This quick tutorial shows how to install the latest version of HandBrake on Ubuntu-based distributions using its official PPA.
HandBrake is one of the most popular open source video converter for Linux, Windows and macOS.
This GUI application enables you to convert videos from one format to another in just a few clicks. You can also customize the output video as per your requirement.
HandBrake is available in the universe repository of Ubuntu but it might not always provide the latest version. Let me show you how you can get the latest HandBrake on Ubuntu and other Ubuntu-based distributions like Linux Mint, Linux Lite, elementray OS etc.
Installing the latest HandBrake on Ubuntu based Linux distributions
The developers of HandBrake maintain an official PPA. Using this PPA, you can easily install the latest version of HandBrake on your Ubuntu based distribution.
Open a terminal and use the following command to add the PPA repository. Press enter when asked for it:
You may have to update the local package cache (not required in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher version):
sudo apt update
Now install the latest version of the HandBrake using this command:
sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk
The best thing is that this method removes the older handbrake package on your system and thus avoiding installing two different instances of handbrake.
Enjoy the latest and greatest HandBrake and convert videos on your Linux system.
Uninstall HandBrake from your system
For some reasons, if you don’t like HandBrake and want to remove it, here’s what you need to do.
Open a terminal and use the following command to uninstall HandBrake:
sudo apt remove handbrake-gtk
Now that you have removed the application, it will be a good idea to remove the PPA that you added as you don’t need it anymore.
In this quick Ubuntu tutorial, you learned the steps for installing the latest HandBrake using PPA. You also learned the steps for removing it properly.
I hope you find this quick tip useful. If you have questions or suggestions, please leave a comment below.
Open source text editor GNU nano has reached the milestone of version 5.0. Take a look at what features this new release brings.
There are plenty terminal-based text editors available for Linux. While editors like Emacs and Vim require a steep learning curve with bunch of unusual keyboard shortcuts, GNU nano is considered easier to use.
Perhaps that’s the reason why Nano is the default terminal-based text editor in Ubuntu and many other distributions. Upcoming Fedora 33 release is also going to set Nano as the default text editor in terminal.
GNU nano 5.0 has just been released. Here are the new features it brings.
New features in GNU nano 5.0
Some of the main highlights of GNU nano 5.0 as mentioned in its changelog are:
The –indicator option will show a kind of scroll bar on the right-hand side of the screen to indicate where in the buffer the viewport is located and how much it covers.
Lines can be tagged with Alt+Insert keys and you can jump to these tags with Alt+PageUp and Alt+PageDown keys.
The Execute Command prompt is now directly accessible from the main menu.
On terminals supporting at least 256 colors, there are new colors available.
New –bookstyle mode in which any line that begins with whitespace is considered as the start of a paragraph.
Refreshing the screen with ^L now works in every menu. It also centers the line with the cursor.
Bindable function ‘curpos’ has been renamed to ‘location’, long option –tempfile has been renamed to –saveonexit and short option -S is now a synonym of –softwrap.
Backup files will retain their group ownership (when possible).
Data is synced to disk before “… lines written” is shown.
Syntaxes for Markdown, Haskell, and Ada were added.
Getting GNU nano 5.0
The current version of nano in Ubuntu 20.04 is 4.8 and it’s less likely that you’ll be getting the new version anytime soon in this LTS release. When and if it is available from Ubuntu, you should get it via the system updates.
Arch users should be getting it before everyone else, as always. Other distributions should also provide the new version, sooner or later.
Discord is a popular messaging application. It was originally intended for gamers but these days, it is considered a Slack alternative even for team and community communication. You can use it for text, voice and video messaging.
Several open source project use it for communicating with project members and users.
Discord is available on various platforms including desktop Linux. In this tutorial, I’ll show you various ways of installing Discord on Ubuntu, Debian and other Linux distributions.
Discord application is not open source. But since they provide a Linux client and many Linux users rely on it, it’s been covered here.
