Asus Tinker Board R2.0 good alternative for Raspberry Pi?

[Buurman]

Anyone got experiences with this board and I wonder, it it a good alternative?

It got the right Display port, so you can still attach a touch LCD, I think.

I ordered one, but wonder if I did a good thing....

[claudermilk]

I wasn't even aware of it. Quick answer after a quick look is yes, I think it ought to work. The main things I'm looking at is it has the standard selection of USB and Ethernet plugs. The specs say a SIDI DSI, so the screen should interface. The 40-pin GPIO I would assume matches the Pi one. I would also assume it will run Linux, so should work. The devil is in the details: what tweaks need to be made to the Linux distro and Klipper/Moonraker to make them happy? That I can't answer.

[smirk]

I would second that. I like the fact it has a colour coded GPIO (counting pins is a PITA). I don't think you have made a mistake as it will work (runs debian 10, guess 11 as well) and the spec is definitely capable of what you need for a Voron/mainsail setup. I cannot imagine ASUS will be using some rinkdy-dinky home spun repo for the packages so I imagine you will have easy access to the entirity of the Debian pacage ecosystem.

I guess for me (being nosey) is "why"? Beyond the age old "cause I can", was there are reason that drew you to the TInkerboard? I know PI's are like Hen's teeth especially with @mvdveer trying to corner the global  market in them, but the Tinker Board doesn't look to be any cheaper - noting that could be perspective as I'm in bankrupt Britain and everything is going to be expensive (back to trading toilet paper) after our mini-budget and hourly Chancellor swap-outs.

[Buurman]

No its absolutely not cheaper, so fo two reasons... ONE.. Im an curious idiot.. so I like to know if it works, TWO.. can get a Raspberry PI anywhere.

I still have 2, one original, one based on the computeboard of a pi4 on a BTT IO board, again, also curious if that works.

A Pi4 is now also prices around 80/120 euro for a 2/4Gb version with WIFI. Its stupid.. 

The Asus Tinkerboard is still more expensive, 130 or so, so NO, its not a long term solution, but it maybe be in case of emergency.

I currently build 1 to 2 Vorons a month, so I need some hardware  

I also like the colored GPIO pins, and overall its very good looking, antenna onboard for wifi, full hdmi port.. it seems good...

Edited October 26, 2022 by Buurman

[smirk]

2 hours ago, Buurman said:

so I like to know if it works,

I'm sure it will, but it is definitely good to try (and document )alternatives especially if they are generally applicable and not bespoke/technological-dead-ends.

I'd looked at some of those integrated klipper-MCU-Linux boards, I wasn't entirely convinced (beyond particular use cases) as you still needed a rare-as-hens-teeh PI CM and might fall into the "bespoke" category, not sure how standard those PI back-plane boards are, and they were limited in terms of options compared to a more traditional separate MCU/Computer combo.

I shall follow your investigations with interest.