Asus Tinker Board

ASUS Tinker Board
Type90MB0QY1-M0EAY0
Release dateApril 19, 2017
Introductory pricec. US$59.99
Operating systemTinkerOS (a Debian Linux derivative), Armbian (Debian or Ubuntu derivative), Android
System on a chipRockchip RK3288
CPU1.8 GHz 32-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A17
Memory2 GB dual-channel DDR3
StorageMicroSDHC UHS-1 slot
GraphicsARM Mali-T760 M4 GPU – supports 1080p & 4K
WebsiteASUS specifications page

The Asus Tinker Board is a single-board computer launched by Asus in early 2017. Its physical size and GPIO pinout are designed to be compatible with the second and third-generation Raspberry Pi models. The first released board features 4K video, 2 GB of onboard RAM, Gigabit Ethernet and a Rockchip RK3288 processor running at 1.8 GHz.[1]

Specifications

Model Tinker Board Tinker Board S Tinker Board R2.0 Tinker Board S R2.0 Tinker Edge T Tinker Edge R Tinker Board 2 Tinker Board 2S Tinker Board 3 Tinker Board 3N
Release Date April 2017 January 2018 October 2021 November 2019[2] November 2020 August 2023
SoC Rockchip RK3288 Rockchip RK3288-CG.W NXP i.MX 8M Rockchip RK3399Pro OP1 (Rockchip RK3399) Rockchip RK3566 Rockchip RK3568
Architecture ARMv7-A (32-bit) ARMv8 (64-bit)
CPU Quad-core 1.8 GHz ARM Cortex-A17 (up to 2.6 GHz turbo clock speed) Quad-Core Quad core 1.5[3] GHz ARM Cortex-A53 Hexa core. 2× Cortex-A72 cores up to 1.8 GHz, 4× Cortex-A53 cores @ 1.4 GHz Hexa core. 2x Cortex-A72 cores up to 2 GHz , 4× Cortex-A53 cores @ 1.5 GHz Quad core 4× Cortex-A55
GPU 600 MHz Mali-T764 MP4 GC7000 Lite 3D 800 MHz Mali-T860 MP4 Mali G52
Coprocessor N/A Google Edge TPU

4 TOPS of performance

NPU

3 TOPS of performance

N/A RockchipNPU N/A
RAM 2GB dual channel LPDDR3 1 GB LPDDR4 4 GB dual channel LPDDR4 for system,
2 GB LPDDR3 for NPU 		2GB/4GB dual-channel LPDDR4 RAM options Dual-channelLPDDR4X 2GB / 4GB 2GB/4GB/8 GB dual-channel LPDDR4 RAM options
Storage removable MicroSD slot (supporting SD 3.0 ) 16GB eMMC + removable MicroSD slot (supporting SD 3.0) Micro SD(TF) slot 16/32 eMMC + Micro SD(TF) slot 8GB eMMC 16GB eMMC + removable MicroSD slot (supporting SD 3.0) Removable MicroSD slot 16GB eMMC + removable MicroSD slot Micro SD (TF) card slot (push/pull) eMMC - none / 32GB / 64GB

Micro SD(TF) card slot (push/pull)

SPI Flash 16MB

Video output 1× full size HDMI 1.4
1× MIPI-DSI (compatible with the Raspberry Pi 7" display and others) 		1× HDMI 2.0 (4K-capable)
1× MIPI-DSI (4 lane)
1× DisplayPort 1.2 via USB Type-C 		1 x HDMI, supports up to 4096 x 2160 @ 60 Hz

1 x MIPI DSI, Supports four lanes up to 6 Gbps, 1920 x1080 @ 60 Hz (22 pin)

1× HDMI with CEC hardware ready
1× LVDS (Dual-link)
1× eDP
Video input 1× 15-pin MIPI-CSI camera 2× MIPI-CSI camera 1× MIPI CSI-2 (2 lane) camera
Audio RTL ALC4040 HD CODEC, Play: 24bit/192 kHz, Record: 24bit/96 kHz
3.5 mm audio jack (supporting line out and microphone in) 		RTL ALC4040 HD CODEC, Play: 24bit/192 kHz, Record: 24bit/96 kHz

