Raspberry Pi clone Libre Renegade: $35 gets you Android, USB 3.0 and 4K video

Libre Computer, a Shenzhen-based firm, is touting a new Raspberry Pi Model B clone that also costs $35 but offers some better specs than the more famous developer board.

For now, the board known as Renegade is only available to back on Indiegogo and follows Libre Computer's earlier Kickstarter-promoted Raspberry Pi 3 clone, Tritium.

The Renegade, spotted by CNX-Software, features up to 4GB of DDR4 RAM, USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet, a Rockchip RK3328 quad-core Cortex A53 processor, and an ARM Mali-450MP2 GPU, two USB 2.0 Type A ports, and one USB 3.0 type A port. That's one fewer USB port than the Raspberry Pi.

As TechRepublic notes, the Renegade DDR4 memory should be faster than the Pi 3's DDR2, and the Gigabit Ethernet should also offer faster data transfers than the Pi. The same goes for USB 3.0.

The little computer is said to support Ubuntu 16.04 with Rockchip's Linux 4.4 Kernel and Mainline Linux 4.14 LTS Kernel. It can also run Android 7.1 Nougat.

Renegade's maker says it has completed product design, initial software support and testing. Delivery to backers begins in January 2018. It also says it's sorted out software support for media center, gaming, and desktop computing.

The 1GB model is available to backers for $35 but if this product goes to retail it will cost $45. It's also available in 2GB and 4GB options. The 4GB model costs $70 during the campaign but is planned for retail at $80. There's also a $100 option that includes a heatsink, active cooling case 5 volt, 2.5 amp power supply, and 32GV MicroSD card.

So far the Renegade campaign has only raised $625 of the $10,000 goal, however the Tritium campaign that began in November has so far raised over $37,000 from over 600 backers.

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