Mediatek LinkIt Smart 7688 Duo
The MediaTek LinkIt Smart 7688 Duo offers the same dual-core configuration as the Arduino Yún board. The processor MT7688AN runs on Linux for WiFi and the ATmega32U4 controller is compatible with Arduino.
The MediaTek LinkIt Smart 7688 is a variant of the board without the ATmega32U4. I haven't reviewed it. |
Hardware
On the reverse side, the board includes a micro SD-card slot, the ATmega32U4 controller and the MX25L25735F Flash memory.
|
|
Speed Studio, the manufacturer of the board, offers a wide range of shields, some of them with the Grove connectors.
I've ordered the Grove Breakout for LinkIt Smart 7688 Duo with a shield with 6 digital inputs/outputs, 3 analog inputs and 3 I²C connectors. |
Software
The main processor runs on OpenWRT while the micro-controller is compatible with the Arduino Uno thanks to its ATMega328. The installation of the Arduino platform relies on the effective and now now classic Boards Manager.
The OpenWrt SDK is available for Linux and Mac OS X, but not Windows. The board also runs on Python and Node.js. One interesting example illustrates how to use the serial port shared by the two processors.
|
http://download.labs.mediatek.com/package_mtk_linkit_smart_7688_test_index.json |
Cloud Services
But MediaTek doesn't stop there. The offer continues with a cloud service and an app for Android, just like for the LinkIt One I tested with IoT with LinkIt One.
MediaTek provides a cloud server to design and test IoT applications, the MediaTek Cloud Sandbox and also Cloud Sandbox, an app for Android, to display the data. |
Pins Map
MediaTek provides the pins map of the board with the different ports for the two cores.
|
Conclusion
Listed for less than USD16 at Seeed Studio, the LinkIt Smart 7688 Duo brings terrific value when compared with the Arduino Yún listed at USD75.
The shields with Grove connectors range from USD6 to USD16, depending on their configurations. I like the Arduino implementation and the cloud server to design and test IoT applications. Once again, I'm really impressed by the LinkIt Smart 7688 Duo board. |
Pros
|
Cons
|
Wrap-Up
|
Links
|