Method 1: Installing Discord in Ubuntu and Debian-based Linux Distributions
Go to the download page of Discord and download the deb file. Keep in mind that, Discord is only available for 64-bit systems.
Download Discord for Linux
Installing deb file is easy. Just double click on it to open it in the software manager and install it from there. You may also install and use Gdebi tool for this purpose.
It will take a few seconds for installing and you should see a log in screen like this:
The problem with this approach is that though you’ll have the latest Discord version, it won’t be updated to a newer version automatically in the future.
You can either uninstall it from the software center or use this command in the terminal:
sudo apt remove discord
Method 2: Installing Discord on Ubuntu and other Linux distributions using Snap package
You can easily install Discord using Snap package in Ubuntu and various other Linux distributions with snap package support.
The advantage is that you’ll always have the latest version of Discord and your installed version gets automatically updated. The downside is that Snap packages take longer to start.
Ubuntu user can find Discord snap package in the Software Center and install from there:
Discord snap package is available in Ubuntu Software Center
If you have enabled Snap support on your Linux distribution, you can use the following command to install it:
sudo snap install discord
If you want to remove it, you can use the snap command to uninstall it:
Method 3: Installing Discord in other Linux Distributions (intermediate to advanced level)
Discord also provides a generic isntaller for using Discord on Linux. It comes in the traditional tar gz file.
If you go for this way of installing Discord on Linux, then you should have at least a moderate understanding of Linux directory structure and Linux commands. You must also be comfortable using the terminal because this method involves using the terminal all the way.
I am using Discord version 0.0.10 in the tutorial. Your file name may or may not be different. Pay attention to it.
Step 2: Extract the downloaded file to opt directory
Go to directory where you have downloaded the file. Use the tar command to extract the .tar.gz file in the /opt directory.
sudo tar -xvzf discord-0.0.10.tar.gz -C /opt
Traditionally, the /opt directory is used for installing/keeping files of optional or additional Linux software. Since you opted for the traditional way, it only makes sense to use the traditional convention.
Step 3: Create Discord command in bin directory
Now you should have /opt/Discord directory with files related to Discord. You should have two important files to tackle here. A binary file named Discord and a desktop file named discord.desktop.
The /usr/bin directory contains the binary executables for commands in your system. This way, any user can run the commands from anywhere in the system.
Step 4: Create desktop icon and menu entry
You have Discord available as a command for all users on the system. But you cannot find it in the system menu to launch it graphically.
For that, you’ll have to use the discord.desktop file located in the extracted folder in the opt directory.
You should pay attention to two lines here: Exec and Icon.
The exec is for executable file and you can set it to /usr/bin/Discord . The Icon is for the image of Discord that will be displayed when you search for Discord in the menu. You can set it to the /opt/Discord/discord.png. This image is present in the extracted folder.
Your discord.desktop file is still in the /opt/Discord directory. You need to move it to /usr/share/applications directory so that your system can access this desktop entry.
Normally, you should see Discord added in the list of available applications in the menu immediately. If not, log out and log in again.
Step 5: Run Discord
You are done. Now if you search for Discord, you will find it in the menu and when you run it for the first time, it will do some configuration.
Running Discord for the first time
After that, it will bring you to the login screen. It automatically tried to log you in from your default browser.
Enjoy Discord on Linux. If there is a new version of Discord in the future, you’ll have to remove the already installed version and then repeat the procedure with the new version.
Removing Discord installed in the traditional way
It would be unfair to just discuss how to install Discord. Let me give you some pointers about removing it as well.
When you install Discord on Linux, it saves config file in .config/discord folder in your home directory. Delete these files:
rm -r ~/.config/discord
Next, remove the Discord directory from the /opt directory:
sudo rm -rf /usr/bin/Discord
Also delete the symbolic link you had created:
sudo rm /usr/bin/Discord
As the last step, remove the desktop file:
sudo rm /usr/share/applications/discord.desktop
Did you manage to install Discord on Linux? Which method did you use?
