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• The Only 7 Lead Generation Tools You Need in 2024

  7 mars 2024, par Erin

  If you can’t get leads, you can’t get customers. To ensure you always have a steady stream of new customers (and revenue), you need to equip yourself with lead generation tools.

  Lead gen software does the heavy lifting for you so you can focus on providing great products and great services. With it, you’ll be able to turn more strangers into customers and grow your business.

  And you don’t need a ton of tools to get the job done, either. Consolidating your tech stack to a few select tools will help you get more done in less time (and with less confusion).

  In this article, we’ll analyse the top seven lead generation tools to help you grow your business in 2024.

  Let’s dive in.

  What is a lead generation tool ?

  A lead generation tool is software you can use to turn strangers into customers. It helps you draw customers into your sales funnel by learning their contact details, like their email address or phone number.

  

  Lead generation tools are great levers you can pull to drive high-quality leads. They remove the grunt work by automating the lead generation process. 

  Whether it’s through creating lead magnets, offering conversion rate analytics, helping you create high-quality forms or automating the lead follow-up process, lead generation tools can bring in new customers to grow your business.

  The top 7 lead generation tools in 2024

  To land more leads, you need to ensure you’re leveraging the right software. With so many to choose from, here’s just a handful of the best ones available :

  

  1. Matomo : Best conversion optimisation tool

  Matomo is an open-source website analytics tool dedicated to protecting user privacy and data. Trusted on over 1 million websites, the platform offers in-depth insights into your web traffic, including conversion data.

  

  Why Matomo ? Matomo is trusted by over 1 million websites, including the United Nations and the European Commission, making it the leading choice for privacy-focused web analytics.

  It comes equipped with a suite of conversion optimisation features to help you generate more leads. You can easily analyse your target audience’s behaviour while also respecting users’ privacy.

  Standout features : In-depth visitor tracking, From Analytics, Session Recordings, A/B Testing, Heatmaps Marketing Attribution, roll-up reporting (pulling data from multiple sites), Google Analytics importing. and more.

  Integrations : Cloudflare, WooCommerce, Squarespace, Shopify, Drupal, Magento, Vue, SharePoint, WordPress, Wix, Webflow, GoDaddy, Jimdo, Joomla, Kajabi. and more.

  Pricing : Starts free for Matomo On-Premise and increases to $23/month for Matomo Cloud (which includes a free 21-day trial with no credit card required).

  Pros

  • 100% accurate data with no data sampling
  • Leading web analytics tool for respecting visitor privacy
  • Compliant with the strictest privacy laws, like the GDPR
  • No need for cookie consent banner (except in the UK and Germany)
  • Wide range of advanced features to optimise your website and increase conversions
  • Cloud hosting and on-premise options for flexibility

  Cons

  • Matomo On-Premise requires technical expertise (but for the less technical, the Cloud option works instantly)
  • On-Premise plugins are an additional cost

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

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  2. HubSpot : Best all-in-one CRM for organising leads

  HubSpot is a customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing software with over 194,000 customers worldwide. This user-friendly platform is dedicated to helping businesses of all sizes manage leads and customers.

  

  Why HubSpot ? HubSpot Marketing integrates seamlessly with the HubSpot CRM to help with everything from lead capture to conversion. The platform also features a free version — a great starting place for lead generation and management.

  Standout features : A robust set of no-code lead gen tools, like ads, forms, customisable landing pages, lead capture templates for potential customers, email campaigns, analytics dashboards and a free CRM to track leads.

  Integrations : Google Ads, WordPress, Jotform, Facebook Ads, Magento, Shopify, Weebly, WordPress, Zapier and Drupal.

  Pricing : Starts free for anyone and increases to $800/month for a professional plan.

  Pros

  • User-friendly interface
  • All-in-one lead management solution
  • Easy integration with HubSpot CRM
  • Simple analytics for beginners
  • Includes landing page tools
  • Offers email marketing tools to nurture leads

  Cons

  • Free version has limited functionality
  • Expensive jump to paid plans

  3. Leadfeeder : Best for finding warm B2B leads

  Leadfeeder is a business-to-business (B2B) marketing tool that shows B2B brands which companies are visiting their websites and gives them contact information to reach out to the right decision-makers.

