Comparison of Single Board Computers that can run the FPP

Comparison of Single Board Computers that can run the FPP (Falcon Player Software)

For corrections to this table please send them to xlights@nutcracker123.com

	FPP Compatabile SBC's (Single Board Computers)								Soon May Run FPP		Cannot run FPP
MODEL	BeagleBone Black	BeagleBone Green	Raspberry Pi Model B	Raspberry Pi Model B+	Raspberry Pi Model 2	Raspberry Pi Zero	Raspberry Pi Zero W	Raspberry Pi Model 3	C.H.I.P	Pine A64+	Arduino Uno R3
Picture
Base Price	$55	$40	$40	$30	$40	$5	$10	$35	$9	$19	$25
CPU Bus	32-Bit	32-Bit	32-Bit	32-Bit	32-Bit	32-Bit	32-Bit	64-Bit	32-Bit	64-Bit	16-Bit
FPP Supported Channels (estimated)	P10 on BBB: 96K channels @ 50msE1.31: 150K channels @ 50ms	P10 on BBB: 96K channels @ 50msE1.31: 150K channels @ 50ms	128K channels of E1.31 @ 50ms 64K channels of E1.31 @ 25ms	128K channels of E1.31 @ 50ms 64K channels of E1.31 @ 25ms	256K channels of E1.31 @ 50ms 128K channels of E1.31 @ 25ms	256K channels of E1.31 @ 50ms 128K channels of E1.31 @ 25ms	256K channels of E1.31 @ 50ms 128K channels of E1.31 @ 25ms	256K channels of E1.31 @ 50ms? 128K channels of E1.31 @ 25ms?	256K channels of E1.31 @ 50ms 128K channels of E1.31 @ 25ms	256K channels of E1.31 @ 50ms 128K channels of E1.31 @ 25ms	0
P10 Panels Supported	Yes, 64 panels	Yes, 64 panels	No	No	Yes, 36 panels. 8 to 1 and 16 to 1 type panels ronp board	Yes, 36 panels. 8 to 1 and 16 to 1 type panels ronp board	Yes, 36 panels. 8 to 1 and 16 to 1 type panels ronp board	Yes, 36 panels. 8 to 1 and 16 to 1 type panels ronp board	No	No	No
Processor	1x1GHz TI Sitara AM3359 ARM Cortex A8	1x1GHz TI Sitara AM3359 ARM Cortex A8	1x700MHz ARM1176JZFS	1x700MHz ARM1176JZFS	4x900MHz Quad-core ARM Cortex-A7	1 GHz Low Power ARM1176JZ-F	1GHz, single-core CPU	4x1200MHz Quad-core ARM Cortex-A7	1x1GHz Allwinner R8 Cortex-A8 ARM	4x1200MHz Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53	1x16Mhz ATmega328
Power Draw	210-460 mA @ 5V under varying conditions	210-460 mA @ 5V under varying conditions	5V micro USB input. 600mA rating	5V micro USB input. 600mA rating	5V micro USB input. 800mA rating	5V micro USB input. 160mA rating	5V micro USB input. 160mA rating	5V micro USB input. 800mA rating??	5V micro USB input. 300mA rating	??	??
Dimensions	86mm x 55mm	86mm x 55mm	85mm x 56mm x 17mm	85mm x 56mm x 17mm	85mm x 56mm x 21mm	65mm x 30mm x 5mm	65mm x 30mm x 5mm??	85mm x 56mm x 21mm	40mm x 60mm x ??mm	127mm x 79mm x 21mm	69mm x 55mm
RAM	512MB DDR3L @ 400 MHz	512MB DDR3L @ 400 MHz	512 MB SDRAM @ 400 MHz	512 MB SDRAM @ 400 MHz	1GB SDRAM @ 450 MHz	512 MB SDRAM @ 400 MHz	512 MB SDRAM @ 400 MHz	1GB SDRAM @ 450 MHz	512 MB SDRAM @ 400 MHz	1GB DDR3	2KB SDRAM
Internal Memory	4GB, 8bit Embedded MMC	128 KB, On-Chip L2 Cache 256 KB	None	None	None	None	None	None	4GB, 8bit Embedded MMC	None	32KB
Storage	4 GB on-board eMMC, MicroSD SD	4 GB on-board eMMC, MicroSD SD	SD Card	MicroSD SD Card	MicroSD SD Card	MicroSD SD Card	MicroSD SD Card	MicroSD SD Card	4 GB on-board eMMC, MicroSD SD	MicroSD SD Card	No SD card slot
