The ODROID H2 is back!

[rooted]

Dear Users,

The ODROID H2 is back!

We announced the ODROID H2 in November 2018 as a new generation of single board computers.
Despite its success we could not ship enough of them to satisfy the demand due to the Intel Gemini Lake J4105 CPU supply shortage.

Fortunately, Intel started early this year to offer a slightly modified chip called the J4115 for small manufacturers like us. We therefore expect that most of the existing parts supply problems to be resolved.

Beyond the CPU update, we upgraded the Ethernet controllers and RJ45 jacks to support much faster 2.5 GbE networks.
The new NIC chipset RTL8125B requires users to proceed with a manual driver installation since the upstream kernel still needs a patch.

We have also increased the number of GPIO pins from 20 to 24 to add USB 2.0 and HDMI CEC signals.
If you want to use the CEC function, you need to buy a 3rd party CEC adapter board like for instance this one: https://www.pulse-eight.com/p/154/intel ... ec-adapter

Finally we also changed the 12V SATA power circuit to improve the suspend-resume power control sequence of 3.5” HDDs.

We decided to call this new iteration of the H2 the ODROID H2+ (ODROID H2-plus). Accordingly the board revision code is REV-B+ (while the previous production batch was REV-B).

The additions described above being put aside the H2 and H2+ are 100% forward hardware and software compatible, including same board size and overall configuration.
Everything you do on the H2 from an hardware viewpoint can be done exactly the same way on the H2+, including converting the M.2 NVMe slot to PCIe2 x4 with a 3rd party adapter cable, connecting the H2+ to a 1 Gbe or 2.5 Gbe switch or other SBC or PC NIC, using the GPIO, etc.
The ODROID H2+ just happens to offer more!

We expect to continuously manufacture the ODROID H2+ with no interruption of the CPU production from Intel.

The ODROID H2+ is now available. https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-h2plus/
We hope you understand that the price increases from $111 to $119 due to the hardware components upgrades.

Best,
The Hardkernel Team.

[odroid]

We offer two ways to install the 2.5GbE device driver.

1. Manually compiling a vendor(Realtek)'s driver
https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid-h2/hardw ... _on_h2plus

2. Installing a DKMS .deb package with an Ubuntu OS image. (without internet connection)
https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid-h2/hardw ... r8125_dkms

Special thanks to @meveric who let us know how to make a DKMS package.


P/S.
Windows 10 could activate and use the RTL8125B chipset out of the box.
But the stock driver performance was not even. Therefore we had to install the Realtek's Windows driver in the following link to to keep the solid 2.5GbE connection speed.
https://www.realtek.com/en/component/zo ... s-software

[rooted]

That bump in networking speed and the ability to add CEC is more than worth the small increase in price.

[domih]

Great news from South Korea, I can't wait to add one more subnet for 2.5 GbE to my home amateur data center

From $111 (Nov 2018) to $119 (June 2020) barely registers as price increase to me, especially in the middle of these COVID-19 times.

Kudos to the Hardkernel engineering team!
.

bowing-man.jpg (37.54 KiB) Viewed 28158 times

[mad_ady]

Indeed, congratulations! The best news is you being able to keep up with demand (which I suspect will increase with all this work/school from home)...

[shakaworld]

Thank you for the upgrades

[misaz]

Hello, I have some questions about the new Odroid H2+.

1) How is USB 2.0 port on expansion header designed to be used? Do you plan to sell some atapter to normal connector or it is designed to be used on some extension boards or is it designed to be used in another way?

2) According to schematics one 5V pin is connected to +5V_RUN and the added one is connected to +V5P0A. What is the difference between +5V_RUN and +V5P0A?

3) There are new N76E003AT20 nuvoton microcontroller used. Do you plan to release source code of firmware used in this chip as open source? While releasing it is not usefull so much at all but it is interesting to see it what does this MCU does and how do it does. Do I indentify correctly that MCU_DBG1 connector refered in schematics is placed as the 4x1 unsoldered header behind power jack socket and it is used for flashing nuvoton MCU in factory?

4) Is current BIOS version (according to https://dn.odroid.com/ODROID-H2/bios/ it is version 1.10 now) used in new Odroid H2+? Is ti compatible with all three revisions of Odroid H2? For example is wake on lan feature working in the same way for RTL8111 and RTL8125 with the same bios?

Thank you for answers.

