Hi,
So, Like me many of us might have old SBC or powerful computers available at our disposal, but doe to the ever speeding pace of software development, often many of these kits die down due to lack of software support. An example is the RIoT Board, originally debuted around 2012-13 ( don't quote me on that) and post takeover of Freescale by NXP, died a peaceful death by around 2015-16. :( ;
let's keep silence for 1 min .......
Well now that's out of the way, So,
The board https://uk.farnell.com/freescale-riotboard/ , https://slowbootkernelhacks.blogspot.com/2017/01/riot-board-based-on-freescale-imx-6solo.html?m=0, https://community.nxp.com/t5/i-MX-Processors-Knowledge-Base/Task-2-First-build/ta-p/1112763, /products/devtools/single-board-computers/riotboard/#pifragment-3624=3, http://freescale.github.io/#
is not bad at all, I mean it is at par with Beagle Bone Black Rev C and Raspberry Pi 3 B, even better in some regards, in fact almost perfect for a NAS build using slow 5400 RPM 1TB 5V 0.6A HHDs and a cheep SATA to USB 2.0 adapter.
Obviously It's Not for the Speeds , but for the functionality.
It features,
- NXP i.MX6Solo ARM Cortex-A9 processor @ 1Ghz
- 1Gbps Ethernet
- 1GByte of 32-bit wide DDR3 @ 800MHz
- 4GByte EMMC Flash, Full size SD and Micro SD card support
- Supports Android and GNU/Linux
- EMC Compliance - Class B certified
- 4 USB 2.0 Ports
- Raspberry Pi Compatible headers
- On board Serial port for debugging
- On board JTAG interface
- NXP Power Management Integrated Chip (PMIC MMPF0100) fully programmable, and unto 5V/ 3A Input power support
-
OpenGL® ES 2.0 3D graphics accelerator with a shader
So, Not at all shabby. It is a gigabit eth so Plex server + NAS. ?? :) that's a dream come true.
BUT, IT IS NOT SUPPORTED ANYMORE !!!!! and I could even speak to the Ubuntu repos of on board 11.10 builds. (But internet worked like a charm using old Firefox build on the board)
I tried the blogs already present and compiled 10 different roots, u-Boot and Linux kernel, etc and have just given UP. to update to a slightly recent linux version but to be true that is not my area of expertise.
So Need help of your brilliant minds to help me revive this kit and maybe give HOPE to old SBC's :)
side NOTE, could learn a ton of things :) especially the scary process of custom embedded linux builds.
