The Orange Pi R1 Router Gets a Brand New Box

The Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS, made by Shenzhen Xunlong Software, just got a metal enclosure. The budget-friendly Linux gateway is still for sale at its original low price tag, and a new kit version with the enclosure is available for $42.83 from AliExpress. If you've already got the board and just want the enclosure, it's available separately for $10.71.

The Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS is a tiny but powerful device with a Rockchip RK3328 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 at its core, running at 1.5 GHz. It also comes with 1GB LPDDR3 RAM and 16 MB SPI flash. However, the main draw here is the duel Ethernet ports, making it perfect as a small router or gateway. There's no onboard Wi-Fi, but the regular USB port along with the high-speed USB Type-C port make it easy to add.

If you are planning on getting one, you might want to take a quick look at the user manual (Google Drive Link) to familiarize yourself with the various options, and the source code for the Linux and Android OS builds is available via the Orange Pi website, along with an OpenWRT image and some 

The Orange Pi Plus LTS Specifications

• CPU: Rockchip RK3328 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 64-bit processor, main frequency speeds up to 1.5GHz
• GPU: Mali-450MP2, Supports OpenGL ES 1.0/2.0
• Power management chip: RK805
• Memory(SDRAM): 1GB LPDDR3( shared with GPU)
• Onboard Storage: Micro-SD Card slot,16MB SPI Flash
• Onboard Network :10M/100M/1000M Ethernet (YT8531C), 10M/100M/1000M USB Ethernet (RTL8153B)
• Video Output TV CVBS output(Via 13pin interface board)
• Audio output 3.5mm audio port(Via 13pin interface board)
• Power Source USB Type C interface 5V2A input
• USB 1x USB 2.0 HOST
• Low-level peripherals: 13pin header with IR pin、Tv-out、AUDIO(no MIC) 2xUSB2.0(not support)and 1 GPIO port
• Debug serial port UART-TX、UART-RX and GND
• Button 1x Reset Button
• Fan interface 1x cooling fan interface (5V)
• LED Power led & Status led
• IR receiver Support IR remote control (via 13pin interface board)
• Supported OS Android 9、Ubuntu、Debian、OpenWRT Appearance specification introduction
• Dimension 56mm×57mm
• Weight 30.5g

Orange Pi is Becoming Synonymous with Small and Cheap

There are now several small Linux-based SBCs in the Orange Pi line-up, and the R1 Plus will be especially interesting to homelabbers looking for a cheap hackable box to use as a mini-switch, or those looking for an open IoT gateway with plenty of GPIO and options for I/O. 

We were impressed with the Orange Pi Zero2, a name that makes it seem like a direct competitor to the Raspberry Pi Zero, but actually is a powerful headless board in its own right, and it has something in common with the R1 plus that sets Orange Pi aside.

The documentation for these boards is much more thorough than other hardware this cheap coming straight from Chinese companies, and it only seems to be getting better. Out of all the clones that appeared on the coattails of the Raspberry Pi, Orange Pi is one of the most interesting.

If you like stories from the Electrowire, you'll love the Electromaker Show, our weekly round-up of all things Maker and Embedded. Join us on YouTube or on all major podcast services.