The scarcity of Raspberry Pis continues. Over a 12 months has handed since Eben Upton got here on The Pi Solid to speak about Raspberry Pi and the availability chain woes, and it’s nonetheless a problem to pick-up everybody’s favourite single board laptop (SBC).
Over the past decade there have been many Raspberry Pi options. OrangePi, Asus Tinkerboard and Khadas VIM4 to call however just a few. These options usually have excessive spec {hardware}, however come up quick with software program help.
One other group of options are boards that may nonetheless be categorized as SBCs however characteristic Intel CPUs at their core. The most recent to cross our bench is the $279 LattePanda 3 Delta, a somewhat giant and highly effective SBC powered by an eleventh Gen Intel Jasper Lake CPU. As a result of it’s Intel primarily based, we’ve an expansive alternative of potential working programs. LattePanda offers each Home windows 10 and 11, but when Linux is extra your factor, you’re properly catered for.
So if this board is Intel primarily based, how can we entry the GPIO? Simply as with Seeed’s Odyssey, there’s a built-in ATMEGA32U4 microcontroller. This chip is probably greatest often called the brains of many Arduino boards, such because the Arduino Leonardo. Regardless of the OS, we are able to entry the Arduino and use it as an interface with the LattePanda 3 Delta.
Is the LattePanda 3 Delta a Raspberry Pi killer? Is it price the additional cash? To find out this, and to study extra, we have to put the LattePanda 3 Delta on the bench.
LattePanda 3 Delta Specs
| Processor | Intel Celeron N5105 |
| 2.0-2.9GHz Quad-Core, 4-Thread | |
| GPU | Intel UHD Graphics (Frequency: 450 – 800 MHz) |
| RAM | LPDDR4 8GB 2933MHz |
| Storage | 64GB eMMC |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6 @ 2.4/5 GHz |
| Bluetooth 5.2 | |
| Gigabit Ethernet | |
| GPIO | 12 x Analog Inputs |
| As much as 23x Digital Enter/Output (7 PWM) | |
| 1 x UART | |
| 1 x I2C | |
| 1 x SPI | |
| 1 x Audio Connector | |
| 1 x 4-Pin RS232 Header | |
| 1 x Fan Port (4 Pin 1.25mm PWM 5V | |
| 1 x 4-Pin Header (Energy and Change) | |
| USB | 2 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Kind A |
| 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Kind A | |
| 1 x USB Kind C, Helps PD, DP, USB 2.0 | |
| 1 x USB 2.0 Pin Header | |
| Show | 1 x HDMI 2.0b: As much as 4096×2160 @ 60Hz HDR Assist |
| 1 x DP1.4: As much as 4096×2160 @ 60Hz HDR Assist | |
| 1 x eDP : Extendable Contact Shows as much as 1920*1080 | |
| Enlargement Slots | 1 x M.2 M Key, PCIe 3.0 2x, Helps NVMe SSD |
| 1 x M.2 B Key, PCIe 3.0 1x, Helps USB 2.0, USB 3.0, SATA, SIM | |
| Co-Processor | Atmel ATMEGA32U4 (Arduino Leonardo) |
| Energy | DC Jack Enter: 12V DC |
| Kind-C Enter: 12/15V DC | |
| Dimensions | 125 x 78 x 16mm |
Utilizing LattePanda 3 Delta
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Primarily the LattePanda 3 Delta is an Intel x86 Jasper Lake primarily based PC in a big single board laptop kind issue. Which means that we’re free to make use of Home windows (LattePanda provides Home windows 10 and 11 downloads through its website) or many different Linux distributions. We examined the board with Home windows 10, downloaded instantly from LattePanda. The set up course of is completely automated. We simply plug within the USB stick, energy on the board and the set up script copies Home windows 10 to the onboard 64GB eMMC. Be aware that LattePanda doesn’t provide a Home windows registration key, until you pay for the $339 mannequin. The set up script may also set up Home windows 10/11 to another drive. We put in Home windows 11 to a spare 256GB SATA drive of comparable efficiency to the onboard eMMC. Additionally, we put in Ubuntu 22.04.1 to a Toshiba 256GB NVMe drive.
