The Future of Single Board Computers

[@zabique]

This channel has so 90s feel. Always pleasure to watch it.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks. I am often labelled as 70s, 80s and 90s. All cool! :)

[@kevinjohansson3923]

This was very informative yet not too dry. Thanks for making these.

[@logicalphallusy2364]

A few decades ago in the days when computers cost thousands of dollars, if you had told someone that one day there would be a computer that could fit in the palm of your hand and be far more powerful than even the most powerful supercomputer of the time, and only cost $5, everyone would think you were insane. And yet here we are, and this is the reality we live in.

[@benos1799]

Yeah

[@broofallbros3036]

Yeah and if you told a caveman you could pull a trigger and kill anything they wouldn't believe you

[@logicalphallusy2364]

To a caveman you'd have to explain what a trigger is.

[@lukedupont6238]

Just imagine how ignorant we are of future advances that we might see in 10, 20, or 30 years!

[@NonsensicalSpudz]

come back to this comment in 20 years lol.

[@rhedinrage1601]

You remind me of when I used to watch TV to find out about the latest consoles and computers as a kid, that kind of presentation only a lot more informative. Definitely a channel I'm going to me watching more now.

[@Ashwekar]

This channel is so cool. Feels like discovery channel segment from when I was growing up

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks.

[@cdoublejj]

Yeah the old school discovery channel when it was REALLY cool!

[@paulorobalo7216]

After watching these videos, my brain always grows a little 😁

[@resrussia]

Thank you for a interesting and perceptive video on single-board computers. Your round-up was very complete in terms of the issues and trends surrounding the future SBCs (at least for me). As always keep up the good work!

[@augurseer]

I own a odroid C2 and several versions of Raspi. And now I've bought a orangepi zero and orange pi r1. I love this industry.

[@dannyboy42223]

Very good video! One thing about the Pi that stands out compared to other boards is support. Even with its lower specs I know with the Pi that software works, add ons are plentiful, and a large community exists for whatever project you can imagine. The Pi also has support still even for its earlier boards. I've not seen too many other consumer companies able to do the same in the $35 USD market

[@jamesbrown8766]

My first SBC used an 8-bit Intel 8082 with a mini-BASIC interpreter onboard, made in the early 1980’s. I used it for motion control in robotics applications. Now I have an AI-capable Nvidia Jetson Nano. We’ve come a long way!

[@john_turner]

Man I don't understand why I like the way he presents things on his channel so much. No frills just the info and I love it

[@mer9706]

That was some sneaky rendering magic there, at the end! Grabbed that board right out of the future.

[@ExplainingComputers]

:)

[@kathulemerald8000]

Daughterboard, now that's a word I haven't heard in many years. Amazing how this tech is using such old innovations in such a clever way. Very informative video, thanks! :)

[@blevenzon]

Brilliant as always, thank you!

[@Oliver-l1c]

Excellent. I loved seeing all the SBCs lined up together.

[@golf-n-guns]

You hit the nail on the head regarding the SBCs having SIM card slots in the future!

[@vlya1533]

Something like Orangepi 4g-iot, for example

[@charleswey4895]

I always enjoy watching your video clips because they are very educational & informative about SBC. Thank you.

[@nataliemendelsohn1317]

It's the nice thing about computers that a computer can be within reach for almost everyone even if you have a very small budget and that it also offers the latest and greatest for those who do have the money to spend on it.

[@franklinpierce2854]

Another very nice review. Thanks !!!

[@PhonicUK]

UDOO have a new board coming out based on the AMD Ryzen Embedded processor. It also takes standard SODIMM modules for RAM. Looking forward to seeing that come out later this year!

[@rachelmaxwell4936]

It's called the UDOO BOLT and it's on Kickstarter. It's based on the Ryzen Embedded V1000 series. The base model has a V1202B and no RAM for $229. In the spirit of full disclosure, I have backed the V8 version with 8GB of RAM. I also backed the Latte Panda Delta on Kickstarter.

[@ryhu4755]

You are the best. You present so many rabbit hole openings and I really appreciate you for that. Cheers!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks. I will try to keep opening those rabbit holes!

[@AhCup]

I would love to see using USB-C as power input. If we move to barrel jacks every manufacture will end up have their own size again like small device before the days of micro-USB port.

[@ShadowDeus]

dont even bring up that nightmare, trying to find a charge cord for your phone back in the day ...OMFG!

[@ShadowDeus]

@@2Champions but wouldnt a 3.0 be enough though? ive been hearing bad things bout C... cords overheating and just down right not working.... but IDK that might just be a Nintendo thing.

[@jenniferlynn3579]

That was specifically a Nintendo thing, because Nintendo didn't actually follow the proper official USB Type-C specification sheet. They just approximated it and didn't wire it correctly so only their own products would work properly with it. 3rd party products that actually followed official specs ended up frying themselves or worse, the Switch itself because Nintendo was too lazy to do it right the first time. I am not entirely sure but I believe they either did or are in the middle of a small Switch revision that corrects the bad usb port design. I could be wrong about that, though. Either way, the actual, proper USB Type-C port is a modern marvel and was sorely needed, and is capable of so much more than ports of the past.

[@deusexaethera]

Barrel ports are already standardized. There are several sizes, but those sizes are standardized, and their power handling capacities are also standardized.

[@jenniferlynn3579]

@@deusexaethera I think OP's point was that there is a disparity between barrel port sizes. While each size may belong to a standard, the fact that it isn't universally all one size already complicates matters more than they should be for projects like this. With USB-C, a large variety of products use them for multiple purposes (power, data, a/v, etc... which barrel ports aren't really meant for) and you can buy replacement cables for pennies. All you need to know is whether it is USB-C or not, which, in a real world setting, can be confirmed at a glance. With barrels, you would need to know if it's exactly the right size, which is also harder to do at a glance. In the end, this sort of "ultra-standardization" can eventually bring production costs down a little as well.