  

  Why Leadfeeder ? Leadfeeder simplifies outreach for B2B organisations because it shows you what businesses are interacting with your website. Rather than trying to reach out to completely cold leads, the tool highlights brands that are already checking out your content and offerings.

  Standout features : Many account-based marketing (ABM) tools enable you to discover B2B accounts with insights into when you should contact them after they visit your site, as well as their job titles. The platform also includes a range of features that notify you and your sales team when qualified B2B leads come to your site so that you can move to capture them quickly.

  Integrations : Zoho, Google Chat, Pipedrive, Salesforce, Google Looker Studio, ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Microsoft Dynamics and Slack.

  Pricing : Starts at $139/month (includes a 14-day free trial).

  Pros

  • Easily find prospective customers
  • Track website visitors and potential customers freely
  • Simple filtering capabilities

  Cons

  • Few integrations available
  • Can be difficult to contact customer support

  4. OptinMonster : Best all-in-one lead generation form tool

  Founded in 2013, OptinMonster has over 1.2 million users worldwide. It offers a wide range of lead gen tools led by robust form tools that turn your target audience into leads.

  

  Why OptinMonster ? The platform is one of the most reputable lead generation platforms available. With nearly 100 lead capture templates, it’s highly customisable to almost any business looking to begin capturing leads with different forms.

  Standout features : 95 customisable form templates, drag-and-drop builders, onsite retargeting, segmentation, A/B testing and exit-intent popups that present forms when a user is about to leave the site.

  Integrations : Constant Contact, ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, Salesforce Pardot, Campaign Monitor, HubSpot, Jilt, Keap and Mailchimp.

  Pricing : Starts at $16/month (no free trial offered).

  Pros

  • Easy drag-and-drop form-builder
  • Wide range of form templates
  • Customisable forms for any business
  • Simple A/B testing to help optimise form performance

  Cons

  • No free trial available
  • Growth features, like onsite retargeting, are only available on higher-tiered plans

  5. Intercom : Best live chat tool for capturing leads

  Intercom is one of the top live chat tools for helping businesses maintain solid communication with their customers. Founded in 2011, this live chat platform serves over 25,000 users around the world with a simple, sophisticated experience and seamless lead generation features.

  

  Why Intercom ? Intercom is a live chat tool first. But many people don’t know it’s also a simple lead capture tool. When people think of lead generation, they think of static or popup forms. But Intercom allows you to capture forms directly within a live chat conversation.

  Standout features : Lead generation via live chat that allows you to naturally capture potential customers’ information to turn them into a lead. The tool also comes equipped with chatbots that can automate the communication and lead gen process on autopilot.

  Integrations : Pipedrive, Typeform, Google Analytics, Zapier, Calendly, Salesforce, Stripe, Campaign Monitor, Clearbit Reveal and HubSpot.

  Pricing : Starts at $39/month (with a 21-day free trial).

  Pros

  • Live chat lead gen capture
  • Chatbot lead generation automation
  • Wide range of integrations and apps
  • User-friendly interface

  Cons

  • Fairly expensive for small businesses
  • Customer support isn’t the fastest

  6. Callingly : Best for making inbound calls with leads

  Callingly is a sophisticated call software that lets you get the most out of every inbound call you get from leads. Founded in 2019, this software company gives valuable insights into your inbound call leads, pulling information from various integrations and forms.

  

  Why Callingly ? Callingly is a robust call software that gathers lead information through forms, lead magnets, landing pages and forms. The software also has intelligent routing, which sends a call to the most relevant salesperson.

  Standout features : Advanced lead routing ensures inbound leads are directed to the most appropriate sales rep based on their unique needs and geographic location. The tool is also equipped with call tracking, analytics, lead source tracking and more to help personalise the experience for quick capture and conversion of leads.

  Integrations : ClickFunnels, Pipedrive, Salesforce, Drip, Aircall, HubSpot, Jotform, OptinMonster, Unbounce and Zapier.

  Pricing : Starts at $49/month (with a 14-day free trial).