Boot occasions have been longer than these of the Khadas VIM4 and the Raspberry Pi 4. The slowest was our Home windows 10 set up on the onboard eMMC which clocked in at 53.64 seconds. Second was Home windows 11 put in to a SATA3 drive with a boot time of 47.14 seconds. First place goes to Ubuntu 22.04.1, put in to our NVMe drive which got here in at 42.99 seconds. These boot occasions aren’t stellar, and when in comparison with the Raspberry Pi 4 (micro SD) boot time of 30 seconds, and Khadas VIM4’s 36.38 seconds boot, they appear glacial. However contemplate this, 10 seconds of the LattePanda’s boot time is a immediate to enter the BIOS.
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Talking of the BIOS, we’ve an unlocked American Megatrends BIOS which affords us a substantial amount of configuration. We will tweak our CPU and GPU settings, together with disabling the onboard eMMC storage. This was significantly useful for our assessments, as we didn’t wish to create a dual-boot on the restricted 64GB eMMC. The BIOS can be used to set the boot machine, be it USB, SATA3 or NVMe.Our Ubuntu set up was a lot snappier due to the improved bandwidth of NVMe.
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Whether or not we have been utilizing the inner storage or SATA, Home windows labored somewhat properly. However lets handle expectations a bit of; it is a low energy CPU in an SBC configuration. It is possible for you to to carry out most admin duties, some gentle video enhancing and photograph work. Consider the LattePanda 3 Delta as a strong platform for robotics and machine studying. Tasks that historically require extra processing energy to carry out a activity. The Arduino aspect is there to regulate the motors, sensors and different parts that make the undertaking transfer.
Our Ubuntu set up was a lot snappier due to the improved bandwidth of NVMe.
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Gaming is feasible, however greatest to deal with {the catalogue} from the early 2010s because the restrict. We examined the unique Name of Responsibility: Trendy Warfare at a local 2560 x 1440 and it was simply an excessive amount of for the board. Dropping the decision right down to 1080p offered a greater outcome, however 720P returned the perfect outcomes.When you want a bit of extra pace, spend money on an NVMe drive. Design of LattePanda 3 Delta
The LattePanda 3 Delta has an nearly sci-fi feel and appear. The big heatsink and fan bearing the LattePanda brand bear a resemblance to the bridge of a starship. The black PCB is evident and straightforward to learn, largely right down to a pleasant silkscreen print and a matte end.
The board is clearly bigger than a Raspberry Pi 4, and in contrast to the Pi it favors the primary ports at both finish of the board. Port placements are good. There may be loads of area between the ports, not like the Khadas VIM4 which has a decent match between the USB-C and HDMI port.
The highest layer of the PCB is dominated by the heatsink and fan, with a fringe of GPIO pins round it. However the underside is the place we discover essentially the most attention-grabbing options of this board. On this underside we spot an NVMe M.2 slot that helps PCIe 3.0 and it’s appropriate with 2280 format drives. One other M.2 slot B offers enlargement through SATA SSD (2242, 2260 and 2280), or with 4/5G modules. The board additionally has a mixed micro SD and SIM card slot, crucial do you have to want to use 4/5G modules.
Cooling LattePanda 3 Delta
The Intel Celeron N5105 Jasper Lake CPU makes use of 10nm lithography and is designed with low energy gadgets in thoughts. The TDP could solely be 10W, however this CPU requires energetic cooling to forestall thermal throttling. Fortunately the included fan is whisper quiet. At 80% we may barely hear it. We examined utilizing Home windows 10, leaving the board idling for 10 minutes.
At idle, the board pulled 15.2V at 100 milliamps (1.52W) and reached a most temperature of 34 levels Celsius. Beneath stress, through y-cruncher we pushed the LattePanda 3 Delta to drag 15.2V at 1.2A, 18.24W with a peak temperature of 77 levels Celsius. All of the whereas, the cooling fan was quiet.