[Ellicott]

@ odroid,

Thank you for your announcement. That is really great news. A couple of questions:
Can customers in US place the order from https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-h2plus/ with 92X92X25mm fan and other items? Where does the warehouse of hardkernel.com located, outside of US? If so, US Customs could charge tariff up to $50.

I am also curious that how many H2 boards sold from last two announcements respectively?

Thank you!

[odroid]

@misaz,
1. The USB 2.0 ports on the expansion header was added as a specific interface for the CEC adapter, for example this 3rd party item https://www.pulse-eight.com/p/154/intel ... ec-adapter.
You can probably use a few dupont jumper wires to make additional USB type-A host connector. But it might have a poor signal integrity if the device connection speed is higher than USB1.1 12Mbps.

2. +5V_RUN: 5Volt output is available only when the system runs.
+5VP0A : 5Volt output is available when the system runs as well as the system stays in the suspend mode. It is useful to resume(wakeup) the system from the TV CEC power-on trigger since the CEC adapter MCU must be powered always.

3. That small MCU is doing a system power management job. The firmware is a closed source like the BIOS. Sorry about that.
The unpopulated socket was used only for the firmware debugging. We flashed the firmware blob with a gang-writer separately before the SMT process.

4. The BIOS blobs can work with H2 and H2+ together. H2+ ships with the latest 1.10.

[Ameridroid]

@Ellicott,

We are based in South Korea.
But Ameridroid(a distributor in the US) will have some stocks in one or two weeks.
https://ameridroid.com/products/odroid-h2/

We've shipped only slightly less than 10K of H2 board due to the CPU supply problem.

[Ellicott]

@odroid,

You said "We expect to continuously manufacture the ODROID H2+ with no interruption of the CPU production from Intel." Did Intel promise last year for H2 rev B supply? Intel may setup a production threshold this year for J4115.

[powerful owl]

There was no written (legally binding) guarantee from Intel.
But they just told us that they will try keeping the J4115 inventory level since the SoC was adopted to some NAS manufacturers like QNAP and Synology.

[mad_ady]

Why do you say USB 2.0 might not work from the header? Wouldn't something like this (assuming the pins are made compatible) work? https://images.app.goo.gl/Puywe1Nj7afVciXV7
I don't think usb wires need to be twisted like ethernet to reduce interference.

[mad_ady]

@mad_ady,
The wire cable in your link has a relatively good shield even twisting could be an optional.
If there is no proper shield, USB 2.0 480Mbps connection will be unstable.

[InsideJob]

Ameridroid shipping isn't cheap either and the insurance thing is ridiculous. They're not responsible for lost/damaged items if you decline then after you accept you get a Route+ email informing you they're still not responsible, it's all on you. Gee, thanks, add the mark-up too and I might as well have ordered it direct from Korea.

Anywho, got my H2+ and KKSB case pre-ordered so guess it's all OK now.

[tmihai20]

The main H2 page does not mention 2.5 Gbit port. It also has the older price. I hope you will rectify this after H2+ will start delivering.

Edit: I saw the announcement on the Facebook page and the link put there is for the revision B board, not H2+. Please rectify that.

[misaz]

Hello, thank you for answers.

@misaz,

...

3. That small MCU is doing a system power management job. The firmware is a closed source like the BIOS. Sorry about that.
The unpopulated socket was used only for the firmware debugging. We flashed the firmware blob with a gang-writer separately before the SMT process.

...

But who is author of that closed source firmware. I thought that you have written firmware for that chip yourself. But if not who had it written? AMI? Nuvoton? Intel? Somebody else?

[odroid]

We wrote the code. But there were some reference functions from Intel's closed documents as well as AMI's closed BIOS interface protocol.
I don't want to disclose about it any more.

[bk_XU_AZ]

Is there any performance change with the CPU, memory, GPU, etc? I apologize but I couldn't find any data on ARK

[Ellicott]

@InsideJob

If you order H2 Plus from hardkernel directly, it will take 14 days shipping to get it in US plus US tariff. If you order it from https://ameridroid.com, then you have to wait two weeks for them to start shipping to you. that add another 5 days with extra $16.

If the price continue up, the gap will disappear with UDOO BOLT V3. That will be bad news for hardkernel's marketing department.

[Ameridroid]

For some people the UDOO BOLT V3 may be a better option if they are willing to spend $332 plus shipping and import fees for the base board. For others, the dual 2.5GbE ports, swappable eMMC, and other quality components on the ODROID-H2+ in addition to the much lower base cost, no hassles or extra delays and fees with importing, and live technical and customer support in California by phone and email, plus easy RMA process is more desirable.

