Hey! So I was quite surprised to see my site posted on here so soon after hitting the "go live" button, and thanks for your comment.

I wrote a blog post about why I made the site at https://bret.dk/introducing-sbc-compare/ if anyone's interested, but to TL;DR it, I didn't set out to create a site like this, it was a side quest after creating the automation and database to support my reviews, which do indeed focus on the hobbyist trying to explore Raspberry Pi SBCs and their many alternatives.

I have full specifications and hardware capabilities hidden behind a feature flag at the moment as I'm working my way through adding all of that data (currently at 80 SBCs in the database, and I'm only adding those I own and have run tests on) so there should be something similar to what you're asking for soon. Thanks again!

I’m interested in alternatives to Raspberry Pis right now and software support is a concern. Do you have any recommendations?

Also anyone who is creating battery-powered projects would be interested in power consumption figures.

I for one learned way too late that an ESP32 (whichever model really), despite being massively more complicated, will typically have a much smaller quiescent current in deep sleep than a 555 timer - even the CMOS implementation.

Additionally it would be excellent to have a "community support estimate" score so that one might factor in how much of a support bus-factor is at play.

What factors of cost and power consumption are Intel x86 compared to ARM SoMs

Good point! Added to my to-do list :)

I hear you! Like I mention to others in the thread, this functionality is already there, I just need to finish populating all of the data. To get over a mental block I had to decide whether I'd continue trying to add each feature before an initial launch (and be there forever) or give myself a shot of motivation by getting an initial performance comparison feature set out there and iterate as I go along.

As soon as I have all of that data in there (I think I'm at around 30-40% so far, the initial batch of testing has been a slog, data entry for this took a back seat) I'll be enabling that option and it will all be there to view on comparison pages, and search for to help find/compare on a deeper level.

And until you decide to execute on that plan, I'll enjoy this little bit of attention :D Thanks again for the support!

TI's "Beagle" ecosystem has software support at least 1/10th as good as RPI, maybe even 2/10ths.

Not one but two full Debian ports are more than enough to me.

https://www.armbian.com/download/

https://dietpi.com/#download

Things may differ a bit in the educational field because of the vast community the RPi can count on, but Linux is Linux, I don't see why a school shouldn't use a different platform and make the solution of problems, if any, part of the learning process.

Agreed, I would only consider Arduino or ESP32 as alternatives, which naturally don't even have the resources for UNIX clone, which is akin to going back to 16 bit home coding, booting straight into the game or demoscene.

This. Your SBC's ecosystem/support is 10x more important than its specs.

Newer Raspberries also rely on third-party components they have limited control of.

VL805 USB chip in RPi 4 and 5 has known bugs since 2020 which are still not fixed.

Check out Libre Computer if you haven't already!

Realistically, I don't think any of the tests I have would run on something like that, I'd need to look at different types of tests, and then they wouldn't really be comparable with the rest. Though, I don't think most people would really be thinking "Hmm should I get a Luckfox Pico Mini A, or a Raspberry Pi" but the feedback surrounding these smaller boards has been interesting, so never say never, but I don't think it's within the scope I had in mind just yet.

Unfortunately it seems not to have any wireless connectivity.

Uuh hackerboards has comparisons, for example https://hackerboards.com/compare/raspberry-pi-foundation-ras...

It was, but for a very restricted number of users. For like 2 years people hoped to get a RPi Zero at $5 and as a result didn't buy boards by the competition (OrangePi, NanoPi, etc) which were becoming really good and cheap, although not at that price, if memory serves the NanoPi Duo (first model) was around $12. That move was the reason that pushed me to abandon the RPi for other brands and never look back.

I have full specification capability hiding in the background and once I've filled out all of the data, you'll be able to do just this!

It's a great device. Power efficient, standard x86_64 Intel so great Linux support, lots of expansion options for USB and M.2.

Making a carrier board for the Mu is definitely not for beginners though. It's got loads of high speed I/O lines. Even actual engineers find high speed PCB design daunting. Also, the functions of those HSIO lines are hardcoded into the firmware. You need special BIOS builds for a board with PCIe or USB 3. Change too much stuff and you're going to have to ask the manufacturer to support your configuration.

The quite renowned Odroid Hx are also missing.

Raspberry Pi products can be found in a lot of industrial/professional setups, especially things like their compute module range(s) that can be dropped into off-the-shelf, or custom carrier boards. Others can be a bit more hit and miss, though Libre Computer are up there with great software support, and will have their own compute modules available soon.

Most professional high-volume projects wouldn't use Raspberry Pi as it is, because those boards contain functions they don't need. So they would design their own board which will be cheaper and more compact by including only functions they need.

That's why there's "Compute Module" SoM with minimal functionality. It is made for professional designs.

But if you want to produce low volume product or you're 100% fulfilled with Raspberry Pi, there's nothing "unprofessional" about it. PCB is PCB.

Those aren't SBCs

I've noticed a couple of issues with the search and filtering this evening, I'll have to look at it tomorrow. In the meantime, https://sbc.compare/arm (there's also /risc-v and /x86) may help a little here!

It's a little bigger than what I imagine you're looking for, but the Radxa 5 ITX (not the ITX+) has 4 SATA ports, PoE+ (via a separate module), 2x2.5GbE, and the RK3588 SoC - I've been testing OpenMediaVault on it for the last couple of weeks and it's been pretty solid. If you're fine with M.2, the Radxa ROCK 5B+ has 2 M.2 M-Key connectors, the same RK3588 SoC, and PoE via a HAT bought separately.

Otherwise, there are dual NVMe HATs for the Raspberry Pi 5 but you'll be splitting a single PCIe Gen 2 lane across both drives (unless you go for the much more expensive HATs that have a Gen 3 PCIe switch on them to then share a single Gen 3 lane across them!)

If you could share a little more on what you actually mean, that would help a ton. I’m not a developer, I put this together as I went, learning along the way. It’s not perfect, and I’m aware of some issues, but if you’d be so kind to expand on “pretty terrible” then maybe I can see if it’s already known, or something I should add to the list.

How so? Where are the bugs you speak of? I don't find the UI to be nightmarish either. Can you point to specific issues the site maintainer can look at?

If this is the worst modern website you've seen, you're very lucky.

I've been clicking my way around the website for a while now. I haven't seen any bugs or glitches. Could you give an example of what's failing for you?