[Dprglist] Anyone using an Omega2 Pro?
Murray Altheim
murray18 at altheim.com
Sat Sep 19 17:59:16 PDT 2020
Hi Jim & Chris,
I've generally been happy with Raspberry Pis (using the Pi Zero W and 3 B+)
and an Adafruit 120MHz ItsyBitsy M4 Express when I want an Arduino compatible.
I'm pretty heavily invested now in Python 3 so for a main board I want
something that can run Python 3 (even over CircuitPython).
I've used the Arduino Yun, which in addition to its ATmega32U4 has an
Atheros AR9331 processor running OpenWRT embedded Linux with WiFi, all on an
Uno-sized board. It's a bit of an oddball and not from what I can see
well-supported (though I note on sale right now). OpenWRT comes with Python 2
and it's a bit of a trick to get Python 3 installed. I've not yet figured out
how to use their "Bridge library" to communicate between the two... (sigh)
I was interested in the Omega2 because of its size, features and the onboard
LiPo battery management. I hadn't noticed that the 8GB is eMMC storage, with
128MB RAM and 384MB of swap. Not very much memory, very good point! As for
running OpenWRT Linux, on the Arduino Yun it was fine except for the general
difficulty of using embedded Linux (like the Python 3 issue), but to be
frank I kinda prefer the complete open-ness of the Raspberry Pi OS (prev.
"Raspbian"). OpenWRT certainly works but it's clear it was designed for an
embedded environment, as Chris indicated limits are pretty normal. OTOH,
being able to do "apt update" is kinda nice.
I've been using Makita 18V power tool batteries so far in my robots but for
an upcoming project I was thinking of switching to LiPo for both weight and
being able to weight-distribute the batteries, as it'll be a mechanum robot.
Yes, there are accessory boards for the Pi to do that but having it built-in
on the Omega2 is appealing.
I decided against using a Pi 4 on a robot due to it using almost double the
power of the 3 B+. I'm not doing any heavy video processing (yet, at least)
so I haven't needed more horsepower.
I decided to use a Samsung 500GB SSD for storage, which is significantly
faster than just an SD card. On a Pi 4 that'd be helped by (I believe) by
USB-C.
I completely agree about spending a bit extra on SD cards (as well as USB
sticks). Many of the cheap ones fail quickly or perform poorly. I've been a
happy SanDisk customer for a long time now. There's the SanDisk "Industrial"
and "Industrial XI" line of SD cards which "work in extreme temperatures
for prolonged amounts of time, integrate health status monitor capability,
special data retention mechanisms, and some are compliant with the AEC-Q100
Grade 3 standard." The one feature especially is their "Power Protection
capability, which prevents data from being corrupted during a write when
the power supply is unstable or unexpectedly lost." On a robot that seems
a real possibility.
All said, I suppose the Pi 3 B+ is still my workhorse of choice.
Cheers,
Murray
On 20/09/20 8:18 am, Jim Merkle wrote:
> Need to figure out what you plan to do with the board / why THIS board is necessary.
> That is a VERY SMALL amount of RAM! Using flash space for swap is a normal OS practice, but you will take a performance hit.
> The 8GB Storage is FLASH. This would be comparable to using uSD card storage on the Pi, which is very cheap storage.
> The Raspberry Pi, especially the Raspberry Pi 4 will perform significantly better with higher clock speed and four cores.
> If you need something that will run on a small battery for a year, the Omega2 may be the choice, else, go with the Pi.
> Not sure why MIPS was chosen for CPU core. MIPS has never been very popular. There are many low power SOCs that use ARM
> if power is the main focus.
>
> You can get the Raspberry Pi 4B, with 4GB of RAM at Microcenter for $49.99, if all you need is one.
> https://www.microcenter.com/product/609038/raspberry-pi-4-model-b---4gb-ddr4
>
> With the much larger RAM, this unit is a very good performer ! The extra RAM makes a big difference.
>
> Just my 2 cents....
>
> PS: Don't skimp and buy Microcenter's uSD card. Get a name brand with good specs. You want access to this storage to be fast.
> I just replaced the flaky Microcenter uSD card on one of my Pis with a "SanDisk 32GB Extreme microSDHC UHS-I Memory Card", available at Amazon.com for $10.29.
> The Pi is performing very well now.
>
>
> ---
> Jim Merkle
> Carrollton, TX 75007
> jim at merkles.com
>
> On 2020-09-19 05:40, Murray Altheim via DPRGlist wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Has anyone any experience using an Omega2 Pro development board, or any
>> of the Omega products? Looks like an alternative to a Raspberry Pi, with
>> built-in LiPo battery management. Seems like a nice small board.
>>
>> Omega2 Pro___________________________________
>> Processor: 580 MHz MIPS CPU
>> Memory: 128 MB RAM and 384 MB flash swap file
>> Storage: 8 GB
>> Connectivity: 2.4 GHz b/g/n Wi-Fi
>> Operating System: OpenWRT 18.06 Linux
>> https://onion.io/store/omega2-pro/
>> https://onion.io/omega2-pro-get-started/
>> http://linuxgizmos.com/open-source-omega2-module-gives-way-to-a-pro-sbc/
>>
>> It runs OpenWRT Linux and cost US$49.00. There's a GPS expansion module
>> for $14 and a few other accessories. I've used OpenWRT a bit with the
>> Arduino Yun, a bit more awkward than the Raspberry Pi's OS but it'd be
>> fine. It has all the normal bells and whistles: USB, Ethernet, I2C, UART,
>> I2S, SPI, PWM, and GPIO, a web-based Setup Wizard and some other nice
>> features, the price about halfway between a Pi 3 B+ and a Pi 4. Not as
>> fast (?) but 8GB of memory (which on a Pi 4 costs $75).
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Murray
>>
>> ...........................................................................
>> Murray Altheim <murray18 at altheim dot com> = = ===
>> http://www.altheim.com/murray/ === ===
>> = = ===
>> In the evening
>> The rice leaves in the garden
>> Rustle in the autumn wind
>> That blows through my reed hut.
>> -- Minamoto no Tsunenobu
>>
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>
--
...........................................................................
Murray Altheim <murray18 at altheim dot com> = = ===
http://www.altheim.com/murray/ === ===
= = ===
In the evening
The rice leaves in the garden
Rustle in the autumn wind
That blows through my reed hut.
-- Minamoto no Tsunenobu
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