RoadTest: RoadTest Review a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B !
Author: matfur92
Creation date:
Evaluation Type: Evaluation Boards
Did you receive all parts the manufacturer stated would be included in the package?: True
What other parts do you consider comparable to this product?: Atmel SAMA5D3 Xplained , Atmel SAMA5D4 Xplained Ultra , LCD8000-43T-EX1 LCD 4.3 , Microsoft LifeCam HD-3000 , MendelMax 1.5 RepRap 1.4
What were the biggest problems encountered?: nothing for now
Detailed Review:
[ DRAFT ]
Hi to all,
I start immediately thanking infinitely the element14 team for giving me the chance to try and review this fantastic board Raspberry Pi 3 Model B.
I start by saying that this article will be updated a bit at a time in order to follow with me the progress of various steps that make up my review.
So let's start with the classic unboxing.
I want to say that the shipment was very quick and was entrusted to courier UPS which took care of the pack, handing me this in perfect condition.
Let talk now a bit with images to examine the quality of the board.
And now some details about boards that I have in test comparison :
Characteristics | Raspberry Pi 3 , Model B | SAMA5D4 | SAMA5D3 |
---|---|---|---|
Dimensions (L x W x H) | 85.6× 56× 21 mm | 135 × 88 × 20 mm | 125 x 75 x 20mm (10-layers) |
Processor | Broadcom BCM2837 64Bit Quad Core Processor powered Single Board Computer running at 1.2GHz | SAMA5D44 ( 361-ball BGA pack age), 16x16 mm body, pitch 0.8 mm | SAMA5D36 (324-ball BGA package) ARM Cortex-A5 Processor with ARM v7-A Thumb2® instruction set, core frequency up to 536 MHz |
Oscillators | MPU, EDBG: 12 MHz quartz RTC: 32.768 KHz PHY: 25 MHz | 12-MHz crystal oscillator 32.768-kHz crystal oscillator | |
Main Memory | RAM 1GB LPDDR2 (900 MHz) | 2 x DDR2 2 Gb 16 Meg x 16 x 8 banks (total 4Gbit = 512 MB) 1 x SLC NAND Flash 4 Gb 8-bit data (total 4Gbit = 512 MB) | 2x 1Gb DDR2 (16M x 16 bits x 8 banks) 1x 2Gb SLC NAND Flash (256M x 8 bits) |
Accessory memories |
| One optional Serial EEPROM SPI One EEPROM with Mac Address and Serial Number | One Serial EEPROM SPI One 1-Wire EEPROM |
SD/MMC | MicroSD | One 4-bit SD card connector One 4-bit Micro-SD card connector | One 8-bit SD card connector One optional 4-bit Micro-SD card connector |
USB | 4x USB Ports | Two USB Hosts with power switch One Micro-AB USB device | Two USB Hosts with power switch One Micro-AB USB device |
Display | Display Serial Interface (DSI) and HDMI | One LCD interface connector, LCD TFT Controller with overlay, alpha-blending, rotation, scaling and color space conversion One HDMI interface and connector | One LCD interface connector, LCD TFT Controller with overlay, alpha- blending, rotation, scaling and color space conversion |
Network | 10/100 MBPS Ethernet, 802.11n Wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.1 | One Ethernet PHY (RMII 10/100MHz) | One Gigabit Ethernet PHY (GRMII 10/100/1000) One Ethernet PHY (RMII 10/100) |
Debug port | UART debug on GPIO 12 (UARTS_TXD) and GPIO 15 (UARTS_RXD) | One JTAG interface connector One EDBG interface One serial DBGU interface (3v3 level) | One JTAG interface connector One serial DBGU interface (3.3V level) |
Expansion connector | 40 GPIO, HDMI, 3.5mm analogue audio-video jack, 4× USB 2.0, Ethernet, Camera Serial Interface (CSI), Display Serial Interface (DSI) | Arduino R3 compatible set of connectors XPRO set of connectors | Arduino R3 compatible set of headers The SAMA5D36 GPIO,TWI, SPI, USART, UART, Audio and ISI interfaces are accessible through these headers |
Board supply voltage | 5V from microUSB @ 2,5 amps | 5V from USB, power jack, and Arduino shield On-board power regulation by PMIC | 5V from USB or power jack or Arduino shield On-board power regulation is performed by a Power Management Unit (PMU) |
Battery | NO | On-board battery socket | On-board optional power Cap for CMOS backup |
User interface | NO reset button Status led | Reset, Wake-up and free user push button One red user/power LED and one blue user LED | Reset, wakeup and free user pushbutton One red user/power LED and one blue user LED |
Connectors | J4 Main power supply J11 USB A Device. Supports USB device using a type Micro-AB connector J16 USB Host B and C. Supports USB host using a stacked type A connector J1 Serial DBGU (3.3V level) J13 JTAG, 20 pin IDC connector J20 EDBG USB connector J9 Micro-SD connector J24 SD/MMC connector J12 Ethernet ETH0 J2 Expansion connector with all LCD controller signals for display module connection (QTouch®, TFT LCD display with touchscreen and backlight) J5 HDMI connector type A BAT1 CR1225 Battery holder J6, J7, J8, J14, J15, J17, J18, J19 Expansion connectors with Arduino R3 compatible PIO signals J21, J22, J23 Expansion connectors Xplained J3 JTAG EDBG (not populated) J10 PIOBU extension (not populated) | J2 Main power supply J6 USB A device, that supports USB device using a Micro-AB connector J7 (upper): USB B Host, that supports USB host using a type A connector J7 (lower): USB C Host, that supports USB host using a type A connector J23 Serial DBGU 3.3V level J24 JTAG, 20-pin IDC connector J11 Micro-SD connector J10 SD/MMC connector J12 Gigabit Ethernet ETH0 J13 Ethernet ETH1 J22 Expansion connector with all LCD controller signals for display module connection (QTouch, TFT,LCD display with Touch Screen and backlight C41 Optional SuperCap J14 to J21 Seven expansion connectors with Arduino R3 compatible PIO signals Various test points located throughout the board | |
Others | It is a mini-pc, every IDE could be used to write your applications in may languages | Compatible IDE : DS-5 Community Edition | ARM DS-5 Development Studio | Compatible IDE : DS-5 Community Edition | ARM DS-5 Development Studio Supported tools LinuxLink Embedded Linux Development Center for Atmel SAMA5D3 Series | Timesys Embedded Linux |
Raspberry Pi 3 is the newest among boards considered. Differently the other two boards, in addition to the computing power, it has characteristics that approach more like a mini computer and to the software world. The two SAMA instead, are moving more towards Arduino (the hardware side), constituting in fact the most direct bridge to the low-level code world. All this thanks to the form-factor compatible with the pinout of Arduino Uno. The sore point of the latter is the ease of use and the getting start guide. These boards are in fact less common and have behind them a much smaller community despite being open source.
As just noted, the great potential offered by Raspberry Pi 3 is the great community that we can find. That provides to this board countless distributions, hardware compatible and guides in many different ways, from the most basic to the most advanced for the most varied topics .
Stay tuned for upcoming news.
Spoiler: distro comparison
Top Comments
Hello Matteo,
as you are selected for a certain product review you are enabled from your Create menu to add a road test review and from the scrolldown list of the review article page you can select just…
Great points Enrico.
The Save Draft means you can view it but others can't so don't be fooled into thinking it has gone out ...
Thanks Enrico
As shown in figure, I confirm that you can not remove the publication of a RoadTestReview. It is a shame not be able to put in draft if you're wrong