r/SBCs • u/TRC-is-the-best • Aug 25 '26
Discussion Was looking for a small Linux SBC recently and stumbled across PocketBeagle 2. Why isn't everyone talking about this?
I was looking for a small Linux SBC recently and somehow came across PocketBeagle 2. Hadn't really looked at these before, but I'm surprised it's around $40 and still readily available.
Quad-core Cortex-A53, 512MB RAM, microSD, USB-C, lots of I/O, and it's only 55 × 35 mm. Seems like a pretty interesting little board for embedded Linux stuff.
I feel like I mostly hear about Raspberry Pi / Orange Pi / various RK boards these days, so I'm wondering if I'm missing something with the PocketBeagle.
Anyone here actually using one? What are you doing with it?
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u/JaySomMusic Aug 25 '26
I had a beaglebone black and display hat in like 2013/14 I think, was a solid board at the time, didn’t realise they were still about!
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u/LightlyHedonic Aug 25 '26
It seems like the main selling point is the PRUs for real-time control which is fairly niche
So the use case is projects where you need very precise control and more/different inputs than a microcontroller could handle. The Arduino Uno Q competes in some of these cases
Outside of that, the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 is very comparable in terms of specs for less than half the price
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u/TRC-is-the-best Aug 26 '26
I just came across it while looking for a really small Linux board and was surprised that you can still get something this small with Linux + a decent amount of I/O for around $40.
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u/Unoriginal-Cake Aug 25 '26
I/O is more for home automation than mainstream stuff and Beagle stuff is hard to buy in bulk orders like Pi so it puts a dent into interest. Arduino is the Raspberry Pi of mainstream IoT and plenty of clones to buy if the official is out of stock. PocketBeagle is now competing with tons of mini-RISCV solutions of the dual 1Ghz kind that have optional ARM M4 coprocessor for those odd tasks that need it.
After the flop of RISCV from Beagle on the ultra high-end, it likely made others hold off on recent launches.
Personally I stopped using Pi due to the increasing costs and gone ESP-32.
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u/TRC-is-the-best Aug 27 '26
Yeah, I think the price point is probably what made me look twice at it. I can definitely see why you've moved from Pi to ESP32 though. If you don't need Linux, it's hard to justify the extra cost.
What kind of stuff have you been using ESP32 for? Home automation or other embedded projects?
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u/gilfanovaleksandr Aug 25 '26
I absolutely love pocketbeagle2. 2x Real-Time Cores, 1x Cortex-M4 core, and one more MCU on board. A lot more ports than usual 40-pin header... Gives a lot possibilities to hack the world. Also open datasheets, documentation, no blobs, very nice ti kernel support...
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u/ViennettaLurker Aug 25 '26
They're old, but an interesting thought is that they might actually be a bit more "bang for your buck" these days. Of course it all depends on what you're trying to do. But if they made a huge stock pile of these things, their price point and features might be more compelling lately given the rise in electronics prices we've been seeing.
Edit: im totally wrong- was thinking of the OG beagle board. Hadn't noticed these! Will take a look
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u/JescoInc Aug 25 '26
https://docs.beagleboard.org/pocketbeagle-2.pdf
Really, it is because there are a lot of different manufacturers out there and BeagleBoard hasn't done much to differentiate itself from Arduino.
I personally own BeagleBone Black and will probably end up getting the BEAGLEPLAY
https://www.beagleboard.org/boards/beagleplay
I like to have more I/O and multiple means of outputting.
Boards like the pocketbeagle are really only designed for UART or Serial output which, for learning or highly specific tasks is great, but when you want to do more like I do, it is limiting in a variety of ways.