CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

November 21, 2020November 26, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Khadas VIM3 & VIM3L SBC’s become Android reference boards

Khadas VIM3 & VIM3L Android Reference Boards

If you need to work on the very latest development version of Android or AOSP, you can either get one of the supported phones such as Google Pixel 5, one of the reference boards for Android which should be better for development and also fairly cheaper. We previously reported about Hikey, Hikey960, and DragonBoard 845c single board computers being part of the short list of reference boards for the Android Open-Source Project (AOSP), but Amlogic powered Khadas VIM3 and VIM3L have recently been added to the official devices page which makes them the first AOSP reference boards with a dedicated NPU / AI accelerator. As a quick reminder, Khadas VIM3 is the most powerful board with an Amlogic A311D hexa-core Cortex-A73/A53 processor with up to 4GB RAM and 32GB flash, and Khadas VIM3L is the light version with an Amlogic S905D3 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB flash. […]

November 20, 2020November 20, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

SolidRun launches i.MX 8M Plus SOM and devkit for AI/ML applications

SolidRun already offers NXP based solutions with AI accelerators through products such as SolidRun i.MX 8M Mini SoM with Gyrfalcon Lightspeeur 2803S AI accelerator, or Janux GS31 Edge AI server with NXP LX2160A networking SoC, various i.MX 8M SoCs and up to 128 Gyrfalcon accelerators. All those solutions are based on one or more external Gyrfalcon AI chips, but earlier this year, NXP introduced i.MX 8M Plus SoC with a built-in 2.3 TOPS neural processing unit (NPU), and now SolidRun has just unveiled the SolidRun i.MX 8M Plus SoM with the processor together with development kits based on HummingBoard carrier boards. Specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Plus Dual or Quad with dual or quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @1.6 GHz (industrial) / 1.8 GHz (commercial), with Arm Cortex-M7 up to 800MHz, Vivante GC7000UL 3G GPU (Vulkan, OpenGL ES 3.1, OpenCL 1.2), 2.3 TOPS NPU, 1080p60 H.264/H.265 video encoder, 1080p60 video […]

November 20, 2020November 20, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Intel NUC M15 Laptop Kit serves as an Evo-qualified Tiger Lake laptop reference design

Intel NUC mini PCs or mini Desktops have been around for over 8 years, but now Intel has just announced an NUC laptop kit. Wait… What? Yep, NUC just stands for “Next Unit of Computing”, so it can be any kind of computer, and the company’s latest NUC is Intel NUC M15 laptop kit (codenamed “Bishop County”) powered by an Intel 11th generation Tiger Lake processor. The NUC M15 laptop kit complies with Project Athena that aims for thin laptops with fast response times and long battery life and targets the whitebook market, so Intel customers can use it as a reference design meeting Intel Evo platform brand requirements. Intel NUC M15 laptop kit (LAPBC710 and LAPBC510) specifications: SoC LAPBC710 – Intel Core i7-1165G7 quad-core/octa-thread Tiger Lake processor @ up to 2.8 GHz (base) / 4.7 GHz (Turbo single-core) / 4.1 GHz (Turbo all-core) with 12M Cache, 96 EU Intel […]

November 20, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

BBC Doctor Who “HiFive Inventor” Coding Kit aims to teach IoT to kids

In what should be one of the first RISC-V education platforms, the BBC, Tynker, and SiFive have just announced the BBC Doctor Who “HiFive Inventor” Coding Kit that comes with an MCU board with WiFi & Bluetooth and guided lessons for kids that teach them to code for the IoT. The HiFive Inventor board is based on a SiFive FE310 RISC-V microcontroller ( the same chip as found in the HiFive1 board) and an ESP32 Solo module for WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.x/5.x connectivity. Just like the BBC Micro:bit, HiFive Inventor provides a kids-friendly edge connector with I/O, an LED matrix, sensors, and more. The kit includes the HiFive Inventor hardware platform, a battery holder for three AA batteries (not included), the HiFive Speakers, an illuminated USB cable for power and programming, and alligator clips to connect the speaker or other add-ons to the HiFive Inventor board. HiFive Inventor board […]

