Today, I would like to introduce you to a powerful development board from Sipeed called the M1s Dock. You will understand why I say it’s so impressive when you look at its specifications and price.

Let’s first look at the onboard SoC

BL808

The BL808 chip includes three Alibaba T-head RISC-V processors, named M0, D0, and LP. D0 RV64GCV

Alibaba T-head C906 64-bit RISC-V @ 480MHz

M0 RV32GCP

Alibaba T-head E907 32-bit RISC-V @ 320MHz

LP RV32EMC

Alibaba T-head E902 32-bit RISC-V @ 160MHz

The D0’s main function is multimedia data computation and processing, while M0 mainly handles network data streams and peripheral access, facilitating the acquisition, storage, and computation of audio and video data. The LP is responsible for related functions in low-power mode, achieving low system power consumption.

It also features an AI NN general-purpose hardware accelerator — BLAI-100 for video/audio detection/recognition, providing 100GOPS computing power, which is 0.1TOPS.

It has 768KB SRAM + 64MB UHS PSRAM (2000MHz) and 16MB Flash

In terms of communication, it supports Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 (BT+BLE), and it supports simultaneous operation of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The BL808 chip also supports Zigbee, but this development board apparently does not support it; we’ll need to check when we get our hands on it.

For video, it supports MJPEG and H264 encoding/decoding, with 1920×1080@30fps + 640×480@30fps ISP (Image Signal Processing)

Display interfaces: SPI, DBI, DPI (RGB), camera interfaces support DVP and MIPI-CSI

Supports USB 2.0 HS OTG (exposed to USB Type-C interface)

Software-wise, it supports FreeRTOS, basic support for Linux, and should be able to run a lightweight version of the Linux kernel, with comprehensive support for AI.

This development board also has a module, which is in the same form as the ESP32.

The size is not large, slightly longer than the ESP32.

The price of this module is

45

I think it’s quite powerful

ESP32-S3-WROOM-2-N32R8V is priced at 50

ESP32-S3-WROOM-2-N16R8V is priced at 48

This does not include shipping fees of 15.

The cost-performance ratio of this ESP32 is completely gone.

And the Sipeed M1s Dock development board is even more impressive.

In addition to the chip performance, it also has

an onboard USB to UART debugger (using the official download tool for one-click programming without pressing physical buttons), in fact, this development board uses BL702 as the UART programming chip, which means almost all chips are RISC-V.

It has an onboard display seat (optional 1.69 inch 240 x 280 capacitive touchscreen)

an onboard MIPI camera seat (optional 200W pixel camera)

an onboard analog microphone, and 1 LED

1 TF card slot (supports SDHC mode, which can provide higher speeds compared to the usual SPI mode)

Two USB Type-C interfaces, one is UART, and the other is OTG.

The size is not large either

32 pins, although not as many as the ESP32-S3, but still completely sufficient, and it also allows for more interface protocols.

So what is the price of this development board?

69

The price for the package with a 200W pixel camera is

85

The price for the package with the camera and a 1.69 inch 240 x 280 capacitive touchscreen is

129

It can also be equipped with a plastic shell, 15

and the TF2JTAG debugger, 25

The overall price is still quite affordable.

While the cheapest ESP32S3 development board is 99, the high-end version has reached three digits112.

I must say I am going to support Sipeed M1s Dock.

In terms of configuration compared to the ESP32-S3, it can be said to be upgraded all around, reaching the level of dimensionality reduction strike, capable of running a streamlined version of Linux. The potential is indeed very high. Moreover, it comes with 0.1TOPS computing power, while the ESP32 only has the framework and lacks hardware support, making it not on the same level.

I believe this chip is designed directly addressing the issues of the ESP32-S3; while the ESP32-S3 only supports BLE5.0, this one supports both BT and BLE. The S3’s AI computing power is lacking, while this one adds an AI chip. Even in the traditional advantages of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth communication of the ESP32, this chip can even support Zigbee, making it not lacking in IoT capabilities and expanding its application range.

It can be said that in the price range of 50-100, this development board is excellent, and the ESP32-S3 is not recommended at this price point. The price of the ESP32-S3 module is reasonable at under 30, and the development board at under 50; beyond that, Sipeed M1s Dock is recommended.

Since Espressif launched the ESP32-S3, I predicted that they would most likely fully transition to RISC-V, but they were a step too slow, and BL808 is really impressive. However, the ESP32-S3 also has its own advantages, it can use Arduino, MicroPython, CircuitPython, and various graphical programming software. Its software foundation is still hard for BL808 to shake. Currently, it is more suitable for advanced players, but software adaptation is just a matter of time. I hope Espressif can see the market changes and launch better products, and then we can look forward to ESP32-S4, or maybe ESP64. Let’s see your strength in designing RISC-V.

Sipeed M1s Dock

https://m.tb.cn/h.UPDdJDV?tk=nI4wdfrE4tP

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