Let us take a look at the ability consumption. Beneath stress, the LattePanda 3 Delta consumes thrice extra energy than the Raspberry Pi 4 and Khadas VIM4. This isn’t grotesque however if you’re constructing a undertaking with an influence finances, for instance robotics or off-grid knowledge assortment, then maybe the Raspberry Pi or Khadas VIM4 is extra relevant. In case your energy finances must be even decrease, maybe a microcontroller such because the Raspberry Pi Pico W is a greater possibility.
LattePanda 3 Delta GPIO
The GPIO of the LattePanda 3 Delta is two-fold. We’ve got breakouts for USB, RS232 (serial), I2C and Audio. Through these breakouts we are able to instantly entry {hardware} on the OS stage. The opposite GPIO is for the onboard Arudino Leonardo. In an analogous method to Seeed’s Odyssey, LattePanda 3 Delta options its personal onboard Arduino microcontroller.
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It doesn’t share the everyday Arduino Uno kind issue, as a substitute it has a double row of headers with the pinout printed to the facet of the header. The heatsink does get in the best way at occasions, and it made it a bit of difficult to establish the pins that we wished to make use of.
Controlling the Arduino GPIO is feasible utilizing the Arduino IDE, the model of Home windows 10 offered through the LattePanda website has this pre-installed and able to go. We examined the Arduino GPIO with the common-or-garden LED, blinking the LED each half second. With that success beneath our belt we linked a one meter size of “neon-like” NeoPixels and put in the suitable libraries. Moments later, our desk was bathed with the glow of 90 RGB LEDs.
Buoyed by our success we pushed ahead and linked an I2C LCD to the GPIO, and that is the place we hit a difficulty. Our I2C LCD requires energy (5V and GND) and connects to the I2C bus, besides it doesn’t work with the labelled headers. The I2C header is reserved for OS stage entry, not the Arduino. For the Arduino to see the LCD show we needed to decide the proper I2C pins through a helpful pinout, after which scan the I2C bus for the deal with of our display. With that out of the best way it was a easy matter of putting in the LiquidCrystal I2C library and modifying the code to indicate a customized message.
If the Arduino IDE isn’t your space of experience, you should use Python to regulate the GPIO. You have to to briefly use the Arduino IDE to flash Firmata, a firmware that we are able to use with Python. Putting in the PyFirmata library through Python 3’s bundle supervisor we then created a brief script to flash the onboard LED after which an exterior LED linked through jumper wires. The Python method labored properly, albeit a lot slower than the Arduino workflow. It took our Python code just a few seconds earlier than it was executed. That is the results of PyFirmata deciphering our Python code into one thing the ATMEGA32U4 can perceive.
This GPIO is the perfect compromise we’ve seen on a Raspberry Pi different. Others have tried to emulate ({hardware} and software program) the Raspberry Pi format, they usually have various ranges of success. By eschewing this type issue, whereas retaining compatibility with Arduino code and parts, the LattePanda 3 Delta offers the GPIO entry that we take with no consideration. Certain we are able to’t instantly join an Arduino defend, however we are able to use just a few wires to bridge the hole.
LattePanda 3 Delta Networking Efficiency
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With a Gigabit Ethernet connection, LattePanda 3 Delta has loads of community bandwidth. Utilizing iperf to check a connection from the LattePanda to our desktop machine over a Gigabit community connection we noticed 947 Mbits/sec.
The identical take a look at utilizing the onboard AX201D2W Wi-Fi card noticed 162 Mbits/sec through our 5-GHz Wi-Fi entry level. We have been unable to check Wi-Fi 6. Primarily based on our assessments the LattePanda 3 Delta could possibly be pressed into service as a DIY community storage machine.
Home windows 11 on the Latte Panda 3 Delta
With help for TPM 2.0 backed into the board, the LattePanda 3 Delta is absolutely compliant with Home windows 11 and dare we are saying it runs somewhat properly. Put in to a spare SATA3 drive, shut in specification to the eMMC (the write speeds have been a lot sooner, however learn was related), Home windows 11 booted barely sooner than Home windows 10 (SATA3 efficiency).
Total efficiency felt the identical as Home windows 10 and we even managed to undertake a brief Blender take a look at the place we rendered a easy scene. Home windows 11 felt first rate. it received’t beat the next spec machine, however it will work as your low energy each day driver. The Arduino IDE labored with the onboard Arduino Leonardo and we had no points creating tasks and having enjoyable.