  Pros

  • Instantly see robust caller information based on previous interactions
  • Intelligent routing places leads with the right sales reps
  • Call recordings to capture data and transfer it into your CRM
  • Voicemail and caller ID capabilities
  • Reporting and analytics for performance tracking

  Cons

  • Doesn’t include lead segmentation
  • Limited customisations
  • No email integration

  7. Notion : Best for creating informational lead magnets

  Notion is one of the most popular collaboration tools on the Internet. Founded in 2013, the platform has over 35 million users worldwide. While it’s known primarily for its advanced note-taking capabilities, Notion is also a simple tool you can use to create informational lead magnets.

  

  Why Notion ? Notion is a simple yet powerful tool you can use to create almost anything. If you want to generate more leads, then creating a free info product with Notion is a simple and effective way to do that. It enables you to create ebooks, digital courses and video courses without having to rely on expensive software.

  Standout features : Documentation tools, note-taking, collaborative documents and duplication capabilities. It’s simple to create a high-value informational product, like an ebook or course with multiple chapters.

  Integrations : Audienceful, Miro, Momentum, Slack, ChatGPT, Clockify, Desktop.com, SureTriggers, Trello and Google Drive.

  Pricing : Starts at $8/month (no free trial available).

  Pros

  • Easy to create a digital product or lead magnet
  • Leads have access with a simple link
  • Lead magnet can be updated in real time
  • AI writing assistant
  • Drag-and-drop functionality
  • User-friendly interface
  • Low-cost pricing plans

  Cons

  • No free trial available (though there is a free version)
  • Search function could use some improvement
  • Performance isn’t the fastest

  Use Matomo to generate more leads

  If you want more leads, then you need to start tracking your website’s forms.

  With Matomo, you get access to features like Form Analytics, A/B Testing, Heatmaps, and Session Recordings to help with conversion rate optimisation.

  Recently, Concrete CMS leveraged Matomo’s funnel analysis feature to improve its lead capture. The CMS was then able to identify bottlenecks in user onboarding. Matomo’s insights showed that users were getting stuck at the address input stage of the form.

  By tweaking their form, Concrete CMS tripled their leads in just a few days.

  If you want to improve your lead generation, then get started with Matomo’s 21-day free trial today. No credit card required.

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• How to record frames with ffmpeg and finish the recording

  20 février 2024, par Jorge Augusto Wilchen

  In the following code, i trying to create a class to record frames from an IP camera (RTSP), save frames on a .avi file and finish the record, but, when i kill the operation, the video file may be corrupted. Have any other more safely way to stop the ffmpeg recording ?

  


  .cpp file :

  


  #include "videorecorder.h"


VideoRecorder::VideoRecorder(const std::string& rtspUrl) :
    url(rtspUrl),
    recording(false)
{

}

VideoRecorder::~VideoRecorder()
{
    end_record();
}

bool VideoRecorder::start_record(const std::string &fileName)
{
    if (recording) {
        std::cerr << "Already recording." << std::endl;
        return false;
    }

    std::string command = "ffmpeg -rtsp_transport udp -i " + url
                          + " -c:v mjpeg -preset fast -qp 0 " + fileName;

    videoWriter = popen(command.c_str(), "w");
    if (!videoWriter) {
        std::cerr << "Error opening ffmpeg process." << std::endl;
        return false;
    }

    recording = true;
    ffmpegProcessId = getpid();
    std::cout << "Recording started." << std::endl;
    return true;
}

bool VideoRecorder::end_record()
{
    if (recording) {
        if (videoWriter) {
            pid_t ffmpegPID = fileno(videoWriter);

            if (kill(ffmpegPID, SIGTERM) == 0) {
                std::cout << "Recording terminated successfully." << std::endl;
            } else {
                std::cerr << "Error terminating recording." << std::endl;
                return false;
            }

            int status = pclose(videoWriter);

            if (status == 0) {
                std::cout << "Recording ended successfully." << std::endl;
            } else {
                std::cerr << "Error ending recording. pclose status: " << status << std::endl;
                return false;
            }
        } else {
            std::cerr << "Error ending recording. videoWriter is nullptr." << std::endl;
            return false;
        }

        recording = false;
        return true;
    }

    return false;
}


  


  .h file :

  


