its big?? - Faye - 05-03-2016
Nano Pi (32 bit ARM board) is an amazing design, almost every mm of the board has a component fitted to it. It doesn't have the "Euler" bus or the Wifi/Bluetooth expansion. It's probably possible to make it a bit smaller, but then you'd have to compromise on the port locations - the perimeter of the board is pretty much maximally used. The only way you could do better is by moving some of the components to the underside of the board or removing some ports.
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RE: Got it today...DAMN its big?? - rahlquist - 05-03-2016
LOL the first picture on the kickstarter below the video has the dimensions...
RE: Got it today...DAMN its big?? - Brian Beuken - 05-03-2016
(05-03-2016, 09:25 AM)rahlquist Wrote: LOL the first picture on the kickstarter below the video has the dimensions...
true, but somehow they just never registered, I've bought a lot of SBC's and they are all credit card sized so I never expected anything bigger. I must say its interesting.
Can't say more than that at the moment as I am waiting 13hours for the Debian img to download....(need to fix that Pine people)
(05-03-2016, 09:13 AM)Faye Wrote: Nano Pi (32 bit ARM board) is an amazing design, almost every mm of the board has a component fitted to it. It doesn't have the "Euler" bus or the Wifi/Bluetooth expansion. It's probably possible to make it a bit smaller, but then you'd have to compromise on the port locations - the perimeter of the board is pretty much maximally used. The only way you could do better is by moving some of the components to the underside of the board or removing some ports.
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I have a large number of SBC's including some with 4USB/gigabit network, onboard wifi/BT, mics and IR, and other ports...no bigger than a credit card, I'm pretty sure making it smaller, maintaining 2 sets of GPIO and current ports, is quite possible.
Its not a complaint in any way about the A64, just something I find surprising. I am curious why the choice to make it this size was made, knowing the trend for smaller boards was so prevalent.
RE: Got it today...DAMN its big?? - pine.tree - 05-03-2016
The relatively large size of the Pine64 is because of cost- more layers to make the board thicker (but smaller) is more expensive to manufacture, which makes the $15 board impossible. I understand your thinking- it is larger than other SBC's, but MUCH cheaper because of the less layers in the board.
RE: Got it today...DAMN its big?? - Brian Beuken - 05-03-2016
(05-03-2016, 10:36 AM)pine.tree Wrote: The relatively large size of the Pine64 is because of cost- more layers to make the board thicker (but smaller) is more expensive to manufacture, which makes the $15 board impossible. I understand your thinking- it is larger than other SBC's, but MUCH cheaper because of the less layers in the board.
Nano Pi M1 is $11 , Raspberry Pi zero is $5
I'm not sure the cost argument explains the size?
RE: Got it today...DAMN its big?? - pine.tree - 05-03-2016
The referenced boards have lower specs on them. The Pine64 was designed to be able to keep the same size for the board with all three configurations: 512MB, 1GB, 2GB ram, to keep cases and project dimensions all the same if using different tier boards.
Aside from that, keep in mind that the current Pine64 was technically made to be for developers, not end consumers. In future years, the new Pine64's (hopefully) will be smaller to meet end-user preferences.
RE: Got it today...DAMN its big?? - queonda - 05-03-2016
(05-03-2016, 04:21 PM)pine.tree Wrote: The referenced boards have lower specs on them. The Pine64 was designed to be able to keep the same size for the board with all three configurations: 512MB, 1GB, 2GB ram, to keep cases and project dimensions all the same if using different tier boards.
Aside from that, keep in mind that the current Pine64 was technically made to be for developers, not end consumers. In future years, the new Pine64's (hopefully) will be smaller to meet end-user preferences.
Are all the SBC (raspberry, orange, etc) considered developer boards (http://www.mouser.com/Semiconductors/Engineering-Development-Tools/_/N-6hpeq/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwmKG5BRDv4YaE5t6oqf0BEiQAwqDNfJvciwcHlMWjCcYm5Cw0Up9cO9J0IXk6tNlJlvazdfkaAuWN8P8HAQ) ? What is Pine's definition?
RE: Got it today...DAMN its big?? - martinayotte - 05-03-2016
The Olimex-A64 (which isn't available yet) is a bit smaller according to picture, but doesn't have as much headers.
https://olimex.wordpress.com/2016/02/17/a64-olinuxino-64-bit-arm-oshw-designed-completely-with-kicad-is-live/
RE: Got it today...DAMN its big?? - pine.tree - 05-03-2016
(05-03-2016, 04:53 PM)martinayotte Wrote: The Olimex-A64 (which isn't available yet) is a bit smaller according to picture, but doesn't have as much headers.
https://olimex.wordpress.com/2016/02/17/a64-olinuxino-64-bit-arm-oshw-designed-completely-with-kicad-is-live/
Another good point- Pine64 has a lot more expansion pins, and connectors than most of the SBC's I've seen.