If you buy a LattePanda 3 Delta and not using a Home windows license, then maybe now could be the time to make the leap to Home windows 11?
LattePanda 3 Delta Linux Efficiency
If Home windows isn’t your factor, we hear you. Linux is mostly a greater match for SBCs and so we put in the most recent model of Ubuntu 22.04.1 and absolutely up to date the OS. Our set up was contained on a 256GB NVMe SSD in order that our earlier Home windows installations remained untouched.
Ubuntu simply labored, there have been no set up points and it detected our {hardware} accurately, together with the Arduino Leonardo. After specifying the board and the machine port we have been in a position to recreate our LCD show undertaking with no points.
Ubuntu is a barely lighter OS than Home windows. Certain we are able to tweak Home windows to take away a few of the bloat, however on the entire, Linux is mostly lighter. Ubuntu on the LattePanda 3 Delta is a pleasure. We get the complete desktop Linux expertise, and entry to the GPIO.
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Linux graphics efficiency, particularly YouTube playback is a little bit of a blended bag. We famous that Ubuntu dropped 212 from a complete of 2846 frames when enjoying again 4k30 video. The identical take a look at on Home windows 10 dropped on 4 frames. At 1440 there have been no dropped frames beneath Ubuntu and solely 6 from a complete of 2373 beneath Home windows. So in relation to graphics efficiency, Home windows is essentially the most constant expertise. That mentioned, how usually will you be consuming 1440P and 4K media?
On the entire, Ubuntu felt nice. As a long run Linux consumer, I felt at residence with Ubuntu on the LattePanda 3 Delta. The convenience at which we may entry the onboard Arduino, and the familiarity of the OS offered us with a frictionless onboarding course of. The graphics subject is one thing to contemplate, but it surely actually is a non-entity if you’re simply watching 1080P media and common PC use.
LattePanda 3 Delta versus Raspberry Pi 4
It’s honest to say that the LattePanda 3 Delta is far more highly effective than the Raspberry Pi 4. The quad-core 2 GHz Intel CPU has extra uncooked horsepower than the Arm CPU within the Pi 4, whereas staying comparatively conservative with energy consumption. If uncooked energy is your consideration, then the LattePanda 3 Delta is the winner. It has loads of energy for machine studying and AI tasks and the Arduino offers loads of GPIO for our tasks.
The cons for the LattePanda 3 Delta are its dimension, roughly twice the dimensions of the Raspberry Pi 4 and the value. The $279 price ticket is available in even larger than the $239 of the Khadas VIM4 and far larger than the RRP of the $95 Raspberry Pi 4 8GB. However with the value of Pi being pushed by provide and demand, and demand remains to be outstripping provide, RRP is a unicorn that we’ve but to catch.
Backside Line
In case you are searching for a Raspberry Pi alternative, one thing small and highly effective then the LattePanda 3 Delta isn’t a completed deal. Bigger in dimension, larger in value and with thrice the ability consumption of a Pi 4, LattePanda 3 Delta is just not a direct competitor to the Raspberry Pi. As an alternative the LattePanda 3 Delta is extra a low-power laptop that inhabits the SBC kind issue. It brings the CPU energy crucial for superior autonomous robots, tasks with machine imaginative and prescient and synthetic intelligence. The computational energy is the place the bigger dimension (for the energetic cooling) and energy consumption come into play.
The associated fee, $279, is initially onerous to swallow however once more this isn’t only a alternative for the Raspberry P;, it’s a desktop laptop in an SBC kind issue. You could possibly fortunately use this machine for everyday work, whereas utilizing much less electrical energy than on a standard desktop.
The Arduino compatibility is icing on the cake. It’s simple to make use of and works with the numerous hundreds of libraries out there within the Arduino ecosystem. Certain, we are able to’t instantly use Arduino shields, however until you’ve purchased into that system, you aren’t going to overlook them.
If we want an all-in-one for our maker workstation, and we crave extra energy than the Pi can present, then the LattePanda 3 Delta is the plain alternative.
