CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

May 11, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

Huawei Qingyun L410 Linux laptop is powered by Kirin 990 Arm processor

While it’s already possible to purchase an Arm Linux laptop like PineBook Pro, the Rockchip RK3399 processor, and 4GB RAM may be limiting to some, especially when wanting to multitask. But most likely out of necessity, Huawei has unveiled a more powerful Arm Linux laptop with Huawei Qingyun L410 powered by a 7nm Kirin 990 octa-core Cortex A76/A55 processor, coupled with 8GB RAM, up to 512GB of storage, and a 14-inch display. Huawei Qingyun L410(L410 KLVU-WDU0) preliminary specifications: SoC – Hisilicon Kirin 990 octa-core processor with 2x Cortex-A76 @ 2.86GHz, 2x Cortex-A76 @ 2.09GHz, 4x Cortex A55 @ 1.86GHz, Arm Mali-G76MP16 @ 700 MHz, DaVinci NPU System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4-4266 Storage – Up to 512 UFS of storage (SSD or UFS 3.0 TBC) Display – 14-inch 2K display with a 3:2 aspect ratio Camera – “hidden camera” Video – 4K 60fps video support Misc – Fingerprint sensor Dimensions – […]

May 11, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

GIGABYTE GB-BMCE-4500C fanless mini PC features Celeron N4500 Jasper Lake processor

We’ve previously covered a couple of Jasper Lake mini PC’s with the upcoming actively-cooled Intel Atlas Canyon NUC and AC8 fanless mini PC from Newsmay Technology. If you prefer a fanless model but would rather not purchase a model from a little-known company, there will soon be another option with GIGABYTE GB-BMCE-4500C mini PC equipped 6W dual-core Celeron N4500 Jasper Lake SoC, support for up to 16GB RAM, an NVMe/SATA M.2 drive, one 2.5-inch SATA drive, as well as dual 4K video output via HDMI and miniDP ports. GIGABYTE GB-BMCE-4500C specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N4500 dual-core processor @ 1.1GHz / 2.8GHz (Burst frequency) with Intel UHD graphics; 6W TDP System Memory – Up to 16GB RAM via 1x SO-DIMM DDR4 slot up to 2933MHz Storage M.2 2280 slot for NVMe (PCI-e x2) or SATA SSD SATA 3 for 2.5-inch HDD/SSD (7.0/9.5mm thick) Video Output 1x HDMI 2.0b support 4Kp60 […]

May 10, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

HybridOS is an open-source operating system designed for smart IoT devices and cloud computing environment

As I wrote about the “Summer 2021 of Open Source Promotion Plan” earlier, I noticed a new open-source operating system called HybridOS described as “totally new” and designed for “smart IoT devices and cloud computing environment”. It’s actually more of an ecosystem than an operating system, as it offers three main components with a device side running on devices running Linux kernel or another POSIX-compatible kernel, a server side running on servers in the cloud, and a client side to manage the cloud and devices from Windows, Linux distributions, iOS, or Android. HybridOS Device Side relies on several open-source projects including: hiWebKit, the HybridOS derivative of WebKit: hiACEJS, the HybridOS derivative of OpenHarmony ACELite hiViewRenders, the renderers for hiview tag of hiWebKit hiShell, the app running environment (the shell) Various Graphics stacks including hiMesa, the HybridOS derivative of Mesa hiCairo, the HybridOS derivative of Cairo: hiDRMDrivers, DRM Drivers for HybridOS […]

May 10, 2021May 10, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Allwinner R818 SoC is made for smart speakers with a screen

We’ve previously covered several Allwinner R-Series processors designed for smart speakers such as Allwinner R328 and R329 dual-core Cortex-A53 processors with the latter include a small AI accelerator from Arm China. But the Chinese company has recently a new more powerful quad-core processor with Allwinner R818 suitable for smart speakers with a screen, also called “smart displays”. Allwinner R818 specifications: CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.6 GHz with 32KB L1 I-cache + 32KB L1 D-cache per core, 512KB L2 cache, and CoolFlex power management architecture GPU – Imagination PowerVR GE8300 with support for OpenGL ES3.2, Vulkan 1.1, OpenCL 1.2 Memory I/F – DDR3/DDR3L/DDR4/LPDDR3/LPDDR4, 32-bit width, up to 4GB Storage I/F – eMMC 5.1, 8-bit parallel NAND Flash, SPI NAND flash Video Unit H.265 video decoder 4K @ 30fps, H.264 video decoder 4K @ 30fps, VP9 video decoder 720p @ 30fps H.264 video encoder 1080p @ 60fps MJPEG/JPEG Baseline encoder […]

