If I go to the trouble to replace the RAM chips, I'd go to the 4GB max! I'd pick a larger chip from the same family that is currently used.
Hmmmm.... It would appear that there is at least one other way to get 2GB of RAM with two CPUs and very respectable performance: http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G140448267127.
Hi Larry, <quote>Did you mean 4GB RAM chips for a total of 2GB of RAM?</quote> iMX6 can handle upto 4Gbytes of RAM. You can have various combinations to accomplish this. You could use 4 - 8Gbit chips on CS0 or use 8 - 4Gbit chips divided equally across CS0 and CS1. <quote>The way I read the schematic, it appears the RAM chips are fed with 1.5VDC. However, gionji assures us that the Udoo quad RAM chips are MT41K128M16JT-125 in his message earlier in this thread: ram-the-udoo-quad-board-t1998.html#p11170. So are you saying that 1.5VDC chips can be used in place of the current 1.35VDC chips?</quote> You can interchange 1.5V or 1.35V chips only if the datasheet says so. The information will be provided by the manufacturer. iMX6 supports DDR3 (1.5V) and DDR3L (1.35V) chips. So if a 1.35V DDR3L chip can be electrically powered using a +1.5V then you should be fine and may not need any power supply tweaks. Regards, Shaunak
Interesting. So despite the fact that the Udoo quad was designed with 2GB of RAM, the uP is capable of addressing 4GB? I wasn't aware of that. And I was unable to find the specified maximum addressable RAM parameter in the iMX6 data sheet accessible from this page: http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=i.MX6Q. I just presumed, that because the Udoo quad was designed for 2 GB of RAM, that it would be difficult to increase it from that amount of RAM without significant PCB modification. I must confess, I'm out of my depth concerning upgrading the Udoo quad board to 2GB or 4GB of RAM. Perhaps a Freescale engineer could be consulted, as it appears the Udoo design team isn't going to provide any guidance. That said, while the Udoo quad schematic indicates VDD of 1.5VDC for DDR3 RAM, because the RAM chips, MT41K128M16JT-125, actually fitted to the Udoo quad are DDR3L requiring 1.35VDC , it may be simplest to choose DDR3L replacement RAM chips. This page http://www.micron.com/products/dram/ddr3-sdram/ddr3-sdram-part-catalog seems to enable easy chip selection. Using that information, upgrading the Udoo quad to 2GB of RAM might be accomplished by replacing the existing RAM 2GB DDR3L chips with MT41K256M16HA-125 chips: https://parts.arrow.com/item/detail/micron-technology/mt41k256m16ha-125e#MnFc. Attempting to upgrade the Udoo quad from 1GB of RAM to 4GB as you suggest may be problematic due to quadrupled power consumption issues. That said, it does indeed appear that the part exists (MT41K512M16TNA-125): http://www.micron.com/parts/dram/dd...125?pc={338582DE-C8D6-4594-91B4-B3E86A5D5374}. So, with the purchase of: Four MT41K256M16HA-125 chips (~$30.00) here when they are in stock: https://parts.arrow.com/item/detail/micron-technology/mt41k256m16ha-125e#MnFc One Hot air rework station (~$50.00) http://www.ebay.com/itm/111374278162 or http://www.ebay.com/itm/261381786963 And a steady hand, one might be able to double the Udoo quad's RAM for a total of about $80.00.
Yes the iMX6 is capable of accessing a 4GBytes address space. Here is a link to the reference manual; you should find the information you are looking for on page 3840. http://cache.freescale.com/files/32...ORMAT=pdf&WT_ASSET=Documentation&fileExt=.pdf Bingo!!
Unfortunately, locating a source for the larger MT41K256M16HA-125 chips is an issue. I did find one source for a lot of ten pieces: http://www.ebay.com/itm/201233215538. The price looks good, but I only need four pieces. These are a bit higher priced: http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/MT41K256M16HA-125 IT:E/MT41K256M16HA-125 IT:E-ND/4251398 and not in stock. There is information on soldering parameters here: http://www.micron.com/~/media/documents/products/technical-note/dram/e0591e22.pdf.