Video Connections	1 Mini-HDMI. NOTE! If you have a P10 Panel then hdmi is disabled	None	1 Composite, 1 HDMI	HDMI, Composite RCA (shared with audio jack)	HDMI, Composite RCA (shared with audio jack)	A mini-HDMI socket for 1080p60	A mini-HDMI socket for 1080p60	HDMI, Composite RCA (shared with audio jack)	1x Composite via TRRS to RCA adapter (VGA/HDMI boards available at a later date)	1 HDMI, 4K	None
Supported Resolutions	1280x1024 (5:4), 1024x768 (4:3), 1280x720 (16:9), 1440x900 (16:10) all at 16 bit	1280x1024 (5:4), 1024x768 (4:3), 1280x720 (16:9), 1440x900 (16:10) all at 16 bit	640x350 to 1920x1200, including 1080p30, PAL & NTSC standards	640x350 to 1920x1200, including 1080p30, PAL & NTSC standards	640x350 to 1920x1200, including 1080p60, PAL & NTSC standards	640x350 to 1920x1200, including 1080p30, PAL & NTSC standards	640x350 to 1920x1200, including 1080p30, PAL & NTSC standards	640x350 to 1920x1200, including 1080p60, PAL & NTSC standards	480i NTSC or PAL	3840x2160, including 1080p60	None
Audio	Stereo over HDMI NOTE! If you have a P10 Panel then hdmi is disabled	none	Multi-Channel HD Audio over HDMI, Stereo from 3.5 mm jack	Multi-Channel HD Audio over HDMI, Stereo from 3.5 mm jack	Multi-Channel HD Audio over HDMI, Stereo from 3.5 mm jack	Multi-Channel HD Audio over HDMI	Multi-Channel HD Audio over HDMI	Multi-Channel HD Audio over HDMI, Stereo from 3.5 mm jack	Stereo from 3.5 mm jack	Multi-Channel HD Audio over HDMI,(3.5 mm jack if Pine A64+)	None
Real Time Clock	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Operating Systems	Angstrom (Default), Ubuntu, Android, ArchLinux, Gentoo, Minix, RISC OS, others	Angstrom (Default), Ubuntu, Android, ArchLinux, Gentoo, Minix, RISC OS, others	Raspbian (Recommended), Android, ArchLinux, FreeBSD, Fedora, RISC OS, others	Raspbian (Recommended), Android, ArchLinux, FreeBSD, Fedora, RISC OS, others	Raspbian (Recommended), Android, ArchLinux, FreeBSD, Fedora, RISC OS, others	Raspbian (Recommended), Android, ArchLinux, FreeBSD, Fedora, RISC OS, others	Raspbian (Recommended), Android, ArchLinux, FreeBSD, Fedora, RISC OS, others	Raspbian (Recommended), Android, ArchLinux, FreeBSD, Fedora, RISC OS, others	Debian (Jessie), buildroot	Ubuntu Snappy and Lubuntu Linux	None
LIPO Battery	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes, 3.7v	Yes, optional	No
GPIO Capability	65 Pins	65 Pins	8 Pins	8 Pins	8 Pins	8 Pins	8 Pins	8 Pins	80	??	Digital I/O Pins 14,Analog Input Pins 6
Ethernet	10/100 Mbps Ethernet	10/100 Mbps Ethernet	10/100 Mbps Ethernet	10/100 Mbps Ethernet	10/100 Mbps Ethernet	None	None	10/100 Mbps Ethernet	802.11b/g/n	10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet	None
USB 2.0	1x USB Host	1x USB Host	2x USB Hosts	4x USB Hosts	4x USB Hosts	1 USB Host, 1 micro with OTG	1 USB Host, 1 micro with OTG	4x USB Hosts	1x Micro USB Port	2x USB Hosts	None
BlueTooth	No	No	No	No	No	No	Bluetooth 4.0	Yes	No	No	No
Wifi	No	No	No	No	No	No	802.11n wireless LAN	Yes	No	No	No
Peripherals	1 Mini-USB Client	1 Mini-USB Client	1 Micro-USB Power, RPi camera connector	1 Micro-USB Power, RPi camera connector	1 Micro-USB Power, RPi camera connector	1 Micro-USB Power	1 Micro-USB Power		LiPo charging circuit (like a mini UPS), Bluetooth 4.0	Optional: Bluetooth 4.0, Wireless 802.11BGN	None

