MNT Reform Open Source Hardware Laptop Launched for $999 and Up (Crowdfunding)

MNT Reform Open Source Hardware Laptop

MNT Reform DIY Arm Linux laptop has been in the works at least since 2017. The open source hardware laptop is also fully modular with Boundary Devices Nitrogen8M SoM featuring NXP i.MX 8M quad-core Cortex-A53 processor and 4GB RAM, M.2 NVMe SSD storage, and standard, replaceable 18650 batteries. The good news is the laptop is now almost ready for prime-time and has been launched on Crowd Supply with price starting at $999 in DIY kit form without storage, and $1,300 for a complete, assembled system with 256GB NVMe storage. If you don’t have that amount of money to spend, but would like to support the project, a $40 MNT Reform T-shirt is also offered. Alternatively, the motherboard only goes for $550. Here’s a reminder of MNT Reform specification: SoM – Boundary Devices Nitrogen8M SoC – NXP i.MX 8MQuad quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz, 1x Arm Cortex-M4F real-time core Vivante […]

TQ Group Announces NXP i.MX 8X ARM Cortex-A35 Modules as the Processor Finally Becomes Available

TQMa8Xx i.MX 8X Module

TQ Group, headquartered in Germany, has launched two NXP i.MX 8X Cortex-A35 modules with TQMa8Xx and TQMa8XxS SoMs, with the latter being SMARC 2.1 compliant, and both targeting various applications ranging from medical devices, HMIs, industrial controllers and industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to gateways, building automation, transport, and robotics. The press release explains NXP will officially launch i.MX 8X CPUs on May 14, 2020. We first heard about i.MX 8X in 2016, before an official announcement in 2017, and we wrote about Toradex i.MX 8X SoM in 2018, plus 96Boards AI-ML SBC in 2019, so I naively believed the processor had been around for a couple of years, but the Toradex SoM product is still shown as an “early product announcement” [Update: the page has just been updated since it is now shipping as well],  and AI-ML board has just launched with 26 units available on Arrow website. Some […]

WiFi & Cellular Router Focuses on Security, Always-on Connectivity with 2GB Free Monthly Data (Crowdfunding – US)

Roqos Core RC20

We previously covered Roqos Core RC10 Intel Atom-based AC router that was offered for only $19 with the catch of having to $17 per month for “advanced cybersecurity and parental control features” for at least a year. The company is now back with Roqos Core RC20 AC router that adds supports for cellular connectivity including 2GB per month of cellular data, and a focus on security with built-in VPN service so you can connect securely from anywhere, even public WiFi hotspots. Roqos Core RC20 hardware specification: SoC – Intel Atom E3845 quad-core processor @ up to 1.91 GHz cores System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 8GB flash Video Output – HDMI (but not sure whether it’s used since not listed in the specs) Connectivity Wired – 1x Gigabit Ethernet WAN port, 4x Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports Wireless – Simultaneous dual frequency 3×3 802.11ac WiFi 5 and 2×2 802.11n WiFi […]

Congatec conga-TR4 COM Express Module is Powered by AMD Ryzen Embedded SoC

conga-TR4 AMD-Ryzen V1000 COM Express

We’ve covered plenty of AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000-series SBCs, and some Ryzen Embedded mini PCs,  but so far, we had not written about any AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 or R1000 system-on-module (SoM) or computer-on-module (CoM), partially because there aren’t many yet, and because we missed Advantech SOM-5871 CPU module earlier this year. But there’s now another option courtesy of Congatec with conga-TR4 AMD Ryzen Embedded COM Express module with consumer or industrial temperature range, and a choice of seven different processors. conga-TR4 COM Express module specifications: SoC (one or the other) AMD Ryzen V1807B quad-core processor @ up to  3.35 GHz with 2MB L2 cache, Vega 11 graphics; 35-54W TDP AMD Ryzen V1756B quad-core processor @ up to 3.25 GHz with 2MB L2 cache, Vega 8 graphics;  35-54W TDP AMD Ryzen V1605B quad-core processor @ 2.0 GHz with 2MB L2 cache, Vega 8 graphics; 12-25W TDP AMD Ryzen V1202B dual-core […]

