sata News - Page 12 of 24 - CNX Software

December 14, 2017December 15, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 25 Comments

More Low Cost ARM Linux NAS Platforms Coming Soon: Popcorn Hour Transformer (XL), ODROID-HC2

Last summer, Hardkernel launched ODROID-HC1 Home Cloud 1 taking a single 2.5″ hard drive, and based on a modified version of their popular Exynos 5422 powered ODROID-XU4 board where they removed HDMI, and added a SATA interface (via USB 3.0), but based on the initial announcement, we also knew the Korean company was working on ODROID-HC2 supporting 3.5″ drives instead. The device is not available yet, but guys at Armbian got an early unit, so we should not be waiting too long. Hardkernel will also have some competition for their ODROID-HC1 NAS, as Cloud Media (and Pine64?) are working on Rockchip RK3328 based Popcorn Hour Transformer & Transformer XL with support for 2.5″ and 3.5″ drives respectively. Hardkernel ODROID-HC2 ODROID-HC2 preliminary specifications: SoC – Samsung Exynos 5422 octa-core processor with 4x ARM Cortex-A15 @ 2.0 GHz, 4x ARM Cortex-A7 @ 1.4GHz, and Mali-T628 MP6 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.0 / […]

November 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Vorke Z3 Rockchip RK3399 TV Box Gets Android 7.1 Firmware

Earlier today, I discovered Cloudnetgo CR19 TV Box based on Rockchip RK3399 SoC and equipped with an external SATA port sold on GeekBuying. At first, I thought it was something completely new, but soon remembered that I had reviewed a very similar device: Vorke Z3. At the time of the review however, the device was pre-loaded with Android 6.0, and while performance itself was clearly at step up compared to other TV boxes, video playback was rather poor, and there were too many bugs to my taste. Then I realized that the new device came with Android 7.1, and a quick search revealed Vorke Z3 had also received an Android 7.1 firmware upgrade late September. That will be old news for some owners, but if you’ve gotten frustrated by your device while running Android 6.0, it may be worth checking out Android 7.1. If OTA firmware update from Android 6.0 […]

October 17, 2017October 19, 2017 by Karl Johnson - 45 Comments

ACEPC AK1 Celeron J3455 Mini PC Review – Part 1: Unboxing, Teardown, and First Impressions

Karl here. Today we are going to look at the ACEPC AK1 mini PC. Here are some of the specs pulled from ACEPC’s website. The feature that is most notable to me is the included 2.5” hard drive compartment. Hardware CPU:Intel Celeron J3455 GPU:Intel HD Graphics 500 RAM:4GB DDR3L ROM:32GB eMMC WiFi:Ac3165 Dual Band，2.4G/5G LAN: Ethernet RJ45 10/100/1000M Bluetooth: BT V4.0 Interfaces USB port:2xUSB 3.0;2xUSB 2.0;1xType C;support USB disk and USB HDD Card reader: TF Card (up to 128GB) HDMI Port: HDMI 1.4 Microphone audio: 3.5mm Microphone jack x1 Unboxing & Teardown Some close-up photos to get a better look at the chips, and overall hardware design. First Boot – Storage / Task Manager Storage after first boot: Storage after update: Thermal Testing with Prime 95 Cooling seems adequate. Below is a picture of Prime 95 after 5 minutes. I am glad to see it staying at about […]

October 15, 2017October 15, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

iWave Systems iW-RainboW-G25D is a SMARC 2.0 Compliant Snapdragon 820 Development Kit

iWave Systems previously launched iW-RainboW-G25S single board board powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor. The company is now back with a new Snapdragon 820 development kit called iW-RainboW-G25D that complies with SMARC 2.0 SoM specifications. The kit include a SoM with 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, WiFi and Bluetooth connected to a SMARC compliant baseboard, and optionally features a 5.5″ AMOLED touch screen display. iWave Systems iW-RainboW-G25D development kit specifications: APQ8096 SMARC iW-RainboW-G25M SoM: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (APQ8096) quad core Kryo CPU with Adreno 530 GPU @ 624MHz, Hexagon 680 DSP @ 825 MHz (no modem) System Memory – 3GB LPDDR4 RAM Storage – 32GB eMMC Flash, micro SD slot Connectivity PCIe to Gigabit Ethernet + PHY 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi + BT4.1 Low Energy (BLE) GPS/GNSS receiver 314-pin MXM 3.0 edge connector as per SMARC 2.0 specifications SMARC Carrier Board Storage – M.2 slot (back), SATA, SD card slot (back), […]