I gave you various ways of installing Discord application on Linux. The traditional Linux way is somewhat complicated but at least this way you can install it on any Linux distribution.
Did you manage to install it? Which method did you use and prefer?
Brief: BigBlueButton is an open-source tool for video conferencing tailored for online teaching. Let’s take a look at what it offers.
In the year 2020, remote working from home is kind of the new normal. Of course, you cannot do everything remotely — but online teaching is something that’s possible.
Even though a lot of teachers and school organizations aren’t familiar with all the amazing tools available out there, some of the best open-source video conferencing tools are filling in the requirements to some extent.
Among the ones I mentioned for video calls, BigBlueButton caught my attention. Here, I’ll give you an overview of what it offers.
BigBlueButton: An Open Source Web Conferencing System for Online Teaching
BigBlueButton is an open-source web conferencing solution that aims to make online learning easy.
It is completely free to use but it requires you to set it up on your own server to use it as a full-fledged online learning solution.
BigBlueButton offers a really good set of features. You can easily try the demo instance and set it up on your server for your school.
Before you get started, take a look at the features:
Features of BigBlueButton
BigBlueButton provides a bunch of useful features tailored for teachers and schools for online classes, here’s what you get:
Live whiteboard
Public and private messaging options
Webcam support
Session recording support
Emojis support
Ability to group users for team collaboration
Polling options available
Screen sharing
Multi-user support for whiteboard
Ability to self-host it
Provides an API for easy integration on web applications
In addition to the features offered, you will find an easy-to-use UI i.e. Greenlight (the front-end interface for BigBlueButton) to set up when you configure it on your server.
You can try using the demo instance for casual usage to teach your students for free. However, considering the limitations (60 minutes limit) of using the demo instance to try BigBlueButton, I’d suggest you to host it on your server to explore all the functionality that it offers.
To get more clarity on how the features work, you might want to take a look at one of their official tutorials:
Installing BigBlueButton On Your Server
They offer a detailed documentation which should come in handy for every developer. The easiest and quickest way of setting it up is by using the bbb-install script but you can also explore other options if that does not work out for you.
For starters, you need a server running Ubuntu 16.04 LTS at least. You should take a look at the minimum requirements before deploying a server for BigBlueButton.
You can explore more about the project in their GitHub page.
If you’re someone who’s looking to set up a solution for online teaching, BigBlueButton is a great choice to explore.
It may not offer native smartphone apps — but you can surely access it using the web browser on your mobile. Of course, it’s better to find a laptop/computer to access an online teaching platform — but it works with mobile too.
What do you think about BigBlueButton for online teaching? Is there a better open-source project as an alternative to this? Let me know in the comments below!
Brief: A step-by-step beginner’s tutorial showing how to install Google chrome in Arch, Manjaro and other Arch-based Linux distributions.
Google Chrome is undeniably the most popular web browser. It is not open source software and this is why you won’t see it preinstalled in Linux distributions you use. You won’t even find Chrome in the software center.
Installing Google Chrome is easy in Ubuntu and Fedora based distribution. You can go to Chrome’s website and download the DEB or RPM installer files and install it easily.
Arch Linux users may notice that there is no package for them on the official Google Chrome website.
Step 1: Install an AUR helper (if you haven’t got one already)
There are quite a few AUR Helpers to choose but in this tutorial, I will use yay which I have installed on my machine. You should install it if you haven’t got it already:
sudo pacman -S git
sudo git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay-git.git
cd yay
makepkg -si
Step 2: Install Google Chrome using AUR helper
Now, to install Google Chrome in Arch Linux using yay:
yay -S google-chrome
As you see, yay found all the available packages related to Google Chrome. I will choose the stable package to install, the same as I chose for the other installation method.
