"Virtually interchangeable with a Raspberry Pi 4B 4GB"
It is a cheap Raspberry Pi 4B 4GB clone. Not sure when the deal ends but I picked one up today for a little project I had in mind.
Rock 4 Model C Plus $39.00 + $7.95 Delivery ($0 Pick up) @ Jaycar
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firefly board has a tool you can use to add firefly drivers to a pios image so that it will boot both on the pi4 and on the firefly board
So, you're agreeing with me? Images for Raspberry Pi and Rockchip are not interchangeable.
Images for Raspberry Pi and Rockchip are not interchangeable.
just gave y an example demonstrating that they are, in fact, interchangable
just gave y an example demonstrating that they are, in fact, interchangable
You did not. The image needs modification with a tool.
The image needs modification
you call adding drivers for a new graphic card a modification?
most folks'd consider that just adding drivers
you call adding drivers for a new graphic card a modification
100% the image cannot be flashed to a different device without changing it. Which is a modification. Which matters when you're dealing with closed source software.
@tonyamazing: i've never (in the 40 odd years i've been tinkering) heard anyone referring to installing a driver as a mod. doesn't mean it's never been said, i've just never personally encountered it.
why not use one of your rpi boards for your solar whatever if you're so lairy of driver installations?
@0jay: I think by mod we are talking kernel patching/building which is out of comfort for many gui linux users? Or are you talking about firmware OTA updates?
@tonyamazing: pios used to be named raspbian, allusion to the fact that it is a debian implimentation (being a portmanteau of raspberry and debian).
similarly, armbian is a portmanteau of arm (the cpu architecture) and debian (itself a portmanteu of the original developer's name and his wife's name debbie and ian)
use the hardware, explore (what sbcs are for) and learn something.
these devices (sbcs) were designed for experimentation, they are educational hardware
pi is arm, rockchip's arm, what's the problem?
Because a device's hardware and compatibility with software is much more complicated than what architecture the CPU is.
people are posting with near zero knowledge or experience of linux and it really really shows
Ironic comment.
How quick usually Jaycar send an order? Would I get it in 2 business day after placing order? Metro area. Thanks.
City JC has the locker you can pick up anytime like PO
Thanks … but I can't pickup.
jcar have ebay store wi delivery as linked above
Call them and ask. They have real people at your local store
@serpserpserp: Just called the store closest to me that had stock, but now they run out of stock. I think I will give this a pass … just tidied up cupboard and found Orange Pi still sealed lol …
Hope RockChip is less crap than AllWinner chipsets.
rockchip's fantastic
I stopped buying all these devices anymore. I have 2x Raspi 3B+, Raspi 3 and Zero - bought it when it's still cheap and less popular but now the model 4 and 5 exploded in price. Since then I started buying those cheap used Dell Optiplex uSFF or HP ProDesk mini as I have a better hardware upgrade path than these.
This is $40 but.
Yeah… and you can buy a Dell Wyze 3040 for almost the same price or if you're lucky a Dell Optiplex 7040 that sports a 6500T CPU, upgradeable RAM and SSD.
Yes, it's not as energy efficient as the small computer as that but is more powerful. But yeah, if you're going to run like PiHole, Adguard, HomeAssistant - that device should be enough.
found any links on ebay?
mainly see a lot of barebones 7040
@impoze: I just look around mostly on FB Marketplace. Way cheaper than the sales that being posted here once in a while.
Do you tend to keep the devices running 24x7? The devices which I switch off tend to corrupt their storage vs the ones that I keep running, but not sure if that's a fluke.
there's an appliance mode type setup if you set the system to read only otherwise you need to shut it down like any other compute device or risk corruption
Just a general advice. If you want a low power, low cost PC and don't care about the GPIO….
Go for an Intel J5xxx or N1xxx chipset. They can be had for under $100 sometimes and they are infinitely less likely to end up as waste. They are good for plex, docker etc.infinitely less likely to end up as waste
oh my, the hubris is strong in this one
yep, Pis & SBCs are not the value kings they were anymore
Just an FYI, I have an N100 that is basically a doorstop now. It has RAM soldered onto the board and the super el cheapo RAM (inferior grade) chips used didn't last long. The BIOS lacks the ability to downclock (but it is already set to DDR5-4000).