How to install FPP on your computer

Here are links to www.falconchristmas.com. The original instructions for installing FPPP software comes from them

• Installing the Falcon Player (FPP) on your Raspberry Pi
• Installing the Falcon Player (FPP) on your BeagleBone Black (BBB) and BeagleBone Green (BBG)
• Falcon Player - What Do I Need To Get Started?

If you buy the canakit from amazon for $70 you get most of what you need.

1. Includes Raspberry Pi 2 (RPi2) Model B Quad-Core 900 MHz 1 GB RAM
2. 8 GB Micro SD Card (Class 10) - Raspberry Pi Recommended Micro SD Card pre-loaded with NOOBS
3. CanaKit WiFi Adapter 150 Mbps - Supports Access Point Mode (AP) to allow for WiFi Hotspot hosting
4. CanaKit 2.5A USB Power Supply with Micro USB Cable and Noise Filter - Specially designed for the Raspberry Pi 2 (UL Listed)
5. High Quality Raspberry Pi 2 Case, Premium Quality HDMI Cable, Heat Sink, GPIO Quick Reference Card, CanaKit Full Color Quick-Start Guide

I did not use item (3), the wifi usb adapter. All of my computers are connected via ethernet cables. You need one other item, a usb flash. You can get either 16gb or 32gb. I bought mine from Walmart. The first thing you need to do is get rid of the pre-loaded Linux on the SD card (NOOBS). You CANNOT use this for FPP.

• Format the SD card so that the FPP software can put on it

  • Download the SD Association's Formatting Tool
  • Install and run the Formatting Tool on your machine. We recommend using the SD Card Association utility because the built-in Windows format utility will only format the first partition that Windows recognizes which will not properly re-format some USB drives or drives that have previously been used with the NOOBs installer.
  • Set "FORMAT SIZE ADJUSTMENT" option to "ON" in the "Options" menu
  • Check that the SD card you inserted matches the one selected by the Tool
  • Click the "Format" button

• Download the Linux OS + FPP software

  The FPP team tests every Linux driver and has found problems with the generic Linux where it cannot keep up sending serial data to renards, It has problems with the audio driver, .etc. In other words you need the souped up Linux, polished to be fast and optimized for running our lights. So we are lucky that the FPP team has taken the optimized Linux OS and combined it with the FPP software. All you need do is download one file. You are downloading version 1.5 of FPP, currently we are at version 1.7,don't worry, after installing 1.5 there will be a link to click to upgrade to whatever is the latest code.
  

  Raspberry Pi Computer Download

  The latest FPP release for the Raspberry Pi is FPP v1.5 and is available for download at the following location: FPP v1.5 Release Pi SD image: https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/releases/download/1.5/FPP-v1.5-Pi.zip
  

  Beagle Bone Black Computer

  the latest FPP release for the BeagleBone Black is FPP v1.5 and is available for download at the following locations:
  • FPP v1.5 BBB SD image: https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/releases/download/1.5/FPP-v1.5-BBB-SD.img.zip
  • FPP v1.5 BBB eMMC image: https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/releases/download/1.5/FPP-v1.5-BBB-eMMC.img.zip

• Extract the contents of the downloaded FPP .zip file onto the formatted SD card. The 'OS' and 'default' subdirectories should be visible in the top level directory on the SD card.

• Insert a USB flash drive into the Pi. This will be used for sequences, media, FPP configuration, and logs once FPP is running.

• Insert the SD card into your Pi and connect the power supply to boot the Pi and install FPP.

• Your Pi will now boot up and will automatically start installing the FPP image onto your SD card. Once the install is complete, the Pi will automatically reboot into Linux, and start FPP.

NOTE: You do not need keyboards or a mouse or a monitor plugged into your rpi or BBB, just power it up.

Make sure it is connected to your network. You need some way to find out the IP address assigned to your FPP-v1at boot time. Either A) COnnect a speaker to the audio out jack and listen for the mechanical voice say "I have found the following address 192.168.1.100" or whatever. or B) COnnect a monitor to the hdmi output. I use the monitor method. You will see stuff being printed on the screen for maybe 25-30 minutes the first time you boot. It is pulling stuff down from www.falconchristmas.com and installing and configuring. After the initial time, the bootup process will only be a few minutes.

• All further interaction with FPP will be via the web UI accessible via http://fpp/

  If you want to get P10 panels for your show

  1		P10 Panels from Ray Wu for $11 P10 panels means the led lights are 10mm apart. NOTE! Only panels that have a scanrate of 1/8 will work with FPP. 1/4 scan panels will NOT work.
  2		BBB or BBG Beagle Bone computer ($55 ot $40). See links in top table.
  3		Octoscroller. This is a board that has 8 ribbon connectors to plug into your panels. Octoscroller plugs into BBB. These boards are run as a coop on www.falconchristmas.com. Currently Voltorb runs these. next available coop is planned for March 2016 (tentative). Follow the 1 year long thread on falcon christmasThere is a kit sold for $15 from diyledexpress. diyledexpress octoscroller kit
  4		5V Power supply.
  5		Case. The P10 panels are not waterproof. You need to build a frame to put them in. I built my frame from 1x6 pine. I cut a slot 3/8" from one end that was 1/8" wide. I purchased a piece of plexiglass and caulked it into the front.