Step 3: Upgrading Chrome version with yay
You successfully installed Chrome on your Arch-based distribution. However, you should also know what to do if there is a new version of Google Chrome available.
You cannot upgrade AUR packages with pacman command unfortunately. But the good thing is that Yay and pacman share common flags for performing similar actions.
The following command will upgrade all the packages – both AUR and official.
yay -Syu
Method 2: Install Google Chrome without an AUR Helper
You’ll still be getting the package from Arch User Repository. However, instead of AUR helper, you’ll be doing it manually.
Step 1: Install base-devel package
To install a package from AUR you must have Git and base-devel group installed. Base-devel group contains all the essential tools for compiling from source.
sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel git
Step 2: Install Chrome from AUR
Clone Google Chrome from the AUR and install it like this:
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/google-chrome.git
cd google-chrome
makepkg -si
Step 3: Upgrading Google Chrome afterward
When a new version of Google Chrome is released and it is available in the AUR, you can upgrade it manually like this:
Adobe Dreamweaver is a popular tool for professionals to design websites. Even though it enjoyed all its glory in the past decade, it’s no longer the most popular tool out there (at least, as far as I’m aware of).
Its expensive subscription plans and the availability of free and open-source alternatives has left an impact to its popularity.
Moreover, with the growth of popular open source CMS options and drag-drop website builders, it’s really easy to build a website when compared to the previous decade.
Unless you’re a professional with a specific set of requirements, there’s no reason to use Dreamweaver. So, here, in this article, I’m going to list some of the best free open-source Dreamweaver alternatives that lets you edit HTML/CSS.
Open source HTML and CSS editors for web developers
I understand that some web developers and designers prefer WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) feature. Not all the editors mentioned here offer this feature but when they do, I have highlighted it explicitly.
I have used this website template for testing out the HTML editors. This list is in no particular order of ranking.
1. Bluefish Editor
Key Highlights:
Auto-completion
Preview in browser
Site upload/download options
Code block folding
Support for several programming languages
Supports WordPress language definition files
Cross-platform support
Bluefish is a feature-rich editor that’s perfectly suitable for both beginners and experienced web designers.
Even though it does NOT offer WYSIWYG, the browser preview feature lets you make changes to the coding and see it in action quickly without any special configuration. It’s also a lightweight application – so it isn’t heavy on resources.
Try it out to explore more about it.
How to install it?
You may find it listed in your software center. If you don’t, you can follow the official installation instructions to add the repository and install it on your Linux distribution.
Also, there’s a Flatpak package available in case you prefer using it. I’d suggest you to refer our Flatpak guide if you don’t know about it.
BlueGriffon is an impressive WYSIWYG HTML/CSS editor. You can choose to edit the codes and check the design or simply edit it visually without needing to fiddle with the codes.
This is especially helpful for folks who aren’t comfortable with HTML/CSS and just starting out. It makes it easy to edit while offering all the necessary features for a web designer.
How to install it?
You can download the deb package from its official website or opt for other installers and source code depending on the Linux distribution you’re using.
Brackets is already one of the best modern text editors for coding in Linux. It was primarily built for web developers while also supporting other programming languages.
Surprisingly, it’s an open-source project by Adobe, which isn’t super actively maintained — but it’s there.
How to install it?
You can simply grab the deb file from its official website for Ubuntu 19.10 or lower. For Ubuntu 20.04 or any other Linux distro, you will be better off using the Flatpak package or the Snap.
NetBean isn’t technically an out-of-the-box HTML-CSS editor. But, you can use it as an HTML editor when building an HTML5 application.
It isn’t the go-to solution for HTML editing, but it’s an option out there for a specific group of programmers. You can give it a try to see if it does what you expect it to.
How to install it?
You can find it listed in your software center. In either case, you can just head to the official download page to get it installed.
If you regularly work on web design and development, which open source HTML editor do you use and recommend? We might add your recommendation to our list here. You may also mention non-open source WYSIWYG editors but that won’t be added in the list for obvious reasons.
