Thundercomm, a three way partnership between ThunderSoft and Qualcomm Applied sciences, has introduced a single-board laptop constructed atop Qualcomm’s QCS6490 system-on-chip, concentrating on edge synthetic intelligence (AI), machine studying (ML), and laptop imaginative and prescient (CV): the RUBIK Pi.
“RUBIK Pi is a light-weight growth board that isn’t solely simple to make use of and is low value but additionally holds vital ESG [Environmental, Social, and Governance] worth,” claims Thundercomm’s vice chairman Pier Zhang of the corporate’s system. “By making AI utility growth accessible to newbies, it promotes AI training, enhances technological literacy, and fosters social fairness.”
Thundercomm has introduced a growth platform concentrating on on-device machine studying and synthetic intelligence: the RUBIK Pi. (📷: Thundercomm)
“We’re excited to see Thundercomm launch RUBIK Pi,” provides Qualcomm’s Manvinder Singh. “It is the primary Pi product constructed on the Qualcomm SoC platform, supporting Qualcomm Linux and Android, Home windows, and Ubuntu [Linux]. “It has a wealthy set of IO [Input/Output] interfaces and delivers unmatched compute and AI efficiency to unleash developer creativity. With the assist of Qualcomm Al Hub, builders will be capable to shortly deploy optimized AI fashions on RUBIK Pi.”
The guts of the board is the Qualcomm QCS6490 system-on-chip, packaged as a system-on-module by Thundercomm, designed for the Web of Issues (IoT) and which encompasses a Kryo 670 processor with 4 Arm Cortex-A78 and 4 Cortex-A55 cores, with just one Cortex-A78 core reaching the utmost 2.7GHz clock velocity, an Adreno 643L graphics processor working at as much as 821MHz, and a Hexagon machine studying accelerator able to delivering as much as 12 tera-operations per second (TOPS) of compute for on-device synthetic intelligence. The board additionally contains 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM and 128GB of on-board storage.
Connectors obtainable on the board embrace an HDMI 1.4 port able to 4k30, a USB Kind-C connector with DisplayPort for 4k60, two MIPI Digicam Serial Interface (CSI) four-lane ports, an analog audio jack, the aforementioned USB 3.1 Gen. 1 Kind-C port, two USB 3.0 Kind-A ports, and a single USB 2.0 Kind-A number/system port, gigabit Ethernet, a micro-USB port for connection to a debug UART bus, an M.2 M-key slot for solid-state storage, and a Raspberry Pi-style 40-pin general-purpose enter/output (GPIO) connector thatincludes one pulse-width modulation (PWM) succesful pin, one I2S, two devoted I2C, and three pins switchable between I2C, SPI, or UART buses. There’s built-in Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.2 radios, a real-time clock, PWM-controlled fan output, and a user-addressable RGB LED.
The board’s underside contains an M.2 M-key slot for full-length solid-state storage gadgets. (📷: Thundercomm)
Whereas each Thundercomm and Qualcomm place the system as “the primary Pi product constructed on the Qualcomm SoC platform,” although, it has technically been pipped to the put up: again in August Web of Issues specialist Particle launched a crowdfunding marketing campaign for the Tachyon, a extra compact and Raspberry Pi-like single-board laptop constructed round Qualcomm’s QCM6490 — providing the identical CPU, GPU, and AI efficiency because the QCS6490 within the RUBIK Pi however with the addition of 5G mobile connectivity.
Thundercomm has promised to open “preliminary orders” for the RUBIK Pi in early November, however has not but introduced pricing past Zhang’s pledge that it is going to be “low value;” the Particle Tachyon has a retail worth of $199, to supply a degree of comparability. Extra info is offered on the official product web page.
