Radxa Targets the Maker on a Budget with Its PCIe-Equipped ROCK 2A, ROCK 2F Single-Board Computers
FFC connector boasts Raspberry Pi 5 pin compatibility, while an entry-level system-on-chip and a few cut corners keep the price low.
Embedded computing specialist Radxa has unveiled two new single-board computers, designed for those looking for a budget alternative to its recently-launched range-topping Radxa X4: the Radxa ROCK 2A and ROCK 2F, mimicking the rough footprints of a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ and Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ respectively.
The Radxa ROCK 2A, unveiled alongside its smaller stablemate in a forum post brought to our attention by Linux Gizmos, uses a Raspberry Pi-inspired layout centered around the Rockchip RK3528A system-on-chip. This gives it four Arm Cortex-A53 cores running at an unspecified clock speed, an Arm Mali-450 graphics processor, and hardware decoders for H.264/H.265 and AVS2 video with encoders for H.264/H.265 at 4k60 and 1080p60 respectively.
What it does not include is any form of neural processing unit (NPU), a common coprocessor added to Rockchip's higher-end parts to accelerate on-device machine learning and artificial intelligence workloads. To this, Radxa has added a choice of 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB of RAM, while the latter two models can also be specified with 16GB and 32GB of on-board eMMC respectively.
Despite targeting the budget end of the market, the ROCK 2A includes a surprising number of features: its HDMI port is capable of handling 4k60 displays, it includes analog video and audio on a 3.5mm jack, a single USB 3.0 On-The-Go (OTG) port alongside three USB 2.0 ports, and gigabit Ethernet with optional Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) support. There's on-board Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 radios, and — most surprisingly of all — a flat flexible circuit (FFC) connector exposing a single PCI Express Gen. 2 lane, matching the pin-out of the Raspberry Pi 5.
For those who need something smaller, the ROCK 2F — described by the company as a "card computer" U2014 packs the same system-on-chip into a smaller footprint, but drops down to just two full-size USB 2.0 ports and a USB 2.0 On-The-Go Type-C port while also losing the wired Ethernet port. Both variants include a full 40-pin general-purpose input/output (GPIO) header.
More information on the Radxa ROCK 2A and ROCK 2F is available on their respective product pages; the Rock 2A is up for sale on the company's AliExpress store at just $14.89 for the 1GB model, $19.68 for the 2GB, $29.97 for the 4GB, $24.85 for a 2GB with 16GB eMMC, and $34.75 for the 4GB with 32GB eMMC. The ROCK 2F has been listed on Taobao at CNY80.99 (around $11) for the 1GB variant, with no other versions confirmed at the time of writing.