This is a big move and not everyone agrees with. You should still be able to use Ext4 filesystem while installing Fedora 33 but you have to do a bit of effort for that.
Nano is the default terminal-based text editor
More ‘defaults’ changing in Fedora 33. Until now, Vi was the default editor in the terminal. This is changing as well.
Starting with Fedora 33, Nano will be the default text editor in the terminal. If you are not familiar with it, try the Nano beginner’s guide I have written earlier.
Fedora 33 will utilize zram instead of swap partition by default. zram is RAM drive that uses compression. Due to compression, it uses half as much memory as its size.
So when the RAM is full and the system needs more memory, instead of using swap partition, Fedora will use the zram device (usually under /dev/zram0). Here’s the explanation on the change:
The system will use RAM normally up until it’s full, and then start paging out to swap-on-zram, same as a conventional swap-on-drive. The zram driver starts to allocate memory at roughly 1/2 the rate of page outs, due to compression. But, there is no free lunch. This means swap-on-zram is not as effective at page eviction as swap-on-drive, the eviction rate is ~50% instead of 100%. But it is at least an order of magnitude faster than drive based swap.
zram has about 0.1% overhead or ~1MiB/1GiB. If the workload never touches swap, this overhead is the sole cost. In practice when not used at all, feature owner has experienced ~0.04% overhead.
systemd-resolved enabled by default
Fedora is trying to standardize on upstream systemd service. Standardizing reduces behavior differences between different Linux distributions.
In that effort, Fedora 33 is going to use systemd-resolved by default. This systemd service provides network name resolution.
Improved hardening for 64-bit ARM devices
Fedora 33 changes enables support for newer ARMv8.3~8.5-level code hardening features in order to enhance the security. This should serve to make Fedora more resistant to a couple further classes of runtime attacks.
GNOME 3.38 and all the visual changes it brings
Default wallpaper in GNOME 3.38
GNOME version 3.38 should be released by mid-September. This means that Fedora 33 will have this new release.
There will be some performance improvements and visual changes to it. They even plan to add touchpad gesture for switching workspaces.
Animated background based on time of day
This is not a serious change but a little eye candy is not a bad deal. Fedora 33 will use animated background that will change the color shades based on the time of the day.
This feature is getting quite popular and if I remember correctly, Manjaro Linux 20 also uses it.
Dropping legacy BIOS support (under discussion)
Fedora developers are also discussing dropping legacy BIOS support and go with UEFI-only approach. Before you get outraged, do keep in mind that Intel is ending legacy BIOS support in 2020.
This change is not confirmed yet and it is still under discussion.
Other changes
Fedora is also updating the system-wide crypto policy to further disable legacy cryptographic protocols (TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1), weak Diffie-Hellman key exchange sizes (1024 bit), and use of the SHA-1 hash in signatures.
Apart from that, there are some software changes that you might find interesting:
Which Fedora 33 feature you like the most? Do you agree with changing the default filesystem and the editor? Do share your views in the comment section.
Last month, Linux Foundation launched the Cloud Engineer Bootcamp program. This one was focused on preparing candidates for entry level jobs as a cloud engineer.
Based on the feedback received, Linux Foundation has now launched Advanced Cloud Engineer Bootcamp focusing on helping seasoned sysadmin to move into devops world with cloud related technologies.
Advanced Cloud Engineer Bootcamp: Go from system admin to cloud admin
The course is designed for sysadmins who are already familiar with Linux, of course. Since the traditional sysadmin is not sufficient anymore and the IT infrastructure is relying more on cloud technologies, it is time that seasoned sysadmins should also learn the new in-demand skills.
The bootcamp starts with containers and Kubernetes fundamentals, moving to system monitoring, cloud native logging, and Kubernetes application management, providing all the knowledge needed to work as a cloud administrator.
