SBUD102 V5 64 Bit Single Board Computer Network Switch,

good board with some potential but work is still in progress.Just tested the board and somehow I got a kernel crash.Might be a good choice if you want to dig deeper into Linux kernel (thanks to the crash) and L2 networking (so called DSA. Marvell SoC is primarily for networking devices.)At the moment, the rootfs is horrible. It looks like I have to create a debian based rootfs myself for this new toy.How good is it as a general purpose embedded platform? Not sure yet. Probably not. Guess I have to wait and play with it to see.Anyway the board itself is quite ok for the price.Updated as of August/2018With latest 4.17 kernel and Armbian linux, things are much more stable and this becomes quite a good usable toy.Still a lot of works are to be done but at least this is quite usable. Before this release, I thought this was just a waste of money but nowI like it. Still alot of heat dissipating compared to other ARM based boards but cpu frequency governor works quite well now too.Amazing toy board for the price!

This product seems like a good idea, but the implementation has been terrible. I've been looking for a low-cost single board computer with multiple gigabit ethernet ports to use as a home internet gateway. While the specs of this board fit the bill perfectly, the board itself is an incredible disappointment.First of all, the design was poorly done, with wrong-gender connectors on the board, making it necessary to find and modify rare cables to make it work. The V5 design uses a male Molex connector for power, and the V7 design does something similar with the SATA power connector. Good luck finding the proper cables...Secondly, the operating system is not well supported. There are a couple of flavors of linux available, notably Arch Linux and Armbian, but neither is anywhere close to being bug free for this board. The board will only report a single MAC address for all of the physical ports, updates to the board's U-Boot can easily brick the system, and the instructions for recovering from any of these problems are either nonexistant or inaccurate.Finally, the website support for this product is a joke. Questions usually go unanswered, and when answers ARE given, they're generally wrong.An internet gateway has to work 24/7. Reliability is foremost in a device that you intend to install and then hopefully forget about for the next few years. Everything about this board is as if someone took a great idea, then handed it off to an idiot to implement. Do not waste your money on this board.

-----Update 2018/21/08:Recieved my unit. The thermal design of this board is really bad - even using an properly sized heatsink on the SOC without an enclosed case the back of the board considerably heats up (and I'm not using an cheap PSU here).I can probably guess why a lot of people have issues with it failing easily and being unreliable no matter the skill-set.To add to it their quality control seems to lack considerably as well just looking at my sample ...If you plan to run this be prepared to apply all work on your own.The only hope there is is that pfSense is developing a product based on it - and will offer an aluminium case "soon" (maybe this year).To date the official ESPRESSOBin forum is spam ridden by russian posts and the TOPAZ switch is not properly documented.As such I have to retract a star since the manufacturer seems to have abadoned this SBC (besides the sales) after the Kickstart campaign. Sight ... and people complain about the FriendlyARM or Hardkernel not providing proper support (urm).Never will I buy another Marvell powered SBC, or one from GlobalScale either.Allwinner and Rockchip here we go ... (I just hope they learn to produce some low-power/low-heat SOCs as well ...------Original review:I'm not sure how people can come up with how good their Wiki is. It's not.This is a board that is alive because of some enthusiasts that keep it afloat and hack around quirks, the manufacturer shows little care for the board at all.Their support and communication is barely existent. Just check the official forum or the subreddit.Its really a shame for such a great piece of hardware for anyone wanting to build their own router.

It's a nice board - not a hobby board like Raspberry PiGood features for routing/storage solutions for Marvell based platforms - bit fiddly with the switch, but a low-level Linux dev can work thru this. Out of the box, it will take some work to bring the board up - not unusual for these types of HDK boards, but for those that have previous experience with hobby board, it might be a challenge.Box includes the board and a USB-A 2.0 to Micro-USB cable, this is for connectivity to the board from host PC, not power - power supply is not bundled with this SKU/Kit..Recommend 12VDC/2A power supply -- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013CWOCHE/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_2The MV3720 runs warm - might consider a heat-sink for the SoC - lots of kits there...For SD Card - the SanDisk Extreme's are perhaps a good choice.In summary - like I said - nice board - for a linux pro - for a hobbyist - consider the Raspberry Pi 3 or Asus TinkerBoard to get started before jumping into the EspressoBin.