May 10, 2021May 10, 2021 by Karl Johnson - 5 Comments

Genmitsu PROVerXL 4030 CNC Router Review – Mods & Projects

Hey, Karl here. Today I am writing about my opinions on the Genmitsu PROVerXL 4030 CNC Router and sharing the projects that I have done. My initial review was published back in January. I have been working with the tool for several months now and I have had a lot of fun. I have also gained a ton of experience and am really proud of what I have been able to make. I attribute my success to doing my homework and not doing my usual feet first approach. Let’s start with my opinions then showcase the projects I have completed. First opinions. The machine is well thought out and the build quality and materials are good. Other than a few modifications I outlined in the first part I have done nothing else. I installed an rpm meter but found that it was unnecessary. I don’t even look at it anymore […]

May 10, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Summer 2021 of Open Source Promotion Plan is China’s alternative to Google Summer of Code

China has now an alternative to the Google Summer of Code, an international annual program in which Google awards stipends to students who successfully complete a free and open-source software coding project during the summer. China’s alternative is called “Summer 2021 of Open Source Promotion Plan”, also known as “summer 2021” for short, and is organized by the Institute of Software Chinese Academy of Sciences and the openEuler community. It’s a global program open to college students around the world who want to participate in the development and maintenance of open-source software. There’s only one specific requirement to be able to apply: be at least 18 years old at the time of registration. Selected students will be paid according to the complexity of the project with 12000 RMB ($1,867), 9000 RMB ($1,400), or 6000 RMB ($933) “bonuses” to be distributed at the end of the project. Other stakeholders include the […]

May 9, 2021May 10, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

JingPad A1 Arm Linux 2-in-1 tablet can run Android apps (Crowdfunding)

If you are looking for an Arm Linux tablet option are limited with, for instance, the Allwinner A64 powered 10.1-inch PineTab tablet or the CutiePi tablet with a Raspberry Pi CM4 module. If you’d like more performance, the upcoming JingPad A1 2-in-1 tablet might be an option worth looking into. The 11-inch 2K tablet features an octa-core Cortex-A75/A55 processor, coupled with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, and can be transformed into a laptop with an optional detachable keyboard. JingPad A1 runs the company’s JingOS optimized for tablets, and which also happens to be able to run Android apps. JingPad A1 specifications: SoC – Unnamed octa-core processor with 4x Arm Cortex-A75 CPU cores @ 2 GHz, 4x Arm Cortex-A55 CPU cores @ 1.8 GHz, Imagination PowerVR GM9446 GPU @ 800 MHz. (I can’t find an exact match, but if it looks similar to MediaTek Helio P90 except the configuration is 2x […]

May 8, 2021May 8, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Flashback: This is what the Raspberry Pi USB Computer looked like 10 years ago

The first Raspberry Pi single board computer was officially launched on February 29, 2012. Raspberry Pi Model B included a Broadcom BCM2835 ARM11 processor with 256 RAM, an HDMI port, and the familiar form factor we know today. But the very first time I wrote about the board was on May 8, 2011, exactly ten years ago, with a post entitled “25 USD ARM11 Linux Computer” showing the prototype of Raspberry Pi USB Computer that looks nothing like what was launched the next year. This just looked like a stick with an HDMI port on one hand and a USB port at the other. We did not even know it was based on a Broadcom processor at the time. Those were the preliminary specifications: CPU – 700MHz ARM11 processor GPU – OpenGL ES 2.0 capable Memory – 128MB of SDRAM Storage – SD/MMC/SDIO memory card slot Video & Audio Outputs […]