Omega2 (computer)

Omega2

Omega2
Release date	20 November 2016 (2016-11-20)
Introductory price	US$5 US$11.05 (2019)
Operating system	FreeBSD Linux OpenWrt
System on a chip	MediaTek MT7688
CPU	580 MHz 32-bit computing Single-core MIPS 24KEc
Memory	64 MB (128 MB for Omega2 Plus)
Storage	16 MB (32 MB and a MicroSDHC slot for Omega2 Plus)
Graphics	No graphic
Power	0.6 Watts

The Onion Omega series of personal single-board computer created by a startup company called Onion that is based in Boston, Toronto and Shenzhen. It is advertised as "the world's smallest Linux Server". The system combines a tiny form factor and power-efficiency with the power of a general purpose Operating System. They ship with a Linux kernel based lightweight operating system for embedded systems called OpenWRT, but is capable of running other lightweight Unix-based operating systems.

The first shipments of the Onion Omega went out in October, 2015.

History

Omega2 is the next generation of the old product Onion makes, Omega. The original Omega was based on the Qualcomm Atheros AR9331 (MIPS architecture) SoC which runs a full Linux operating system designed for embedded system and sold for $19.99. The company has discontinued development of the Omega, and replaced it with the successor, Omega2, using another SoC chip - Mediatek MT7688 which also has a metal cover over the chip. They have also drastically cut the price to $5 (but later increased it to $7.5).

As of the beginning of 2017, Onion has already attracted crowdfunding of more than $850,000 for the Omega2, which has greatly exceeded their initial goal of $440,000.

Omega 2+ with its Expansion Dock

Hardware Features

Omega2 comes in two versions, the basic Omega2 and Omega2 Plus. Omega2 CPU is based on MIPS architecture running at 580 MHz clock speed, equipped with 64 MB of RAM and 16 MB of flash memory. Omega2 Plus is similar to Omega2, except it has 128 MB RAM and 32 MB memory and a MicroSD slot, sold for $9 USD. The system comes in a small PCB footprint with dual-in-line 16x2mm pins. The board runs at 3.3 volts with an average power consumption of 0.6W. The devices are intended for as headless computers with no graphical interfaces in Embedded systems.

Omega2+

Specifications

Feature	Omega2	Omega2 Plus
CPU	MIPS32 24Kc	MIPS32 24Kc
Clock	580 MHz	580 MHz
RAM	64 MB	128 MB
Storage	16 MB	32 MB
USB	One USB 2.0	One USB 2.0
SD Slot	-	One MicroSD slot
WiFi	b/g/n	b/g/n
GPIO	15	15
PWM	2	2
UART	2	2
I2C	1	1
SPI	1	1
I2S	1	1

External links

• Official website
• MIPS32 Architecture