[@briancrane7634]

Very nice review indeed! Very kind of you to sort out the models and features and present them logically..

[@CliveChamberlain946]

Like that split screen at the end! (the right side doesn't exist yet)

[@JAKOB1977]

Tell that to his inbox who have been flooded with price inquiries.

[@richiezombie531]

Back at it again with these SBC! I love it!!! The kid in me feels like this is the future like the Jetsons cartoon :D

[@elviraeloramilosic9813]

I enjoy so much watching EC videos. All in one. Like proper SBC. 😊❤️

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks Elvira.

[@ifell3]

Elvira Elora Milosic I second that!!

[@elviraeloramilosic9813]

zztop3000 Hr.

[@AmstradExin]

If you want the real deal, you still need to look for industrial computers. The offeringts otherwise are either bare or Kickstarters that nowhere....

[@abyssstrider2547]

Elvira Elora Milosic I see you everywhere

[@rexjuggler19]

Another excellent episode, and your conclusion of segmented SBC's is spot on. I setup a NextCloud server on a Raspberry PI 3 for a low cost church and home environment as a test project to replace DropBox for under twenty users. We needed more storage space and would not really have been cost justified in upgrading to a paid service. The Raspberry Pi 3 has worked out well in my tests, but it wasn't exactly the fit I was looking for. Chris did a review of the Odroid HC1 and HC2 a few weeks ago, and it fit all the features I wanted and I subsequently received delivery of an HC1 unit just last week. My wish list was 1 - wanted to use a 1TB SSD storage device I already had, 2 - gigabit ethernet. 3 - low power consumption. I had no interest in wifi and the boot device demands were minimal. I can't wait to get the software installed and see how it performs. I also liked the bonus of the larger metal enclosure that housed the drive directly with the SBC as well as the heat dissipation capability - as I said, it seems like a perfect fit for my project. The great thing about the Raspberry Pi is that you can prototype on it and then later find a board that might have better specs in certain interest areas. I have 6 Pi's. Model 1 B, 2B, and 4 x 3B.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Enjoy your HC1. :)

[@arthurdent8091]

Good afternoon Mister Barnatt. After listening to this video for the second time I can only express my thanks for another interesting episode. I have my own wish list for new features that I would like to see on the Pi. The memory speed and advancement the ability to become a truly independent platform to playback ( and dare I to dream it ) record 4K and beyond formats, a more robust set of sockets, a true Gigabit Ethernet, and perhaps a built-in SPIDF sound layer would suit me to a t. If I were to have to go to a larger form factor or a second separate daughter board would both be acceptable. I hope to receive your excellent videos in the future. Cheers.

[@philipcooper8297]

Very nice summary of the SBC market.

[@DanDoesYoutube]

Awesome video as always. I think that WiFi and Bluetooth should possibly use the M.2 slot, since at least then, if it's a security risk for anyone, you don't have to have one. You can take it out, and pretty much everything you mentioned I think would be awesome to have on a SBC. I wonder if anyone could make it so RAM is upgradable? I get that would make the form factor larger, but it could be a possible feature, but again, not really a requirement.

[@sabin1981]

I *adore* EC videos and genuinely look forward to each new one, keep up the amazing work :)

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks. Your kind feedback is appreciated.

[@rtonce]

You didn't mention IO pins on future SBCs. That is as important as any other ports for functionality as far as I am concearned...makes 'em kinda the swiss knife of electronics and prototyping.

[@ExplainingComputers]

A very good point.

[@ragilmalik]

True. 40 GPIO pin essential.

[@JOELwindows7]

*Explaining* the *Future* of Single Board *Computers* Wow, You did both categories at the same time! Duper Awesome!!!

[@RobertShaverOfAustin]

Absolutely outstanding summary of Rasburry Pi-like SBCs. Very useful to me because, after working as an engineer for 45 years, I'm getting back to my roots, electronics as a hobby. I bought my first SBC in 1976, a Kim-1. Here it is immortalized by Wikipedia: (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIM-1)

[@ExplainingComputers]

Very cool. :)

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

The 6502 was pretty ground-breaking, too, and not just technically: you could buy it for $20 in quantities of 1. Name any x86 chip, even today, for which that is true.

[@MagruderSpoots]

I think I used the same thing in college, but with the 6800 in it. Those were the days.

[@deusexaethera]

So what did you build with your Raspberry Pi? I'm looking for ideas that aren't either too simple for an experienced programmer or too complicated for anyone except a dedicated full-time development team. I'm stumped.

[@ParmMohan-us6rn]

Isn't a shame we start with electronics as a hobby and curiousity, and then someone comes by with money and a company and takes away our passion and talent. Soon we find ourselves stressed to fulfill deadlines, repairs, solving production problems, battling your coworker that wants your job, a manager that needs to play politics, and a CEO (like cook) that takes the credit of technology that you designed and built and gets paid for it generously.

[@1stPCFerret]

If I could have had these boards 30 years ago, the company I was working for would have made *billions* and revolutionized the transportation industry.

[@MrZnarffy]

I think the big thing will be the switch to risc-v architecture since its not a locked architecture like arm or x86.

[@flavortown3781]

X86 is a freaking nightmare

[@constantinosschinas4503]

explaining computers channel with terrifying intro music. genius!

[@joeb.5020]

I am glad you have a strong opinion in favor of barrel jacks. The micro-USB receptacles also can degrade mechanically over time with use so I always baby mine along so the fit remains snug. I would even opt for mini-USB over micro, but the barrel is sturdy and offers much more amperage. Great vids! Thanks

[@ExplainingComputers]

Agreed -- mini USB is so much better! I've never had any issues with mini USB; a far more stable and secure connector.