Hi Larry, I guess I missed mentioning this in my previous reply. After you have the new DDR3 RAM chips in place you will also need to modify UBOOT to inform the software that it can now access 2Gigs of memory. I'm not sure if you need to change anything in the linux kernel but I'm positive about Uboot. You should find some helpful posts on the Freescale community webpage. Thanks very much. Regards, Shaunak
Hello Shaunak, I'm still looking for a reliable source for the RAM chips at a reasonable price. From the information here http://www.aliexpress.com/item/MT41...please-rest-assured-purchase/32227581093.html it would seem that there are fake chips available. Thanks for the information about informing Uboot about the added RAM. Looking at the Freescale web site, it appears doable. It's just a matter of how. :? I found these links provide some information: https://community.freescale.com/thread/335883 https://community.freescale.com/thread/334095 https://community.freescale.com/thread/305189 But I'm still not clear about EXACTLY what would need to be done to have the Udoo quad use all 2GB of RAM if/when I manage to swap the chips. I appreciate your support very much. Thank you. Best regards, Larry
Hi Larry, I have not figured out what changes need to go into uboot yet but I'll let you know when I do. Regards, Shaunak
Hi Larry, Here's a brief on how to go about compiling the u-boot boot loader. Firstly, you need to download the Android or linux source code and the Cross-Compiler from - http://www.udoo.org/downloads/ You'll need to be familiar with Linux in order to proceed. I am using Android on my UDOO board and hence the procedure below is based on the Android source; 1. Once you have downloaded the source code locate the file board-mx6_udoo.c and look for the function call memblock_alloc_base(imx6q_gpu_pdata.reserved_mem_size, SZ_4K, SZ_1G) and replace it with memblock_alloc_base(imx6q_gpu_pdata.reserved_mem_size, SZ_4K, SZ_2G) This is statement allocate GPU memory but now our max memory available is 2GB; thus the change. This is a kernel change. You will need to recompile the kernel after this change. 2. Open terminal and navigate to the directory ~/UDOO_Android_4.3_Source_v2.0/bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx 3. Run the command 'sudo ./compile.sh -c'. If packages need to be installed then install them using apt-get. 4. When the UI shows up, select option 3 under 'DDR Size -->' 5. Under 'Compiler Options -->' > 'Compiler Path' provide the path of the downloaded Cross-Compiler; for example ~/arm-fsl-linux-gnueabi/bin/arm-fsl-linux-gnueabi- 6. Save and exit. 7. Now type 'sudo ./compile.sh' and boot should compile. This will give you a u-boot.bin file in the same directory. 8. Refer to the this link to learn how to compile the kernel http://elinux.org/UDOO_compile_Android_4.2.2_from_sources 9. Once to have the successfully compiled the kernel you will have a zImage file at ~/UDOO_Android_4.3_Source_v2.0/kernel_imx/arch/arm/boot/ 10. You will need to create a boot.img file using the zImage. Refer to 'Crafting an Android boot.img' at this site http://pete.akeo.ie/2013/10/compiling-and-running-your-own-android.html 11. Now insert your sd card (with default UDOO Android burnt onto it) into your PC and mount it. Run the command 'dd if=$OUT/boot.img of=${part}1 bs=8192 conv=fsync' where $OUT is the directory containing your generated boot.img and ${part}1 is the first partition of your sd card generally 'sdb' (be careful here; a wrong destination can wipe out your hard drive or other media present). So you will end up with sdb1 in your command. 12. Now run the command 'dd if=./bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx/u-boot.bin of=${node} bs=1024 skip=1 seek=1 conv=fsync' where ${node} is your SD card identifier in the system. ${node} = sdb (just sdb no partition is to be appended - again this could have a different name on your system so be careful) 13. Insert the SD card into the UDOO board and enable debugging. Refer to the user manual if your are not aware how this is done. 14. When in the UDOO boot screen press a button to prevent the kernel from booting. 15. Now you need to modify your 'bootargs' to change the existing value of 'mem' (which is 1024M) to 2048M. > setenv bootargs console=ttymxc1,115200 init=/init video=mxcfb0:dev=ldb,1366x768M@60,if=RGB24,bpp=32 video=mxcfb1ff video=mxcfb2ff fbmem=28M vmalloc=400M androidboot.console=ttymxc1 androidboot.hardware=freescale mem=2048M The above bootargs direct video out to the LVDS connector; if you are using HDMI you will need the corresponding bootargs. Browse through the UDOO forums you should find something. 16. Now type 'saveenv' to save the bootarg changes and reset the board Not sure if the existing Read/Write calibration/ZQ calibration values will work for you but its worth a try. If these do not work then you will have to use the I.MX6DQSDL DDR3 Script Aid tool to compute the register values that need to be fed in the respective registers that can be found in Flash_Header.s located in ~/UDOO_Android_4.3_Source_v2.0/bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx/board/freescale/mx6_udoo directory. Good luck!! Regards, Shaunak
Hello Shaunak, Thank you for your support. I may have located a technician with the necessary re-work equipment and expertise to swap the RAM chips. I just wish I could be completely confident of exactly which part number is best/correct, and a source from which to purchase them, as well as whether the PC board actually supports the additional address lines required. Best regards, Larry
Many thanks for the information on this board. In the long run, this is probably a more feasible means of having a quad core device with 2 GB of RAM., and certainly a lot easier than doing SMD brain surgery. A cursory look at the WandBoard documentation http://www.wandboard.org/images/downloads/wbquad-revb1-userguide.pdf shows the SATA connector "not populated." Here we go again. :roll: There's information here http://wandboard.org/?start=29 for a simple hardware modification to boot from SATA, so perhaps it's populated after all. And the information here http://wiki.wandboard.org/User:MarkoPagott looks really useful. I wonder what sort of camera may be compatible... Larry
Yeah, I'm real tempted to try this SBC out. I believe SATA is populated and working with the quad version, only. I know nothing about cameras. I am impressed it has Ubuntu 14.04!
