Onion’s $69 “Omega2 Dash” SBC combines its WiFi-enabled, Linux-on-MIPS based Omega2S+ module with a 3.2-inch, 320 x 240 resistive touchscreen. There’s also a microSD slot, micro-USB port, and header for adding optional LAN, ADC, servo, and NFC/RFID modules.

Onion has gone to Crowd Supply to successfully fund an open-spec, touchscreen-enabled SBC for IoT applications that runs Linux on its MIPS-based Omega2S+ module. Back in May, Onion similarly leveraged the same Omega2s+ module for use on its Omega2 LTE SBC.

Omega2 Dash, front and back
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The Omega2 Dash, which we saw on CNXSoft, is available for $69, or $199 for four. There’s also a $84 Essentials Collection that adds Ethernet and ADC expansion modules and a $124 Ultimate Collection that also adds NFC/RFID, Servo (PWM), and “Proto” modules. All the products ship April 29, 2020.


Omega2 Dash and add-on modules
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Like the Omega2S, the the Omega2S+ is a smaller (34 x 20 x 2.8mm), surface-mount follow-on to the Omega2 module. Both modules changed from the Omega2’s 400MHz Atheros AR9331 SoC to a similarly MIPS-driven, WiFi-enabled 580MHz MediaTek MT7688. The modules provide 2.4GHz, 802.11n radios, including WiFi access point support, and offer more interfaces than the original. The Omega2S+ is equipped with twice the memory as the 2S, at 128MB RAM and 32MB flash.

The 82 x 70mm, 60-gram Omega2 Dash SBC expands upon the Omega2S+ with a microSD slot, a USB 2.0 host port, and a micro-USB serial interface with support for power input and command line and debug access. There’s also a 2-dBi directional chip antenna and a U.FL connector, LEDs for WiFi and Linux boot status, and reset and on/off buttons.

Omega2 Dash, front and back detail views
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The Omega2 Dash offers a 30-pin expansion header with access to the same expansion modules available for all other Omega2 products. I/O includes I2C, SPI, UART, GPIOs, Ethernet, and USB 2.0.

The 3.2-inch, 320 x 240-pixel touchscreen on the reverse side of the board supports 16-bit RGB565 color and 12-bit resistive touch input. The screen lets you display the command line, run GUIs, and display images in PNG and JPG formats. Users can also “easily interact with the display device through the Linux framebuffer,” thereby reducing the “time and complexity of creating a GUI IoT application,” says Onion.

Onion OS (left) and Omega2 Dash running LittleV Graphics Library demo
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The Omega2S+ module is preloaded with a Linux image based on OpenWrt 18.06 that is claimed to boot in less than a minute. It includes the usual, browser-based OnionOS GUI stack, which offers Terminal, Code Editor, and App Manager apps. There’s also a template and sample code for the open source LittleV Graphics Library, which has a “conveniently low memory footprint,” and provides “everything you need to create an embedded GUI with easy-to-use graphical elements and visual effects,” says Onion.

 
Further information

The Omega2 Dash is available on Crowd Supply starting at $69 for the next 46 days with free shipping in the U.S. and $15 elsewhere. Shipments are due April 29, 2020. More information may be found on the Omega2 Dash Crowd Supply page, and more may eventually be found on the Onion website.