[@vylbird8014]

That's not the only problem. When you're drawing a full amp through a USB cable - perfectly achievable with a Pi running flat-out - then you run into voltage drop issues on the cable. I've been having a lot of trouble with that myself in my current project. USB simply wasn't designed for high power applications. A lot of electronics enthusiasts would rather a SBC that could run entirely at 3.3V. Unfortunately such a computer would rule out the use of 5V USB accessories, which pretty much kills the idea. The Pi is almost entirely 3.3V, but still needs 5V for the USB ports.

[@michaeljijus980]

Your videos is simply amazing!!!! Thank you for your hard work and time sacrificed for us!!!! Bless you!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks. :)

[@michaeljijus980]

@@ExplainingComputers Very welcome! You are very inspirational! 😉

[@TheBrightPixel]

SBC should be max 2 generations behind current phone specs at a 10th of the price. If they can keep that up, they'll have a market. Also USB C seems like an obvious cost saver for SBC, as opposed to a myriad of different connectors.

[@riklaunim]

Such SBC are very low scale production and thus the price. Plus many cheap ARM chips are designed for phones or low end tablets, not SBC pretending to be a mini PC with all nice connectivity.

[@HaraldSangvik]

Everyone should get USB-C then. It's just better, and the new standard. In fact, USB-C was a requirement when i bought my last phone, I'm sick of shitty micro usb connectors.

[@TheBrightPixel]

I think the modern world is now ready for USB C. All my micro USB stuff is now finally old, and I'd rather buy new stuff that's better. Higher current handling, reversible symmetrical connector, plus ultra high bandwidth = win 3 USB C plus gigabit ethernet with on board PoE connectors on a single bus seems ideal for an SBC. One for power, one for video, and one for a hub or single aux device like a HDD or a camera. Also M.2 instead of SDcard

[@DerpSenpai]

Hisilicon makes always a new board each year for their flagship SOC used in phones. (200$+ though for 4gb 64gb) In the next few years we will migrate Windows to ARM as well (fully) and these boards will be even more relevant. even for chip makers that can do specific hardware just for this kind of Application. No need high end ISP's and DSP's. JUst CPU and GPU-a ton of money is saved and these low volume boards will have way higher performance with a much nicer price tag. Mini PC's will be more prevalent in the near future for workstations (Office Aplications- Coding-etc)

[@lukedupont6238]

USB-C is great, until you have to splice a cable... Or realize that the specs on USB-C cables vary even more wildly than micro-USB cables, and bad cables can fry your device. Also, they allow much higher current which means these SBC's will be designed to run on much higher currents / voltages, which may mean that many SBC's become more gluttonous power hogs. That said, it would be on small boards like the Pi-Zero if done well. Just pointing out that there are drawbacks to keep in mind. I rather like being rig my own USB cables and such easily...

[@tweaker1968]

Thank you sir.... Just the info I needed as some one starting out with SBC's

[@elizondosacgmail2430]

SBCs with core i7 have been around since 2012. Avalue, Axiomtek, Aaeon, and other Taiwanese brands specialize in high performance boards. Most of these require ATX power

[@zcxvasdfqwer1234]

This just keeps getting better all the time

[@sbrazenor2]

While I appreciate your enthusiasm, I think that the price point is going to limit the systems (at least for the Pi) to something quite simpler. I think we'll see an octo or hex core come up soon, but the RAM will likely still only be about, 4GB at most. They might put a couple of USB 3.1 (c connectors) on it, but I feel like they'll get away from the ethernet port altogether eventually. (Opting for Wireless AC, perhaps, or a dongle based device.) Onboard storage will also be a problem at their price point, so I think they'll opt instead for USB boot options, so that you can use a USB 3 enclosure with a SATAIII or M.2 SSD. (Both are getting cheaper.) The whole spirit of the Pi is the same as the BBC micro computers. It's about getting the computers into the hands of kids and getting them into computer science at a young age, with education in mind. The only way to accomplish that is by keeping them at a budget friendly price. I can see people in the US spending maybe $50-75 on something with some higher specs, but over a certain point you get into a place where people don't feel as comfortable buying it for their kids. As we move more toward media devices and mainstream computer levels of power, I also feel like the units made will be bought up by adults [for their use], rather than for, or by, children. Don't get my wrong. I'd love to see something more powerful come along. I just don't know that it's going to for about another 5-10 years, in the neighborhood of power that you've mentioned.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for this. :) There are two very different markets for SBCs -- enthusiasts/makers, and as industrial components. We already have boards costing a good $300 in the latter bracket, and these will continue I think to be more in demand -- and be more powerful -- for use in robots, AI and IoT devices. And this is the point I made at the end of the video: the market will segment into the low-cost boards you describe above, and the higher-end boards.

[@thecaptain2281]

There is another, smaller, market sector that seems to be over-looked and that is desktop replacement. I setup a LattePanda for a friend of mine who is perfectly content with the performance offered by it. We bought a case for it and he plugged it into his TV. That's it, no need for a big bulky PC. I've done several of these kinds of build for people who need a computer but do not need a high end performer.

[@desktorp]

It's so stupid to make everything wireless. This stuff is already killing us. The tech market never responds to mistakes because -customers- consumers have mixed up priorities. Even a jackass knows when it's been bitten by a snake. It's so alarming to see people discuss the prospects of wireless power transmission ram-rodded via this zombie-like march along the Internet of Things agenda and the only concern seems to be price / power / R.o.I.

[@odriew5014]

In regards to things for kids what do you think of ichigojam.

