The Difference Between SBC’s and Dev Boards

RE: The Difference Between SBC’s and Dev Boards

clem57 — Sun, 05 Jan 2020 06:21:07 GMT

OMG! This topic is getting too close to call. I have seen development boards reach many capabilities like a Linux machine without the OS/ An example i Max32650 with LCD in a kit. Although only a M4 running at 120Mhz, it can process data without CPU involvement using SmartDMA... On the other hand Zynq processor is a complete A9 with PL to build your own ARM/MicroBlaze that encroaches on the development boards. Expect the future to further blur the rules...

Clem

RE: The Difference Between SBC’s and Dev Boards

mralpro — Sun, 05 Jan 2020 04:08:26 GMT

I think is not totally accurate, the uC dev boards are not a little piece of junk as you describe, it had a very specific function, that is a tool to develop a future hardware implementation. Indeed the earliers ARM boards were more like dev boards than SBC, because the real difference between two concepts is the audience that are leaded. uC dev boards are usually leads to hardware guys, and the SBC for software guys. The arrive of software engineers to the embedded world impulse to a new concept, boards ready to use for programming, testing, and deploy, by this way the developers don't need to thing about hardware, more than connect some headers or cables, because the real complexity is on software. Actually in the industry the uC are a very mature technology, because they don't need a little board that may to run a lot of things, they just need a simple thing that runs their software, each time is power up, with no hangs. To be more clear, if your a hobbyist, student, or just don't have restrictions about hardware or energy on your project, or your project is so complex that must to run a complete OS, then SBC is for you. If you're an electronic engineer that wants to learn how to do a customized system, dealing with restrictions as on real environments, a very low power application, or you're working on a subsystem part of a more complex system, then uC is for you. uC can to run very complex software, as ANN, fuzzy logic, digital signal processing, manage multiple I/O, and real time characteristics, if you looking more in deep you can find a uC DSP. On the other hands FPGA technology is a more sophisticated solution, with a totally different approach. I used these 4 technologies for differents applications, each one have their charm, but on my experience, many of the SBC solutions can fit perfectly on a uC, that is cheaper and more efficient, but a bit tricky to debug and deploy.

RE: The Difference Between SBC’s and Dev Boards

aswinvenu — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 20:05:24 GMT

In my opinion development boards are boards with all the design files and source code open to the public. The idea behind the development board is to give a detailed development environment for the main chipset featured in the board.

On the other hand SBCs has to be considered as a general purpose computing device with very limited design files and source code available. Raspberry Pi is an example.

Earlier days only semiconductor manufactures/vendors only made development boards. ( Only to showcase and promote their products )

Development boards mainly focus on one IC, It can be a microcontroller, microprocessor. a sensor or any analog or digital IC. But in an SBC there is no particular chip to focus.

For example a sensor development board may have a microcontroller to collect data, process and send to a host machine but the focus will be mainly on the sensor and its modes of operation. Designer of the development board has to make sure that his design is capable of exposing all the possible features of that sensor to the user. But if an SBC is using a sensor it will be only for serving a purpose, which is mainly taking some reading at certain intervals.

Regards,

Aswin

RE: The Difference Between SBC’s and Dev Boards

jomoenginer — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 18:11:07 GMT

I would classify a Beaglebone/Beagleboard board such as the Black as Dev Board since it can be used as a development or prototype board where the same chip and code used on the BB Black could also be used in an end product since it follows the Open Source Hardware model. Due to the proprietary nature of the Raspberry Pi, the same is not the case.

Also, the NVIDA Jetson Nano is a SoM but runs Linux. Again, could be classified as a dev board.

However, what about FPGA dev boards? How would you classify them?