Allwinner VPU gets open-source Linux driver for its H.264 hardware video encoder

Allwinner V3s open source Linux video encoding driver

Long-time readers of CNX Software may remember Bootlin’s crowdfunding campaign launched in 2018 to bring open-source Allwinner VPU drivers to take care of hardware video encoding and decoding in mainline Linux. They managed to raise enough funds (over 30,000 Euros) from small donors and several companies (Olimex, Pine64, Libre Computer, FriendlyELEC, and Orange Pi) to work on open-source VPU drivers for mainline Linux, but only for MPEG2, H264, and H265 decoding for in a range of Allwinner SoCs such as the A20 and H5, but not quite enough to cover the cost of H264 video encoding. Five years later, Bootlin took it upon themselves to complete the work without backing or support from Allwinner and have now released an open-source Linux-kernel based V4L2 driver to support the H.264 video encoder found in Allwinner V3, V3s, and S3 camera SoCs. The new driver builds upon earlier work by the company to […]

AAEON PICO-ADN4 Pico-ITX Alder Lake-N SBC features Processor N50 to Atom x7425E SoC

AAEON PICO-ADN4

AAEON PICO-ADN4 Pico-ITX SBC comes with a choice of four Alder Lake-N processors – Processor N50, Processor N97, Core i3-N305, or Atom x7425E – and is available in SKUs with both standard (0°C ~ 60°C) and wide-temperature (-40°C ~ 85°C) ranges for industrial applications. The single board computer comes with up to 16GB LPDDR5, SATA and mSATA storage, three display interfaces (HDMI, eDP/LVDS, DDI), dual Ethernet with 2.5GbE and GbE RJ45 ports, USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, and M.2 and mPCIe sockets for expansion. The board supports 12V DC power input by default, but AAEON company offers a 9V to 36V DC input option. PICO-ADN4 specifications: Alder Lake-N SoC (one or the other) Intel Processor N50 dual-core processor up to 3.4 GHz with 6MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 6W Intel Processor N97 quad-core processor up to 3.6 GHz with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 12W Intel […]

Nordic introduces nRF7002 EK WiFi 6 Arduino Shield, nRF7000 SSID-based Wi-Fi locationing chip

WiFi 6 Arduino Shield

Nordic Semi has launched the nRF7002 EK based on the company’s nRF7002 dual-band WiFi 6 IoT chip and in the form of an Arduino shield that works with other Nordic development kits such as the nRF52840 DK, nRF5340 DK, and nRF9160 DK, and separately, the company launched the nRF7000 SSID-based Wi-Fi locationing chip. nRF7002 EK Earlier this year, the company launched the nRF7002 DK, a complete development kit with the nRF7002 WiFi 6 chip and the nRF5340 dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 wireless microcontroller, but for developers who already own nRF devkits, they’ve now introduced the nRF7002 EK Arduino Shield. nRF7002 EK specifications: Wireless chip – Nordic Semi nRF7002 Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) WiFi station mode Target Wake Time (TWT) 20 MHz channel bandwidth Antenna – 2.4 and 5 GHz antenna for WiFi SWF port for RF measurement Host interface – SPI or QSPI interfaces Dimensions – Arduino shield form factor The […]

Renesas RZ/G2UL Arm Cortex-A55/Cortex-M33 industrial system-on-module sells for as low as $17 in volume

Renesas RZ/G2UL development board

MYiR Tech MYC-YG2UL is a tiny (39x37mm) system-on-module based on the Renesas RZ/G2UL SoC with a 1GHz Arm Cortex-A55 application core and 200MHz real-time Cortex-M33 cores designed for industrial HMIs and gateways, and the company has also launched the MYD-YG2UL development board with the module and interfaces such dual gigabit Ethernet, RS485, RS232, CAN Bus, and more. MYC-YG2UL Renesas RZ/G2UL CPU module Specifications: SoC – Renesas RZ/G2UL (Type-I) CPU – Arm Cortex-A55 processor at up to 1 GHz MCU – Arm Cortex-M33 clocked at up to 200 MHz GPU – 2D graphics (Image Scaling Unit) System Memory – 512MB DDR3L Storage – 4GB eMMC flash, 4KB EEPROM 1.0mm pitch 140-pin castellated holes and 50-pin LGA Display – RGB LCD interface Camera – MIPI CSI interface Networking – 2x RGMII (gigabit Ethernet) USB – 2x USB 2.0 Analog – 2x ADC Other I/Os – 5x SCIF, 2x SCI, 2x CAN FD, 4x […]

Giveaway Week 2023 winners announced!

