StarFive Unveils the Smaller, Cheaper, More Raspberry-Pi-Like VisionFive 2 Lite RISC-V SBC
New single-board computer comes with support for eMMC storage, Wi-Fi, a slightly slower processor, and a new — yet familiar — footprint.
RISC-V specialist StarFive has announced a new version of its Raspberry Pi-like VisionFive 2 single-board computer, the VisionFive 2 Lite — now crowdfunding with rewards starting at as little as $19.90 for a model with 2GB of RAM.
"This year marks the 15th anniversary of RISC-V, as well as the third anniversary of the VisionFive 2 launch," StarFive's Tao Xu says by way of introduction. "Motivated by the support of our first campaign backers, we have made significant strides in software porting, development, and optimization. As RISC-V marks its 15-year milestone, we're excited to introduce the VisionFive 2 family products: VisionFive 2 Lite, your simplest entry point to RISC-V development, starting at $19.90."
StarFive, which designs its own system-on-chips built around SiFive's RISC-V processor cores, was originally tapped to be part of the BeagleBoard BeagleV Starlight before the project was cancelled — then unveiled its own single-board computer, the VisionFive V1. The VisionFive 2 followed, upgrading to the more powerful StarFive JH7110 system-on-chip — and now it has a Lite variant in the family.
The new VisionFive 2 Lite moves to a more Raspberry Pi-like layout, hosting the StarFive JH7110S processor with four 64-bit RISC-V cores running at up to 1.25GHz, down from 1.5GHz of the JH7110 proper, and an Imagination BXE-4-32 graphics processor linked to 2GB, 4GB or 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM. Unlike the original design there's the option for on-board eMMC storage and Wi-Fi connectivity, while the smaller board layout provides room for microSD card storage, a single HDMI port and two-lane MIPI Display Serial Interface (DSI), one USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, a wired gigabit Ethernet port, and an M.2 M-key slot for high-speed storage or an accelerator module.
Power is handled over a USB Type-C port, which requires a 5V 3A supply, with the option of Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) with additional hardware or feeding 5V straight into the Raspberry Pi-style 40-pin general-purpose input/output (GPIO) header, which provides 28 user-addressable GPIO pins working on 3.3V logic.
"VisionFive 2 Lite is a budget-friendly and feature-rich RISC-V single board computer tailored for education, AIoT [Artificial Intelligence of Things], smart home, and IIoT [Industrial Internet of Things] applications," Xu claims of the company's new board design. "Powered by StarFive's JH7110S quad-core processor, it features robust image and video processing capabilities along with versatile expansion interfaces including PCIe, HDMI, USB 3.0, and gigabit Ethernet."
The company is, as with previous models, crowdfunding production of the new board on Kickstarter, with physical rewards starting at just $19.90 for a model with 2GB of RAM — a discount over its planned $27.99 retail price. All hardware is expected to ship in October, StarFive says.