If you compare it with the Cloud Engineer Bootcamp, the Advanced bootcamp doesn’t have the sysadmin related courses and certifications. Instead, it adds the advanced topics like Prometheus, Fluentd and Helm.
Obviously, the advanced bootcamp presumes that you already have knowledge of how Linux functions.
$600 may not seem like a small amount but when you are looking to keep your job or seeking a promotion or salary raise, you’ll have to invest into skill improvement.
As I have said it before, Linux Foundation hardly makes any effort for “desktop Linux” but it does focus on promoting Linux in the IT industry. These training programs are part of that effort.
It’s FOSS is an affiliate partner with Linux Foundation. Please read our affiliate policy.
The Raspberry Pi Zero and the Raspberry Pi Zero W were added to the line up of Raspberry Pi’s in the last few years. These ultra-small form-factor SBC’s have been a big hit and continue to be a part of Raspberry Pi projects from the maker and DIY communities.
Due to the smaller form factor and the prices these boards are targeting, they have had to cut down on many features like a dedicated Ethernet port, slower processor (compared to their full-fledged cousins).
In an earlier article, we listed the best alternatives to Raspberry Pi. In this one, I’ll list some alternatives to Raspberry Pi Zero and Zero W.
Alternative to Raspberry Pi Zero: Tiny single board computers for IoT and Embedded Projects
We have great alternatives with variety of feature sets for different projects, thanks to open source designs and open source software stacks. All the boards in this round up run embedded Linux in various flavors.
Even though the Raspberry Pi Zero was released at $5 and the Zero W at $10, it’s often very hard to find them at those prices even in US. Outside US they usually cost around $12 – $20 .
Keeping that in mind let’s take a look at some of the alternatives for the Raspberry Pi Zero boards for under $20.
1. Banana Pi BPI M2 Zero
The Banana Pi M2 Zero at $18 is has the same layout as a Raspberry Pi Zero W. It looks like a clone of the Pi Zero W but other than the form factor it is anything but a clone. It has a faster Allwinner H2+ SOC at its heart and Ethernet can be added externally . It can also run a variety of Linux based operating systems.
Key Specifications
Allwinner H2+ Quad-core Cortex-A7 H265/HEVC 1080P with Mali400MP2 for the GPU
512M DDR3(shared with GPU)
40 Pins Header,compatible with Raspberry Pi 3
WiFi (AP6212) & Bluetooth onboard. Extra antenna connector
A CSI input connector Camera
Power and Reset Button
Mini HDMI Output
You can get more information from the Banana Pi Wiki and pick one up from here.
2. Banana Pi BPI-M2 Magic (BPi-M2M)
There are two variants of this board the one without the eMMC flash onboard costs $20. It is another tiny SBC with quite a lot of processing power for its size. Off the top of my head this board is a good fit for a touch control panel and dashboard for IoT and home automation. The on-board battery management system is quite attractive.
Key Specifications
Allwinner A33/R16 Quad Core ARM Cortex-A7, MALI 400 MP2 GPU
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz (AP6212) & BT v4.0 with BLE
512MB DDR3 (shared with GPU)
MIPI Display Serial Interface (DSI) interface(4 data lanes)
A CSI input connector Camera, video capture up-to 1080p at 30fps
Onboard microphone and battery management
No HDMI output
You can get more information from the Banana Pi Wiki and pick one up from here.
3. Banana Pi BPI-P2 Maker
This board at $13 ($19 with POE module) is one of the smallest SBC’s with on board Ethernet and support for POE(power over ethernet). With the same Allwinner H2+ SOC as the M2 zero, this is quite an interesting board.It has an onboard eMMC storage of 8Gb and a camera interface, with POE you can convert this into a DIY security camera and also use the powerful processor for basic ML.
Key Specifications
CPU: Allwinner H2+, Quad-core Cortex-A7
512MB DDR 3 SDRAM.
