Single-board computers from the Asus Tinker Board series are hacker-friendly tools made for programmers who want to create IoT (Internet of Things) applications, among other things. They’ve been available since 2017, and they essentially represent the Asus take on Raspberry Pi gadgets.
All Tinker Board versions up until this point have been powered by ARM-based processors. The new Asus Tinker V, however, defies the pattern because it is the brand’s first product to feature a 64-bit RISC-V processor.
It is not an especially potent RISC-V processor. A Renesas RZ/Five CPU with a 1 GHz Andes AX45MP single-core RISC-V processor powers the Tinker V.
The board has a microSD card slot for storage, 1GB of DDR4 memory, and the ability to support a 16GB eMMC module and SPI flash.
Ports include:
GbE Ethernet, two
single mini USB
single mini USB (OTG)
Two CAN Buses (6-pin terminal block)
2 × RS-232 COM (5-pin terminal block)
A 20-pin GPIO header, JTAG diagnostic pin header, and a DC power input jack are also included.
According to Asus, the chip is compatible with Yocto and Debian Linux.
The Tinker V and other IoT products are being showcased by Asus at the Embedded World trade exhibition this week in Germany, but pricing and availability have not yet been announced.
The number of single-board computers with RISC-V chips is increasing, and you can now include the Tinker V in that list. Other options include the StarFive VisionFive 2, Pine64 0x64, Sipeed Lichee Pi 4A, MangoPi MQ Pro, Allwinner Nezha, and HiFive Unmatched, all of which come in a range of price points and functionalities. The Pine64 Star64 and Intel Horse Creek/SiFive HiFive Pro P550 are two more versions that will be released this year.
