The open spec, 60 x 45mm “Orange Pi R1” runs Linux or Android on a quad -A7 Allwinner H2 and features WiFi, USB OTG, and dual 10/100 Ethernet ports.

Shenzhen Xunlong appears to be increasingly focusing its Orange Pi line of open spec development boards on small-footprint SBCs aimed more at IoT than multimedia applications. Shortly after revealing its quad Cortex-A53, Allwinner H5 based Orange Pi Zero Plus, featuring the standard 48 x 46mm footprint of its Zero-branded boards, it has released an Orange Pi R1 model with a quad -A7 Allwinner H2 for only a dollar less. With its somewhat larger 60 x 45mm footprint, the R1 lacks the Zero branding, but it shares the same Allwinner H2 SoC as the original Orange Pi Zero.

Orange Pi R1, front and back
(click images to enlarge)

The $13.90 Orange Pi R1 stands out with its pair of 10/100 “Fast” Ethernet ports. Only two other SBCs out of 98 in our 2017 hacker board survey had more than one LAN port: the dual 10/100 Ethernet DPT-Board and the dual-GbE UP Squared. One of the R1’s Ethernet port uses a Realtek RTL8152B controller while the other is driven via USB. With its small size, dual networking capability, and onboard WiFi, the R1 would appear to be suitable for tiny IoT gateways for cost and size constrained applications.


Orange Pi R1 detail views
(click images to enlarge)

The Allwinner H2 SoC is much like the more popular Allwinner H3, differing primarily in the fact that it’s limited to HD rather than 4K video. That won’t matter much on this IoT and networking focused board. Like the Zero models, the Orange Pi R1 lacks an HDMI port, but it’s not completely headless in that it includes a 13-pin function interface with video-out. Like the other Zero boards, it also supplies a 26-pin connector that aligns with the original Raspberry Pi models.

The Orange Pi R1 ships with a modest 256MB of RAM plus 16MB SPI and a microSD slot. The micro-USB 2.0 OTG port provides power. Android 4.4 and various Linux images are available, and as usual you get open schematics and Orange Pi community support.

Specifications listed for the Orange Pi R1 include:

• Processor — Allwinner H2 (4x Cortex-A7 @ 1.2GHz); ARM Mali-400 MP2 GPU @600MH
• Memory — 256MB DDR3 SDRAM
• Storage — MicroSD slot up to 32GB; 16MB SPI flash
• Wireless — 802.11b/g/n (Realtek RTL8189ETV); antenna
• Networking — 2x 10/100 Ethernet ports (1x Realtek RTL8152B, 1x via USB)
• Other I/O:
  • Micro-USB 2.0 OTG port (with power input)
  • GPIO (1×3) pin
  • Serial debug interface
  • 13-pin function interface (TV out, mic, earphone, mic, 2x USB 2.0, IR)
  • 26-pin header compatible with Raspberry Pi B+
• Other features — power & status LEDs
• Power — 5V via micro-USB OTG; power button
• Dimensions — 60 x 45mm
• Weight — 35 g
• Operating systems — Android 4.4, Lubuntu, Debian, Armbian

 
Further information

The Orange Pi R1 is available at AliExpress for $13.90 plus $3.83 shipping ($17.73 total to the U.S.). More information may be found on the Orange Pi R1 AliExpress page and the Orange Pi R1 product page.