  #ifndef VIDEORECORDER_H&#xA;#define VIDEORECORDER_H&#xA;&#xA;#include <string>&#xA;#include <iostream>&#xA;#include <fstream>&#xA;#include <cstdlib>&#xA;#include <csignal>&#xA;#include <sys></sys>wait.h>&#xA;&#xA;extern "C" {&#xA;#include <libavcodec></libavcodec>avcodec.h>&#xA;#include <libavformat></libavformat>avformat.h>&#xA;#include <libavutil></libavutil>avutil.h>&#xA;#include <libavutil></libavutil>opt.h>&#xA;#include <libswscale></libswscale>swscale.h>&#xA;#include &#xA;}&#xA;&#xA;#include <linux></linux>videodev2.h>&#xA;&#xA;#include <opencv2></opencv2>opencv.hpp>&#xA;#include <opencv2></opencv2>videoio.hpp>&#xA;#include <opencv2></opencv2>highgui/highgui.hpp>&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;class VideoRecorder&#xA;{&#xA;public:&#xA;    VideoRecorder(const std::string&amp; rtspUrl);&#xA;    ~VideoRecorder();&#xA;    bool start_record(const std::string&amp; fileName);&#xA;    bool end_record();&#xA;&#xA;private:&#xA;    std::string url;&#xA;    AVFormatContext *formatContext;&#xA;    AVStream *videoStream;&#xA;    AVCodecContext *codecContext;&#xA;    AVCodec *codec;&#xA;    SwsContext *swsContext;&#xA;    AVFrame *frame;&#xA;    AVPacket packet;&#xA;    bool recording;&#xA;    pid_t ffmpegProcessId;&#xA;    FILE* videoWriter;&#xA;};&#xA;&#xA;#endif // VIDEORECORDER_H&#xA;</csignal></cstdlib></fstream></iostream></string>

  


  I'm using the ffmpeg lib becouse i need max speed on frames recording, and OpenCV and AV Lib is much slowness than ffmpeg.

  


  This my terminal output after recording during 10 seconds (generated a file with 23 seconds duration) :

  


  Recording started.
ffmpeg version 4.3.6-0+deb11u1+rpt5 Copyright (c) 2000-2023 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 10 (Debian 10.2.1-6)
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=0+deb11u1+rpt5 --toolchain=hardened --incdir=/usr/include/aarch64-linux-gnu --enable-gpl --disable-stripping --enable-avresample --disable-filter=resample --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libaom --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libcodec2 --enable-libdav1d --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libjack --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libmysofa --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librabbitmq --enable-librsvg --enable-librubberband --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libsrt --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzmq --enable-libzvbi --enable-lv2 --enable-omx --enable-openal --enable-opencl --enable-opengl --enable-sdl2 --disable-mmal --enable-neon --enable-v4l2-request --enable-libudev --enable-epoxy --enable-sand --libdir=/usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu --arch=arm64 --enable-pocketsphinx --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libdrm --enable-vout-drm --enable-libiec61883 --enable-chromaprint --enable-frei0r --enable-libx264 --enable-shared
  libavutil      56. 51.100 / 56. 51.100
  libavcodec     58. 91.100 / 58. 91.100
  libavformat    58. 45.100 / 58. 45.100
  libavdevice    58. 10.100 / 58. 10.100
  libavfilter     7. 85.100 /  7. 85.100
  libavresample   4.  0.  0 /  4.  0.  0
  libswscale      5.  7.100 /  5.  7.100
  libswresample   3.  7.100 /  3.  7.100
  libpostproc    55.  7.100 / 55.  7.100
Input #0, rtsp, from 'rtsp://admin:[password]@[ip]:[port]/live/0/MAIN':
  Metadata:
    title           : RTSP Server
  Duration: N/A, start: 0.280000, bitrate: N/A
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (Main), yuvj420p(pc, bt709, progressive), 1920x1080, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 90k tbn, 50 tbc
Codec AVOption preset (Configuration preset) specified for output file #0 (/home/guardian-tech/Pictures/output_frame.avi) has not been used for any stream. The most likely reason is either wrong type (e.g. a video option with no video streams) or that it is a private option of some encoder which was not actually used for any stream.
Codec AVOption qp (Constant quantization parameter rate control method) specified for output file #0 (/home/guardian-tech/Pictures/output_frame.avi) has not been used for any stream. The most likely reason is either wrong type (e.g. a video option with no video streams) or that it is a private option of some encoder which was not actually used for any stream.
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (h264 (native) -> mjpeg (native))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
Output #0, avi, to '/home/guardian-tech/Pictures/output_frame.avi':
  Metadata:
    INAM            : RTSP Server
    ISFT            : Lavf58.45.100
    Stream #0:0: Video: mjpeg (MJPG / 0x47504A4D), yuvj420p(pc), 1920x1080, q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc58.91.100 mjpeg
    Side data:
      cpb: bitrate max/min/avg: 0/0/200000 buffer size: 0 vbv_delay: N/A
[rtsp @ 0x5592e7bb00] max delay reached. need to consume packet
[rtsp @ 0x5592e7bb00] RTP: missed 212 packets
[h264 @ 0x5592ebb790] concealing 2192 DC, 2192 AC, 2192 MV errors in I frame
rtsp://admin:[password]@[ip]:[port]/live/0/MAIN: corrupt decoded frame in stream 0
[rtsp @ 0x5592e7bb00] max delay reached. need to consume packet
[rtsp @ 0x5592e7bb00] RTP: missed 6 packets
[rtsp @ 0x5592e7bb00] max delay reached. need to consume packet
[rtsp @ 0x5592e7bb00] RTP: missed 14 packets
[h264 @ 0x5592f1bd30] cabac decode of qscale diff failed at 42 29
[h264 @ 0x5592f1bd30] error while decoding MB 42 29, bytestream 0
[h264 @ 0x5592f1bd30] concealing 4687 DC, 4687 AC, 4687 MV errors in I frame
rtsp://admin:[password]@[ip]:[port]/live/0/MAIN: corrupt decoded frame in stream 0
Error terminating recording.


