With the cost of Raspberry Pi single-board computers (SBCs) increasing, and perhaps due to (thankfully largely abated at this point) supply issues, we’ve seen a trend towards Intel-based mini-PCs such as NUCs being considered for some of the tasks that a Pi might otherwise be the go-to board for. This might be fine for media centers and retro gaming rigs, but what about maker-oriented projects that require integration with sensors and other non-PC-oriented hardware? I’ve been playing with a board called the UP 7000 that poses a pretty interesting answer to this question.
The first thing I noticed upon unboxing the UP 7000 was its Pi-like form-factor. The second thing I noticed was the monster heat sink pre-installed on the bottom of the board. This allows the quad-core 12th-gen Intel Processor N100 to run at up to 3.4GHz without requiring active cooling from a fan. Included standoffs elevate the board for improved airflow. The unit I was sent came with 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 64GB of eMMC storage – a nice alternative to the Raspberry Pi’s microSD-based approach. Three type-A USB 3.2 ports, along with full size HDMI (no need to buy a microHDMI adapter!) and gigabit Ethernet ports populate the side of the board where you’d expect to find 2x USB 2.0 and 2x USB 3.0 on the Pi.
I plugged in an Ethernet cable, keyboard, mouse, and display, and powered the device on with the included (in my case) 12V power supply. I then installed Ubuntu (the device does not ship with an operating system, unless you opt for preinstallation service) from a thumb drive (the three USB ports are just enough for this, though you might consider a hub for daily use), following instructions on the helpful UP wiki. Installation was quick and easy, and I was immediately impressed with the performance of this board compared to other SBCs I’ve used recently. The integrated Intel UHD Graphics and HDMI 1.4b port gave me snappy performance even running at 4K. While I didn’t get a chance to explore its use with AI, this GPU should also be interesting in scenarios where the board is used for inference.
I was a little surprised by the lack of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, having been used to them being baked into the Pi, but I discovered they can be added, along with two more USB ports and UART via the 10-pin wafer on the opposite side of the board to the USB and Ethernet ports. But if we want UART, we already have it, along with I2C, I2S, SPI, ADC, PWM, etc. via the 40-pin header. A custom DKMS driver enables these pins in Linux (a Windows SDK also exists) but what I found really fascinating is the FPGA fabric that enables it! An integrated Intel Altera Max V means that you could (in theory) adapt the firmware to make the HAT pins do practically whatever you want!
I’m always excited to try new SBCs, especially those in the Pi form factor that will allow me to use my existing collection of HATs and pHATs, but I often find myself sorely missing the Raspberry Pi documentation and community when trying to figure out more obscure boards. I did not experience this with the UP 7000, thanks to extensive documentation and resources, as well as community forums where I found most of my questions had already been answered. Starting at $169, the UP 7000 might seem expensive at first when compared to the Pi 5, but I just added the 8GB version, a 64GB mSD card, mHDMI adapter, power supply, and RTC battery to my shopping cart in order to create a more realistic total cost comparison, and it was almost $130. The top-spec version that I evaluated is $239, plus $13 for the power supply, yet was virtually indistinguishable from my $2000 ThinkPad performance-wise in most tasks on Ubuntu, and of course my laptop lacks any form of useful GPIO, let alone the familiar 40 pins of a Pi. While it takes a little experience and expertise to get up and running compared to a Pi, the UP 7000 represents a really interesting and powerful choice for developers looking to build AI, IoT, automation, or digital signage/retail solutions. Find out more about the UP 7000 on the official site, and let me know what you build with yours!
ADVERTISEMENT
