Arduino Pro Portenta X8 is a tiny, Linux-ready single-board computer
Arduino is a company that’s best known for making small, programmable microcontroller boards. But the new Arduino Pro Portenta X8 is a full-fledged, Linux-friendly computer with a compact design.
The board measures just 2.6″ x 1″ but features a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of eMMC storage, a USB-C port, WiFi and Bluetooth support, a Gigabit Ethernet interface, and a microcontroller.
The system-on-a-module comes with Yocto Linux software pre-installed and features an NXP i.MX 8M Mini 1.8 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor with a 400 MHz ARM Cortex-M4 co-processor plus an STMicro STM32H747AII6 chip with dual 480 MHz ARM Cortex-A7 cores and a 240 MHz Cortex-M4 microcontroller.
While you could use the tiny board as a standalone computer, it’s designed to be used in conjunction with a carrier board which could add features like Ethernet, USB, HDMI, and audio ports.
And like most Arduino Pro devices, the Portenta X8 isn’t really designed to take on the Raspberry Pi line of devices in the low-cost, low-power computers-for-everyone space. It’s aimed at professionals looking to build business, industrial, or other applications such as smart kiosks or automation systems.
And that might help explain the price. The Arduino Portenta X8 will be available in mid-April for $239.
You can find more details about the hardware in the spec sheet below, or check out the Portenta X8 documentation for more about what the board can do.
| Arduino Portenta X8 specs | |
| PROCESSOR | NXP i.MX 8M Mini – 4x ARM Cortex-A53 core up to 1.8GHz, 1x ARM Cortex-M4 core up to 400 MHz |
| MICROCONTROLLER | STM32H747AII6 Dual ARM Cortex M7/M4 IC – 1x ARM Cortex-M7 core up to 480 MHz 1x ARM Cortex -M4 core up to 240 MHz |
| EXTERNAL MEMORY | 2 GB Low Power DDR4 DRAM; 16 GB eMMC |
| USB-C | USB-C High Speed; Host and Device operation; Power Delivery support |
| CONNECTIVITY | 1Gbit Ethernet interface (PHY); Wi-Fi; Bluetooth® Low Energy |
| SECURITY | NXP SE050C2 Crypto on a separate secure bus |
| DIMENSIONS | 66.04 mm x 25.40 mm |
| CERTIFICATIONS | PSA from ARM; Arm SystemReady IR (multiple distributions) |
| INTERFACES | CAN; PCIe; SAI; MIPI; DSI; SPI; I2S; I2C; UART; PDM |
| OPERATING TEMPERATURE | -40° C to +85° C (-22° F to 185°F) |
via CNX Software
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