  


• My SBC Collection

  31 décembre 2023, par Multimedia Mike — General

  Like many computer nerds in the last decade, I have accumulated more than a few single-board computers, or “SBCs”, which are small computers based around a system-on-a-chip (SoC) that nearly always features an ARM CPU at its core. Surprisingly few of these units are Raspberry Pi units, though that brand has come to exemplify and dominate the product category.

  Also, as is the case for many computer nerds, most of these SBCs lay fallow for years at a time. Equipped with an inexpensive lightbox that I procured in the last year, I decided I could at least create glamour shots of various units and catalog them in a blog post.

  While Raspberry Pi still enjoys the most mindshare far and away, and while I do have a few Raspberry Pi units in my inventory, I have always been a bigger fan of the ODROID brand, which works with convenient importers around the world (in the USA, I can vouch for Ameridroid, to whom I’ve forked over a fair amount of cash for these computing toys).

  As mentioned, Raspberry Pi undisputedly has the most mindshare of all these SBC brands and I often wonder why… and then I immediately remind myself that it has the biggest ecosystem, and has a variety of turnkey projects and applications (such as Pi-hole and PiVPN) that promise a lower barrier to entry — as well as a slightly lower price point — than some of these other options. ODROID had a decent ecosystem for awhile, especially considering the monthly ODROID Magazine, though that ceased publication in July 2020. The Raspberry Pi and its variants were famously difficult to come by due to the global chip shortage from 2021-2023. Meanwhile, I had no trouble procuring these boards during the same timeframe.

  So let’s delve into the collection…
  

  Cubieboard
  The Raspberry Pi came out in 2012 and by 2013 I was somewhat coveting one to hack on. Finally ! An accessible ARM platform to play with. I had heard of the BeagleBoard for years but never tried to get my hands on one. I was thinking about taking the plunge on a new Raspberry Pi, but a colleague told me I should skip that and go with this new hotness called the Cubieboard, based on an Allwinner SoC. The big value-add that this board had vs. a Raspberry Pi was that it had a SATA adapter. Although now that it has been a decade, it only now occurs to me to quander whether it was true SATA or a USB-to-SATA bridge. Looking it up now, I’m led to believe that the SoC supported the functionality natively.

  Anyway, I did get it up and running but never did much with it, thus setting the tone for future SBC endeavors. No photos because I gave it to another tech enthusiast years ago, whose SBC collection dwarfs my own.

