Lichee Pi 4A RISC-V SBC takes on Raspberry Pi 4 with TH1520 processor

Lichee Pi 4A RISC V SBC

Lichee Pi 4A is a single board computer (SBC) powered by Alibaba T-Head TH1520 quad-core RISC-V Xuantie C910  processor @ 2.0 GHz with an Imagination GPU and a 4 TOPS NPU for AI that can compete against the Raspberry Pi 4 in terms of performance and features. We previously mentioned the Lichee Pi 4A (LPi4A) in our article about the Sipeed LM4A RISC-V system-on-module, but at the time we only had some benchmarks for the board and no photos and specifications about the SBC. Sipeed has now released photos, published detailed specifications, and is taking orders for the board. So let’s have a closer look. Lichee Pi 4A specifications against the ones for Raspberry Pi 4.   The TH1520 used to be advertised at up to 2.5 GHz, but it seems to have now come down to 2.0 GHz. Software support will include Debian, OpenWrt, and Android which should then […]

GL.iNet Spitz AX (GL-X3000NR) 5G NR WiFi 6 router review – Part 1: Specs, unboxing, and first boot

GL-X3000NR 5G NR WiFi 6 router review

GL.iNet Spitz AX, also known as GL-X3000NR, is a compact 5G NR WiFi 6 router running OpenWrt 21.02 on a MediaTek Filogic 820 (TM7981A) dual-core Cortex-A53 processor coupled with 512MB DDR4 and 8GB eMMC flash, as well 2.5GbE and GbE interfaces, and a USB 2.0 port. The company sent us a Spitz AX router for evaluation, and in the first part of the review, we’ll go through the specifications, and do an unboxing and a teardown, before connecting it for a first boot. GL.iNet Spitz AX router specifications SoC – MediaTek MT7981A (Filogic 820) dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.3 GHz System Memory – 512 MB DDR4 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot up 1+ TB Networking 1x 2.5GbE WAN Ethernet port 1x Gigabit Ethernet LAN port Dual-band IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax WiFi 6 up to 574Mbps (2.4GHz), 2402Mbps (5GHz) RM520N-GL 5G cellular modem and 2x Nano SIM card slots […]

EmbedFire LubanCat is a Rockchip RK3566/RK3568 SBC family with Raspberry Pi Zero/Model B, and other form factors

EmbedFire LucanCat Rockchip SBC family

As I checked out Linux 6.3 changelog earlier this morning, I noticed the EmbedFire LubanCat 2 SBC in the Rockchip section, and having never heard of the EmbedFire company or LubanCat single board computers, I decided to have a closer look. EmbedFire is a company based in China, more exactly in DongGuan, that makes a range of LubanCat single board computers based on Rockchip RK3566 or RK3568 processors, some of which partially follow Raspberry Pi Zero or Raspberry Pi 3/4 Model B form factors, while others come with custom designs. LubanCat 2 SBC specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ up to 2.0 GHz with ARM Mali-G52 2EE GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.2. OpenCL 2.0. Vulkan 1.1, 0.8 TOPS NPU System Memory – 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB LPDDR4/LPDDR4X @ 1560 MHz Storage 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB or 128GB eMMC flash M.2 M-key socket (PCIe 3.0 […]

iKOOLCORE R1 review – A quad 2.5GbE mini PC tested with Windows 11, Ubuntu 22.04, Proxmox

iKOOLCORE R1 review

When I first saw the iKOOLCORE R1 I was fascinated that a mini PC of similar size to the smallest fully functional ones available (think Chuwi LarkBox, GMK NucBox or ECS LIVA Q Series) could be equipped with four 2.5 gigabit Ethernet (2.5GbE) ports. I approached iKOOLCORE who kindly provided an R1 for review and I’ve looked at performance running both Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04 and dabbled with using hypervisors on this mini PC through Proxmox virtual environment. iKOOLCORE R1 specifications iKOOLCORE list the R1 specifications on their website as: Of note are the ‘EC, FCC, RoHS’ certifications indicating both European conformity and approval for use in the US. Technically ‘EC’ refers to an ‘EC declaration of conformity’ which is not a certificate, however, the ‘EC declaration of conformity’ is called a ‘CE statement’ or ‘CE certificate’ which is why you often see this abbreviated as ‘CE’. The rest […]