[@shrike6259]

yeah but the robotics don;t need 3 vid channels. and all other peripherals. I think most will fade a away over time. And if you want a desktop single board well sure those are already available but in mini pc (atx) format. for just 300$ you can have a full blown PC .. minus the cool VID specs for gaming or video editing And the world of robotics mainly runs on dedicated hardware not on bananas or udoos

[@northsouthy74]

I am excited about the future prospect of SBC's. I currently own a C.H.I.P (with its weird keyboard and touch screen), a PI 3 B+ and a Tinkerboard, they have all been fun to "tinker" around with :)

[@ExplainingComputers]

Sounds like you have the SBC bug. I don't think there is a cure!

[@northsouthy74]

I think its a computer bug that started with my first 486 or maybe the C64? and no there is no cure it seems :D

[@nutsnproud6932]

That was really intersesting Chris.

[@dannydotube]

The KIM-1, short for Keyboard Input Monitor, was a small 6502-based single-board computer developed and produced by MOS ... Release date: 1976 CPU: 6502 Developer: Chuck Peddle

[@satoshinakamoto171]

i learn so much about computers, even about things i didnt know existed from this channel. Hopefully all my effort will lead to some success.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for your kind feedback. Learning always pays off at some point. :)

[@azbesthu]

Hehe, the original pi had only 256MB ram and had no holes on it, but it had some clumsy poyfuses on the usb ports. Later revisions got more ram, polyfuses removed and got two holes. But, with all of its hw and sw childhood illnesses, it changed the world, indeed :)

[@toysareforboys1]

I loved solder bridging all those poly fuses! How much current do I want? ALL OF IT! :)

[@mabs-O_o]

I had the model in between the two, they dropped the fuses, added holes, but still only 256MB, still have the original 3 I bought

[@azbesthu]

Same here :D prohardver.hu/dl/upc/2015-12/23987_all-pi.jpg One from first commercial batch with bridge mod, one from 512MB later rev, two pi2 (original, not 64bit) and a pi zero from first batch. And some other stuff, orange pi pc, amlogic s905, s905x boxes

[@thearchiveable]

Excellent overview of SBC's.

[@blackhatfreak]

The Raspberry Pi definitely started a renaissance in SBCs

[@dariusmahamedi4917]

Probs my fav video to see on this channel

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks. :)

[@basilsunnyalukka4491]

Purpose of SBC is to provide cheap throw away computers to experiment on but it seems as companies are forgetting its basic purpose and focusing on higher secs and higher price.

[@ExplainingComputers]

That was certainly the initial purpose. But SBCs as industrial components -- and high power media players! -- is a growing segment. :)

[@MatthijsvanDuin]

I wouldn't consider many of these for industrial use though. Often these SBCs are based on media-oriented SoCs with questionable long-term availability and crappy documentation. One of the big exceptions are the industrial/automotive SoCs from Texas Instruments and the beaglebone and beagleboard-x15 SBCs based on them.

[@dhvanitdesai5359]

For applications such as robotics you would need higher specs. The higher price compared to say a pi, is immaterial compared to the price of the robots.

[@frankjames8728]

True true as my understanding of the SBC's were to provide a very affordable DIY computer for kids to get involved in building and programming which we saw for awhile but as anything else eventually others get involved and want to push the envelope to which I do not think is bad as long as the original idea does not get lost or completely left behind and turn into something we see today in the smart phone market maxing out tech, advertisement, useless crap, and profitability catering to stock share holders. Maybe I am a hypocrite in the end because I plan on getting one of these but waiting to find the correct SBC with pretty high performance with a lot of different options but then again it is going to serve many different purposes taking away the need of so many different gadgets that really add up. I think the right one for me is either coming out or right around the corner but that is why I am here learning exactly what each SBC has to offer and how far can it be extended.

[@builder396]

I had no idea such tiny computers even existed! I can kinda understand their point though since phones already put the same computing power into a similarly sized package, so making that for proper PC technology is just genius. Carrying these things in your pocket in place of a laptop would be amazing if you know youll have access to basic hardware (monitor, mouse, keyboard) wherever it is youre going to.

[@awesomefacepalm]

I think the future for power jacks in SBCs is USB-type C since it's rated for up to 100W @ 5V Edit: 100W @ 20v

[@thomasesr]

awesomefacepalm I'm hoping for PoE, can deliver up to 100W as well as Gigabit network.

[@awesomefacepalm]

Thomas Richter yes. Good thing the new Pi will get a PoE module

[@vylbird8014]

That's twenty amps. Twenty amps is enough to cause many USB cables to melt.

[@awesomefacepalm]

Vyl Bird my bad, 5A @ 20V not the other way around

[@coopa9822]

Usb is optimized for transferring data. We probably won't find a cheap solution to work around bulky power wire especially if you have a nice gpu. Smart phones use usb-c because it uses a battery

[@iPelaaja1]

I want a SBC with: -Onboard Wi-Fi and BT -Cellular capabilities -8-Core ARM processor -M.2 slot (no non-upgradeable memory!) -Built in power management (LiPo protection and charging circuitry) -Thin (separate USB and ethernet!) Basically something to make a fast, portable tablet computer

[@davidmurphy563]

I was half expecting you to ask for a NVidia 1080 by the end of that!

[@FrankBartson]

Thank You! Allways enjoy your videos.

[@rishabhshah8845]

all sbc in one video awesome

[@FailsafeFPV]

Quality content! Good work!

