A new beefier rival to the Raspberry Pi and Via APC has been launched, created in collaboration between chipmaker AMD and not-for-profit electronics firm GizmoSphere. As part of the Gizmo Explorer Kit buyers will receive a computer development board which is powered by an AMD G-Series APU.
The $199 4-inch square Gizmo Board “provides a performance capacity of 52 gigaFLOPS (GFLOPS) at less than 10 watts” according to AMD. For the extra money the Gizmo computer offers significantly more power than its similarly packaged rivals and is able to run Windows, Linux, Android and RTOSes.
You can get the full lowdown on the Gizmo Board specifications here and also details of the Gizmo Explorer pack here. However I’ve summarised the key specs of the board and kit below:
Gizmo Board
- CPU: AMD G-T40E dual-core Bobcat processor running at 1.0GHz
- GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6250 graphics built-in
- RAM: 1GB DDR3 SDRAM
- Size: 4-inch square
- Connectivity: JTAG header, VGA video output, Audio input/mic/output, Ethernet, and USB ports
- Connectivity through edge connectors: Two custom card edge connectors (one high speed, one low speed) provide ready access to special features including SATA, USB, Display Port, PCIe, SPI, I2C, GPIO, PWM, ADC Input, DAC Output, Reset, and Counter
- Power: APU 6.4W TDP
Explorer Kit
- Gizmo Board, as above
- Explorer board “two-layer board connects to Gizmo via the low-speed connector and provides an alpha-numeric keypad, a micro-display, and a sea of holes for prototyping and customization”
- Sage SmartProbe® JTAG Development Tool
- Sage EDK Graphical Interface (30 day trial)
- Pre-installed SageBIOS™ on Gizmo
- Installation DVD
- Quick Start Guide
- Power Supply: 12VDC power supply with cable
- Ethernet & USB Cables
AMD see the board kit being used by developers, hobbyists and tinkerers for purposes such as “digital signage, x86 set-top box (xSTB), IP-TV, thin client, information kiosk, point-of-sale, casino gaming, media servers and industrial control systems”.
Kamal Khouri, director of Embedded Products, AMD said “The new board will serve the diverse and growing embedded development community and is especially useful for those wanting to incorporate the advanced capabilities possible by harnessing a heterogeneous architecture. Developers ready to take advantage of a high-performance, full I/O-featured x86 development board will find tremendous value in Gizmo.”
Currently the Gizmo Explorer Kit is only available to purchase in the US but GizmoSphere does plan to expand its distribution into further regions.
