Normally we are used to seeing replicas or competitors of Raspberry Pi, but it is not usual to see replicas of Computer Module, a board intended for the IoT world. However, the Pinebook company has taken a step forward and has launched a board with a format and functions similar to Compute Module but with a lower price and higher power.
This new ram memory board is called Sopine A64 and it has more powerful hardware than the famous Raspberry Pi Compute Module, as well as its own expansion board.
The SOPINE A64 board has a processor Quad Core Allwinner, a Mali-400MP2 GPU, 2 Gb of ram memory and a slot for microsd cards. This board costs $ 29 per unit, somewhat cheaper than Computer Modulo. The expansion board provides SOPINE A 64 not only with more connection ports but also better support for connecting items to the GPIO port.
Sopine A64 offers more power than Computer Module but does not have that community
The expansion board costs $ 15 and Pinebook offers everything for $ 35, a lower price than the Raspberry Pi version, which costs almost double. In addition to the processor, the ram memory in Sopine A64 is quite an interesting difference for the users of this board, a difference that will allow to run more powerful programs and even be able to be used as a minipc with an advanced desktop.
Regarding the software, users will be able to use Android, Ubuntu and Debian, as well as distributions that have an ARM version. This means that the user will not find any problem with the most necessary programs, although if we use it as an IoT device, it is most likely that the software is created by us.
Sopine A64 is an interesting option for many projects and especially for many users who are novices and are not sure what to create with it. In any case, the choice is yours It is not like this?