The RockPro64 is a Single Board Computer (SBC) made by the Pine64 organization found at www.Pine64.org.
The organization makes Linux phones, SBCs, Laptops, watch developer kits and other items.
PinePro64
The SBC has the following specifications:
FIGURE 1
Like other SBCs you can install Linux and even Android on this board. Unlike other boards the way you can install the Operating System is different. Pine64 has made a very nice program similar to Etcher. The program can be found at https://github.com/pine64dev/PINE64-Installer. Currently the installer is version 2.0.0-beta 3. For a 64-bit Linux version you need the ZIP file. Extract the contents and you can execute the file. You may need to answer a question when you start it. After it starts you should see a screen similar to Figure 2.
FIGURE 2
To start you need to select the button labeled ‘Choose an OS’. Another window will appear as shown in Figure 3.
FIGURE 3
You will need to select the board you have from the drop-down list which includes:
FIGURE 4
There were 31 entries at the time of this being written. The choices are:
The next option is to choose the drive (SD card) to which you want to ‘burn’ the image. Make sure the SD card has the specified space on it. Remember that the SD card will be erased.
Next, select the ‘Flash’ button to ‘burn’ the image you chose to the SD card you selected.
Once the SD card is ready you will be able to remove the SD card and place it into the RockPro64. Power on the board after you have hooked it up to a screen with a keyboard and mouse.
The login information is the Username should be ‘rock64’ and the password is also ‘rock64’.
Rockchip RK3399
The single ARM chip called the Rockchip RK3399 contains two physical processors but six cores.
Overall, the chip supports multiple video decoders including H.264/H.265/VP9 at 4K or 2K handling 60fps. The processor can support H.264/H.265 decoders with 10bits coding and supports 1080 at 30fps for H.264/MVC/VP8 encoders. Also on-board is a high-quality JPEG encoder/decoder.
You should be able to tell that the board operates very well (you can immediately SSH into it if you want to leave it headless).
Benchmarks
To test the board I will run benchmarks. For the tests I used HardInfo 0.6-Alpha. I used the Ubuntu 18.04 LXDE Desktop image. Seven tests were run and are defined as follows:
The results for the RockPro64 are as follows:
Conclusion
Since there are so many options available for Operating System images the RockPro64 is a great board. The benchmarks show it has quite the processor to run applications without breaking the bank. It currently sells for around $60 depending on the options. For gamers this is a nice board if you use Recalbox.
If you like SBCs then you will definitely want to give this one a look.
The organization makes Linux phones, SBCs, Laptops, watch developer kits and other items.
PinePro64
The SBC has the following specifications:
- Processor: Rockchip RK3399 SOC
- Dual Cortex-A72 (1.8 GHz)
- Quad Cortex-A53 (1.416 GHz)
- Graphics: Mali T860 MP4 GPU
- OpenGL ES1.1/2.0/3.0/3.1, OpenCL, DX11
- RAM: LPDDR4 (up to 4GB)
- Bluetooth – Optional
- USB:
- 2 – 2.0
- 1 – 3.0
- Network:
- Optional 802.11 AC Wi-Fi
- Gigabit Ethernet port
- Storage: Micro-SD slot
- Video: 4K video HDMI port
- Power: 5.5” Barrel Port for 5V and 3A/5A
- Micro SD Slot
- eMMC Module Slot
- SPI Flash 128Mbit
- PCIe 4x Open-Ended Slot
- 40 GPIO Pins
- Expansion Bus
- PI-2 Bus
- Touch Panel Port (TP)
- Display Serial Interface (DSI) Port
- eDP Port
- Stereo MiPi-SCI Port for 12MPx cameras
- IR R/X Port
- Real Time Clock Port (RTC)
- Lithium Battery Port
- CMOS Sensor Interface Port
- Headphone Jack with Mic Input
- Size: 133mm x 80mm (5.2” x 3.1”)
FIGURE 1
Like other SBCs you can install Linux and even Android on this board. Unlike other boards the way you can install the Operating System is different. Pine64 has made a very nice program similar to Etcher. The program can be found at https://github.com/pine64dev/PINE64-Installer. Currently the installer is version 2.0.0-beta 3. For a 64-bit Linux version you need the ZIP file. Extract the contents and you can execute the file. You may need to answer a question when you start it. After it starts you should see a screen similar to Figure 2.