WiFi (AP6212) & Bluetooth onboard.
8G eMMC flash onboard
100M LAN
Mini HDMI
CSI Camera Interface
IEEE 802.3af PoE standard PoE module support
You can get more information from the Banana Pi Wiki and pick one up from here.
4. Orange Pi Zero LTS
At $11.49 ($9.49 for the 256 MB version) this is the cheapest and the smallest board with onboard Ethernet and POE functionality. It has the ever common Alwinner H2+ at its heart and a solid expansion options via the GPIO and the 13 pin functional header.
At $8.8 this board is smallest one yet at 6cm x 3cm. It uses the RDA8810PL SOC meant for a fairly advanced feature phone. The board is suited for camera applications(according to the manufacturer) can capture upto 1080p at 30fps. It has a fairy good IO for the price.
Key Specifications
RDA8810PL ARM Cortex-A5 32bit single core processor
Vivante’s GC860 GPU
Integrated 256MB LPDDR2 SDRAM
WiFi + BT using the RDA5991
CSI Camera Input
40 pin GPIO header
You can get more information from their official page and pick one up from here.
6. Orange Pi PC
This board packs in a lot of goodies for $15. It’s one of the very few boards which offer 1GB of RAM at such a price point. It uses the Allwinner H3 SOC and can decode 4K HEVC/H.265 video. It has an HDMI port with support for HDCP , CEC as well. This SBC can make a good media box with the right software. It even has onboard IR Receiver and a Microphone.
Key Specifications
Allwinner H3 Quad-core Cortex-A7 , 1.6GHz
1GB DDR3 (shared with GPU)
HDMI with support for 4K video
CSI Camera interface and onboard microphone
SD Card slot
IR Receiver
3.5mm Audio Jack
Ethernet
No WiFi/Bluetooth onboard
There is also a cut down version of the Orange Pi PC powered by the same SOC but with less RAM.
You can get more information from their official page and pick one up from here.
7. Orange Pi One & Orange Pi Lite
These two boards are also powered by the Alwinner H3 SoC used in the Orange Pi PC. But these come with 512MB of RAM instead of the 1GB offered by the Orange Pi PC.
Key Specifications
Allwinner H3 Quad Core
HDMI with 4K support
SD Card slot
512 MB of DDR3 RAM
CSI Camera Interface
Orange Pi Lite
Orange Pi One
The Orange Pi Lite comes in at $12, it does not feature an on-board Ethernet and offers WiFi instead. It also has onboard microphone and IR receiver. You can get more info from their official page and buy one from here.
The Orange Pi One on comes in at $11 and features on-board Ethernet for wired networking and does not offer any WiFi support. You can get more info from their official page and buy one from here.
Before we finish up with the Orange Pi boards, I do want to quickly mention a couple more boards they offer for custom applications.
Orange Pi R1 – This is a tiny board with dual Ethernet ports, you can use it to build a network device.
Orange Pi 2G IOT & Orange Pi 3G IOT- These boards feature 2G & 3G cellular connectivity for IoT Applications.
These boards also cost less than $20 and you can check them out on their official website.
8. NanoPi Neo LTS
Starting at $9.99, this board is very simple and tiny(4cm x 4cm), a similar form factor as the Orange Pi Zero. Unlike the Orange Pi Zero it is powered by the more powerful Allwinner H3 SoC and upto 512MB of RAM. It does not feature any onboard WiFi/BT chipset but you can add one via the USB port. This is a really good board to run headless Linux servers, DNS filters like Pi-Hole and it’ll make a really good edge device for any IoT Applications. Using the GPIO you can expand the functionality to match your needs.
Key Specifications
Allwinner H3 Quad Core Cortex A7 upto 1.2GHz
Upto 512 MB of RAM
Micro SD slot (upto 128GB)
10/100 Ethernet
Additional interfaces via the abundant GPIO
You can get more information and also purchase them from their official page .
