ASUS Tinker Board challenges Raspberry Pi’s single-board dominance

Tinker Board will have to prove itself relevant to a community that has long supported the Rasberry Pi as the de facto go-to single-board computer. Image: ASUS

Rasberry Pi is a popular go-to single-board computer for many do-it-yourself projects. But now, ASUS dares to face up to that dominance with its own version of a tiny, single-board DIY computer.

Dubbed the Tinker Board, it’s very much like the Rasberry Pi except that it has a Rockchip processor that’s powerful enough to handle 4K video and 24-bit audio playback, reports Engadget.

The ASUS Tinker Board includes a few more features not normally found on similar boards such as 2GB of RAM, a gigabit Ethernet port, and the latest generation SDIO for add-on boards. Its OS is a variant of Debian Linux and supports Kodi for media streaming.

As with most of the company’s products, the ASUS Tinker Board is priced with a bit of premium at roughly £55 (about P3,400). While ASUS may have an edge hardware-wise, it is still up against the years of developer support, which the Rasberry Pi has. If anything, it will be an uphill battle for the diminutive Tinker Board. Alfred Bayle