I ordered Rockchip RK3328 SBCs and got Recon Sentinels
Back on the 12th of September a link was shared with me to a deal on Amazon including
- Rockchip based single board computer
- power adapter
- 16gb SD card
- LCD display screen
The cost at that time was only $9.99. I ordered 5 because I figured if nothing else I would either find an actual for them or build some interesting yet completely pointless "cluster" of single board computers. They didn't appear to come with a case, but I can always 3d print something.
What I got was 5 individual boxes. I opened once expected everything to be inside. I was pretty confused because here is what I found
This appears to be a consumer product of some sort. This isn't what I ordered! Well, maybe it is actually. I checked the box and the power adapter is in a storage compartment in the bottom.
So logically the next step was to take it part. The plastic case is made of some incredibly cheap feeling plastic, as if it is exceptionally brittle.
Looks like an SBC is hiding in there
These ports also look one end of an SBC
Yep, that is an SBC
Attached is a normal LCD screen with some sort I2C chip
The SD card is the stated capacity, the board is labeled "MiscroSD Card"
So what is going on here? Presumably I did get what I paid for, I'm guessing the Rockchip board is not somehow locked down. I haven't really had time to test it. My only theory here is
- Recon Sentinel designed and produced this product
- They made way more than the need
- The excess were either sold as surplus or never left the OEM who made these
- Someone wound up owning them and needing to get capital
- It was placed on Amazon as a "combo" deal in order to get rid of as many of them as fast as possible.
Apparently this is one of those devices that is supposed to plug into your network and scan it for stuff. There is a long thread over at Spiceworks with some employees of Recon Sentinel contributing as well. Presumably the device must use ARP spoofing in order to intercept traffic since it has only one ethernet port. Ironically, this isn't likely to work on very secure networks as they generally attempt to mitigate such a thing.
I won't be using these for their original purpose, but I guess it is better than burying them in a landfill. The remaining possiblity is that this is some incredibly bizarre form of marketing which I am unknowingly a participant in.