[@OblivifrekTV]

I think (My Prediction) the Raspberry Pi 4 Spec: Hexacore Processor - 1.6GHz A Better GPU 2GB ram 4 USB 3.0 ports emmc port The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B+ Spec (Which could come 2 years after usually they do): Hexacore Processor (With a Higher clock than the B) maybe 1.8GHz (because every update always increases the clocks by 200 mhz) 2 Gb Ram 2 USB 3.0 Ports maybe 3 ports 1 / 2 USB C Ports Both I think will keep the same form factor but they may need a new Model that is a more High end model to keep up with other single board computers like the panda and Udoo which have Arduino support

[@DrFruikenstein]

Thanks for pointing out that not all SBCs are tiny. Mine is very large in the world of SBCs, but was never intended for the SBC market as we know it. A little more than a year ago, after having replaced my antique Dell laptop three times, and having to bring it back out of the closet to replace its dead replacements, also three times, I decided to build its next replacement, and needed a SBC for that project. Had I known about the Udoo X86, I might have chosen that, but I found that the Mini-ITX Gigabyte F2A88XN-WIFI had everything that I wanted, and would easily fit in the "Treasure Chest" style case, made from polycarbonate with wood veneer as the skin, that I was building for it. I now have a really cool portable computer with twin 8.9" displays (Salvaged from two dead Acer ZG5 netbooks. A couple external driver boards to convert them to standard monitors were added) in the lid, and a slide out keyboard. Once the lid is open, the front of the case opens exposing the keyboard and mouse storage, optical drive, and power buttons. It runs Ubuntu 14.04, but will soon be upgraded to 18.04. The main PSU is a Minibox A4-ATX 250 watt continuous rated mobile PSU to run the computer, and a simple DC to DC converter to run the displays, and amplified speakers. Combined, they'll provide the entire unit with power with an input from 6V to 30V DC (given that there's enough current to support the load. It will blow a 15A cigar lighter fuse in a car. At least 20 Amps is required for 12 volt use). There's also an AC to DC converter for wall power, and to slow charge the soon to be installed LiFePo4 battery pack, originally designed for E-Bikes. For the purpose, I think that the Mini-ITX form factor is the perfect size for my project. BTW... The 14 year old Dell is still occasionally used, and runs the out dated Ubuntu 12.04. After a few tweaks, you'd never know that it's running an out dated OS. That's the nice thing about Linux... Besides, if I could have my way, I'd never give up Gnome 2, the sweetest environment ever created.

[@DrFruikenstein]

I need to quit watching these videos when I first open my eyes. My mind goes everywhere when I'm not yet awake.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Sorry about the impact on your mind!

[@DrFruikenstein]

ExplainingComputers It probably helps to wake me up.

[@theelmonk]

Barrel jacks, USB etc. are fine for connecting up on the bench, but typically a single-board computer is going to be built in to something and you want proper locking connectors. To some extent we're stuck with USB for peripherals, but barrel jacks are for consumer devices like radios and laptops. Although I agree with other posters that suggest USB C will become popular, I don't think it's ideal. I'd much rather see molex, jst or phoenix wire-to-board connectors for SBC power.

[@koysoru]

You sir are a legend and an excellent teacher. I am learning from you and your videos and I have actually installed Linux mint and love it. I will definitely support and watch your future videos.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks. Great to hear you've a good experience with Linux Mint.

[@aquinamedia4508]

Main point for me, SBCs along with Linux have made computing fun again, that said my reference point in fun computing was the Commodore Amiga :)

[@ExplainingComputers]

Now this is a great way to look at it. Exactly right. SBCs make computing fun. :)

[@piotr.wozniak]

I love this channel. Thank you and I am waiting for more.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks. :)

[@CharlesDourdy]

I agree that there will be a split btwn hobby boards and "Powerful SBC's". The specs on that Power SBC at the end were actually good enough that they could be a primary computer for several people I know. Sure it's no gamer-rig, but most consumers just need to email, word doc and surf the web. So why not use an Power SBC drawing 15Watts or less to do that? As for the Raspberry Pi and hobby boards like it, they can still have their $35 price point and be useful, but you wouldn't expect them to have the same power as the more expensive SBC's. (Yes I'm aware that they're all SBC's but I couldn't think of whatever else to call it) Honestly I wouldn't need to buy mom a new laptop when her current one dies, I'd just need to find a Linux desktop environment that looks relatively similar to the standard Windows interface and she'd never know the difference.

[@TrekIsrael]

Wonderful overview! May I suggest a follow up episode to update on the current offerings since this was published Love you channel - All the best from the Holy Land :)

[@1974UTuber]

Another great video and a very comprehensive argument you have formulated for future SBC development. I honestly thought by now someone would have shrunk the size of Ethernet connections. I understand they are industry standard but before USB we used COM portsso it's only a matter of someone designing a smaller Ethernet port with an adapter cable for the first release and then others will follow. Then we will end up with 2 industry standards of Ethernet and Micro Ethernet

[@seraphina985]

Indeed, if such a standard was created using a narrow form factor similar to micro-USB or USB-C would also potentially find use on high end tablets and possibly even some smart phones. There are quite a few models of those with sufficient computing power and supporting enough extensible storage (256 GB+ on some models) that they could really benefit from a built in gigabit ethernet port for large file transfers, sending up to a couple of hundred GB over wifi is less than ideal.

[@autohmae]

Maybe people who are in the industry were actually waiting for silicon photonics to start shipping in bulk. Or because of other reasons they can't easily make it smaller.

[@oneeyedphotographer]

SBCs have been around for decades. I used to have a Microprofessor, its CPU a Zilog Z80. I think it had 2x 2208 for 8K RAM, a fairly basic UART (USB was still far in the future), a LED display, a heap of I/O pins. Intel used to sell some quite expensive ones intended for hardware developers. The i80188 CPU was quite a good processor for them, internally 16 bits but an 8 bit bus and a built in PIC.

