Image 1 of 3 Image 2 of 3 Image 3 of 3

Asus announced that its Tinker Board is now available in North America.

Previously available only overseas, the Asus Tinker Board is a single-board computer powered by a 1.8GHz Rockchip RK3288 quad-core processor and 2GB of dual-channel LPDDR3. The 85.60 x 56 x 21mm device features 1Gb Ethernet, a Mali-T764 GPU with HD/UHD video playback support, H.264/H.265 decoding, 192kHz/24-bit audio support, four USB 2.0 ports, Bluetooth 4.0, and built-in 802.11b/g/n WiFi.

Despite its credit card-sized package, the Asus Tinker Board packs as much power as many Chromebooks. Enterprising enthusiasts and hobbyists have made use of single-board computers for gaming emulators, robotics, car computers, HTPC media streaming, mini web browsers, file storage servers, cloud servers, home automation--the list goes on and on. All that power in such a tiny package means the possibilities to create personalized devices are endless. Think of it as a Raspberry Pi on steroids.

The included TinkerOS is a Linux distribution based on the latest Debian 9 core. The Debian-based TinkerOS provides a foundation for basic tasks such as web browsing, watching videos, and listening to music. The LXDE desktop environment includes an optimized Chromium web browser and Python and Scratch coding apps. It should be noted that the TinkerOS media player, co-developed with Rockchip, is required for hardware-accelerated 4K video playback.

The Asus Tinker Board is available now at Amazon and Micro Center with a suggested MSRP of $54.99.