Face-Off
The LeMaker Guitar and Odroid-C2 are hobby computers that were created as competitors for the Raspberry Pi 2, but we discovered they can even challenge the Raspberry Pi 3.
Testing the Odroid-C2 and LeMaker Guitar
Lead Image © Alexander Pokusay, 123RF.com
The Odroid series of hobby computers are known for their performance and the serious support they receive from their manufacturer, Hardkernel. The company is now pushing into a new direction with the Odroid-C2 [1]. Rather than building another super-SBC, Hardkernel envisions the C2 as a nano-computer that fits into the Raspberry Pi price class. The same goes for the LeMaker Guitar [2], which emphasizes a hardware design that actually makes sense to the consumer rather than maxing out the ratio of Gigahertz per dollar.
New Beginnings
LeMaker is known for selling various versions of the Banana Pi. Following a complicated legal battle in 2015 against the China-based Sinovoip Company, LeMaker broke away from the Banana Pi brand and began developing its own designs. The LeMaker Guitar, released at the end of 2015, was the first product to emerge from this change of circumstances. The LeMaker development team focused on making the little computer better than the Banana Pi on the software side.
The LeMaker Guitar comes with either 1 or 2GB of RAM, depending on the version, and 8GB of eMMC flash storage. The Actions S500 SoC, with an ARM Cortex-A9 quad-core and 1.3GHz clock rate, serves as the CPU. The module is plugged onto a baseboard (Figure 1), where the USB 2.0 ports and a USB 3.0 micro-B port are located. However, you cannot use these two types of ports simultaneously. The computer sends video signals via HDMI. Audio signals are sent either via HDMI or a jack plug.
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