How to find a SoC? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Foxxz
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2025, 03:08:23 am
content: There are tons of options for SoCs out there but how does one go about finding and selecting a SoC that has particular features? Is there a good place that helps by doing parametric searches?I'm looking for something I can run linux on and can handle 5gb ethernet and has SATA or USB3. Looking to build my own SBC.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2025, 01:51:07 pm
content: The first thing to look for is good design & software support and the availability of reference designs. The SoC designs I do tend to use SoCs from NXP and TI for that reason. Forget about Qualcom or Broadcom unless you want to do >100k units. You won't get any information. Where the likes of Rockchip and Allwinner fall short is lack of information needed to develop hardware and software. Another thing to look out for is guaranteed part lifetime. If you design an industrial product it is reasonable to assume you need to be able to supply it for a decade. TI and NXP can give such guarantees. And you'll need a decent PCB design package. Forget about Kicad. I'd rate Altium on the weaker side of things. Going for Orcad PCB designer is a better option as it has better support for doing high speed routing, impedance / crosstalk simulation and dealing with delay constraints.Sata may be hard to find as storage is either eMMC or PCIexpress based nowadays. For example: NXP's iMX8 was introduced 6 years ago and it doesn't support Sata at all.

author: fchk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2025, 06:27:13 pm
content: Quote from: Foxxz on January 09, 2025, 03:08:23 am5GB Ethernet is unusual. You won't find anything.Urgent advice: Don't do it unless you are going to sell 100s or 1000s of units.The industry provides you with SOM standards where you choose a socket and can buy system modules from multiple vendors. The difficult parts have already been done, you only need to add your own stuff.Look for:SMARChttps://sget.org/standards/smarc/QSEVENhttps://sget.org/standards/qseven/COM Expresshttps://www.picmg.org/openstandards/com-express/You can choose from several x86 and ARM proccessors.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2025, 07:16:08 pm
content: The downside of modules is that they are quite prone to the hype-of-the day despite promises from the manufacturers. One of the problems is that manufacturers tend to expect you always use their latest software and their current software may not be compatible with the modules they sell next year. In such a case you are stuck with sinking more development (porting project specific alterations / drivers) & verification time into a product without getting any added value for the customers. It just costs money without an ROI. Things get worse when a module is no longer manufactured. Worst problem I had was a module which was discontinued immediately. No last time buy. I have used modules in various designs but it always ends up costing a lot of money due to wasted time. I strongly prefer not to use modules at all. The cost upfront is higher but at least you have a stable product you can supply for a very long time.

author: maxmatteo
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2025, 08:56:18 pm
content: highly recommend to read thishttps://jaycarlson.net/embedded-linux/

author: Foxxz
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2025, 02:39:34 am
content: I've decided to back down from the idea of building something completely from scratch. While it'd be nice its more trouble than its worth.