[@ExplainingComputers]

True. I did provide a wide definition and they say I would focus on the Pi related stuff! :)

[@brianchandler3346]

What I've been wanting is to see at least a quad core processor, wifi, dual gigabit eth, USB3/3.1, laptop ram stick expansion, stay with the barrel jack, and a newer sata. The rest can be taken off. Could use for compiles, server, mini custom router/vpn/IP6 firewall. Yeah in many cases two eths aren't needed, but wished an extra one there enough to mention. If anything dropped for above, I'd rather it be the wifi. I'd probably hardware mostly anyway with it.

[@davidbolha]

Brian Chandler Agreed. Until then, I have no use for SBCs. 😏😶

[@theelmonk]

I'm glad to see those min-pci slots. The more peripherals you put on, the more you bias it for a particular use - very few applications except a router or bridge need multiple ethernet but a board with wifi and 2 pci slots for extra ethernet (or onboard ethernet and slots for wfi and ethernet) would fill a lot of needs.

[@zeekjones1]

I like the fact that the boards are keeping pace with the minimum specs for desktops. Can get several and throw them absolutly everywhere. I predicted in the early 2000s that everything would be a screen. Now the computers are small enough, and screens thin enough, to hide everything inside the screens case.

[@tuxontour]

BeagelBord was earlier 2008

[@kuhrd]

Arguably the first single board computer was the Dyna-micro based on the Intel 8080A released in 1976. The Dyna-micro later rebranded as the Mini-Micro Designer 1 was very expensive originally but paved the way for early home computers. I had access to one as a kid and did quite a bit with it. In the time leading up to the R-pi many companies released embedded systems to meet industry demands. Even Odroid was making their first boards back in 2009 based on current cellular tech to allow developers access to the hardware in an easy to form factor to develop. The only real game changers that the Rpi brought was that $35 price tag and the promise of bringing coding and basic computing to kids worldwide. Since that time it has been quite amazing how far SBC's have advanced.

[@tuxontour]

There where a lot of boards earlyer I know that. The Price was one point I called out the BeagleBoard also the integrated graphics. There where also a lot of LPC based boards AMD geode and so on. He just makes it sound like there where nothing before the RasPI.

[@chrysos-nexus]

weren't some of the concoles people play games on single board computers?(sorry for my bad english)

[@ExplainingComputers]

The BeagleBoard did indeed come earlier than the Pi, and yes there were many SBCs before that. I did say pretty clearly that SBCs can be widely defined, before saying that I would focus on the category opened up by the Pis (which were far cheaper than Beagles on launch). I can never cover everything! Sorry.

[@chrysos-nexus]

thanks ExplainingComputers

[@indrajitghosh4187]

Wonderful video! One thing that I would love to see in the future Raspberry Pi boards is two CSI camera ports instead of one. This can be important considering the Computer Vision applications (stereo etc.) that can be run on these SBCs. I think some boards have already started supporting these (such as the Nano PC T4), so maybe this is something that more boards can support in general.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Two camera ports! Amazing idea for AI vision and robots. Great idea! :)

[@jonpaul4935]

I would like to see hardware based h.265/HEVC decoding for media use, as-well as gigabit ethernet as a minimum, 10/100 is not really good enough. I would also like to see more x86 based boards as apposed to arm. A design around the same form factor as 2.5inch drives would also be appropriate for the use of sata connectors but i feel m.2 takes up a lot of valuable space and thus u.2 would be a better option in this regard.

[@modfabcom-au9909]

Another top notch vid Chris. Thankyou for your insight :-)

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks.

[@lfox02]

Daaaaamn... I'm always watching videos on standard enthusiast grade PC hardware innovation, but this is on a whole another level. PCIe M.2 slots on a computer the size of a wallet? Insane.

[@queegfivehundred8197]

Great video as always, but one tiny nitpick is that the Raspberry Pi 1 Model B actually had 256Mb of RAM to begin with, with later production runs switching to 512Mb of RAM for the same price.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Good point.

[@pr2207A]

I thought you had developed a new SBC. Bcz I know you are capable of doing that😊

[@yannickmolinghen3425]

I feel like FPGA capabilities may also be part of some high end SBC in the future to enable hardware accelerated projetcs ! Image processing and convolutional neural networks really benefit of this technology and these applications are really likely to be used on SBCs.

[@MatthijsvanDuin]

For some of those applications the two C66x DSP cores on the beagleboard-x15 may also be of use.

[@deusexaethera]

I'm curious why Mini ITX didn't get a mention here. Mini ITX was the original consumer-grade SBC. On another note: I've been a software engineer for over a decade, and writing code for much longer than that, and I feel like I ought to get a Raspberry Pi and do something cool with it, but I can never come up with any good ideas. The problem is I have very advanced programming skill, so "beginner-level" projects for the RBP are uninteresting to me. Does anyone have suggestions for an advanced RBP project for someone who hasn't ever actually used a RBP before?

[@ExplainingComputers]

A mini-ITX board is not really an SBC, as memory as to be added to the board! :) And often the CPU is socketed too. On the Raspberry Pi (or other SBCs), you could experiment with some AI stuff, a Tensorflow project on a Pi, maybe -- or using a more powerful RK3399 SBC.

[@DB-nl9xw]

Open source home automation with AI programming and interface to several other smart home kits. Have fun with this project.

