# Recommended dev board for beginners



## kodcode (Monday at 7:23 AM)

Hello,

which dev board would you recommend to a beginner looking into FreeBSD embedded? 
Thanks.


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## Phishfry (Monday at 11:28 AM)

I think my RockPro64 is my preferred board. It is several years old but it is still available for sale.


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## kodcode (Monday at 3:47 PM)

Phishfry said:


> I think my RockPro64 is my preferred board. It is several years old but it is still available for sale.


Can you recommend anything cheaper? Maybe a RPI or BB?


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## SirDice (Monday at 3:51 PM)

A Pi 3 or 4 is nice to work with. Plenty of things that aren't yet functional so lots of things to develop for. A little hard to get nowadays but they should be available again soon.


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## covacat (Monday at 4:00 PM)

i have a pi zero (without bt/wifi) and a cheap realtek wifi dongle
it works well but it is slow
the question is what do you want to do with it
the "high endurance" micro sd card was probably more expensive than the pi itself


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## kodcode (Monday at 4:59 PM)

Can you install FreeBSD and run it all via the serial port on the Pi?
Or do I need an USB keyboard just to enable UART?


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## covacat (Monday at 5:26 PM)

you can use it with serial console over usb


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## diizzy (Monday at 8:14 PM)

RockPro64 would be a better choice than RaspberryPi-series especially since Rockchip gets more attention and it works better overall. That being said, it's not flawless...
Pine64's Allwinner boards are also decent but slower so it depends on what you want to do.


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## hardworkingnewbie (Monday at 9:34 PM)

SirDice said:


> A Pi 3 or 4 is nice to work with. Plenty of things that aren't yet functional so lots of things to develop for. A little hard to get nowadays but they should be available again soon.


Note that the prices for the Pi 3 and 4 are absolutely nuts at the moment. In most stores they are out of stock right now, and if available then the Pi 3 is around 100 EUR at the moment, while the Pi 4 around 200 EUR due to the chip shortage.


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## Phishfry (Monday at 10:29 PM)

RockPro64 is defiantly a very capable board.
With NVMe and eMMC module capacity it is head and shoulders over most other maker boards.
The size is considerably larger than most maker boards.

Pi's lack of storage options is my primary gripe. eMMC are getting common on embedded platforms.

I find it interesting that BananaPi-M1 is 8 years old and you can still buy them new direct from China..

Since your from Israel look at SolidRun. They make good stuff. Hummingboard is a nice platform.



covacat said:


> the question is what do you want to do with it


Indeed. The end purpose.
Dev board name makes me think you want to develop something?
Are you looking for GPIO's or why use Arm? It is much more complicated than an X86 solution.


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## Alain De Vos (Yesterday at 3:56 AM)

Hi have a Rapsberry PI4. Runs freebsd good. Can view youtube & listen to youtube clips. Has alot of pins ...
When i bought it the price was 90 Euro. But i see it is not more deliverable here...


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## SirDice (Yesterday at 12:22 PM)

hardworkingnewbie said:


> Note that the prices for the Pi 3 and 4 are absolutely nuts at the moment. In most stores they are out of stock right now, and if available then the Pi 3 is around 100 EUR at the moment, while the Pi 4 around 200 EUR due to the chip shortage.











						Supply chain update - it's good news! - Raspberry Pi
					

For the first time in a couple of years of semiconductor supply chain hell, we've got some good news for you. A bump in single-unit availability this month, and a cheerful outlook from the second quarter of next year onwards.




					www.raspberrypi.com


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## eternal_noob (Yesterday at 8:29 PM)

Alain De Vos said:


> When i bought it the price was 90 Euro. But i see it is not more deliverable here...


Same here. I bought an RPI 400 kit for 99€, same thing is at 129€ now. And, of course, not deliverable atm.


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## diizzy (Yesterday at 8:58 PM)

kodcode 
If you want something cheaper I'd suggest Allwinner A64, https://www.pine64.org/devices/single-board-computers/pine-a64-lts/


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