3.5 mm audio jack (supporting line out and microphone in, Plug-in Detection and Auto-Switch)

  • 1× HDMI audio output
  • RTL ALC4030U CODEC with 1 x 3.5mm audio jack (with mic and plug-in detection)
  • 1× S/PDIF TX pin
  • 1× PCM/I2S pins (from GPIO)
 3.5 mm audio jack 1× HDMI audio output
1× S/PDIF TX pin (from GPIO)
1× PCM/I2S pins (from GPIO) 		1 x 3.5 phone jack (with mic)

1 x HDMI audio

1 x 3.5 Phone Jack (w/ Mic)

1 x Speaker Stereo Pin Header (4ohm, 3W each)

1 x HDMI audio

Other IO 40-pin header with:
  • up to 28× GPIO pins
  • up to 2× SPI bus
  • up to 2× I2C bus
  • up to 4× UART
  • up to 2× PWM
  • up to 1× PCM/I2S
  • 2× 5V power pins
  • 2× 3.3V power pins
  • 8× ground pins

1× 2-pin contact pin:

  • 1× PWM
  • 1× S/PDIF
 40-pin header with:
  • up to 28× GPIO pins
  • up to 2× SPI bus
  • up to 2× I2C bus
  • up to 4× UART
  • up to 2× PWM
  • up to 1× PCM/I2S (Enhanced I2S pin with Slave mode)
  • 2× 5V power pins
  • 2× 3.3V power pins
  • 8× ground pins

1 x 2-pin contact pin:

  • 1× PWM
  • 1× S/PDIF

1× 2-pin Power-on Header

40-pin header with:
  • up to 28× GPIO pins
  • up to 2× SPI bus
  • up to 2× I2C bus
  • up to 4× UART
  • up to 2× PWM
  • up to 1× PCM/I2S
  • 2× 5V power pins
  • 2× 3.3V power pins
  • 8× ground pins

1× 2-pin Power-on Header

1× 2-pin eMMC recovery header

1× 2-pin contact pin:

  • 1× PWM
  • 1× S/PDIF
 40-pin header with:
  • up to 28× GPIO pins
  • up to 2× SPI bus
  • up to 2× I2C bus
  • up to 4× UART
  • up to 2× PWM
  • up to 1× PCM/I2S (Enhanced I2S pin with Slave mode)
  • 2× 5V power pins
  • 2× 3.3V power pins
  • 8× ground pins
 40-pin header with:
  • up to 28× GPIO pins
  • up to 2× SPI bus
  • up to 2× I2C bus
  • up to 4× UART
  • up to 2× PWM
  • up to 1× PCM/I2S (Enhanced I2S pin with Slave mode)
  • 2× 5V power pins
  • 2× 3.3V power pins
  • 8× ground pins

mPCIe Card & nanoSIM card slot for 4G/LTE

40-pin header with:
  • up to 28× GPIO pins
  • up to 2× SPI bus
  • up to 2× I2C bus
  • up to 2× UART
  • up to 3× PWM
  • up to 1× S/PDIF TX
  • up to 1× PCM/I2S (Enhanced I2S pin with Slave mode)
  • 2× 5V power pins
  • 2× 3.3V power pins
  • 8× ground pins

1× 2-pin Recovery header
1× 2-pin Power-on header
1× 2-pin Reset header
1× 2-pin Debug UART header
1× 2-pin DC Fan header
1× 2-pin RTC Battery header

40-pin header with:
  • up to 2 x SPI bus
  • up to 2 x I2C bus
  • up to 2 x UART
  • up to 3 x PWM
  • up to 1 x PCM/I2S(master/slave)
  • up to 1 x S/PDIF TX
  • 2 x 5V power pins
  • 2 x 3.3V power pins
  • 8 x ground pins

