MNT Reform LS1028A Processor Module

Note: The 8 GB module version is discontinued in favor of streamlined production. If you bought the 8 GB module, you will be upgraded to the 16 GB module. The second batch is delayed due to chip shortages. We expect it to be ready in April/May 2024.

A Fully Open Hardware Processor Module.

The LS1028A is the open hardware system-on-module featuring the NXP Layerscape LS1028A processor with 16GB of DDR4 RAM. It can be used in the MNT Reform laptop or in any other custom device.

Benefits

  • Fully open hardware design (Altium sources published, can be opened in KiCAD)
  • NXP LS1028A SoC is fully supported by mainline Linux
  • Ability to boot the system without any binary blobs (see next section for caveat)
  • 16GB DDR4 RAM
  • 2x Cortex-A72 cores at 1.5GHz
  • Big PCIe address space allows usage of some external AMD, NVidia GPUs (experimental)
  • Vivante GC7000UL GPU supported by open source Mesa graphics library

Drawbacks

  • Roughly 30% higher power consumption than i.MX8MQ with 4GB RAM
  • 2 faster cores instead of 4 energy-efficient, but slower cores
  • No HDMI output. Secondary PCIe lane available on HDMI connector
  • eDP display requires a firmware blob. This can be worked around with a mPCIe/PCIe display adapter, but this takes up a PCIe slot

Detailed Specs

  • System-on-Chip: NXP LS1028A
  • CPU: 2x ARM Cortex-A72 (1.5GHz, 1MB L2, 48KB L1I, 32KB L1D, ECC, Cache Coherent Interconnect CCI-400)
  • GPU: Vivante GC7000L (open source etnaviv drivers in Linux kernel), ARM eDP Controller
  • Memory: 16GB DDR4
  • 2x PCIe 3.0 (1x external PCIe 3.0 routed to HDMI pins)
  • SATA 3
  • 2x USB 3.0
  • 1GBit Ethernet PHY
  • SAI audio
  • eMMC (16GB), QSPI flash, EEPROM
  • SD, UART, SPI, I2C, PWM, GPIO
  • Powered by single 5V input

In the Box

  • LS1028A Processor/RAM Module to plug into MNT Reform
  • Internal eDP display adapter
  • Machined heatsink

Support

Further Reading

Read our detailed status update including action shots.

More from MNT

Price

€900.00