Hello Sirrab, I've been considering the purchase of a Wandboard quad http://www.wandboard.org/, but other than double the RAM of the Udoo quad, I'm not sure what other benefits it may provide beyond lower power consumption, a second Micro-SD card slot and the Embedded Design Modules (EDM) expansion header http://www.edm-standard.org/, and perhaps PCIe support. There is an interesting UDOO vs. Beaglebone Black vs. Wandboard vs. Odroid-X2 vs. Raspberry Pi comparison here https://www.kickstarter.com/project...x-arduino-in-a-tiny-single-board/posts/489219. Of course, the Wandboard lacks the Arduino support of the Udoo. The Droid-X looks like a viable contender http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G135235611947 with 1.7GHz Quad core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore, and 2GB Memory, however it is discontinued. the Droid-X successor would seem to be the Droid-xu3 http://ameridroid.com/products/odroid-xu3. At $179.95 the Droid-xu3 is a bit more expensive, but has significant enhancements: * Samsung Exynos5422 Cortex™-A15 2.0Ghz quad core and Cortex™-A7 quad core CPUs * Mali-T628 MP6(OpenGL ES 3.0/2.0/1.1 and OpenCL 1.1 Full profile) * 2Gbyte LPDDR3 RAM at 933MHz (14.9GB/s memory bandwidth) PoP stacked * eMMC5.0 HS400 Flash Storage * USB 3.0 Host x 1, USB 3.0 OTG x 1, USB 2.0 Host x 4 * HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort1.1 for display * Integrated power consumption monitoring tool * plastic case * active cooler * micro HDMI cable * 5V/4A PSU Requires a MicroSD card or an eMMC module for much higher performance. Optional peripherals are available (Sold separately): - WiFi Module - Micro-HDMI Cable - eMMC 5.0 16GB module - eMMC 5.0 32GB module - eMMC 5.0 64GB module - IO Expansion board - MicroSD-Card 8GB OS-pre-installed - Micro-USB cable - USB3.0 to SATA3 HDD/SSD interface kit - USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet module - USB 3.0 Micro-A to Standard-A Host cable - USB-UART module Kit for debugging - USB CAM 720p - Backup Battery for RTC - USB IO Board - LCD HDMI 9" capacitive touchscreen Kit - ODROID Smart Power Supply So the Droid-xu3 seems to be a bit power hungry, lacks a native SATA port and WiFI, but the display port may support 4K 3840 x 2160 resolution video. More specifications are here http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G140448267127&tab_idx=2. The Droid forum is here: http://forum.odroid.com/. So, at this time, I'm leaning toward the Droid-XU3 for more RAM, USB 3.0, SATA III, and overall performance boost beyond others in this class. What are your thoughts? Best regards, Larry
Because my work is using the iMX.6 processor, I'm sticking with a SBC using it. But, I'd consider any other SBC in addition to a iMX.6 SBC. The problem I see with UDOO is trying to learn 2 processors. Double the work, double the problems, etc. And the Droid-xu3 would have the same problem. Having 8 cores would be fun to play with, though! I'm looking for a SBC that can function as a movie(Blue Ray/4K)/music player. I'd like to retire a mini-tower from that duty, now. And another SBC that can automate my house. Perhaps be part of the "Internet of Things"(IoT) in the near future. I'm toying with the idea of a massively parallel computer as well(Beowulf cluster). Maybe with the new Raspberry Pi - 2. It would be cheap, have a fair amount of horsepower, and be fun to play with/learn. Roy
Hello Roy, Here's an option: http://www.ebay.com/itm//231464776550. All the features one could want, ready to go at a very affordable price. I priced an Odroid system: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hardkernel's Exclusive North American Distributor: ameriDroid.com Cart 13 items Products Price Quantity Total ODROID-XU3 $179.95 $179.95 ✖ 64GB eMMC 5.0 Module XU3 Linux (Blue Dot) $79.95 $79.95 ✖ RTC Battery $2.95 $5.90 ✖ USB Bluetooth Module 2 $8.95 $8.95 ✖ USB IO Board $14.95 $14.95 ✖ USB-Cam 720p $16.95 $16.95 ✖ USB-UART Module Kit $9.95 $9.95 ✖ USB2.0 OTG Cable $1.95 $3.90 ✖ USB3.0 Micro-A to Standard-A Host Cable $3.95 $3.95 ✖ WiFi Module 4 $14.95 $14.95 ✖ XU Expansion Board $19.95 $19.95 ✖ Subtotal $359.35 Contact Us Sales: 707-635-2430 Support: http://forum.odroid.com PayPal ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nice system, but the cost.... Best regards, Larry
Your URL supplied, gets me to a Android tablet/smart phone. Was that what you intended? The world is opening up with all kinds of possibilities....Going to boil down to who has the software already built. Just got a older Raspberry Pi SBC, impressed with the software side of it..... Polished, optimized, user friendly.....These peoples know what they are doing!
Re: RAM on the UDOO Quad board--> Documentation Documentation for the UDOO NEEDS to be updated ASAP! Compiling anything is a poke in the dark for newbies. And what seems to work "kind of" still has errors every where. How can anyone learn anything, when they are not sure of what they see, try, and get failures?