  ODROID-XU4
  I can’t recall exactly when or how I first encountered the ODROID brand. I probably read about it on some enthusiast page or another circa 2014 and decided to try one out. I eventually acquired a total of 3 of these ODROID-XU4 units, each with a different case, 1 with a fan and 2 passively-cooled :

  

  Collection of ODROID-XU4 SBCs

  This is based on the Samsung Exynos 5422 SoC, the same series as was used in their Note 3 phone released in 2013. It has been a fun chip to play with. The XU4 was also my first introduction to the eMMC storage solution that is commonly supported on the ODROID SBCs (alongside micro-SD). eMMC offers many benefits over SD in terms of read/write speed as well as well as longevity/write cycles. That’s getting less relevant these days, however, as more and more SBCs are being released with direct NVMe SSD support.

  I had initially wanted to make a retro-gaming device built on this platform (see the handheld section later for more meditations on that). In support of this common hobbyist goal, there is this nifty case XU4 case which apes the aesthetic of the Nintendo N64 :

  

  ODROID-XU4 N64-style case

  It even has a cool programmable LCD screen. Maybe one day I’ll find a use for it.

  For awhile, one of these XU4 units (likely the noisy, fan-cooled one) was contributing results to the FFmpeg FATE system.

  While it features gigabit ethernet and a USB3 port, I once tried to see if I could get 2 Gbps throughput with the unit using a USB3-gigabit dongle. I had curious results in that the total amount of traffic throughput could never exceed 1 Gbps across both interfaces. I.e., if 1 interface was dealing with 1 Gbps and the other interface tried to run at 1 Gbps, they would both only run at 500 Mbps. That remains a mystery to me since I don’t see that limitation with Intel chips.

  Still, the XU4 has been useful for a variety of projects and prototyping over the years.

  ODROID-HC2 NAS
  I find that a lot of my fellow nerds massively overengineer their homelab NAS setups. I’ll explore this in a future post. For my part, people tend to find my homelab NAS solution slightly underengineered. This is the ODROID-HC2 (the “HC” stands for “Home Cloud”) :

  

  ODROID-HC2 NAS

  It has the same guts as the ODROID-XU4 except no video output and the USB3 function is leveraged for a SATA bridge. This allows you to plug a SATA hard drive directly into the unit :

  

  ODROID-HC2 NAS uncovered

  Believe it or not, this has been my home NAS solution for something like 6 or 7 years now– I don’t clearly remember when I purchased it and put it into service.

  But isn’t this sort of irresponsible ? What about a failure of the main drive ? That’s why I have an external drive connected for backing up the most important data via rsync :

  

  ODROID-HC2 NAS backup enclosure

  The power consumption can’t be beat– Profiling for a few weeks of average usage worked out to 4.5 kWh for the ODROID-HC2… per month.

  ODROID-C2
  I was on a kick of ordering more SBCs at one point. This is the ODROID-C2, equipped with a 64-bit Amlogic SoC :

  

  ODROID-C2

  I had this on the FATE farm for awhile, performing 64-bit ARM builds (vs. the XU4’s 32-bit builds). As memory serves, it was unreliable and would occasionally freeze up.

  Here is a view of the eMMC storage through the bottom of the translucent case :

  

  Bottom of ODROID-C2 with view of eMMC storage

  ODROID-N2+
  Out of all my ODROID SBCs, this is the unit that I long to “get back to” the most– the ODROID-N2+ :

  

  ODROID-N2+

  Very capable unit that makes a great little desktop. I have some projects I want to develop using it so that it will force me to have a focused development environment.

  Raspberry Pi
  Eventually, I did break down and get a Raspberry Pi. I had a specific purpose in mind and, much to my surprise, I have stuck to it :

  

  Original Raspberry Pi

  I was using one of the ODROID-XU4 units as a VPN gateway. Eventually, I wanted to convert the XU4 to something else and I decided to run the VPN gateway as an appliance on the simplest device I could. So I procured this complete hand-me-down unit from eBay and went to work. This was also the first time I discovered the DietPi distribution and this box has been in service running Wireguard via PiVPN for many years.

  I also have a Raspberry Pi 3B+ kicking around somewhere. I used it as a Steam Link device for awhile.

  SOPINE + Baseboard
  Also procured when I was on this “let’s buy random SBCs” kick. The Pine64 SOPINE is actually a compute module that comes in the form factor of a memory module.

  

  Pine64 SOPINE Compute Module

  Back to using Allwinner SoCs. In order to make this thing useful, you need to place it in something. It’s possible to get a mini-ITX form factor board that can accommodate 7 of these modules. Before going to that extreme, there is this much simpler baseboard which can also use eMMC for storage.