We at ameriDroid only hope to provide a humble living for our staff while giving our customers the best experience possible. We wouldn't be doing this if we didn't love the products we sell and believe in them, and in ODROID and the good people at Hardkernel.

[fvolk]

The new NIC chipset RTL8125B requires users to proceed with a manual driver installation since the upstream kernel still needs a patch.

Would you post a reminder here once the driver is available in a upstream kernel release?

Finally we also changed the 12V SATA power circuit to improve the suspend-resume power control sequence of 3.5” HDDs.

Is this the fix for viewtopic.php?f=173&t=36102#p268006 ?

[Mullcom]

For some people the UDOO BOLT V3 may be a better option if they are willing to spend $332 plus shipping and import fees for the base board. For others, the dual 2.5GbE ports, swappable eMMC, and other quality components on the ODROID-H2+ in addition to the much lower base cost, no hassles or extra delays and fees with importing, and live technical and customer support in California by phone and email, plus easy RMA process is more desirable.

We at ameriDroid only hope to provide a humble living for our staff while giving our customers the best experience possible. We wouldn't be doing this if we didn't love the products we sell and believe in them, and in ODROID and the good people at Hardkernel.

I have wondering if odroid/hardkernal have a reseller in Nordic? When I buy H2 I was needed to pay import tax. And that make it more expensive



Skickat från min SM-G973F via Tapatalk

[Ameridroid]

@Mullcom - This is probably the closest reseller to you: https://en.odroid.se/

[Mullcom]

@Mullcom - This is probably the closest reseller to you: https://en.odroid.se/

Ohh. I was hoping you didn't have one
So I could buy and start selling. Anyway. H2 prise was a bit expensive on that site.

Thx for information.

Skickat från min SM-G973F via Tapatalk

[misaz]

List of distributors per country is at: https://www.hardkernel.com/distributors/

[domih]

Hello all, see https://www.tomshardware.com/news/odroi ... spberry-pi. The editorial quality and SBC industry knowledge over there is very reduced. The article is just factual but the title of the article sucks 100%. The comments section is populated by PC x86 consumers, prosumers. The PC x86 market is different from the SBC ARM market and from the Pi market. The H2 and H2+ have a foot in the x86 mini-pc market and the SBC market. You may want to help "people see the light" in the comments section over there

[odroid]

The new NIC chipset RTL8125B requires users to proceed with a manual driver installation since the upstream kernel still needs a patch.

Would you post a reminder here once the driver is available in a upstream kernel release?

Finally we also changed the 12V SATA power circuit to improve the suspend-resume power control sequence of 3.5” HDDs.

Is this the fix for viewtopic.php?f=173&t=36102#p268006 ?

Yes, we will keep looking the upstream kernel development mailing loop. https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg658594.html

Yes, you are right.

[bgx]

Is there any performance change with the CPU, memory, GPU, etc? I apologize but I couldn't find any data on ARK

There is no performance difference between J4115 and J4105.
Intel just changed the base CPU clock frequency to 1.8Ghz from 1.5Ghz while the max clock is still 2.5Ghz(single thread) / 2.3Ghz(multi thread).

Side note,

Linux Kernel just ignores the base clock and it runs between 800Mhz ~ 2500Mhz if the CPU governor is ondemand or interactive.
If you run a heavy multi-threaded program, the CPU keeps running at 2.3Ghz.
If you run a heavy single-threaded program, the CPU keeps running at 2.5Ghz.

Windows OS seems to do matter the base clock frequency since the default boost mode is 3.
So you have to change the the mode to 1 to fully utilize the CPU resources with the following commands.

Code: Select all

powercfg -setacvalueindex scheme_current sub_processor PERFBOOSTMODE 1
powercfg -setactive scheme_current

That could be done in a GUI settings menu too probably.

[Mullcom]

There are too many different topics on a single thread and I want to lock it.

Feel free post any questions on the H2 sub-forum.
viewforum.php?f=167

[powerful owl]

The H2+ is out of stock temporarily.
But, it is very hard to estimate when we can produce the H2+ next batch due to very serious component shortage problem these days.
Some key components (PMIC, 2.5GbE NIC and audio codec chips) need over 35 weeks lead time even we placed order last October though.
I think we have to wait 4~5 more months at least to sell the H2+ again.
Sorry about this bad situation.

[tmihai20]

We don't have any firm schedule yet due to uncertain/unpredictable semiconductor components lead time.
Sorry for the continuous sad news.