Libre Computer ROC-RK3328-CC Renegade Computer Pi 3 Alternative (4GB, WiFi 5 BT4)

I ordered this to replace my old RPI3+, as it just runs pihole and it has power and temperature issues. This device adds much better gigabit ethernet, a faster USB3 port, and a faster CPU, as well as 4x the memory to the same form factor. My understanding is that there are some issues with I/O pin compatibility in certain circumstances, as well as graphics driver issues if you want to use it as a desktop or video editing device. I did not mind, as this was not my use case... I intended to use it for pihole as well as nextcloud and home assistant... and that was it for that plan.In the same case, it runs slightly warmer, but it does not throttle down under load as badly due to the large, fancy, clipped-in, builtin heatsink. It also has no power issues as it can run comfortably under load on the USB wall wart that had issues on the RPI3. The temperature never gets anywhere near 55degrees C under any load in a typical no name case with a fan... so no where near its rated maximum.The biggest drawback maybe in the software that the device runs since all of the OS versions offered on the website seem to have slight quirks. My installs of Ubuntu server and Debian server seem to have extra graphics packages installed that I need to clean up... as well as some cleanup issues with packages that were installed but not listed as installed and other listed as installed but not installed. After I sorted these out though, I just made a backup SD in case I need a clean install at some point.For the 45USD with the giant heatsink installed, I do not think there could be a much better SBC value just for computing... except maybe the Librecomputer Alta which adds an NPU for only 60USD on sale if you need/want something even faster as a mini server with 4GB. I am rating this SBC four stars as it works well for me. As always, your mileage and preferences may vary...

After finding really good results in this boards little brother, the Le Potato, I decided to get the Renegade board to evaluate uses that may be more comprehensive. I'm having a hard time placing this board into a usable category. My original intention was to evaluate this to run Codesys as a Modbus gateway between ethernet and RS485. The first issue I ran into, at the time of my evaluation, is that the UART port on the GPIO header wasn't opened up in any of the ported OS (tried both Raspian and Ubuntu) which made my RS485 hat useless on this board. Looking through the Libre forums there's a bit of configuring needed on the Renegade to open up the UART port on the GPIO header, and even after a few hours of tinkering I was not able to make it work. More searching on the forums revealed that Libre intended this board more for server use and when it was released the GPIO header wasn't enabled because they didn't anticipate use. This may change as time goes on, but for general tinkering and use of the GPIO headers, at the time of this writing the Le Potato is much better suited for this task as the GPIO header works on that board. For now the Renegade board has found a home on my bookshelf as a redundant PiHole server, at least it can handle that task well.