Section: // Reviews (Posts: 46)

The IMSAI8080 was a pretty special machine, mainly because it was considered the very first “clone” computer, being sold in kit form in the mid 70s. This is the buildout of one of the better IMSAI8080 clones around.

At some point in your Maker career you will inevitably get to the point where you want to make a bunch of PCBs but doing them by hand is tedious and prone to error.

This is where the LitePlacer comes in.

So, the Pi4 has been around for a while now, but has the Pi Foundation fixed all those nagging issues and does it live up to everyone’s expectations?

The NanoPi M4 has been around for some time now. However, this is one SBC that I hadn’t gotten around to reviewing. So, what makes this board so special? Let’s find out.

The NanoPi NEO4 is probably the smallest RK3399 based SBC on the market currently. Does it have enough to take on the competition? Find out in this video.

The Orange Pi RK3399 is yet another board to join the ranks of other RK3399 based SBCs. In true Orange Pi fashion, they give you everything, but is this SBC worth it?

An SBC that’s not really an SBC. Based on the NationalChip GX6605S, it can run a tiny Linux with a very small component count, but is it too cool to be usable?

In this review I take a look at one of the newer members of the Khadas family; The Khadas Edge and Khadas Captain.

This board has some pretty interesting power management but, unfortunately, I saw the return of the magic smoke genie.

The LattePanda Alpha SBC is a bit of a beast not only in horse power, but in price. In this video I look at benchmarks on Windows, Linux and OSX and give my perspective on why LattePanda made a big mistake.

In this article I’ll be taking a look at the newly released NanoPC-T4 from the friendliest SBC makers on the market. I’ll be running through the usual lineup of tests that I do, but I reckon this board deserves two articles. So, this is Part 1.

The ODROID XU4 is one of the few octo-core SBCs, that’s been around for a while now, but how good is it?

This is the second part of my video on building a simple PCB using EasyEDA.

So, I’ve been playing around with a bunch of the new Pi 3B pluses for a week now. Do I think the upgrade is worth it? Find out in this quick review.

It’s been a while since the Rock64 was released into the wild for hackers, but 8 months on, how good is this board looking? Let’s find out.

So, you’ve gotten to the stage where you want to build your own PCB? This is a two part video taking a look at EasyEDA who seem to be doing a good job of making things easy for you.

The EspressoBin is being marketed as a different type of SBC. How different is it and is that difference what you want? Find out in this video.

The ReflowR aims to make it easier for people to reflow solder SMD components. This a joint review with a mate of mine who runs Kean Electronics who puts it through its paces.

In Part 1 of this video I looked at the UDOO-X86 from the electronics Maker perspective.

In Part 2 I’ll be looking at the CPU and graphics performance of the board on Linux as well as RemixOS.

Another X86 based SBC hits the market. What’s this new board like? How good is it?

In Part 1 of the UDOO-X86 review, I take a look at how this board performs for the electronics Maker.

So, I finally managed to get my hands on the TinkerBoard.

Does it do everything the company claims? Will it make a dent on the Raspberry Pi market share?

Find out in this video collaboration with NovaSpirit Tech.

This is a review update of the C.H.I.P, taking a look at power consumption, WiFi performance, SPI and 3D acceleration.

The LeMaker HiKey seems to be one of the better 8 core SBCs around. Here’s why…

The Pi Zero W’s resonant cavity is an interesting design feature. How does this affect WiFi performance? What about current drain?

So, yet another Orange Pi board called the PC2. It’s sporting the new 64bit quad core Allwinner H5 MCU. Is this really a good idea?

In this review I’ll be taking a first look at the Omega2 and Omega2+. I managed to get in tests on GPIO, I2C, SPI, performance and came across issues like the dreaded 2mm pin spacing, solo powering and the micro-Linux O/S problems.

The NanoPi-M3 has 8 1.4GHz ARM cores. That’s all well and good, but can you actually use this small SBC?

The Orange Pi+ 2 is a step up from the previous generation. In this brief review I look at what it offers us… right before the magic smoke genie appeared. Damn!

The Orange Pi Zero is here. How good is it in comparison to the competition? Find out in this video.

This is an update on my initial LattePanda review, where I tackle the over-heating problem and look at power supply and network performance testing.

The LattePanda is one of the few x86 based SBCs on the market. Is it too hot to handle?