BPI Banana Pi Products All You Need to Know
Banana Pi has several product lines and two companies making a wide selection of opensource single board computer boards for DIY computer projects. This guide aims to clear up what every product does and what they are good for.Banana Pi M1 Classic
The classic Banana Pi with modest powers and amazingly great connectivity. Whats amazing connectivity? SATA port and Gigabit Ethernet! This little computer offers many great things in its little profile and it is perfect for server application and medium uses. When it comes to graphics and sheer computing power, this board can not be compared with full blown 64bit processors, but it is great for a VPS or a NAS.
- CPU: Allwinner A20 SoC
- RAM: 1GB
- Main Ports: 2 USB2.0, 1 GbE, 1 HDMI, 1 SATA
Banana Pi M1+
As the name suggests, this is an upgraded version of Banana Pi M1 now with embedded WiFi n chip. The good thing about this is that it keeps the awesome connectivity and now it ads wifi and 40pin GPIO for different projects involving gadgets and other boards. The M1+ also allows you to make it a powerful mini router.
- CPU: Allwinner A20 SoC
- RAM: 1GB
- Main Ports: 2 USB2.0, 1 GbE, 1 HDMI, 1 SATA
- On board WiFi n
Banana Pi R1 Router
This is basically a mix between a computer and a router. It has wireless n capabilities and two slots for external high gain antennas. It also features 4 Gigabit LAN ports with 1 Gigabit WAN port. The best part is the SATA port again, you can attach a laptop hard drive and make a personal files sharing hub. Personally I think this router is a brilliant idea in that it is basically a power house open source router. For starters, it is way more powerful than a router in processing powers and RAM allowing it to do some heavy encryption tasks. This can make the perfect TOR router for example.
- CPU: Allwinner A20 SoC
- RAM: 1GB
- Main Ports: USB2.0, 5 GbE, 1 HDMI, 1 SATA
- On board WiFi n with antenna
Banana Pi M2 Quad core
Going off on a different tangent, instead of connectivity, this boards focuses on computing power. The M2 is powered by A31S quad-core SoC at 1 GHz backed by 1 GB of RAM. The specifications makes it a perfect android computer as the M1 is not powerful enough to run graphics intense operating systems. The M2 will definitely do a better job providing drivers are all properly configured. This board is more for mini computing options as it does not have SATA ports. I would get this to bring a TV or a monitor to live, or to host a web server, but for general projects, the M1 is a better choice. (This also has WiFi)
- CPU: Allwinner A31s SoC quad-core
- RAM: 1GB
- Main Ports: 4 USB2.0, 1 GbE, 1 HDMI,
- On board WiFi n with antenna
Banana Pi D1 Camera
This a a 720p camera module for Banana Pi and it can also record to SD card or stream through internet connection. Can be cool for a project involving home security or video capturing.
- Video Resolution: 720p
Banana Pi G1 Smart Home
The opensource take on home automation. This smart hub is compatible with WiFi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee to offer integration across many smart home appliances so you can control it with across multiple devices with a mobile app. This board is yet to be released and personally I want to know what it can offer.
- TI MCU for WiFi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee
Banana Pro
Though Banana Pi came before Banana Pro, this board is just like Banana Pi M1+. It has basic components of Banana Pi including A20 SoC, 1 GB RAM, but this one comes with embedded WiFi.
- CPU: Allwinner A20 SoC
- RAM: 1GB
- Main Ports: 2 USB2.0, 1 GbE, 1 HDMI, 1 SATA
- On board WiFi n
Banana Pie
Banana pie is not a computer, but it is still delicious! Yum!
Posts