AliExpress Support is clueless and told me the manufacturer indicated there is nothing they can do as it only supports single channel (come on, the RAM chips are soldered on and if it cannot even handle single channel, it is obviously a piece of junk). The maker also swapped the WiFi card and the SSD with the cheapest variant possible (compared to the ones reviewed by the reviewer (better RAM soldered, better SSD and better WiFi card).
I've got a J5005 with SODIMM that has been going for 6 or 7 years now and is more capable than the Pi 5 sitting here.
It can run Proxmox, it takes one SATA and NVME.
DDR4-SODIMM based systems generally are less affected by RAM issues. DDR5, when you have inferior grade RAM modules, can be a real pain. It's not limited to these cheap mini PCs, but some of these cheap mini PCs just soldered the DDR5 RAM chips onto the board (not replaceable or upgradable).
Another super old Intel NUC I have, while still working, had CMOS battery being completely flat. Unlike a desktop PC where you can just replace the coin battery, that one, I had to disassemble the whole NUC (as the battery is on the under side of the motherboard). It wasn't fun to do that. Likewise for an old MSI mini PC.
I wonder if Hyperion / HyperHDR work on these…
same GPIO and you can run hyperHDR on ubuntu/debian
Single and multi-threaded video processing optimization for Windows, macOS (x64/arm64: M1, M2) and Linux x64 & ARM (Raspberry Pi and others).
fantastic, thank you!
I have no experience with SBC's but at this price I jumped on one. No idea what Im gonna use it for. Media streamer? Home automation? What else?
Pi-hole is a great use, you don't realise how many ads you see until you start blocking them heavily. It does break some things though - like the Sponsored results in google, which often are the site you're looking for, so you have to retrain yourself to click the 2nd or 3rd result.
Home Assisant is pretty incredible too. I thought our home was 'smart' with just the hue bulbs, smart ac, smart tvs, etc. but once we got Home Assistant, you quickly realise that it's a bunch of ecosystems doing their own thing, Home Assistant brings it all together and aside from some pretty great data / reporting.. it allows some great automations across these systems. Some of my faves:
1. With a scan of an NFC tag, I can switch the lights off in the kids bedroom and their google tv streamer will start playing relaxing music (noise buffer)
2. At a random time between 12am and 1am, a google hub in the main area will threaten to turn off the TV.. if you ignore it, it does it anyway after 20 minutes, forcing you to break bad habits.
3. I have ADHD and am constantly forgetting my meds. I have an automation that kicks off at 9am which flashes lights and audibly reminds me, it then does this every 10 minutes until I scan an NFC tag, at which point it calls me a b*tch and then stops haha
4. Kids are always asking for game money and stuff in exchange for doing jobs around the house outside of usual chores - I have a button they can press which assigns them a random task from a list I made
5. The outdoor unit for a split system is undercover in a patio. We have an automation that monitors the intake temp of the split system and should it exceed 35C, then it fires up an industrial fan (via a smart plug) to pull cooler air through that areaOutside of that, they're fairly decent for just general day to day use. When my toddler decimated the HDMI port on my GPU, I was able to carry on by using the rpi for day to day stuff. I was even able to use Steam Link to play games that the pi otherwise wouldn't handle!
Thanks for the response. I currently own a 5 drive unraid server. What would be the advantage running it on this sbc as opposed to my main server?
Redundancy? I'd personally just run it on a central server if you already have one, save a few watts I guess.
@theguwithnoname: pi zero's enough for pihole, not too many watts and two instances on a single server defeats the purpose of hardware redundancy
Does Unraid support Arm based CPU? This sbc is not suitable to run Unraid. It's just a toy. This particular revision of Rock 4 C+ (1.4) removed the m.2/NVMe slot. Also, software wise, you will find its not as mature as Pi. I have Rock 5B and its video in / capture simply is not as promised.
Most people use these for small projects. At this price, due to FOMO, people will get one (or two or three).
Do these support Ubuntu out if the box or do you need to run a specific version?
The standard Ubuntu ARM64 images will work, yep.
What interesting projects you guys would use this for?
Weather station
Any recommendations for Rock 4 Case ?
Apparently they will fit regular Pi cases. I am going to go back in later and buy the NES case that was on sale for $20. Kicking myself for not buying one when I was already there.
Thanks in advance .
Bought 2 think later. New to raspberry but heard and keen to try. Tried Arduino, Esp. Genuine pi price too steep for the specs it offers.
What a purchase experience.