Getting Started with GL-S200 Thread Border Router kit

Getting Started GL-S200 Thread Border Router

Last week we checked out the hardware for the GL.iNet GL-S200 Thread Border Router kit with three nRF52840 Thread Dev Boards, and I’ve now had time to work with the kit, so I’ll report my getting started experience in the second part of the review. GL-S200 Initial Set Up I connected the WAN port to my Ethernet Switch itself connected to my modem router and the LAN port to my laptop, so I could access the web interface using the default IP address (192.168.8.1). The GL-S200 uses the same Admin Panel as other GL.iNet routers such as the Beryl AX router we reviewed at the beginning of the year. You’ll be greeted by a wizard to let you select the language and set a new password for the Admin Panel, and once you’re done you’ll have access to the familiar GL.iNet Admin Panel 4.x.x. After completing the wizard, the system […]

$85+ NanoPi R6C 2.5GbE router and SBC gets M.2 NVMe SSD socket

NanoPi R6C SBC router RK3588S

FriendlyElec has come up with a low-cost version of the NanoPi R6S with the NanoPi R6C router/SBC based on the same Rockchip RK3588S octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor but offering just one Gigabit Ethernet port and one 2.5GbE port, and adding an M.2 NVMe SSD socket for storage. The NanoPi R6C is also offered with 4GB or 8GB RAM, an optional 32GB eMMC flash soldered on the board, a Micro SD card socket, an 8K capable HDMI 2.1, USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports, and a few extra features we’ll discuss further below. NanoPi R6C specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588S octa-core processor with: CPU – 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, four Cortex-A55 cores @ 1.8 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G610 MP4 quad-core GPU with OpenGL ES3.2 / OpenCL 2.2 / Vulkan1.1 support VPU – 8Kp60 H.265/VP9/AVS2 video decoder, 8Kp30 H.264 decoder, 4Kp60 AV1 decoder, 8Kp30 H.265/H.264 video encoder AI […]

Snapdragon X75 modem brings 5G Advanced to smartphones, IoT, and FWA routers

Snapdragon X75 5G Advanced modem

Qualcomm Snapdragon X75 is the latest 5G Modem-RF System from the company bringing 5G Advanced connectivity to smartphones, PCs, industrial IoT, vehicles, and 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) routers. 5G is getting more confusing than ever, as after just having launched a 5G NR-Light modem for smartwatches, industrial IoT, and XR glasses, Qualcomm introduced the first “5G Advanced” modem with the Snapdragon X75 targetting a wide range of applications that benefit from the improvements in speed, coverage, mobility, power efficiency, etc… made possible by the 5G NR Release 18. Snapdragon X75 key features and specifications: Cellular Technology –  5G NR, LTE, LAA, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, GSM/ Edge, CBRS, Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), EN-DC, NR-DC, mmWave, sub-6 GHz 5G Spectrum – mmWave-sub6 aggregation, sub-6 carrier aggregation (FDD-TDD, FDD-FDD, TDD-TDD), FDD-TDD support for uplink-CA, Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) 5G Modes – FDD, TDD, SA (standalone), NSA (non-standalone) Up to 10CC aggregation in mmWave, […]

GL.iNet Beryl AX OpenWrt router review – WiFi 6 performance, repeater, NAS, and 4G hotspot modes

Power bank GL.iNet GL-MT3000 Beryl AX router

In the first part of the review of GL.iNet GL-MT3000 “Beryl AX” pocket-size WiFi 6 OpenWrt router we had a look at the specifications, the package content, and the hardware design with a teardown of the little router. I’ve now had more time to play with the router focusing the review on WiFi 6 performance, and some of its functions such as repeater, NAS, and 4G hotspot. The router also supports VPN client and server modes, the Tor network, and Adguard Home, but I’ll invite readers to check out the GL.iNet Brume 2 security gateway review since I went through all these, and the hardware is very similar minus wireless connectivity. Initial setup of the Beryl AX router If you connect an Ethernet cable to the router you can switch to step two. If you only rely on WiFi for the setup that works too as the Beryl AX router […]

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