[@ExplainingComputers]

As another idea, with your coding skill you could help out developing OS, media players, etc, for one of the less supported boards. There is a lot of great SBC hardware out there right now that is let down by relatively weak software -- so pick a board (eg from Pine64 or FriendlyELEC) and help to make them shine (eg by providing better software support for the GPUs). This could perhaps provide you with a project(s) that would be complex, interesting and worthwhile -- and you would be applying your skill to code useful stuff that nobody has done before. I'll shut up now! :)

[@deusexaethera]

Well, you _did_ mention a different brand of SBC that has _the entire CPU/RAM/PSU assembly_ on a daughterboard, not to mention they all use removable flash memory cards for storage, so I think Mini ITX should qualify as well. :) Remember, needing to buy the RAM separately also means you can upgrade it when your project outgrows your hardware. I haven't seen Mini ITX boards with socketed CPUs, but I haven't looked in a long time; last I checked they were still all running soldered-on Intel Atom or VIA something-or-other CPUs.

[@deusexaethera]

Helping to develop the OS for a less-supported board is an interesting idea; however, since I already have a full-time job writing code, as well as a new baby due in literally 3 days, I don't need additional deadlines right now. I've considered home automation before, as D B mentioned, but I don't really have anything that needs automating. I don't even make coffee every morning, so I don't even need a smart coffeemaker. I want to get in on the embedded-computing scene, but I can't think of anything I own that could benefit from an embedded computer and doesn't already have one built-in from the factory. AI is endlessly intriguing, but I haven't actually thought of any specific questions that I'm not smart enough to figure out on my own and there's no online resources for yet. It's really a problem of "what is there for me to develop that isn't either too easy or hasn't already been developed by someone else?" Maybe I need to get a Raspberry Pi and then run _someone else's_ code on it, until I understand what the platform is useful for.

[@dogastus]

Thank you for providing a link to all those SBCs, very useful.

[@williamhart4896]

Ok professor Chris on your specs for a future sbc your board is the udoo bolt

[@ExplainingComputers]

To some extent! :)

[@kennethconnors5316]

your video's should be mandatory in Grade schools , gave my 7 year old grandson my old Raspberry Pie 2 weeks ago he just came down with his first controller ,its amazing what these children can come up with he was helped by his 9 year old brother , a tool for all future robot designers ,he learned from the included documentation ,just amazing glad I found your site

[@ritikbhambhani5656]

Single board computer good for Computer Science students they learn more than windows PC.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Very, very true -- SBCs are computers you can get your hands dirty with, including easy connectivity to other electronics and electrical devices.

[@ritikbhambhani5656]

ExplainingComputers It gives lot of knowledge and it's portable also

[@MarkPentler]

Meh, you can put Windows on them :p

[@davocc2405]

In the "where do SBCs go now" factor - I was discussing an issue with another youtube content creator recently, I was contending that many boards struggle from continually immature distro support and this has rather dire effects for usability. I find that support for things such as video, GPIO, audio and other components often struggles on more obscure boards whose manufacturers rely on community OS builds and have sometimes poor support for component support on their devices. I've seen this first hand with the problems had with many rock64 distros - as an example one must adhere to a very limited range of video options in many distros, you can't just select the resolution you want and output that; I found this when trying to drive the device on a 1280x1024 monitor, that resolution wasn't available and even text production (modified by imposed resolution change) was difficult to read. I think moving forward - we have a big gap in the market for genuinely cheap Intel based gear. They can bundle them in HDMI-plugged sticks (a-la Intel Compute Stick) but I think this needs to be opened to an open, SBC form factor. I've read that Intel are worried that this will push x86 gear down into a price bracket it doesn't want to play in and I do get that but I think that they won't have a choice; ARM boards are weakened by poor implementation support in many cases and there's a giant gap to nudge in there and put their gear into the mix. Sure, power and thermals may not be quite as good (though I'm told there's less difference now) but the gear is much better support not just for windows but for all Linux builds. It took me weeks of testing to find a distro that I could compromise on (for the Rock64) but with an x86 board i'd be downloading contemporary Debian builds and running in a very very short amount of time. Sure the Pi is the exception to this mix but that has both the benefit of a truly epic support community and the outstanding support of the Raspberry Pi Foundation; the worst thing about these two things is how rare they are in reality. For the tinker/hobbyist/maker market - their time is limited too (often free time or hobby time) and spending all your time trying to overcome fundamental build problems is disheartening to say the least.

[@zetaconvex1987]

You know what's strange? My Microsoft bluetooth mouse works perfectly with my Pi, but I've never been able to get it to work on any other machine with Linux on it.

[@ExplainingComputers]

The Pi Foundation do a lot of great software work these days.

[@zetaconvex1987]

It's interesting. When I used a Pi3, I thought to myself "wow, this is really fast". I assume that they must be doing a lot of optimisation to make a system that starts to look competitive with a "proper" computer. I would love to see the day where we could ditch our expensive machines and say that a 35 quid machine is good enough. The Pi3 did give us a taste that such a thing may be possible, which is why I think we need to really fight bloat at every turn.

[@Kynareth6]

The future is not about moving to smaller computers but about designing computers of all sizes and shapes for different use cases. Cloud computing is probably going to get more important and smaller computers will be able to use it when needed. But latency will still be a thing so I don't think cloud computing will make larger home computers obsolete. For example, smartphones are already moving to on-device AI instead of using servers somewhere.

[@SaHaRaSquad]

The Pi definitely has an advantage because the Pi Foundation only needs to support very specific hardware components, while on random laptops you can often get various driver issues, especially with wifi and bluetooth. When buying a new machine it really pays off to look for Linux-compatible hardware.

[@johnbatchler8551]

Nice collectible of history on single board computer

[@RightToSelfDefense]

Hi Christopher. I had a question I was wondering about. With all the SBC's on the market have you heard of Apple coming out with an SBC that might run iOS? They could even call it an Apple Pi.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Great idea for Apple! I have not heard of such an SBC. There is a Roseapple Pi . . . roseapplepi.org/ . . . but not from Apple.