Grabbed a deal, dunno what to do. A popular deal LIKE THIS, also come with guidances, that gives me a good head start. And on Hindsight, it was right to not only buy 1. Thanks opHaha same, true OzB style! I have a hobby project in mind, but once done it will become a PiHole.
Even though I currently don't have use for one (mine became a KVM), I'm tempted to get one just cause of the price.
Im just amazed that after a page of discussion we've not had the usual dumbass comment saying that it's better to buy a cheap old PC. That happens in every Pi thread.
1) It's already been said.
2) Besides form factor, HATs and power usage, a SFF PC is better option.It depends on the use case.
what have th romans ever done for us..?
Going to go ahead and make a guess that the CSI port won't work with pi cameras like the camera module 3 (IMX708),HQ Camera (IMX477) or AI Camera (IMX500).
sounds like it does… radxa lists pi cam 2 as being a compatible accessory on their website.
Pi camera 2 (IMX219) is an much older sensor with much wider compatibility though. I know it's been an issue with a lot of pi type boards, even NVIDIA's Jetson series didn't have support for it a year after launch. I think an ported open source 3rd party driver eventually became available for it, haven't tested them though.
It's just something to be wary of, until it's confirmed the likes of the IMX708 and IMX500 work it's safer to assume they don't.
I believe correct. They sell a compatible camera and I think they work with older Pi2 camera.
Doesn’t work for home automation?
Why not? It certainly won't be as easy as using one of the more supported hardware options but check this thread out:
https://community.home-assistant.io/t/home-assistant-on-rock…Actually see David-Dickinson's comment below
be like david, know what you're doing before complaining you can't get it working (or be prepared to learn)
This is a weird SBC.
Probably 3 years old and little to no discussion online.
I can’t even tell how well the drivers / implementation of hardware is. No idea about gpu, connectivity etc.
it’s as if it wasn’t popular. No images available from nearly all community projects.
Comment above says it’ll run Debian aarch64 however how well and hot is a mystery.Perhaps those who collected in person could update us.
Review:
https://jamesachambers.com/rock-pi-4c-plus-w-nvme-sbc-review…
Note: the one you get is a newer revision which removed the m.2 slot so you can skip all the m.2 NVMe module sections of the review.Official images and tools:
https://wiki.radxa.com/Rockpi4/downloads
Note: make sure you click Rock 4C+ in Official Images section before downloading the images. The 64-bit support is mainly so that you can use the entire 4GB of RAM. I found Rock 5B slow, so don't expect 4C+ to be fast. Software support for 5B is also disappointing (not at the same level as Pi 4/5).At this price, it is a nice toy.
hard to believe they removed the m.2 slot.. I mean they did… but wtf!
That explains the info I found talking about an m2.NVMe drive. Thanks.
I can't believe the kept the same model name with such a major change. Having an m.2 NVMe would have been a much better option.
Yeah, much prefer to have the m.2, but I guess we know why these are being discounted.
Ordered with express delivery Thursday night, delivered next morning (Sydney). Installed home assistant OS (from here ) and had it up and running, discovering all my stuff within 20 mins. At $40 it was exactly what I needed at the right price point. YMMV!
Any suggestions and recommendations for must have accessories to get started. this is my first project and working out if i need anything else other than usbc powersupply, hdmi micro cable/converter. is a case or heatsink must have for use like setting up pihole?
You definitely need a micro sd card as well. You can get away without a case or heatsink, but should add those later.
why is nobody asking the real questions. can this run fortnite??
some phones can.. 🙃
I wish I did not buy this.
After buying the board, I bought
1. Mini HDMI adapter
2. SD card
3. Looking for a case (The one I bought from Amazon did not fit so I had to return)
4. OS had not been updated for a couple years, newer OS is non-existenceSpent way too much time debugging an OS than using it. Really not worth the effort IMO…
it can take some time to learn your way around.
try armbian or vanilla debian for rockchip
First of all, those dd command did not work for whatever reason so I had to use etcher on Mac.
Then I tried Debian and Ubuntu (newer version from https://sd-card-images.johang.se) both seemed to work but I only got CLI to use. No wifi, no bluetooth, no user, not even sudo. Then I tried to find one for nixos, after building multiple own images, nothing works, can't even boot up.
