---
title: "LeMaker Guitar Review | Lets Hack It"
description: "Review of the LeMaker Guitar SBC. Quad-core ARM Cortex A9 running Ubuntu. Tested as an SDR spectrum server for NOAA signals."
image: "https://lucasteske.dev/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/lemaker-624x624.jpg"
---
# LeMaker Guitar Review
Written by Lucas Teske
on 2 February 2016
[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/energylabs/24762647165/in/dateposted-public/ "20160119\_191023")
So a few weeks ago I received a **[LeMaker Guitar](http://www.lemaker.org/product-guitar-index.html) **board that I won on a [contest](http://www.lemaker.org/project/index/project_id/27.html). I got really happy about that and they sent by DHL that made everything went really fast.
As usual, in Brazil the tax everything including prizes and samples, so I got R$90 of taxes over the board. I won’t complain much about it, because it was cheap and expected.
So after some time (sorry for the long time, I got really busy 🙁 ) I managed to write this review about this board!
So talking about the board specs. This is a QuadCore ARM Cortex A9 with 1GB of RAM (a 2GB version is also available according to LeMaker).
`
root@lemaker:~# cat /proc/cpuinfo
Processor : ARMv7 Processor rev 1 (v7l)
processor : 0
model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 1 (v7l)
BogoMIPS : 405.50
Features : swp half thumb fastmult vfp edsp thumbee neon vfpv3 tls
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant : 0x4
CPU part : 0xc09
CPU revision : 1`
processor : 1
model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 1 (v7l)
BogoMIPS : 407.96
Features : swp half thumb fastmult vfp edsp thumbee neon vfpv3 tls
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant : 0x4
CPU part : 0xc09
CPU revision : 1
processor : 2
model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 1 (v7l)
BogoMIPS : 407.96
Features : swp half thumb fastmult vfp edsp thumbee neon vfpv3 tls
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant : 0x4
CPU part : 0xc09
CPU revision : 1
processor : 3
model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 1 (v7l)
BogoMIPS : 407.96
Features : swp half thumb fastmult vfp edsp thumbee neon vfpv3 tls
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant : 0x4
CPU part : 0xc09
CPU revision : 1
Hardware : gs705a
Revision : 0000
Serial : 080f4635510a10bf
I’m also using **Lemunto for Guitar** distro, but it came with Android. I didn’t played much with android to be honest.
`
root@lemaker:~# uname -a
Linux lemaker 3.10.37 #2 SMP PREEMPT Sat Jan 16 14:33:53 CST 2016 armv7l armv7l armv7l GNU/Linux
`
The Lemunto can use official Ubuntu ports (that as I remember is provided by Linaro) and that is really good because we can have most packages we need. For example I wanted **rtl-sdr** to start using it as a station:
`
root@lemaker:~# apt-get install rtl-sdr
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
librtlsdr0
The following NEW packages will be installed:
librtlsdr0 rtl-sdr
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 132 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/76.1 kB of archives.
After this operation, 293 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Selecting previously unselected package librtlsdr0:armhf.
(Reading database ... 78752 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../librtlsdr0_0.5.3-3_armhf.deb ...
Unpacking librtlsdr0:armhf (0.5.3-3) ...
Selecting previously unselected package rtl-sdr.
Preparing to unpack .../rtl-sdr_0.5.3-3_armhf.deb ...
Unpacking rtl-sdr (0.5.3-3) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.0.2-5) ...
Setting up librtlsdr0:armhf (0.5.3-3) ...
Setting up rtl-sdr (0.5.3-3) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.21-0ubuntu4) ...
`
[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/energylabs/24135805283/in/dateposted-public/ "20160121\_190716")
Also I wanted to test a [7” HDMI TouchScreen from Chalk-Elec](http://www.chalk-elec.com/?page_id=1280#!/7-open-frame-universal-HDMI-LCD-with-capacitive-multi-touch/p/21750207/category=3094861) that I have here on my desk. It usually works with any HDMI device, but I had some problems with Chromecast for example. But it works really fine for my LeMaker Guitar!
About the performance as using it as a **RTL-SDR Spectrum Server** , it was perfect. I could even sample **2.56Msps** through its 72.2Mbps wireless network (sadly **not** 5Ghz or AC network) without loss. But be noticed that I have about full signal here:`
root@lemaker:~# iwconfig
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:"TVS" Nickname:""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.457 GHz Access Point: 70:62:B8:6B:A6:3C
Bit Rate:72.2 Mb/s Sensitivity:0/0
Retry:off RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key: ****-**** - ****-**** - ****-**** - ****-**** Security mode:open
Power Management:off
Link Quality=97/100 Signal level=-54 dBm Noise level=0 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
`
So it might not be enough to do a full sample rate spectrum server, but if you just want to receive NOAA, or even broadcast NOAA signal using a Spectrum Server, you can make a software do to signal decimation to reduce the sample rate to 80KHz (a decimation of 32) and increase the ADC Resolution.
For now is just that. I expect to put it to work as a SDR Spectrum Station together with my Intel Edison and see which one performs better for receiving / processing NOAA APT Signals, and maybe LRPT signals. I just expected that this board came with a 5GHz / AC Wireless :/
## Cite this article
### Suggested citation
Lucas Teske. “LeMaker Guitar Review.” _Lets Hack It_, 2016. [https://lucasteske.dev/2016/02/lemaker-guitar-review/](https://lucasteske.dev/2016/02/lemaker-guitar-review/).
### BibTeX
```
@misc{teske2016lemakerguitarreview,
author = {Lucas Teske},
title = {LeMaker Guitar Review},
year = {2016},
publisher = {Lets Hack It},
url = {https://lucasteske.dev/2016/02/lemaker-guitar-review/}
}
```