The Raspberry Pi is probably the best gateway into IoT, embedded computing, and general programming, but for high-performance applications such as deep learning, self-driving cars, or computer vision, the Nvidia Jetson Nano steals the show. With a 128-core Nvidia Maxwell GPU, 2-4GB of LPDDR4-3200 memory on a 64-bit bus, and a quad-core Arm Cortex A57 CPU @ 1.43GHz, the Nvidia Jetson Nano has all the guts necessary to run more complicated projects, particularly in the GPU department. The Jetson Nano sports a set of Pi-compatible GPIO pins, so any GPIO code that runs on a Pi should work on a Jetson Nano. Unfortunately, the pins cannot supply nearly as much power as the Raspberry Pi's pins, although this is not a problem for most simple circuits. The Jetson Nano costs $100 for 4GB of RAM and $60 for 2GB. This price is a hefty increase over the Raspberry Pi line's $35 for 2GB, $55 for 4GB, and $75 for 8GB. That is, until you remember that you're getting roughly a Nintendo Switch in terms of performance. While theoretically the Raspberry Pi's quad-core 1.5GHz Arm Cortex A72 CPU is faster than the Jetson Nano's quad-core 1.43GHz Arm Cortex A57, but in my experience the Jetson Nano is no slower in regular operation, and can handle most basic computational tasks in addition to some AI-related workflows thanks to the GPU. The Nvidia's custom Ubuntu Unity 18.04 LTS OS is excellent for regular computing tasks and development alike, and would be considered by most as more visually appealing than the Raspberry Pi OS. The Jetson Nano performs admirably in low-power situations as well. It allows users to set it to either 5W mode of 10W mode (MAX-N). For reference, the Raspberry Pi 4B draws approximately 3W at idle, and has a power budget of 9W maximum. I suspect the Jetson Nano can pack so much muscle in such a power-limited board is thanks to the 20nm lithography used on the Jetson Nano's cut-down Tegra X1 chip. One big feature in terms of support that the Jetson Nano has that the Pi doesn't is JetBot, Nvidia's open-source project/initiative to make self-driving car technology accessible to students everywhere. There are multiple hardware platforms that can be made or purchased, and the custom OS image is downloadable for free. The JetBot ecosystem comes with a multitude of tutorials on how to get your robot to do various things, all accessed through Jupyter Notebooks. In short, the Jetson Nano is an excellent single-board computer that can serve as a full desktop replacement in addition to an artificial intelligence gateway computer. It has enough RAM, computing power, and community support to be useful to professionals, educators and students. My verdict: buy
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DanielI'm a software engineer, volunteer IT support, amateur blogger, casual gamer, and tech enthusiast. I also love cars and the great outdoors. Archives
May 2021
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