CNX Software Giveaway Week 2023 Prizes

CNX Software’s Giveaway Week 2023 is now over and we’re ready to announce the winners. We offered some of the review samples we tested (or not) in the last year, and like the last two years, we were also joined by RAKwireless who offered two IoT development kits. All items given away are shown in the photo below, minus some accessories, and if you count more than seven you’d be right, as some are kits with multiple items like the GL.iNet GL-S200 Thread Border router which comes with three development boards, and more importantly, we also organized Giveaway Week on CNX Software Thailand for the second year running. We had seven winners on CNX Software: VOIPAC iMX8M industrial development kit – Kraingsak, Thailand TBS7901 mini PCIe DVB-S2X/S2 module  – Frank, Singapore RAKWireless WisBlock IoT Starter Kit – Andy, Russia GL.iNet GL-S200 Thread Border router kit – Augustin, Argentina WCH CH583M-R0-1v1 […]

ODROID-M1S is a smaller, cheaper, and more efficient Rockchip RK3566 SBC with additional GPIOs

ODROID M1S RK3566 SBC

Designed for Hardkernle’s 15th anniversary, the ODROID-M1S is a smaller, cheaper ($49 and up), and more efficient single computer board compared to the ODROID-M1 single board computer introduced last year with a Rockchip RK3568 SoC. The new ODROID-M1S SBC features a Rockchip RK3566 SoC which is similar to the RK3568, but with fewer peripheral interfaces, 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4 memory, a 64GB eMMC flash solder on the board (instead of an eMMC flash connector), HDMI 2.0 and MIPI DSI video interfaces, gigabit Ethernet, a few USB ports, and two GPIO headers. It does lose a few features compared to the ODROID-M1, as its memory is clocked at a lower speed, the M.2 socket only supports PCIe 2.1, the SPI flash and SATA port are gone, and so is the MIPI CSI camera connector. The power supply has also changed from a 12V DC jack to a 5V USB-C port. ODROID-M1S […]

Linux-based DIN Rail smart controller works with Zigbee, Z-Wave, KNX, and Ajax Systems security solutions

YOCTOCONNECT Smart Home DIN Rail system

CONNECT Y1 Smart Controller in a DIN Rail gateway running Ubuntu Linux and acting as the main control of YoctoCONNECT’s Smart Home/Smart Building solution with YoctoBus (RS485) and Ethernet interfaces, support for expansion blocks, and third-party integration with Zigbee, Z-Wave, KNX, and Ajax Systems security and smart home solutions. The Y1 Smart Controller handles automation algorithms and RS485, Ethernet, and USB communication for automated control systems for lighting, power distribution equipment, ventilation systems, climate control, and other electrical loads in various sectors such as Industry 4.0, Smart Homes, and Smart Cities. CONNECT Y1 Smart Controller specifications: SoC – Quad-core processor @ 1.2 to 2.4 GHz System Memory – 512MB, 1GB, or 2GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 16GB or 32 GB eMMC flash Audio – 3.5mm audio output jack; AirPlay support Connectivity YoctoBUS (RS485) interface via 3-pole terminal block 10/100M Ethernet RJ45 port USB 2.0 interface for Z-Wave or Zigbee Ajax […]

Giveaway Week 2023 – i-Pi SMARC 1200 devkit with Mediatek Genio 1200 Cortex-A78/A55 SoC

i-Pi SMARC 1200 Yocto Linux glmark2 benchmark

We’ll end this year’s Giveaway Week with a pretty powerful development kit – ADLINK i-Pi SMARC 1200 – powered by a MediaTek Genio 1200 octa-core processor with four Cortex-A78 cores @ up to 2.2 GHz, four Cortex-A55 cores, an Arm Mali Mali-G57 MC5 GPU, 4K hardware video decoding and decoding support, and a 4.8 TOPS NPU. The mainboard is comprised of a SMARC 2.1-compliant system-on-module with 4GB LPDDR4 memory and 64GB UFS storage and fitted with a heatsink for cooling as well as a carrier board with a 4Kp60 capable HDMI 2.0 port, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, a 3.5mm audio jack, two 40-pin headers for I/Os including one compatible with the 40-pin Raspberry Pi GPIO header, plus LVDS connectors, MIPI CSI camera connectors, and M.2 expansion slots for storage and/or wireless expansion. I tested the MediaTek Genio 1200 devkit with a Yocto […]