Atomic Pi - High Speed SBC with Peripheral ICS

What I love:* The price: other x86 SBCs with the same CPU cost $100. Other mini PCs from China cost at least $80. This board is a bargain.* USB3.0, real gigabit ethernet (it really reaches than 900mbps) and low power consumption make this board the best $35 NAS solution.* x86_64 architecture, 2GB RAM and full Windows and Android x86 compatibility make this board the cheapest way to get a half decent PC fully capable of handling office tasks.* The ability to choose your own WiFi antennas, exposed GPIOs, Linux and Android compatibility, the precence of a eMMC, onboard bluetooth and WiFi, make this board quite versatile.* The big heatsink didn't allow the CPU to reach more than 55°C in my tests.Now that it's out of stock I'm regretting buying only one.What I dont like:* The absence of a DC barrel jack. But this board can still be powered easily with bradboard jumpers.* A 16GB eMMC is too small for Windows 10 (but it's more than enough for Linux)* I would have expected to find at least some cheap PCB WiFi antennas includeded in the box. Withouth them WiFi is basically useless and now I have to wait to get some from Aliexpress.* There is no audio jack. You can either use audio over HDMI, or use a cheap USB sound card. Or use the big external expasion board (not yet available from Amazon).Raspberry Pi comparison:* The Atomic Pi is a little bigger than two Raspberry Pi.* The Atomic Pi is much much faster than a Raspberry Pi.* The Atomic Pi can diplay 1080p videos from VLC and even from Youtube (with Firefox). WIth the Raspberry Pi you have to use its own player and just forget about streaming a HD video from a browser without stuttering.* The Atomic Pi requires a slightly more powerful power supply than the Raspberry Pi.* The Atomic Pi doesn't require a SD to work.* The Atomic Pi, as a server, is just better in any way than the Raspberry Pi (storage speed, network speed, software compatibility).* The Raspberry Pi, as a TV media center, can be controlled with your TV remote with HDMI-CEC. The Atomic Pi cannot.* The Raspberry Pi has a more flexible and better community supported GPIO interface.* Unlike the Raspberry, the Atomic Pi is already properly cooled out of the box. I didn't found a way to overclock it, but I cound easily change the frequency governor.How I use it:I soldered a power connector, from a barrel plug and a common breadboard pin strip. Then I disabled the PXE boot, I booted a Linux live pendrive and flashed the provided Debian Buster minimal image to the eMMC (instructions provided).Then I installed a desktop environment (with the command taskel), so now I have a little Linux desktop. I also installed a Samba server, so it doubles as a quite fast NAS.Finally I 3D printed a plastic case from Thingiverse and it's now complete.

I have purchased (more than ten) of these. I have used them for TV set-top boxes as well as other servers:* Plex media server* Camera Server (and or recorder)* 3CX phone server (or SBC relay)* General NAS server.* OPNsense Firewall (works great!)The above servers all run great as "Headless" servers (with 2GB of RAM). Pretty much any freebsd or debian based install will work on this x86 64-bit compatible board.(I like to use the USB 3.0 port for a regular hard drive.)It comes with Lubuntu 18 installed (but in much need of current updates). Runs great with this install.You always restore this install from the DL site. It is "Camera Ready" so it can work with the GEO Cam 1080p webcam for about $13 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SYJJKBP (also by DL)Limited Model:This model board is in limited supply for this price. However Aaeon continues to make them (in a newer SBC format) called the "UP board" (search for "Aaeon UP Developer Board with Intel Atom x5-Z8350")https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XRLV6QWPros:* great price for what you get.* regular BIOS (efi boot only)* regular HDMI (with sound via HDMI default)* has sound amplifier (works as "Line out" if only supplied by 5V)* has onboard Bosch accelerometer* Has console "serial" port (needs adapter for USB) for trouble-shooting* onboard blue tooth* onboard WiFi (needs antennas)* boots from any efi device (SD Card, Onboard eMMC drive, USB, Network)* It can run Windows 10 (but with only 2GB of RAM you would really need to ameliorate it)Caveats:Needs stuff...* needs a new cmos battery.* needs power supply* needs wiring for power supply (or a baby break-out board)* needs wiring for USB 2.0 port* needs wiring for regular Stereo sound out* internal eMMC drive is small (can use SD card or USB3.0 hard drive)* needs external WiFi antennas if you wish to have solid WiFi access. Needs two antennas per unit. Here are four antennas (for two units): amazon.com/dp/B07W4T7HX2 + amazon.com/dp/B07H3P9KDQIn the attached photo you will see a 3D printed case with a small 5V fan, and a hard drive (underneath-- attached to the USB 3.0 port). There is a header on the motherboard for a USB 2.0 port (There is nothing in the USB 2.0 port in the photo). I negotiated a price for baby-breakout boards to have a barrel power connector. In the photo you will see a 20W "ultra thin" power supply from the "CHUX" distributor item 32905940921 (at the ali x site) I printed the case to adapt this PS. I will try adding WiFi antennas onto this case (and maybe I will add a 1/8" sound port)If you enjoy Linux and enjoy tinkering with inexpensive SBCs then you would enjoy these.

First the fix. I didn't know it came with the breakout board, so I bought one -- both of them could not be used to power my unit. I had a 5v 4A power supply and nothing seemed to happen, and It did this on both breakout boards. Fixing it was pretty easy...So I watched a few youtube videos and saw where other people were plugging into the connector on the Atomic Pi -- I checked for 5v on these pins... Nothing. Checked continuity between center pin and 5v Power on the Atomic pi connector-- nothing. What I found is that 4A FB ( The green thing behind the 2.5mm jack) wasn't working. So I soldered a jumper from one side of 4A FB to the other. If you do this and it blows up and burns your house down... I am not responsible... just saying what worked for me. Funny thing is that I had two boards with the same problem. The only thing I can think of is that this is a 4A fuse, and I am running a 4A power supply and it blew the fuse. Instructions even say that if you're going to use an external hard drive -- get a 5v 5A power supply.... Thats why it's only 4 stars.Other than that this thing is really an awesome buy. Cheaper than the Raspbery pi, runs X86 compiled programs, has a 16G Storage built in, comes pre-installed with Lubuntu. Yeah it's very good. BONUS -- Mine came with a camera!Speed... Now I did try and install KDE Ubuntu -- it worked but man is it slow, had it on for about 20 min and went back to Lubuntu. I installed Lubuntu 19 with LXQT -- very nice. I would imagine that running on Windows 10 would work but it is probably going to be very slow.