Tag: Hardware Articles - Page 5

Banana Pi M2 Zero SBC Review

Published: October 10, 2022 / Last Modified: March 15, 2023 / Leave a Comment / Benchmarking, Hardware, Reviews

The Banana Pi M2 Zero definitely has a very familiar form factor. It looks just like the Raspberry Pi Zero but is a much cheaper alternative in these market conditions. Would you actually want to buy and use it as a Pi alternative? The answer is maybe.

Today I’ll explain the strengths and weaknesses of the Banana Pi M2 Zero and explain who may be able to save a lot of money using a board like this (and who should stay away from it). There are definitely some things you should know about the board before buying one and we’ll be covering those in this review.

Let’s get started!

Banana Pi M2 Zero SBC Review Read More »

Libre “Le Potato” SSD Boot Guide

Published: October 6, 2022 / Last Modified: March 15, 2023 / 16 Comments / Benchmarking, Hardware, Libre SBCs, Storage

The “Le Potato” by Libre Computers is a $40 single board computer. That is incredibly cheap in 2022 as anyone who has tried to buy a Raspberry Pi recently can tell you. There aren’t a lot of guides out there for how to best utilize it though so today I’d like to publish a guide for it for one of the best upgrades you can do with any SBC: upgrade to SSD storage!

This method requires a sacrificial SD card to serve as the bootloader. After booting though it will use your SSD for the system’s root filesystem. We will then benchmark it to measure the improvement/gains.

Let’s begin!

Libre “Le Potato” SSD Boot Guide Read More »

ODROID XU4/XU4Q SSD Booting Guide

Published: October 5, 2022 / Last Modified: March 15, 2023 / 27 Comments / Benchmarking, Hardware, ODROID, Storage

The ODROID XU4 and XU4Q can be a bit more tricky to boot from USB drives such as a SSD due to them not using the fantastic Petitboot bootloader like many of their newer boards have. It is still completely achievable though using an old trick and a sacrificial SD card.

The performance gains as well as access to much higher capacity drives can makes it more than worth it to set up SSD storage (as it is on nearly all single board computers).

Let’s get started!

ODROID XU4/XU4Q SSD Booting Guide Read More »

Libre Computers “Le Potato” SBC Review

Published: October 5, 2022 / Last Modified: March 15, 2023 / 2 Comments / Benchmarking, Hardware, Libre SBCs, Reviews

The “Le Potato” single board computer available from Libre Computers is an alternative to the Raspberry Pi. It is modeled after the Raspberry Pi 3 and is largely compatible with the Raspberry Pi 3 and it’s accessories (with some limitations/caveats). It can even run Raspberry Pi OS / Raspbian.

It costs about 1/3rd of what a Raspberry Pi does while coming with 2GB of memory. It’s widely available as well (I got mine from Amazon Prime with overnight delivery). Today we’ll be taking a look at the “Le Potato” as well as benchmarking it to see how well it can perform.

Let’s get started!

Libre Computers “Le Potato” SBC Review Read More »

Tinker Board SSD / USB Booting Guide

Published: October 4, 2022 / Last Modified: March 15, 2023 / 29 Comments / Benchmarking, Hardware, Storage, Tinker Board

I recently wrote a getting started guide for the Tinker Board as even though the newer models tend to be quite expensive the older models can often be found for a lot cheaper. In this guide we are going to do something more advanced and are going to actually move our root filesystem to a SSD!

I have the original variant (the Tinker Board 1 S) and that is what I will be using for this guide but this should work on all Tinker Boards (including models without the eMMC). The Tinker Board 2 will have faster performance as the USB ports are USB 3.0 vs. USB 2.0 on the original Tinker Board. If you don’t have the S model with the eMMC this method will require a sacrificial SD card to serve as the bootloader.

This is an old method that I first covered for the Raspberry Pi before it supported native USB booting. I’ve also covered it here for the Orange Pi Zero 2. The SD card/eMMC serves as the bootloader but our root filesystem will be on the SSD. This is a fantastic method for any board that doesn’t natively support booting the OS from a USB storage device.

Let’s begin!

Tinker Board SSD / USB Booting Guide Read More »

Legendary ODROID M1 Ubuntu 22.04.1 Images

Published: October 2, 2022 / Last Modified: August 2, 2023 / 45 Comments / Hardware, Linux, ODROID

Recently I reviewed the ODROID M1 and it’s a fantastic board. One problem with it though is that the image available for it is still only Ubuntu 20.04.

It’s possible to upgrade the server version to 22.04 and then install Ubuntu Desktop which I covered in my review. It’s painful though and takes a very long time especially if you want to install a desktop environment afterward.

I figured by now the updated image would be out and it still isn’t so today I’m releasing my Legendary ODROID M1 Ubuntu 22.04.1 images as well as the system I used to build the images!

Legendary ODROID M1 Ubuntu 22.04.1 Images Read More »

Raspberry Pi Zero 2 Review (It Sucks)

Published: September 23, 2022 / Last Modified: April 27, 2026 / 55 Comments / Hardware, Raspberry Pi, Reviews

This is what not giving a shit about your product looks like

It’s no secret that there’s a massive Raspberry Pi shortage right now for consumers due to the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s strategy of allocating boards to business and IoT projects first and then official resellers get whatever is left. Since I own one of every Raspberry Pi that has ever been made I ended up buying one of these scalped from eBay for about $57 (all the way from Europe) which is much better than the street price of $80-$90+ I can get it in the United States.