September 27, 2017February 19, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 40 Comments

Banana Pi BPI-W2 is a Features-Packed Realtek RTD1296 Development Board

I’ve reviewed several Realtek RTD1295 platforms with Zidoo X9S and Eweat R9 Plus, and I was generally impressed by the storage, Ethernet, and WiFi performance. 4K video playback was good too, as long you don’t have any 4K H.264 videos at 30 fps or more. Most devices would also run Android and OpenWrt side-by-side bringing the best of both operating for respectively apps & multimedia, and server functions. HDMI input – with PVR, time-shifting and PiP functions – was also a bonus, However so far, nobody cared to design a maker board powered by RTD1295 processor. Since then we’ve learned Realtek was working on RTD1296 processor with even more Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, and SATA interfaces, and SinoVoIP has now designed a board based on the SoC called Banana Pi BPI-W2. Banana Pi BPI-W2 preliminary specifications: SoC – Realtek RTD1296 quad core Cortex A53 processor with ARM Mali-T820 MP3 GPU […]

September 25, 2017November 3, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments

NanoPi Duo Starter Kit Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Assembly

NanoPi Duo is an inexpensive Allwinner H2+ quad core board with 256MB or 512MB RAM that can fit into a breadboard, and FriendELEC also provides a starter kit with a carrier board, heatsink, enclosure, USB debug board and cable, as well as optional accessories such as an half-length SSD drive. The company sent me two kits for review, so I’ll first check out what I got, and show how to assemble the kit, before actually playing with the board and kit next month. NanoPi Duo Starter Kit Unboxing I got a bunch of boxes and bubble wraps in the package… … and indeed received two identical kits. Each kit comes with a NanoPi Duo board with soldered headers, a mini Shield for NanoPi Duo, a heatsink and thermal pad set, a micro USB to USB cable, a USB to TTL debug board and cable, and acrylic case, and user manuals […]

September 21, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Maiwo K104c is a $9 2.5″ SATA Drive Enclosure with a USB Type C Cable

USB type C receptacles are found in more and more devices, but if you have older accessories or peripherals they likely use micro USB, and USB type A cables or plugs. One way to work around this problem is to get adapter, for example, I purchased a micro USB to USB Type C adapter last year, but this morning I’ve come across a USB type C hard drive enclosure, something I had not seen before, probably because I did not look for it. Maiwo K104c enclosure specifications: Designed for 2.5″ SATA drives (HDD/SSD) up to 9.5mm thick USB type C to SATA 3.0 interface using JMS567 chipset UASP protocol support (aka USB attached SCSI) OS agnostic so it should work with any operating systems Dimensions – 21.50 x 2.70 x 1.20 cm Weight – 130 x 79 x 17mm JMicron JMS567 chipset is the same as used in NanoPi NEO […]

August 21, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Hardkernel ODROID-HC1 Home Cloud One Stackable NAS is now available for $49

Hardkernel has just launched their ODROID-HC1 stackable NAS system based on a cost-down version of ODROID-XU4 board powered by Samsung Exynos 5422 octa-core Cortex-A15/A7 processor, which as previously expect, you can purchase for $49 on Hardkernel website, or distributors like Ameridroid. We now have the complete specifications for ODROID-HC1 (Home Cloud One) platform: SoC – Samsung Exynos 5422 octa-core processor with 4x ARM Cortex-A15 @ 2.0 GHz, 4x ARM Cortex-A7 @ 1.4GHz, and Mali-T628 MP6 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.0 / 2.0 / 1.1 and OpenCL 1.1 Full profile System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 RAM PoP @ 750 MHz Storage UHS-1 micro SD slot up to 128GB SATA interface via JMicron JMS578 USB 3.0 to SATA bridge chipset capable of achieving ~300 MB/s transfer rates The case supports 2.5″ drives between 7mm and 15mm thick Network Connectivity – 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet (via USB 3.0) USB – 1x USB 2.0 port Debugging […]