by JussiH » Sun Sep 25, 2016 8:34 am
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.