November 19, 2020November 26, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

Black Friday 2020 International Deals and Coupons

Singles Day 2020 is now behind us, but just like every year, international Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals and coupons are coming, and even already launched over one week before the actual events. And CNX Software will link to promotions from Chinese online websites that offer such deals with Aliexpress, Banggood, GearBest, GeekBuying, and others. Aliexpress Black Friday Fest will start on November 23, 12:00 AM PT, and last till November 27, 11:59 PM PT with up to 70% discounts. But you can also browse the website to find discounts, and add products to your cart before ordering during the event. There will also be $20 and $40 coupons for orders over $40 and $100 respectively, but conditions are unclear at this time. Banggood’s Crazy Friday event takes place during an even longer period between November 2nd and December 6th. There are special sitewide coupons for PayPal payments with […]

November 19, 2020November 25, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Shelly Motion sensor to feature Silicon Labs WiFi chip with Bluetooth-like power consumption

[Update: The information from Shelly about a new “Cortana M3” processor is incorrect, we’ve been contacted by Silicon Labs, and there’s no Cortana M3 microcontroller from the company, Shelly is just using one of the company’s Cortex-M3 based WiFi solutions (SoC or module). The article remains unchanged] WiFi is one of the most convenient ways to connect IoT devices as it’s omnipresent, low-cost, and the range is ideal for the typical smart home. That’s all good until you start to power the device with a tiny battery, as WiFi consumes much more power than Zigbee, Z-Wave, or Bluetooth. Over five years ago, Rockchip RKi6000 WiFi SoC promised Bluetooth 4.0 LE power consumption numbers allowing coin-cell powered WiFi devices, and there were some demos the following year, but I’ve yet to see a consumer device based on the solution. This brings me to the main topic of this post: Shelly Motion, […]

November 19, 2020November 19, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Box86 is an x86 Emulator for Raspberry Pi and other 32-bit Arm platforms

Last week, we wrote about Raspberry Pi 4 Vulkan project status and future plans, and one person commented they are currently trying to get dxvk to work Box86, and that CNX Software should write about the latter. Cool, but what does that mean? dxvk is an open-source Vulkan-based implementation of D3D9, D3D10, and D3D11 for Linux, and Box86 is a Linux userspace x86 emulator that works on 32-bit Arm targets like the Raspberry Pi SBC. Nice, and I remember I ran x86 Linux and Windows on Raspberry Pi a few years ago using a closed-source commercial program called Exagear, but having an open-source solution is even better. That means 64-bit Arm is not supported at all, and Box86 can not even be built for Aarch64 targets. Since many x86 games require OpenGL, as opposed to OpenGL ES, Box86 works best in conjunction with gl4es. By installing Box86 on Raspberry Pi […]

November 19, 2020November 19, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

8-MOSFET solid-state power driver works with Raspberry Pi, Arduino, ESP32 and other maker boards (Crowdfunding)

Using inexpensive relays to switch AC or DC loads work well in most cases, but those relays will be quickly damaged when faced with high DC voltages, fast switching times, or other endurance requirements for which MOSFET’s are better suited, and that’s why MOSFET power supplies are found in 3D printers. Sequent Microsystems has made a habit to provide specialized Raspberry Pi HAT with relays or terminals for resistance temperature detectors that are stackable to supports a larger number for I/O or sensors. The company is now back at it with the 8-MOSFET stackable, DIN-rail mountable board that works not only with Raspberry Pi SBC, but also popular Arduino, ESP32, and other maker boards. 8-MOSFET key features and specifications: Eight MOSFETs with status LEDs 4 optimized for high-current (HC) loads up to 10 A / 24 VDC 4 optimized for high-voltage (HV) loads up to 2 A / 240 VDC […]