Testing the Odroid-U3 single-board computer

Lead Image © Sergey Konyakin, 123RF.com

Power Droid

Even with a little bit of Android in Odroid, the small computer works equally well with Linux. In this article, we examine the aspiring quad-core SBC and introduce the most important firmware packages.

The Raspberry  Pi offers considerable performance given its compact size and minimal power consumption. However, it is not sufficient for many applications. The Odroid-U3  [1] is the size of a credit card and is produced by Hardkernel, a South Korean manufacturer. It exceeds by far the computing power of the Rasp Pi and is therefore a great alternative for tasks that require higher performance.

Like the Samsung Galaxy Note  II Android cellphone and the Samsung Galaxy Camera  2, the Odroid-U3 has a Exynos 4412 SoC with an integrated Cortex A9 CPU. The 1.7GHz quad-core CPU gives the computer more computational power than many of the standard PCs you will see sitting under a desk (Table 1). As a result, the Odroid-U3 really shines when compared with the far less well equipped Raspberry  Pi (Figure 1).

Accessories

As with the Rasp  Pi, several accessories are now on the market for the Odroid [2], including a power supply, case, I/O shield, USB UART module kit, RTC backup battery with a 3V 220mAh Li ion battery, a prototype board, and a 9-inch 1280x800 HDMI display or a 2.2-inch TFT LCD. Hardkernel sells firmware based on Android  4.x or the latest version of Xubuntu pre-installed on 8, 16, and 64GB eMMC modules for US$  25.00 to US$  79.00 (Figure 2). More economical alternatives are using the pre-loaded micro SD for US$  13 with the latest version of Xubuntu or loading the firmware onto a class 10 micro SD memory card with at least 8GB.

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