Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS — A Low-cost Version of the Orange Pi R1 Plus SBC with YT8531C Ethernet transceiver

Just about a year ago, Shenzhen Xunlong Software updated its Orange Pi range of boards with an Orange Pi R1 Plus SBC powered by a Rockchip RK3328 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor running @ 1.5 GHz, coupled with 1GB RAM, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, and one USB port for router applications. Now, the company has added to this line of the board a new Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS, which is exactly like Orange Pi R1 Plus SBC except that it replaced the Realtek RTL8211E PHY with a YT8531C Ethernet PHY and comes at a lower price.

Since the new Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS is quite similar to the older version, it means it can still be used for headless operations. Use cases include building a soft router, a computer, a wireless server, a speaker, and many more because it is open-source.

The new SBC is also powered by a Rockchip RK3328 processor, coupled with 1GB RAM, 2x GbE, and a single USB 2.0 port. The two boards are said to be with the same performance configuration.

Other Features and Specifications of the Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS SBC include:

• Rockchip RK3328 quad-core Cortex-A53 @ 1.5 GHz with Arm Mali-450MP2
• 1GB LPDDR3 RAM
• MicroSD card slot
• 16 MB SPI flash
• 2x Gigabit Ethernet via YT8531C Ethernet PHY and RTL8153B USB 3.0 to Ethernet chip
• 1x USB 2.0 port
• 1x USB-C OTG port
• Unpopulated 13-pin header with earphone, 1x GPIO, TV out, UART, I2C, and IR receiver signals
• 3-pin header for serial console, fan header
• Recovery key
• WAN & LAN LEDs on board
• Status LED.
• Power Supply: 5V/2A via USB-C port or 2-pin header; RK805 PMU
• Dimensions: 57 mm x 56 mm
• Weight: 29.5 g
• Supported Operating System: Android 9, Ubuntu, Debian, and OpenWrt

Apart from the difference in Ethernet PHY and the difference in system memory (LPDDR3 RAM instead of DDR4), and of course the fact that the YT8531C Ethernet transceiver would require a different driver, the company also mentioned that the firmware images are different.

The Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS SBC is currently sold on Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS SBC is currently sold on AliExpress for $27.99 but is yet to be available on Amazon. The board is definitely a lot cheaper than the Orange Pi R1 Plus board which is being sold by some AliExpress sellers for over $50 which is being sold by some AliExpress sellers for over $50. The company however mentioned that a kit with the Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS SBC and a metal case/enclosure which they are currently working on would be available in a few weeks for about $32.9 and above.

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