CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

September 13, 2019September 13, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Raspberry Pi CM3+ based EagleEye Smart Camera Works with OpenCV and LabVIEW NI Vision

Raspberry Pi CM3 Industrial Smart Camera

We previously covered Q-Wave Systems’ Melon S3 board combining a Xilinx Spartan 3E FPGA with ESP8266, but the Thai company is back is a completely different product: EagleEye Smart Camera. The board is powered by Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+ (CM3+) with 16GB or 32GB flash, and equipped with a 5 MP camera for machine vision and robotics applications. There are two version of the board Uno and Industrial with the latter adding 24V digital input and outputs, circuit protections and support for industrial temperature range. EagleEye smart camera key features & specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi CM3+ with Broadcom BCM2837B0 quad core cortex-A53 processor, 1 GB RAM, and 16GB or 32 GB flash Camera – 5 MP OV5647 image sensor, CS/M12 lens holder + 4mm CS lens Video Output – mini HDMI port Networking – 10/100M Ethernet USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port up to 1.2A Expansion Uno […]

September 13, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

MAG1 Intel Core m3-8100Y Mini Laptop Sells for $590 and up in China

In recent years, we’ve seen mini laptops with sub-9″ displays from companies like GPD, One Mix, and CHUWI featuring Intel Gemini Lake or Amber Lake processors. There’s another company joining the fray with MAG1 “Magic Small” mini laptop with an 8.9″ display, an Intel Core m3-8100Y Amber Lake processor coupled with 8GB or 16GB RAM, and 256GB or 512GB SSD storage that’s currently selling for 4,199 RMB (~$593 US) and up on JD.com. MAG1 specifications: SoC – Intel Core m3-8100Y dual-core/quad-thread Amber Lake processor @ 1.1 / 3.4 (Turbo) GHz with Intel UHD Graphics 615; 5W TDP System Memory / Storage Configurations 8GB DDR3 RAM + 256GB PCIe SSD + MicroSD slot 16GB DDR3 RAM + 512GB PCIe SSD + MicroSD slot Display – 8.9″ IPS touchscreen display with 2560 x 1600 resolution Video Output – Micro HDMI up to 4K @ 60 Hz Audio – Built-in microphone, 3.5mm audio […]

September 13, 2019September 12, 2019 by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 3 Comments

CHUWI GBOX Pro Review – Intel Atom x7-E3950 mini PC Tested with Windows 10 & Ubuntu 18.04

CHUWI has released a new mini PC called the GBox Pro. This is a passively cooled mini PC that uses the slightly older Apollo Lake Intel Atom x7-E3950 CPU which is a quad core 4-thread 1.60 GHz processor boosting to 2.00 GHz with Intel’s HD Graphics 505. The GBox Pro is somewhat physically larger than typical recent mini PCs and consists of a 189 x 139 x 39 mm (7.44 x 5.47 x 1.54 inches) rectangular case with a front panel that includes the power button, micro SD slot, a couple of USB 3.0 ports and a Type-C USB port and then on the rear, a headphone jack, two USB 2.0 ports, a Gigabit ethernet port, an HDMI (2.0) port and a VGA interface. The full specifications include: The GBox Pro comes with 64GB of eMMC with pre-installed Windows 10 Home (version 1809 OS build 17763.316) together with 4GB of […]

September 12, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

MINIX Unveils NEO G41V-4 Fanless Windows 10 Pro Mini PC

MINIX has launched several Intel-based mini PCs in recent years, but while their lower-end models such as MINIX NEO Z83-4U were fanless, their Apollo Lake (NEO N42C-4) and Gemini Lake (NEO J50C-4) mini PCs all came with a fan, albeit a pretty quiet one. But the company demonstrated a new fanless Gemini Lake mini PC at IFA 2018 with a new approach to thermal cooling compared to their previous fanless design. MINIX NEO G41V-4 mini PC is powered by an Intel Celeron N4100 quad-core processor coupled with 4GB DDR4 RAM, 64GB eMMC flash, and an easy to access M.2 SSD expansion slot. MINIX NEO G41V-4 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N4100 quad-core Gemini Lake processor @ with Intel UHD Graphics 600 System Memory – 4GB DDR4 RAM @ 2400 MHz (soldered) Storage – 64GB eMMC 5.1 flash (soldered), M.2 2280 SATA 3.0 slot, MicroSD card slot Video Output HDMI 2.0a […]

