New Windows Single board computer
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Posted:
Mon Aug 22, 2016 5:12 pm
by JussiH
I stumbled across this little interesting thingy...basically its a Single Board Computer that runs a full windows 10.
http://www.lattepanda.com/Its based on a Atom Z8300 (Quad core, up to 1.8 Ghz), comes with 32 or 64 GB eMMC and 2 or 4 GB DDR3. Intel HD graphics Has HDMI, USB2 and USB3, SD card reader. Touch screen controller as well... You can get the smallest version for 109 Dollars with Windows 10 preinstalled. 139 USD for the larger version with more storage and RAM.
I am gonna order one of these for a custom groundstation and couple it with a field monitor....should be perfect for running QGC.
Re: New Windows Single board computer
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Posted:
Mon Aug 22, 2016 6:30 pm
by aBUGSworstnightmare
Hi Jussi,
let me know how they are working. Would be nice to make a comparison with an RPi3 based ground station.
I've made a new design of my LVDS adapter board and will start building the ground station into the Peli Case soon. Will keep you guys posted.
Here are some pics of the unit in a small video. The video just shows a test setup with 7in.
The board is a 4-layer PCB, size is 30x99mm. I have some of them left, so in case anybody is interested let me know. The adapter is able to drive EACH single channel LVDS display - the means up to HD = 1366x768 pixels - resolution. I have two version for both mappings (refer here for some first info on LVDS data mapping
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 5&t=157109).
Cheers
Joerg
Re: New Windows Single board computer
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Posted:
Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:47 pm
by JussiH
Joerg,
Looking good. I will report back on the LattePanda, when I get it and have had a chance to play around with it. But on paper its the same spec as my Atom slate PC, which runs QGC and Mission Planner just fine, so I think its gonna work....(famous last words...)
Re: New Windows Single board computer
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Posted:
Sun Sep 25, 2016 8:34 am
by JussiH
I have the LattePanda running QGC now. It works just like any Windows10 computer.
A few remarks about it:
It does run very hot so it needs a heatsink on the main CPU, I am gonna use a graphics card cooler with a small fan, but I think that just a decent heatsink would be enough. I will embed this into a groundstation, so I want to make sure it runs on a hot day as well.
Its very picky with the power supply and especially the USB cable used. You need a cable that can handle at least 2A at 5V and a matching USB power supply. In the Case I am building, I will embed a 2.5A switching regulator and provide power directly to the 5V rail on the LattePanda.
I had some issues with mine. Mostly that it came with a corrupted BIOS chip. I had to buy a flashing tool (5USD on ebay) to get the BIOS reflashed or send it back for RMA, which could take months due to the company beeing in Shanghai. But the BIOS reflash was easy and after that it came back to life.
I also had to reinstall Windows, but it was easy using an image provided on the webpage.
All in all I think its a promising product, but unless you need one "right now", I would wait for the next version to come out and solve overheating issues.
I think its a perfect alternative to a dragon board and similar. Smaller form factor, nice specs and an arduino (ProMicro) coprocessor that can be used for a lot of things; I am gonna use it to run some temperature and battery control functions.
Its no contest with a Raspberry PI. I like the fact that it has onboard eMMC storage, and it boots pretty fast with that. I think that is what I miss mostly on PI´s. The fact that it can run a full Windows10, is something I really like. Of course it costs twice as much as a PI3, but still I think its good value for money at 79 dollars for the base version.
A new screen, USB hub and power supply is on its way, and when it gets here I will embed it all into a small flightcase along with a FrSky TX and VRX for a complete groundstation solution in one single case.
Re: New Windows Single board computer
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Posted:
Mon Sep 26, 2016 8:36 am
by aBUGSworstnightmare
Sounds good! What are the display options? LVDS, HDMI or both (or even eDP)?
Re: New Windows Single board computer
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Posted:
Mon Sep 26, 2016 8:44 am
by JussiH
It supports both LVDS (for some native LattePanda display) and HDMI. I will be using HDMI in my setup.