FIGURE 2
To start you need to select the button labeled ‘Choose an OS’. Another window will appear as shown in Figure 3.
FIGURE 3
You will need to select the board you have from the drop-down list which includes:
- RockPro64
- PineBook
- 1080P Pinebook
- Rock64-v3 / v2
- Rock64-v2 / Popcorn Hour Transformer
- Pine H64 (Model B)
- Pine A64-LTS / Sopine
- Pine A64+ (1GB/2GB)
- Pine A64+ (1GB/2GB) For LCD Panel
- Pine A64 (512MB)
FIGURE 4
There were 31 entries at the time of this being written. The choices are:
- Debian Stretch Minimal 64bit
- Ubuntu 18.04 LXDE Desktop
- Ubuntu 18.04 MATE Desktop
- Ubuntu 18.04 Minimal 64bit
- Ubuntu 18.04 Minimal 32bit
- Ubuntu 18.04 Containers
- Stretch OpenMedia Vault 32bit
- Stretch OpenMedia Vault 64bit
- Armbian Debian Buster Minimal
- Armbian Buster Desktop
- Armbian Debian Stretch Minimal
- Armbian Debian Stretch Desktop
- Armbian Ubuntu 18.04 Minimal
- Armbian Ubuntu 18.04 Desktop
- Debian by mrfixit2001
- Dietpi Community Build
- Slackware Aarch64 Miniroot Community Build
- Slackware Aarch64 XFCE Community Build
- Batocera Linux Community Build
- Recalbox Community Build
- CentOS-7 Community Build
- NEMS Linux
- NextCloudPi Community Build
- Manjaro KDE ARM Community Build (preview)
- Manjaro KDE ARM Community Build
- Manjaro LXQT ARM Community Build
- Manjaro Minimal ARM Community Build
- Chromium OS Community Build
- Stock Android 8.1
- Stock Android 7.1.2 (eMMC)
- Stock Android 7.1.2 (microSD)
The next option is to choose the drive (SD card) to which you want to ‘burn’ the image. Make sure the SD card has the specified space on it. Remember that the SD card will be erased.
Next, select the ‘Flash’ button to ‘burn’ the image you chose to the SD card you selected.
Once the SD card is ready you will be able to remove the SD card and place it into the RockPro64. Power on the board after you have hooked it up to a screen with a keyboard and mouse.
The login information is the Username should be ‘rock64’ and the password is also ‘rock64’.
Rockchip RK3399
The single ARM chip called the Rockchip RK3399 contains two physical processors but six cores.
Overall, the chip supports multiple video decoders including H.264/H.265/VP9 at 4K or 2K handling 60fps. The processor can support H.264/H.265 decoders with 10bits coding and supports 1080 at 30fps for H.264/MVC/VP8 encoders. Also on-board is a high-quality JPEG encoder/decoder.
You should be able to tell that the board operates very well (you can immediately SSH into it if you want to leave it headless).
Benchmarks
To test the board I will run benchmarks. For the tests I used HardInfo 0.6-Alpha. I used the Ubuntu 18.04 LXDE Desktop image. Seven tests were run and are defined as follows:
- CPU Blowfish – tests file encryption speeds
- CPU Cryptohash – produces a checksum
- CPU Fibonacci – produces a Fibonacci number
- CPU N-Queens – algorithm to test the CPU in which a specific number of Queens are placed on a chess board and not two are in the same row, column or diagonal with each other
- CPU Zlib – used to test compression speeds of a CPU
- FPU FFT – an algorithm used to analyze waves such as in audio files
- FPU Raytracing – tracing light as it interacts with objects
The results for the RockPro64 are as follows:
- CPU Blowfish – 5.7
- CPU Cryptohash – 223.20
- CPU Fibonacci – 2.05
- CPU N-Queens – 13.40
- CPI Zlib – .32
- FPU FFT – 5.51
- FPU Raytracing – 5.76
- 5.43 seconds
Conclusion
Since there are so many options available for Operating System images the RockPro64 is a great board. The benchmarks show it has quite the processor to run applications without breaking the bank. It currently sells for around $60 depending on the options. For gamers this is a nice board if you use Recalbox.
If you like SBCs then you will definitely want to give this one a look.