  

  Baseboard with SOPINE, eMMC, and heat sinks

  I really need to find an appropriate case for this one as it currently performs its duty while sitting on an anti-static bag.

  NanoPi NEO3
  I enjoy running the DietPi distribution on many of these SBCs (as it’s developed not just for Raspberry Pi). I have also found their website to be a useful resource for discovering new SBCs. That’s how I found the NanoPi series and zeroed in on this NEO3 unit, sporting a Rockchip SoC, and photographed here with some American currency in order to illustrate its relative size :

  

  NanoPi NEO3

  I often forget about this computer because it’s off in another room, just quietly performing its assigned duty.

  MangoPi MQ-Pro
  So far, I’ve heard of these fruits prepending the Greek letter pi for naming small computing products :

  • Raspberry – the O.G.
  • Banana – seems to be popular for hobbyist router/switches
  • Orange
  • Atomic
  • Nano
  • Mango

  Okay, so the AtomicPi and NanoPi names don’t really make sense considering the fruit convention.

  Anyway, the newest entry is the MangoPi. These showed up on Ameridroid a few months ago. There are 2 variants : the MQ-Pro and the MQ-Quad. I picked one and rolled with it.

  

  MangoPi MQ-Pro pieces arrive

  When it arrived, I unpacked it, assembled the pieces, downloaded a distro, tossed that on a micro-SD card, connected a monitor and keyboard to it via its USB-C port, got the distro up and running, configured the wireless networking with a static IP address and installed sshd, and it was ready to go as a headless server for an edge application.

  

  MangoPi MQ-Pro components, ready for assembly

  The unit came with no instructions that I can recall. After I got it set up, I remember thinking, “What is wrong with me ? Why is it that I just know how to do all of this without any documentation ?”

  

  MangoPi MQ-Pro in first test

  Only after I got it up and running and poked around a bit did I realize that this SBC doesn’t have an ARM SoC– it’s a RISC-V SoC. It uses the Allwinner D1, so it looks like I came full circle back to Allwinner.

  

  MangoPi MQ-Pro with more US coinage for scale

  So I now have my first piece of RISC-V hobbyist kit, although I learned recently from Kostya that it’s not that great for multimedia.

  Handheld Gaming Units
  The folks at Hardkernel have also produced a series of handheld retro-gaming devices called ODROID-GO. The first one resembled the original Nintendo Game Boy, came as a kit to be assembled, and emulated 5 classic consoles. It also had some hackability to it. Quite a cool little device, and inexpensive too. I have since passed it along to another gaming enthusiast.

  Later came the ODROID-GO Advance, also a kit, but emulating more devices. I was extremely eager to get my hands on this since it could emulate SNES in addition to NES. It also features a headphone jack, unlike the earlier model. True to form, after I received mine, it took me about 13 months before I got around to assembling it. After that, the biggest challenge I had was trying to find an appropriate case for it.

  

  ODROID-GO Advance with case and headphones

  Even though it may try to copy the general aesthetic and form factor of the Game Boy Advance, cases for the GBA don’t fit this correctly.

  Further, Hardkernel have also released the ODROID-GO Super and Ultra models that do more and more. The Advance, Super, and Ultra models have powerful SoCs and feature much more hackability than the first ODROID-GO model.

  I know that the guts of the Advance have been used in other products as well. The same is likely true for the Super and Ultra.

  Ultimately, the ODROID-GO Advance was just another project I assembled and then set aside since I like the idea of playing old games much more than actually doing it. Plus, the fact has finally crystalized in my mind over the past few years that I have never enjoyed handheld gaming and likely will never enjoy handheld gaming, even after I started wearing glasses. Not that I’m averse to old Game Boy / Color / Advance games, but if I’m going to play them, I’d rather emulate them on a large display.

  The Future
  In some of my weaker moments, I consider ordering up certain Banana Pi products (like the Banana Pi BPI-R2) with a case and doing my own router tricks using some open source router/firewall solution. And then I remind myself that my existing prosumer-type home router is doing just fine. But maybe one day…

  The post My SBC Collection first appeared on Breaking Eggs And Making Omelettes.