If you want to play with a development board, the first question you might encounter is what kind of development board to buy?
With the increasing variety of brands and models of development boards, and considering the high price of Raspberry Pi at this time, this topic is indeed worth discussing.
It is important to note that this article will not recommend any specific development board; instead, it will discuss some points to consider and share my understanding of development boards to help you avoid unnecessary detours.
The video version of this article has been posted on Bilibili. If you want to watch the video, you can check it out. Don’t forget to like it after watching!
BV14F411c7Yu
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV14F411c7Yu
Before buying, let’s first understand:
What is a Development Board?
A development board can be understood as an integrated computer motherboard. The difference is that a computer motherboard is more modular, with stronger and more advanced performance. The core components of a computer are the CPU and the graphics card, while the core of a development board is its chip.
The chip determines its computing and graphics performance, as well as the maximum memory size and the types of interfaces it supports. Essentially, development boards are designed to facilitate the use of chips for product development, both hardware and software. The manufacturers of development boards are similar to motherboard manufacturers, selling their PCB designs and integrated solutions.
So
1. Choose the Chip Before Buying a Development Board (This step is not necessary for Raspberry Pi)
Buying a development board is essentially about looking at the chip and the service. The PCB design capability of the manufacturer is not significantly different; they can all be used normally. The interfaces available on the development board, such as WiFi and Bluetooth, should be chosen based on your needs. At this point, the competition is primarily about price and service. This is why some development boards are expensive while others are cheap; the extra premium can be understood as a service fee. However, different manufacturers may have varying opinions on this aspect.
2. Don’t Overestimate Your Performance Needs
If your main use of the development board is for hardware development, I recommend looking at microcontrollers (MCUs).
For example, development boards based on chips like ESP32, STM32, or K210 are more suitable, especially for controlling motors, servos, and connecting various sensors for circuit experiments and IoT scenarios. Using a development board like Raspberry Pi in these cases is often excessive and less convenient. The cost of damage is also quite high. In such scenarios, I recommend looking at microcontrollers, as you may often overestimate your performance needs.
3. Buy New, Not Old
Unless you need to adapt to previous software, it is best to choose the latest chips and systems. This can greatly extend the lifecycle of your development board. For example, the official maintenance period for Ubuntu’s LTS version is five years.
If the development board you purchase is compatible with the latest version 22.04, then you can upgrade both hardware and software together in five years. If you buy a development board that is compatible with an older version like 16.04 or 18.04, your system will soon lose support.
4. You Get What You Pay For
This saying also applies to development boards. Many development boards are cheap, but there are certainly reasons for their low prices. Cheap boards may mean less documentation, software and design bugs, and limited interfaces. This means you will spend more time solving problems.
If you can handle such development boards, most of them will be open to you. However, if your time is valuable, it is better to choose development boards with good service and ecosystem.
5. Buy the Same Development Board as in the Tutorial
If you want to buy a development board because you like a particular open-source project or are following a book, then buying the same board used in the tutorial is like buying the teaching tools in a textbook.
Buying the same platform means you won’t have to step into the pitfalls that others have already encountered.
6. Do Not Use Development Boards to Replace Mature Products
Unless you want to develop or learn, I do not recommend using development boards to replace mature products.
For example, using a Raspberry Pi as a NAS or a set-top box may sound good, but it is actually not as effective as directly purchasing a mature product on the market.
A decent set-top box can be bought for around 200, while a Raspberry Pi, even at its original price, plus casing, cables, power supply, and SD card, can cost close to 400. The systems used are often just Kodi, which is not as good as most Android boxes. The performance may even be inferior, although it offers more flexibility. Of course, if you enjoy tinkering, development boards are very suitable. If your time is valuable, I do not recommend it.
7. Choose Development Boards Optimized for Certain Fields
If you have already determined your development direction, such as soft routing or Android boxes, there are many development boards in the market that cater to specific fields. For instance, development boards designed for soft routing are often already finished products, and buying such boards is not much different from buying a branded router, offering more flexibility.
8. Be Cautious When Purchasing Development Boards
If you are buying a board for development or a project, a development board is a necessity. Price should not be the primary consideration.
However, if you just want to play around for personal interest, be prepared for it to collect dust.
Many times, you underestimate the difficulty of accomplishing a task. If you do not have a strong interest in this type of thing or are just doing it to meet certain requirements, please choose a development board that won’t lose you too much money and is easy to resell, like Raspberry Pi.
Of course, you can also put the development board to use as a service at home, such as using it as a 3D printer host, NAS, soft router, server, or gaming console, which is also quite good. At least you will still be using it.
In summary, the key points in buying a development board can be summed up in two words: trade-offs.
Due to space limitations, there are more topics to discuss, such as software ecosystem issues, which I plan to address step by step later. If you have any concerns or thoughts, feel free to leave a comment below, and I will gather and answer everyone’s questions.
01Studio pyWiFi-ESP32-S3
https://m.tb.cn/h.ftsvjpA?tk=IPpB2mebrEb
Recently, we have created a development board selection website. Although it is not yet perfect, we have already listed over 400 development boards. If you are interested or have needs, you can check out our selection website. If you have any good suggestions, feel free to share them in the group or leave us a message.
We have recently launched a Raspberry Pi replacement section, which you can check out if you’re interested.
The domain name of our website is: findboard.cn
(We have not yet optimized for mobile access. If you are visiting from a phone, the experience may not be very satisfactory. For now, it is recommended to use a computer browser for access.)