There is a bare bones version of the NanoPi NEO called the NanoPi NEO Core LTS which adds eMMC for industrial applications and lets go of the onboard USB and Ethernet ports. All features are available via the GPIO expansion. You can check it out here .
There is also a WiFi/BT version of the NanoPi NEO called the NanoPi NEO Air which also adds eMMC and camera input and lets go of the onboard USB and Ethernet ports. You can check it out here.
9. Zero Pi
This is one of my favorite boards from this round up, it costs $9.99 and has a fast 1Gbps Ethernet onboard. With the Allwinner H3 at its heart, this can be a very powerful and tiny machine on your network. It supports OpenWRT which is great considering the 1Gbps Ethernet. You can easily run multiple instances of Pi-Hole along with a DNS Server.
Key Specifications
Allwinner H3 Quad Core Cortex A7 at upto 1.2GHz
512MB of RAM
USB 2.0 Port
Support for OpenWRT
You can get more information and also purchase them from their official page .
10. NanoPi NEO 2
At $19.99 , the NanoPi NEO 2 costs twice the NEO. It retains the same form factor and brings in the Allwinner H5 SoC and 1Gbps Ethernet. This makes the board a tiny power house.
Functional headers for Audio and other interfaces like IR
You can get more information and also purchase them from their official page .
That’s about all the boards in the NanoPi series, they also have a few more interesting boards with dual 1Gbps ports and a couple focused around camera.
11. La Frite
From the makers of the Le Potato , this board at $20 is mainly geared towards applications involving media consumption or media streaming. It supports 1080p video playback with HDR metadata via the HDMI 2.0 port. It supports the latest Android 9/TV, upstream Linux, u-boot, Kodi, and more.
Key Specifications
Amlogic S805X SoC, Quad Core Cortex-A53 @ 1.2GHz
Upto 1GB DDR4 SDRAM
Amlogic Video Engine 10, support for H.264,H.265 and VP9 decoding upto 1080p 60fps
100Mbps Ethernet
IR Receiver
40 pin GPIO
You can get more information from their official page .
12. Onion Omega2+
If you’re looking for an IoT application the Onion Omega 2+ can be a good alternative to the Raspberry Pi Zero. It is an IoT centric development platfrom and runs on LEDE (Linux Embedded Development Environment) Linux OS – a distribution based on OpenWRT.
Key Specifications
MT7688 SoC
2.4 GHz IEEE 802.11 b/g/n WiFi
128 MB DDR2 RAM
32 MB on-board flash storage
MicroSD slot
USB 2.0
12 GPIO pins
You can pick one up as bare bones module for $13 or various kits from their website.
13. VoCore2
The VoCore2 is definitely the smallest of the bunch, the bare-bones module is only 1″x1″ in size and costs $17.99. The tiny size makes it easy to embed in different applications and allows selective expansion of features based on the need. It is powered by the MediaTek MT7628 which was specially designed for low to mid-range routers. The manufacturer claims that they’ll keep up the production till 2025 which is really good.
Key Specifications
MediaTek MT7628, 580 MHz, MIPS 24K
128MB RAM, DDR2 166MHz
Ethernet – 1 port/5 ports, up to 100Mbps
Wireless – 802.11n, 2T2R, speed up to 300Mbps
Storage – 16M NOR on board, support SDXC up to 2TB
One on board U.FL slot (Antenna Connector)
You can get more information about the board from here and pick one up from their official website.
Wrapping up
It’s undeniable that there are all kinds of SBC’s available in various form factors and feature sets for a wide variety of use cases. On top of that most of these are open source designs and run on open source software. An absolute wonderland for a hardcore tinkerer.
With COVID-19 hanging around it might be a little tough to get your hands on these boards. Let’s hope things get better soon!
If you guys know of any other interesting alternatives for the Raspberry Pi Zero and Zero W put them in the comments below and we’ll check them out.
