As I was browsing some group on Facebook, I noticed somebody had bought a custom Broadcom BCM2837 SBC that looks very much like a Raspberry Pi 3 board

Custom Raspberry Pi 3 SBC with eMMC flash powers gateway for washing machines

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2021-07-03 23:30:05

As I was browsing some group on Facebook, I noticed somebody had bought a custom Broadcom BCM2837 SBC that looks very much like a Raspberry Pi 3 board, and that thing was apparently bought from a Saleng, a three-wheeled motorbike with a side cart where people can buy and sell old/second-hand items.

All good fun… So without further ado, here’s what the board looks like… Click for higher resolution photos.

Both MIPI CSI and DSI connectors are gone, and so is the AV jack. Two of the USB 2.0 ports have made place for a micro USB port and some headers. Looking at the bottom of the board, the MicroSD card slot is gone, because there’s a 16GB Kingston eMMC flash for storage in that location.

At first, I was quite confused, first because the Raspberry Pi logo is nowhere to found, then it’s the first “Raspberry Pi” SBC I see with an eMMC flash soldered on the board, the Raspberry Pi Foundation does not allow third parties to use Raspberry Pi images on custom boards, and it’s close to impossible to source Broadcom BCM283x SoC made for the Raspberry Pi.

In any case, we started to discuss about the board, and a person mentioned it was for a washing machine gateway. Yes, right… That’s surely a joke! But then the original poster uploaded another photo of a ZIGBEE WIFI Hat…

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