BashTop is a Linux Resource Monitor for the Terminal

bashtop linux terminal monitor

Neil Amstrong of BayLibre recently added ODROID-C4 support to Armbian,  fired up Rosetta@Home on the Amlogic S905X3 SBC, and took a  screenshot of some kind of advanced htop program showing the Rosetta@Home and other processes running. And… Rosetta@Home starting ! pic.twitter.com/w10hjwppLR — Neil Armstrong (@Superna9999) April 27, 2020 The program used happens to be BashTop a recently released Linux resource monitor written in Bash and running in a terminal. Installing the script and running it is super easy:

I tried it in an AMD Ryzen 7 laptop running Ubuntu 18.04. You’ll need at least a 80×25 terminal window, but it looks much better in full screen. It shows CPU use in graphical and text forms, memory and storage usage, a list of processes, as well as network usage both in graphical and text forms. You can also select each individual process to get more information or kill it. If […]

Allwinner V831 AI Full HD Camera SoC Powers Sochip V831 Development Board

Sochip V831 Development Board

In the last year or so, we’ve started to see several camera SoCs with a built-in NPU or SIMD instructions to accelerate face detection, objects detection and so on, starting with the low-resolution Kendryte K210 processor to the 2.5K Ingenic T31 MIPS video processor, or even the 4K capable iCatch V37 camera SoC. Allwinner introduces several camera processors (V3, V316, S3…) in the past, but none of them included an NPU aka AI accelerator. This has now changed with Allwinner V831 Cortex-A7 Full HD camera SoC also including a small 200 GOPS NPU. Sochip / Allwinner V831 AI Camera SoC Specifications: CPU – Single-core Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ up to 800 MHz with NEON, 32KB L1 instruction cache and 32KB L1 Data cache, 128KB L2 cache AI Accelerator – 0.2 TOPS (200 GOPS) NPU for face recognition, face detection, and “humanoid detection network” System Memory – 64MB on-chip DDR2 RAM […]

Banana Pi BPI-F2P Industrial Control Board Adds PoE, RS-232 and RS-485 Interfaces

Banana Pi BPI-F2P

At the end of Last year, we covered Banana Pi BPI-F2S Industrial SBC powered by Sunplus SP7021 “Plus1” SoC with four Cortex-A7 core, an Arm A926 microprocessor, an 8051 core, as well as 128MB to 512MB built-in DDR3 RAM. The company has now unveiled Banana Pi BPI-F2P with the same processor and many of the same features, but with the addition of PoE support on one of the Fast Ethernet ports, as well as an RS-232 DB9 connector, and RS-485 terminal blocks. The expansion connector for an FPGA board found in BPI-F2S is however gone. Banana Pi BPI-F2P specifications: SoC – Sunplus SP7021 “Plus1” with a quad-core Cortex-A7 processor @ 1.0 GHz, one Arm A926 microprocessor, an 8051 core to handle I/Os, and 128MB or 512MB DDR3 DRAM. Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot Video Output – HDMI 1.4 output Camera I/F – MIPI CSI connector Connectivity – […]

Ingenic T31 AI Video Processor Combines MIPS & RISC-V Cores

Ingenic T31 MIPS & RISC-V Video Processor

Last week we asked “is MIPS dead?” question following the news that Wave Computing had filed for bankruptcy, two MIPS Linux maintainers had left, and China-based CIP United now obtained the exclusive MIPS license rights for mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Ingenic is one of those Chinese companies that have offered MIPS-based processors for several years, but one commenter noted that Ingenic joined the RISC-V foundation, and as a result, we could speculate the company might soon launch RISC-V processors, potentially replacing their MIPS offerings. But Ingenic T31 video processor just features both with a traditional Xburst  MIPS Core combines with a RISC-V “Lite” core Ingenic T31 specifications: Processors XBurst 1 32-bit MIPS core clocked at 1.5GHz with Vector Deep Learning accelerator based on SIMD128, 64KB + 128KB L1/L2 Cache RISC-V independent lite core System Memory – Built-in 512Mbit (64MB) or 1Gbit (128MB) DDR2 Storage – Quad SPI flash, […]