Last time I introduced the Remi Pi launched by Mill, priced at only 198.

This time we will look at another new product from Mill, which also uses a Renesas chip. However, the core board is cheaper.

It is based on Renesas’s RZ/G2UL, featuring an ARM Cortex-A55 core with a frequency of up to 1GHz, and a Cortex-M33 MCU core with a frequency of up to 200MHz.

However, there is no GPU, yes, no GPU. So the application field of this development board is relatively narrow, mainly used for Industrial IoT Gateway.

Next, let’s see how this development board performs.

First, let’s look at its core board, which has a size of 37×39, with 512MB DDR3L, 4GB eMMC, and optional 8GB/16GB/32GB. It comes with a power management chip. The working temperature can reach -40~85℃ industrial temperature.

This time the core board still uses a stamped hole + LGA design, requiring square holes to be drilled on the PCB. It has 190 pins. The expandable interfaces of the core board are also quite rich, with two CAN FD interfaces, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, two USB2.0 interfaces, and seven UART interfaces. If you want to connect a display, you can use the RGB interface, and it also has a MIPI CSI interface for a camera, as well as I2C, SPI, ADC, and other interfaces.

The core board is priced at 149

I think this price is quite reasonable. The main points to complain about are that it lacks an HDMI interface, which makes some operations slightly troublesome, and that it only has one core, which raises some performance concerns.

The expansion board this time is quite powerful, almost all possible interfaces are available. In addition to the interfaces mentioned on the core board, it also has an onboard 4G/5G module interface, a CAN interface brought out by the Phoenix terminal, an RS232 interface, and an RS485 interface. A 40Pin GPIO interface is also available.

Mill still retains its traditional advantages, with a switch and a 12V DC power interface.

On the software side, Mill has also done some work this time, adapting to the OpenWRT 22.03 system.

It also comes with an image based on Yocto Linux. The drivers are also very complete.

It also provides MEasy IOT reference software, which claims to meet 80% of the needs for IoT product development.

In terms of price

The development board is priced at 480

Looking at just the core board, this price is still cost-effective, while the development board is a bit expensive. However, considering that only the core board is needed in production, Mill’s development board still has certain value.

From a positioning perspective, Mill has achieved its goal. As an IoT gateway, the performance can be considered sufficient. After all, a few hundred yuan router probably has similar performance.

Moreover, it has two Gigabit Ethernet ports, and the development board can also install 4G/5G modules, offering many possibilities for networking. On the software side, Mill has adapted OpenWRT, which can basically be considered plug-and-play.

In the industrial field, the interfaces can basically meet the requirements, with common industrial interfaces such as CAN, RS232, and RS485. Expandability is also not a concern.

However, if you want to use this as a serious development board, I do not recommend it. The lack of an HDMI interface and the need to connect to a display via RGB interface is a major issue. Without connecting a display, there are many inconveniences in operation.

Moreover, it only has a single-core Cortex-A55@1GHz, and there is no GPU. This directly leads to the fact that basically you can only use the command line or web control, and forget about the Linux desktop.

In summary, the positioning of this development board is very clear. If you want an industrial IoT gateway, this development board can fully meet your needs, but for other applications, I suggest you look at other development boards.

Alright, that’s all for today. If you have anything to say, remember to comment. See you next time.

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