1 x 2-pin recovery header

1 x 2-pin power-on & reset header

1 x 3-pin debug UART header

1 x 2-pin DC fan header

1 x 2-pin RTC battery header


1 x MaskromDIP switch

1 x M.2 E key 2230 - for WiFi 5/6 & BT module (PCIe 2.0 x1, USB 2.0)

14-pin GPIO header with:
  • 1 x GND
  • 1 x I2C bus
  • 1 up to 2 x UART
  • up to 1 x SPI bus (2 select)
  • up to 1 x SPDIF
  • up to 4 x PWM
  • 2 x ADC (8 bit)

1 x 40-pin LVDS + eDP connector

1 x 5V Panel Backlight & Control header

1 x IR Receiver header

1 x 2-pin Recovery header

1 x 4-pin Power-on & Reset header

1 x 3-pin Debug UART header

1 x 4-pin DC Fan header

1 x 2-pin RTC Battery header


1x CAN Bus 2.0B FD pin header

2x COM 232 (with flow control) pin header

1x COM 232/422/485 pin header

1x SIM Slot

1 x M.2 E key 2230 - for WiFi 5/6 & BT module (PCIe 2.0 x1, USB 2.0)

1 x M.2 B

key 3042/3052 with nano-SIM slot - 4G/5G or SSD module (PCIe 3.0 x1, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, SIM)

USB 4× USB 2.0 ports 2× USB 3.0, 1x USB-C 3× USB 3.0 ports, 1x USB-C 3× USB 3.2 Gen1 Type A ports
1× USB 3.2 Gen1 Type C (OTG & DisplayPort 1.2) 		1 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type A

2 x USB 2.0 Type A ports

2 x USB 2.0 Micro B, device only

1 x USB 2.0 4-pin header

1× USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C OTG port
2× USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports
2× USB 2.0 Pin header
Wired
Network 		Gigabit LAN (not shared with USB bus) Dual LAN built in, and PoE PD supported via expansion module
Wireless
Network 		802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, with IPEX antenna header 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac dual-band Wi-Fi) on module Via mM2 E key expansion
Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0 + EDR Blutetooth 4.2 + EDR Bluetooth 4.1 Bluetooth 4.2 Bluetooth 5.0
Power Micro-USB; due to Micro-USB power delivery limitations, powering over GPIO is suggested [4][5] 5V/2.5~3A Micro USB (supports low power voltage detection) 12V - 19V DC-in barrel connector 12-19V via DC barrel power input jack (5.5/2.5 mm) 12-19V via DC barrel power input jack (5.5/2.5 mm)

1 x 4-Pin Power In Header (also for POE module)

Form Factor 8.55 cm x 5.4 cm (3.37 x 2.125 inch) 85 × 56 mm

(3.37 x 2.125 inch )

10.16 cm × 10.16 cm (4.0 x 4.0 inch) NUC
Weight 55g
Operating Systems
  • Debian 10 Linux
  • Android 11
  • Debian 9 Linux
  • Android 10
  • Debian
  • Android
  • Yocto
  • Debian 11
  • Android 12
Notes Specification sourced from Asus[9][10] [11] Specification sourced from Asus[12][13][14] [15] [16] [17][18][19][20] Specification sourced from Asus[21][22] [23]

History

ASUS's intent to release a single-board computer was leaked shortly after CES 2017[24] on SlideShare.[25] ASUS originally planned for a late February 2017 release, but a UK vendor broke the embargo and began advertising and selling boards starting on 13 February 2017, before ASUS's marketing department was ready.[26] ASUS subsequently pulled the release; the Amazon sales page was changed to show a 13 March 2017 release date, but was later removed entirely.[27] However, as of 24 March 2017, the Tinker Board again became available on Amazon. ASUS assured reviewer websites that the board is now in full production.[28]