September 12, 2019February 16, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Habanero Qualcomm IPQ4019/IPQ4029 SoM Brings 802.11ac Wave2 WiFi to Linux Gateways and Routers

Last April, we first wrote about Qualcomm IPQ4019 quad-core Cortex-A7 processor with built-in 802.11ac Wave 2 WiFi, as it was found in Qualcomm Mesh Networking DevKit with support for Amazon Alexa. A few months later, we discovered router boards powered by either IPQ4019 or IPQ4029 processor such as Dakota DR40X9 or MikroTik RB450Gx4. The latter does not come with WiFi at all and instead leverages the hardware IPSec encryption built-into the processor. Habanero System-on-Module Today, we’ve come across the first IPQ4019 / IPQ4029 system-on-module we’ve countered so far, courtesy of 8devices with their Habanero and Habanero-I 802.11ac Wave 2 modules based on the respective processors. Habanero(-I) specifications: SoC – Qualcomm IPQ4019/IPQ4029 quad-core Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ 717 MHz with NEON, FPU, hardware-based NAT engine, and crypto accelerator System Memory – 512 MB DDR3L RAM Storage – 32MB NOR flash; up to 1 GB NAND flash on baseboard Connectivity QCA8075C 5-port […]

September 12, 2019September 13, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Fairphone 3 Gets a Perfect 10 in iFixit Repairability Score

Launched just a few weeks ago, Fairphone 3 is a socially responsible phone that aims to be modular, easy to repair, and manufactured in a way that’s kind to mother nature and worker as much as possible. In terms of ease of repair, there’s very little competition, as most phones manufacturers don’t design their phone with that goal in mind, and iFixit, a wiki-based site that teaches people how to fix almost anything, often ranks phones from mediocre (iPhone X: 6/10) to really poor (Samsung Galaxy 10 Note+ 5G: 3/10) in their repairability score. Fairphone 3 is supposed to be very easy to repair, but it’s always good to have a third party verify such claims, and iFixit got hold a sample to tear it down. They only have to use four tools to completely disassemble the phone as shown in the photo above: T5 Torx and Philips screwdrivers, their […]

September 11, 2019September 11, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Congatec conga-SMX8-Mini is a SMARC 2.0 Module based on NXP i.MX 8M Mini Processor

NXP i.MX 8M Mini is the first i.MX processor from the company to be manufactured using a 14nm process, which enabled a higher 2.0 GHz frequency for the Cortex-A53 cores. While it was announced in 2018, the first systems-on-module were launched earlier this with products such as iWave System’ iW-RainboW-G34M-SM, TechNexion Axon Flex modules, F&S Elektronik Systems PicoCore-MX8MM, or CompuLab UCM-iMX8M-Mini among many others. So far, we had no covered any SMARC 2.0 compatible system-on-module based on the new NXP processor, but some companies had already launched such modules including Embedian and Avnet. Congatec has now joined them with the launch of conga-SMX8-Mini SMARC 2.0 system-on-module which builds on the company’s earlier conga-SMX8 i.MX 8 module. conga-SMX8-Mini SoM specifications: SoC (one or the other) NXP i.MX 8M Mini Quad with 4x Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.8 GHz, 1x Arm Cortex-M4 @ 400MHz, GC NanoUltra 3D GPU, GC328 2D Graphics NXP i.MX […]

September 11, 2019September 11, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 51 Comments

Rock Pi X Intel Cherry Trail Board to Sell for as low as $39

Most low cost (sub $100) single board computers are based on Arm processors because Intel processors are normally more expensive, but there are some exceptions with AAEON Up Board and Atomic Pi both powered by an Intel Atom x5-Z8350 processor and selling for $99 and $35 respectively. The former follows Raspberry Pi form factor and is easy to use, but the latter requires some more work to wire power supply unless you buy an extra baseboard. There should however soon be a third option for low-cost Intel SBCs with Radxa Rock Pi X board powered by an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 Cherry Trail processor and is expected to sell for as little as $39. Rock Pi X just showed up in Hackerboards database, and there will be two models, namely Rock Pi X model A and Rock Pi X model B with the following specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8300 “Cherry […]