[@metalheadmalta]

I can see where I would like this heading Chris... and that is having a keyboard with an SBC built into it. Just like the old C64 and Spectrum days. And that is such an advantage. No need for large computer cases and huge power requirements. Of course, it won't work for gamers, but having your Linux (or even Windows) machine with just a power input cord and a cable to the monitor seems to make a pretty good option to work with. thanks for the video.

[@TheLawnWanderer]

He basically described the UP-board, which came out like, 2 years ago.

[@ExplainingComputers]

The UP boards are great, but still Celeron or Atom based, and do not have the M.2 slots I talked about of the multiple display ports.

[@lucdumpelmann7486]

I have tested nearly all SBC which are shown in the video, but the UP Board has by far the best performance, usability and connectivity. Highly recommended. It would be great to see a comparing video....

[@TheLawnWanderer]

UP board squared have Celeron, atom and pentium, have M.2 Slots (E key, pci-e) and mini pci-express ports, can also drive HDMI and Displayport monitors at the same time. Another thing is that it has full size SATA connector on the board. Up Core has PCI-E express capability through the breakout connector at the bottom of the board.

[@timfoster5043]

Excellent review! (Since much of this is new to me, text captions under each of the devices while they're on the screen would have been helpful to help me remember them.)

[@MarkTheMorose]

I'm sure all the advanced features mentioned will gradually find their way on to SBCs. I'd like to see them on a system as well supported as the R-Pi, that's for sure. Right now I'd like to see a SBC for no more than £50 with an AMD APU, 4GB of RAM, and onboard SATA. I'm not enthused by embedded flash storage - what happens when it dies? The SBC would be an open platform, letting the user choose between installing Linux and Windows.

[@SecretNenteus]

For £50 or less that's a pipe dream, especially considering the price of DDR4 ram (Which Ryzen, the only AMD APUs worth using, require.) Maybe when we're on the 4XXX series of Ryzen and using DDR5, you'll see a 2400G-tier 4gb ram SBC for less than £100.

[@phydeux]

eMMC's can be removed and replaced. Go back to 10:13 and you'll see the connector on the left is just a pressure snap connector. The main benefit of eMMC is that it's cheap and requires a very small connector compared to an M.2 stick. And if you're using it as a simple industrial controller, who needs a lot of speed?

[@randyhall5554]

Nice summary, Chris!

[@GeekBoy03]

What? No IGEP from 2009, or Beagle Board from 2008?

[@AndrewMalcolmson]

Odd that he says the SBC category started with the RPi. I was using PC Engines boards around 2005 and there were lots of other types around then too.

[@GeekBoy03]

Maybe he meant at such a low price point? Beagle Board has always been around $99.

[@PainterVierax]

Well, he also presented System On Module as a new idea but it's here since long time on development boards so long that there are standard module connectors. He also didn't seem to know that Cubieboard had barrel power plug and eMMC since 2012 and the Cubietruck had a charging circuit for a Li-ion battery. Boards based on Allwinner A20 were way better than a RPi

[@martinj9647]

Andrew Malcolmson exactly. In the late 90s I had an SBC from the early 80s. Even this form factor is nothing new, as others have mentioned. The $35 price point really doesn't mean much either when even now probably half the people buying raspberry pis still aren't getting them for the MSRP because they don't live near an authorized retailer like micro center, Tandy, or wherever else.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Sorry if I inferred that SBC started with the Pi -- I gave a broader definition, then said I would focus on those related to the Pi, which did open up the low cost SBC market (the BeagleBones were initially far more expensive.

[@arunrchaturvedi]

Thanks for the video! Gives a good perspective on SBC’s; also broaches the subject of SBC’s entering the market space currently occupied by laptops and desktops. I’d love to see a video on the future of personal computing; maybe we would have to ‘think outside the board/box’ with DaaS (Desktop as a Service) based solutions. Or perhaps SBCs’ use as thin clients to access more powerful computing platforms!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Ah, another video . . . or two! :) Thanks.

[@cropupent.byinnominate5386]

All hail King Raspberry Pi

[@RoyAntaw]

My first computer was a single board computer in 1978. Challenger I Series Superboard II The World's first mainstream complete system on a single board, including keyboard, video display, interface, audio cassette interface, BASIC-in-ROM, and up to 8K RAM. My Superboard II is now forty years old. ;-)

[@shubhendragautam]

Thanks, Mr.Christopher for giving this great knowledge to us..... Mr.Christopher, Can we convert old TVs into Linux computer by "Raspberry pi 3B+"? Can you tell me what type of problems I'm going to face on doing this..? and I have one more question about "OptiTrack" can you give some knowledge/info. about this also.

[@ExplainingComputers]

You can indeed. You could connect via composite video from the Pi. The problem is resolution.

[@ElectricPointOfficial]

Nice Reference

[@stanpatterson5033]

I saw that in your "future spec" list, ARM and Intel were listed as processor suppliers, but not AMD. Has AMD decided that it's not getting into the SBC market, or did you leave them off the list for other reason(s) ?

[@ExplainingComputers]

I forgot them -- and I guess I was basing this on current and known-future CPU suppliers. But we may get an AMD board!

[@getxyzzy]

there is actually an AMD SBC in the works, apparently. AMD arguably have the better platform for it, too, as now they've shrunk their die's, the gpus their cpu's pack are more versatile. I don't really see full desktop parity being the aim of these sorts of boards, but I do know they're *an* aim of a segment of the market, at least, for when ARM and an OS on an SD don't cut it.

[@Okurka.]

ARM aren't CPU suppliers, though.

[@robxfong00]

Awesome rundown of the existing and potential future product spectrum. If only the NUCs can be miniaturized further or if somebody can design a modular kit where we could choose to build a $35 kit or a $350 SBC based on our desired specs. One can always wish!