In other words I payed the scalpers to get my hands on this board so you don’t have to and let me tell you folks, it is honestly garbage and literally the dumbest purchase I’ve ever made. Today I will show and explain why the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 is the lamest and most disappointing product release that the Raspberry Pi Foundation has ever done. Let’s get started!

Raspberry Pi Zero 2 Review (It Sucks) Read More »

Orange Pi Zero 2 USB SSD Boot Guide

Published: August 30, 2022 / Last Modified: April 27, 2026 / 45 Comments / Benchmarking, Hardware, Orange Pi, Storage

During my recent coverage of SBCs I’ve been benchmarking them using SSDs. The process for booting from a SSD varies across different boards. I’ve found the documentation for some of these to be lacking / nonexistent and the Orange Pi Zero 2 is one of these.

Today I wanted to benchmark the Orange Pi Zero 2 with the SSD and given the lack of documentation I’m going to document my process for setting it up. The Orange Pi Zero 2 will require a sacrificial SD card to bootstrap the process and has USB 2.0 ports. With those limitations in mind let’s set it up and see how it performs!

Orange Pi Zero 2 USB SSD Boot Guide Read More »

ODROID N2+ Petitboot SSD Boot Guide

Published: August 29, 2022 / Last Modified: March 15, 2023 / 40 Comments / Benchmarking, Hardware, ODROID, Storage

Configuring the ODROID N2+ for USB booting can be a little bit tricky. There are guides out there that will both use a SD card to bootstrap the SSD booting and other guides that use Petitboot but have complex setup instructions.

Today I want to show you a simple method that I used to get SSD booting set up on the ODROID N2+ so I could perform my storage benchmarking on the device for my review. I will be using a NVMe SSD but you may use other types of SSDs as well. Let’s get started!

ODROID N2+ Petitboot SSD Boot Guide Read More »

ODROID Go Super Getting Started Guide

Published: August 29, 2022 / Last Modified: March 15, 2023 / 2 Comments / Gaming, Hardware, ODROID

The ODROID Go Super is the latest model of the popular handheld retro gaming consoles made by ODROID. It was recommended by a regular reader that I should check these out and I’m really enjoying it so far.

Today I’ll show you how to get started with the ODROID Go Super including getting a network connection, loading more games onto the device and more. Let’s begin!

ODROID Go Super Getting Started Guide Read More »

ODROID XU4Q Review / eMMC Tests

Published: August 24, 2022 / Last Modified: March 15, 2023 / 2 Comments / Benchmarking, Hardware, ODROID, Reviews

I recently received several ODROID products I wanted to review and benchmark in my quest to explore the rest of the SBC world outside of Raspberry Pi. Today we’re going to cover the ODROID XU4Q!

We’ll cover the pros and cons of the board and then benchmark the board with a official Hardkernel eMMC module. Let’s get started!

ODROID XU4Q Review / eMMC Tests Read More »

Hardkernel ODROID eMMC Guide / Performance Benchmarking

Published: August 23, 2022 / Last Modified: March 2, 2023 / Leave a Comment / Benchmarking, Hardware, ODROID, Storage

I’ve covered eMMC modules on the site before as being a fantastic performance option. Today I received some Hardkernel eMMC modules that I wanted to do some performance testing to see how they perform as well as a guide for how to get started with them.

These are promised to be ready to go out of the box. I will test that claim and then we will do some performance benchmarking. No matter what happens we will also do a fresh reimage of the module to show the complete process of getting them set up. Let’s begin!

Hardkernel ODROID eMMC Guide / Performance Benchmarking Read More »

Upgrading HackRF One to PortaPack H2

Published: August 19, 2022 / Last Modified: April 26, 2026 / 13 Comments / Hardware, Software Defined Radio

I just received a very exciting upgrade for my HackRF One. It is called the PortaPack H2. It essentially gives your HackRF a rechargeable battery, a touchscreen display and many new capabilities that are a part of the Havoc firmware.

This setup will basically take my HackRF’s capabilities completely mobile opening it up to places and locations to explore that aren’t easy/possible without a setup like this.

Today I wanted to build the new PortaPack H2 and show all the steps I took. Let’s begin!

Upgrading HackRF One to PortaPack H2 Read More »

ODROID M1 Review and Benchmarks

Published: August 18, 2022 / Last Modified: March 15, 2023 / 38 Comments / Benchmarking, Hardware, ODROID, Reviews

Today I’m very excited to review the ODROID M1 board. I bought this board for a couple of reasons. The first was that it is one of the top rated (and the top rated) boards on my Pi Benchmarks storage benchmarking website.

The second reason was a recommendation from you guys on one of my articles to check out and review the board! This will be my very first ODROID board. Definitely let me know if there’s more boards I need to check out that I haven’t covered as I’m actively investigating alternative SBCs to the Raspberry Pi due to the ongoing shortage

Let’s begin!

ODROID M1 Review and Benchmarks Read More »

Use HackRF SDR to Lock / Unlock Car

Published: August 15, 2022 / Last Modified: April 26, 2026 / 3 Comments / Gadgets, Hardware, Security, Software Defined Radio

I’ve previously covered getting your HackRF set up in Linux and getting the firmware updated. In that guide we installed the very easy to use CubicSDR application and were able to easily tune to various audio signals.

Today we’re going to do something more interactive and actually use the transmitter. We’re going to unlock and lock my vehicle using the HackRF! Let’s get started.

Use HackRF SDR to Lock / Unlock Car Read More »