Benchmarks

In January 2017 tests showed the Tinker Board has roughly twice the processing power of the Raspberry Pi Model 3 when the Pi 3 runs in 32-bit mode.[29] Because the Pi 3 has not released a 64-bit operating system yet, no comparisons are available against a Pi 3 running in 64-bit mode.[needs update]

In March 2017 benchmark testing found that while the WLAN performance is only around 30 Mbit/s, the Gigabit Ethernet delivers a full 950 Mbit/s throughput.[28] RAM access tested using the mbw benchmark is 25% faster than the Raspberry Pi 3. SD card (microSD) access is about twice as fast at 37 MiB/s for buffered reads (compared to typically around 18 MiB/s for the Pi 3[30]) due to the Tinker Board's SDIO 3.0 interface, while cached reads can reach speeds up to 770 MiB/s.[28]

References

  1. ^ "Tinker Board - Review｜AIoT & Industrial Solution｜ASUS United Kingdom".
  2. ^ Shilov, Anton. "ASUS & Google Team Up for 'Tinker Board' AI-Focused Credit-Card Sized Computers". www.anandtech.com. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  3. ^ TINKER_EDGE_T_QSG (Quick Start Guide) for English
  4. ^ "Asus Tinkerboard - Page 10 - Rockchip - Armbian forum". Archived from the original on 2017-09-19. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
  5. ^ "1. Check power supply, check SD card and check other people experiences".
  6. ^ "LibreELEC (Leia) v8.95.2 BETA".
  7. ^ a b "ELAR Systems".
  8. ^ "Supported hardware - DietPi.com Docs". Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  9. ^ "FAQ-Tinkerboard_20170425" (PDF). asus.com. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  10. ^ "Tinker Board | Single-board Computer". ASUS United Kingdom. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  11. ^ "Tinker Board S | Single-board Computer". ASUS United Kingdom. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  12. ^ "Tinker Board R2.0". tinker-board.asus.com. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  13. ^ "Tinker Board S R2.0". tinker-board.asus.com. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  14. ^ "Tinker Board". tinker-board.asus.com. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  15. ^ Aufranc, Jean-Luc (2019-05-29). "ASUS Tinker Edge T & CR1S-CM-A SBC to Feature Google Coral Edge TPU & NXP i.MX 8M Processor". CNX Software - Embedded Systems News. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  16. ^ Aufranc, Jean-Luc (2019-05-31). "ASUS Tinker Edge R Pico-ITX Board to Feature Rockchip RK3399Pro SoC". CNX Software - Embedded Systems News. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  17. ^ "Tinker Board". tinker-board.asus.com. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  18. ^ Nerces (2020-11-19). "Tinker Board 2 : Asus dévoile son nouveau concurrent au Raspberry Pi". Clubic.com (in French). Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  19. ^ Nov 2020, Matthew Humphries 23; noon (2020-11-23). "Asus Announces Tinker Board 2 and 2S Single-Board Computers". PCMag UK. Retrieved 2020-11-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ "Asus launches second generation Tinker Board single-board computer". New Atlas. 2020-11-24. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  21. ^ "Tinker Board 2". tinker-board.asus.com. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
  22. ^ "Tinker Board 2S". tinker-board.asus.com. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
  23. ^ "Tinker Board 3N". tinker-board.asus.com. Retrieved 2023-08-26.
  24. ^ "A Motherboard Manufacturer's Take On A Raspberry Pi Competitor". 21 January 2017.
  25. ^ "ASUS Tinker Board". 15 December 2016.
  26. ^ "Review: The Asus Tinker Board (Updated)". 15 February 2017.
  27. ^ "In the lab: Asus' Tinker Board SBC". 24 February 2017.
  28. ^ a b c "Tinker Board im Test: Hardware Top, Software Flop (link in German)".
  29. ^ "ASUS Tinker Board is a Raspberry Pi 3 Alternative based on Rockchip RK3288 Processor". 5 January 2017.
  30. ^ "Raspberry Pi microSD card performance comparison - 2015".