I guess the next step is to try Armbian
Anyway, if I knew there was so many compatible issues I won't buy this board -> even the case (this one https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07XBKPZ87) won't fit…
MicroHDMI is annoying (though Pi 4 has the same issue). Etcher on Windows with official Debian provided works. WiFi works (but lousy range and speed and doesn't support WPA3), Bluetooth works, Sudo works. GUI default to the user that allows you to sudo. Use a decent microSD card. Performance, however, is disappointing, especially when you run in GUI / X-window mode.
If you are on Mac, probably wouldn't bother with command line method to create the image (because Mac is BSD based) so if you run into issues, you need to figure out BSD equivalent commands (the instructions would be written for linux). Also, it looks like those instructions are out of date. Just use Etcher, boot into GUI mode first.
I was also going to buy that case. Can you explain why it doesn't fit? Apparently it should fit the official RPi 4 case…
@dantes: From a brief search, (according to AI), not all Pi 4 cases will work. Also, that case isn't the official RPi 4 case.
@netsurfer: Yeah, I know that case isn't official. But it doesn't have any issues like a FLIRC case where you have "raised islands" that need aligning with the CPU. I was going to get a FLIRC, but it looks like only 33% of the CPU would align. I guess that would still work better than a small heatsink, without case? Any thoughts?
@dantes: I checked my spare el cheapo Pi 4 case, I reckon most, if not all, Pi 4 case will not fit, the locations of the ports don't appear to line up exactly. The issue I find so far isn't the height, but the ports are all a few mm out.
@netsurfer: Thanks for the insight, in which case I'm leaning towards this https://core-electronics.com.au/pimoroni-aluminium-heatsink-…. The contacts points won't line up perfectly, but I think it would do a better job than a small heatsink alone.
@dantes: Argon One V2 sort of fit (not perfect though), but that's not the case I am willing to let Rock 4C+ use (I prefer to let my Pi4 use it). I am going to ask a mate to print me a case.
Note: I don't recommend getting Argon One V2 for this. If that doesn't fit your Rock 4C+, it is your problem. I only did a quick test and I didn't screw everything in. From my tests of 2 Pi 4 cases, I am definitely not going to get any Pi 4 case for my Rock 4C+.
@netsurfer: Don't worry, won't hold anything against you. You already provided some invaluable insights regarding port alignment.
Anyone know a image that will allow ssh on first time on boot for this? Dont fancy buying a hdmi adaptor
Or alternate method of remote access.
armbian's the best cold boot headless install experience in my opinion
minimal image for this board here courtesy of @YeahBabi
extra bonus if you get an emmc card for this board armbian has a seamless transfer to emmc tool that kills any other implimentation i've seen
Will give it a whirl, thank you
initial login's 1234
As in, you can move armbian from the SD to EMMC without having to flash the emmc on your pc?
you can move armbian from the SD to EMMC without having to flash the emmc on your pc?
Exactly. Has to be a fresh, unconfigured install
Would you happen to what forum /post contains active development for the C+ community edition? I could not see anything on the Armbian forum - however someone is updating GitHub?
I find GitHub a bit confusing to navigate so maybe I missed it.the c+ is community support, not sure how active the forum is around this board to be honest and have in fact only ever interacted on mainstream supported boards.
You could post up in the main armbian forum for guidance, i've always found them to be friendly and responsive
I think it likely there's just a community supported thread that addresses a mashup of all community support boards. Best apporach in this case might be to identify the member who's working the github updates and talk to them.
Github allows for interaction with devs but I don't personally find that to be a great way to interact most of the time. Armbian crew are really approachable and supportive in my experience.
Have you encountered a particular problem with this board or you're just wanting to get your ducks in a row?
@0jay: Hasn’t arrived yet - just getting a heads up. It might replace my headless pinhole if it gives me trouble otherwise I’m considering a retropi type build
I think Dietpi is another option for headless.
Just tried armbians headless install and it takes way longer than 2 minutes. It was more like half an hour
Anyone bought using standard delivery? How long did they take to process the order? Will they ship from a store in a different state or will they cancel an order if it can't be fulfilled locally?
Sweet deal, Retropie it for a nice emulator.
Retropie isn't an emulator. It's a bunch of emulators and EmulationStation packaged up.
Voted down for being right.
@tonyamazing:
as an example, there is an open source hardware project an example of which is a firefly board. this has a rockchip cpu just like the radxa baord in this deal.
the firefly board has a tool you can use to add firefly drivers to a pios image so that it will boot both on the pi4 and on the firefly board