I recently received an Orange Pi 5 SBC in the mail by way of AliExpress after a month-long wait since ordering it which I intended to purpose it as a Android set-top box for my living room to use for YouTube, streaming movies/TV shows from my server, and ultimately, video game emulation (up to Gen 6 consoles). The early adopter cost of $83 was my main motivation for buying one at the time. The manufacturer had them on preorder beginning mid-Nov and the price would steadily increase incrementally as time went on. I've had my eye on other SBCs w/ the same chipset as the Orange Pi 5 (RK3588S) based on its performance leap compared to earlier SBCs that have released prior, but they cost more than what I was willing to pay for. However, the moment I saw ETA Prime's YouTube video a/b his take using on the Orange Pi 5, I immediately bought one and so far I'm pleased from my experience.
I got hooked on SBCs by accident starting w/ the Raspberry Pi 4 during COVID b/c Target was selling the RP4 4GB version for $45 at RP4 2GB pricing. In a nutshell, there was a glitch so when you bought the 2GB version online, you were sent the 4GB version or if you bought the 4GB version in-store it cost the price of the 2GB version.
After my run w/ the RP4, I eventually bought both the 2GB and 4GB versions of the NVIDIA Jetson Nano. On my 4GB version, I have installed a modded Ubuntu distro which has Emulation Station integrated and on my 2GB version, I have Android TV 10 installed which is akin to an NVIDIA Shield more or less. However, neither of them hold a candle next to the Orange Pi 5 and RP4 never had a chance.
Anyway, I said all that to say this: I'm curious to know of any other fellow members of this forum who are also tinkerers of SBCs such as myself, and if so, what purpose does your SBC(s) serve and what kind of SBCs do you own, have dabbled into, taken some interest in, or went full on mad scientist when applying modifications to it. All relevant enlightening on topic comments are welcome.
I got hooked on SBCs by accident starting w/ the Raspberry Pi 4 during COVID b/c Target was selling the RP4 4GB version for $45 at RP4 2GB pricing. In a nutshell, there was a glitch so when you bought the 2GB version online, you were sent the 4GB version or if you bought the 4GB version in-store it cost the price of the 2GB version.
After my run w/ the RP4, I eventually bought both the 2GB and 4GB versions of the NVIDIA Jetson Nano. On my 4GB version, I have installed a modded Ubuntu distro which has Emulation Station integrated and on my 2GB version, I have Android TV 10 installed which is akin to an NVIDIA Shield more or less. However, neither of them hold a candle next to the Orange Pi 5 and RP4 never had a chance.
Anyway, I said all that to say this: I'm curious to know of any other fellow members of this forum who are also tinkerers of SBCs such as myself, and if so, what purpose does your SBC(s) serve and what kind of SBCs do you own, have dabbled into, taken some interest in, or went full on mad scientist when applying modifications to it. All relevant enlightening on topic comments are welcome.