When comparing Radxa Rock2 vs MinnowBoard Max, the Slant community recommends MinnowBoard Max for most people. In the question“What are the best single-board computers?” MinnowBoard Max is ranked 29th while Radxa Rock2 is ranked 43rd. The most important reason people chose MinnowBoard Max is:
MinnowBoard is a non-profit backed by Intel. meaning it gets advice for its architecture by Intel. But all hardware and software parts, including all drivers are completely free and open source.
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Pros
Pro Built-in Bluetooth
Has a built-in Bluetooth module. Meaning there's no need to buy one.
Pro Built-in Wifi wth antenna
Has built-in Wifi capabilities.
Pro Can dual boot Linux and Android
Other than supporting several Linux distros along with Android, you can also choose to dual-boot both.
Pro Provided with a clear plastic case
Comes with a clear plastic case included in the price, which is pretty useful for most projects people would use a SBC for..
Pro Completely open source
MinnowBoard is a non-profit backed by Intel. meaning it gets advice for its architecture by Intel. But all hardware and software parts, including all drivers are completely free and open source.
Pro USB 3.0 available
The MinnowBoard Max has 2 USB ports, one of which is a USB 3.0.
Pro Great for hacking away
Other than releasing all drivers as open source, Intel has also made the schematics of the board available to download. This way, hackers can give it a try and build anything they want without restrictions.
Cons
Con HDMI has some problems on Linux
The HDMI port has some issues on Linux, fortunately these issues are not present when using Android.
Con Multi-USB hub almost a necessity
Because it has only two USB ports, one of which to be used for charging, a multi-USB hub is needed to connect a keyboard and mouse which are the absolute minimal external devices to be able to use and configure the MinnowBoard.
Con No official OS images have the kernel with GPIO enabled
Although this is not the board's fault per-se, no official OS image has enabled support for GPIO. But if the kernel is compiled from source, it can be compiled with GPIO and PWM enabled.