Table of Contents
What is the Orange Pi?
Have you heard about a single-board computer supplier that can steal the spotlight from Raspberry Pi, the master of System Basis Chips (SBCs)? Yes, it’s Orange Pi. This hardware open-source single-board computer helps PCB designers integrate their boards with our designs after adding some innovations to add more functions or perform specific functions.
In this article, you will learn about the main capabilities of Orange Pi, different product versions, and professional PCB integration solutions to help you optimize the cost and performance of your projects. Now let’s learn with ELE PCB!
When Will You Use a Single-Board Computer?
Single-board computers are used in applications that require complex computing, like capturing videos or computer vision products. You can use Arduino or STM32 in some simple projects, but for more complex tasks like smart cameras or autonomous drones requiring an operating system, you need to use SBCs like Orange Pi, Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, or NVIDIA Jetson.
Main Capabilities of Orange Pi
- Processors: All projects are ARM-based processors that use ARM Systems on Chips like Alwinner or Rock-Chip and range from single-core up to quad or hexa-core products.
- System Memory: DDR3/DDR4 RAM between 512 MB to 4 GB of system memory.
- Storage Interfaces: Orange Pi has more than one way to interface with storage, like SD card slots as a standard boot and storage medium, also eMMC sockets for faster applications, and SPI NOR/NAND for tiny flash applications.
- Video & Display: HDMI or HDMI micro ports that can connect to LCDs and view videos with 4K and up to 8K quality.
- Network and connections: USB A and USB micro ports, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi modules, and Gigabit or 10/100 Mbps Ethernet
- General Purpose Input and Output (GPIOs): In the range of 40-pin Header that exposes GPIO, I²C, SPI, UART, PWM, I²S, and power pins so you can attach more sensors and perform outputs for more actuators.
How to Choose Suitable Orange Pi Products?
Here are the most commonly used Orange Pi products and their specifications, you can look at the table below to compare them and make your single board computer choice depending on your project and budget.
| Orange Pi-Zero | Orange Pi PC / PC Plus | Orange Pi 4B | Orange Pi 5B | |
| Price | cheapest | low-cost | moderate cost | higher |
| Project Level | simple | more complex | high internet speed-based projects | edge computing applications |
| Capabilities | AllWinner H2/H3 SoC TF card Slot | with ports such as CSI camera interface, HDMI interface | reliable Allwinner processor 2GB of RAM 8GB of storage | Rockchip’s 8-core processor ARM GPU graphics card dedicated AI processing Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 8K video output |
| Applications | payment devices vision carts health monitoring instruments | cash register systems automatic 3D printers smart home full automation | real-time wireless surveillance equipment in-vehicle applications deep learning areas | tablets cloud computing applications artificial intelligence applications |
Orange Pi vs Raspberry Pi vs Banana Pi
Raspberry Pi (UK) leads in education/DIY with strong community support. Orange Pi (China) offers cost-effective, high-performance hardware for advanced projects. Banana Pi (China) focuses on storage/network expansions, ideal for niche applications.
It’s hard to make a choice from these three common single board brands, let’s make a comparison from their hardware and software aspects.
| Raspberry Pi | Orange Pi | Banana Pi | |
| Popular Product | Raspberry Pi 4B/5 | Orange Pi 5B/Zero 3 | Banana Pi M5 |
| Processor | Broadcom ARM Cortex-A72/A76 | Rockchip RK3588/Allwinner | Amlogic A311D |
| Storage | 1GB-8GB LPDDR4 | 2GB-32GB LPDDR4/LPDDR5 | 2GB-8GB LPDDR4 |
| Storage Port | MicroSD、USB 3.0 | eMMC、NVMe、MicroSD | SATA、MicroSD、eMMC |
| Video Compatible | Double-HDMI（4K@60Hz） | HDMI 2.1（8K@30Hz） | HDMI（4K@60Hz） |
| Internet | Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6 | 2.5G Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6 | Gigabit Ethernet, 5G |
| OS Support | Raspbian, Windows IoT Core, OSMX, Linux, Ubuntu, Debian | Armbian, Android, Ubuntu | Armbian, OpenWrt, Android |
| Community Support | powerful(global communities) | medium( most in China) | weak(depending on some developers) |
In conclusion, Raspberry Pi has strong community support, broad acceptance, and an emphasis on education. Those looking for performance and value are drawn to Orange Pi because of its affordable prices and remarkable hardware specs. Banana Pi, on the other hand, seeks to provide solutions for both novice and seasoned users while balancing pricing, performance, and versatility.
How to Use Orange Pi Professionally in Your Application?
As Orange Pi is open source, it offers schematics and boards of its products. If you are determined to include its products on your board, you have two ways depending on your experience in PCB design.
For normal PCB Designers and simple projects with no sophisticated requirements, it is to design a shield containing all inputs and outputs, like sensors, motor drivers, motors terminals, LCD Screen debugger interface. To connect this shield board to your Orange Pi with pin headers, you can use footprints directly without going to open source designs from well-known schematics and footprints providers.
For Professional PCB designers and for projects that need compact sizes like portable web cameras, you can download open source schematic and layout from the original Orange Pi website. These files can be combined into the designs by changing the layout to be responsive to the need of project.
Still have problems but want to manufacture high-quality products and make your projects better? Contact ELE PCB to get 24-hour professional PCB design support, we’re happy to help you.
Conclusion
Orange Pi is a great choice of single-board computer that will help you to build simple or advanced smart projects whether you are a beginner or a professional. You could choose a suitable product to fit your needs and budget.
ELE PCB is a reliable manufacturer providing high quality PCBs for a variety of applications including single board computer projects such as Raspberry Pi and the Orange Pi. Contact ELEPCB if you want expert advice for your Orange Pi projects.
FAQs
A1: The schematic open source, u-boot open source, Linux kernel open source, Orange Pi-build compilation system open source.
A2: Depending on needs: Use default board/shields for general purposes. Customize for integration, special form factors, high-speed signals, or mass production. Leverage open-source schematics and most projects don’t customize; do so only with advanced requirements (e.g., industrial/compact designs).
CONTACT US
English 
Italian 
Hungarian