RISC-V is an increasingly popular processor architecture known for its open-source nature and for promoting hardware and software design without needing royalties.
Recently, many companies have been adopting it for their single-board computers.
And now, Asus is also putting its hat in the ring with a new RISC-V board.
Let's see what it is all about.
Tinker-V: Overview
Dubbed as 'Tinker-V', the handiwork of ASUS IoT aims to be a versatile single-board computer powered by a 64-bit RISC-V processor for industrial IoT use.
It features an ultra-compact design that is power efficient, and has been specifically designed to run either Debian or Yocto with the ability to run hassle-free in temperatures as low as -20 °C or as high as 60 °C.
At the heart of it all is a Renesas RZ/Five MPU integrated with a RISC-V AndesCore™ AX45MP single-core processor to provide operating frequencies of up to 1.0 GHz.
Yep, this is not blazing fast by any means.
Other than that, Tinker-V's technical specifications are as follows:
- 1 GB DDR4 RAM
- 16 GB eMMC (Optional)
- 1x Micro SD slot
- 1x Micro USB & 1x micro USB (OTG)
- 2x GbE LAN Ports
- 2x CAN Bus Ports (6-Pin terminal block)
- 2x COM RS232 Ports (5-Pin terminal block)
- 20-Pin GPIO Port
- JTAG (Pin Header)
What about pricing/availability?
Samples for the ASUS IoT Tinker V will be available sometime in Q2. But there is not much info on its pricing or general availability yet.
You can check out the official product page to keep an eye on.
As for the after-sales support, Asus will offer at least five years of support with dedicated on-site technical support.
This board has been made in partnership with Renesas and Andes Technology, with the former looking forward to collaborating with Asus on more 'comprehensive RISC-V-based MPU solutions'.
We can expect more powerful RISC-V boards to emerge from this partnership between Renesas and Asus sometime soon.
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