9 votes

Looking for a specific type of single board computer

Posted by teaearlgraycold
Tags: ask.recommendations, computers.single board

I have a project I'm working on that could be performed by a Raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB of RAM. But almost everything on the Pi's board besides the SoC and RAM will be unused. And for this project size is important. I don't need WiFi/Bluetooth/ethernet/USB3/PCIe/Cameras/etc.

Here are my requirements:

  • Performance at or above the SoC on the Pi5
  • At least 8GB of RAM
  • Either one USB port (for a mic/headphone jack combo USB sound card) or integrated analog audio input and output
  • A couple of GPIO pins for buttons/LEDs
  • Cost around the Pi5 - $80
  • Runs Linux

Looking at the Pi5 I feel a properly stripped down version that meets my needs could be as small or smaller than a Pi Zero. I looked around and other SBCs are either much slower, much bigger, and/or much more expensive.

My current best option is to buy a Pi5 and trim its PCB as best as I can. But given there are so many competing options I assume one of them will have what I'm looking for.

5 comments

  1. [3]
    JIGABOT
    Link
    It sounds like what you are describing is a Compute Module 5 with a Nano Base Board.

    It sounds like what you are describing is a Compute Module 5 with a Nano Base Board.

    9 votes
    1. JIGABOT
      Link Parent
      Here is a video that shows the size comparison to a regular Raspberry Pi. https://youtu.be/ALdr4OleuJg?t=80

      Here is a video that shows the size comparison to a regular Raspberry Pi.
      https://youtu.be/ALdr4OleuJg?t=80

      3 votes
  2. [3]
    Comment deleted by author
    Link
    1. [2]
      teaearlgraycold
      Link Parent
      Not quite in my case as I'm forgoing all network connectivity.

      Not quite in my case as I'm forgoing all network connectivity.

      1 vote
      1. [2]
        Comment deleted by author
        Link Parent
        1. teaearlgraycold
          Link Parent
          I’d use something more powerful than a Pi 5 for voice commands. But you could try a Jetson Orin Nano. They’re about $375 on eBay. My understanding is you’ll need a “tool use” fine tuned LLM and...

          I’d use something more powerful than a Pi 5 for voice commands. But you could try a Jetson Orin Nano. They’re about $375 on eBay. My understanding is you’ll need a “tool use” fine tuned LLM and the state-of-the-art models are finicky with tool calls already. So a tiny LLM on a Pi might be too erratic.