CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

November 5, 2026November 5, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

NXP MCX W70 and KW43 wireless MCUs support Bluetooth Channel Sounding for IoT and automotive applications

NXP MCX W70 and KW43 Bluetooth 6 Channel Sounding MCUs

NXP MCX W70 and KW43 wireless MCU families support Bluetooth 6.x Channel Sounding for secure distance measurement in industrial IoT and automotive applications. The MCX W70 supports Bluetooth LE, Zigbee, Thread, and Matter for Smart Home and industrial devices, while the KW43 is designed for automotive applications such as digital keys and secure vehicle access. Both families feature a 96 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 application core, a separate Cortex-M33 core for wireless connectivity, up to 1.5MB flash, 256KB SRAM, a dedicated Localization Compute Engine (LCE), and NXP’s EdgeLock security features. Bluetooth Channel Sounding support combines phase-based ranging (PBR) and round-trip time (RTT) to improve distance measurement accuracy and security. NXP MCX W70 and KW43 key features and specifications: MCU cores Application core – Arm Cortex-M33 @ 96 MHz with FPU, MPU, DSP/SIMD instructions, and TrustZone-M Radio subsystem – Arm Cortex-M33 @ 96 MHz Accelerator – Localization Compute Engine (LCE) for Bluetooth […]

November 5, 2026November 5, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

P4 Launcher offers a PC-like and retro gaming experience on ESP32-P4 boards

Gil Tal has developed the P4 Launcher, an open-source application platform designed to bring a PC-like experience to ESP32-P4 boards with an attached touchscreen display. The launcher boots directly into its interface, while applications (.papp files) are stored on a microSD card and loaded into PSRAM when launched. You can add, remove, and run applications without reflashing the firmware or rebooting the device by simply copying files to the microSD card.Gil says 21 PAPP (PSRAM APP) applications are available now, mostly emulators and games, including Neo Geo and Atari 2600 emulators, Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D and OpenTyrian, plus Clock and Files. Like ESPBrookesia, the P4 Launcher user interface runs on ESP32-P4, but it’s more flexible since it supports apps stored on the microSD card and targets mainly gaming for now. The launcher currently works on the Guition ESP32-P4 4.3″ (800×480), the Guition JC1060P470C 7″ (1024×600), and the smaller M5Stack […]

ACEMAGIC Kron Mini K5 Review – Part 3: Ubuntu 26.04 on an entry-level Wildcat Lake mini PC

ACEMAGIC Kron Mini K5 Mini PC review Ubuntu 26.04

After checking out the ACEMAGIC Kron Mini K5’s hardware with an unboxing and a teardown in the first part of the review, we tested the entry-level Intel Core 3 304 mini PC on Windows 11, and we’ve now taken the time to test Linux on the low-cost mini PC with Ubuntu 26.04. In this article, we’ll report our experience installing Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS, checking system information, running benchmarks, evaluating storage and networking (2.5GbE and WiFi 6) performance, running a stress test to monitor thermal throttling, and measuring fan noise and power consumption of the mini PC. Installing Ubuntu 26.04.1 For this test, we installed Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS alongside Windows 11. We started by shrinking the Windows (C:) partition by about half to free up space for the Linux installation. We then plugged in the USB drive and began the installation process. However, the first installation attempt failed because the system […]

November 5, 2026November 5, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Altera Agilex 27 FPGA & SoC family features up to 17.6M logic elements, Cortex-A720/A-520 cores, 256 Gbps SerDes, PCIe 7.0

Altera has introduced the Agilex 27 FPGA and SoC family designed for AI infrastructure, high-speed networking, 6G and satellite communications, and aerospace and defense applications. The family includes 14 device models, each available as either an FPGA-only device or an FPGA SoC with integrated Arm processors The new devices rely on Altera’s third-generation HyperFlex architecture, which the company claims delivers 1.8 times the performance per Watt compared to the previous-generation Agilex 7 FPGAs. Other features include up to 17.6 million logic elements, second-generation AI Tensor DSP blocks, an Arm Cortex-A720/A520 processor subsystem in the SoC FPGA variants, 256 Gbps transceivers, PCIe 7.0, 1.6TbE Ethernet, and LPDDR6 memory support. Altera Agilex 27 FPGA and SoC family specifications: FPGA architecture – 3rd-generation HyperFlex architecture with enhanced adaptive logic modules (ALMs) 866K to 17.6 million logic elements (LEs) 274,190 to 5,683,872 ALMs Up to 1.8× better performance per watt compared to the previous-generation […]

November 4, 2026 by Kumpee Teeravech - No Comments

LattePanda Mu Ultra Review – An Intel Core Ultra 7 256V AI Compute Module tested on Ubuntu 26.04

Today, I’m going to review the LattePanda Mu Ultra, a compact x86 compute module designed for on-device AI applications. It comes in two versions, powered by either an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V or a Core Ultra 7 256V processor. Both models feature 16 GB of high-speed LPDDR5X memory running at 8533 MT/s, with the higher-end model delivering up to 115 TOPS of combined AI computing power. In this review, I installed Ubuntu 26.04 and benchmarked the LattePanda Mu Ultra using various tools, including sbc-bench, Geekbench 7, and Geekbench AI. I also tested its CPU, GPU, and NPU performance with llama.cpp and YOLO26 to evaluate its capabilities for AI applications. Finally, I created a fun demo combining YOLO26, MediaPipe, and OpenCV to test real-time computer vision performance, including hand gesture-based image adjustments, using a USB webcam. LattePanda Mu Ultra unboxing The package was shipped from China and arrived in just […]

November 4, 2026November 4, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

$21 ESP32-P4X and ESP32-C61 full-featured board offers Ethernet, WiFi 6, RS485 CAN Bus, MIPI CSI/DSI, and more

WT99P461-S1 ESP32-P4 + ESP32-C61 development board

Wireless Tag WT99P461-S1 is an ESP32-P4X and ESP32-C61 board based on the same WT01P461-S1 module as found on the ESP32P4C61-TINY board introduced last June. The main differences are that the WT99P461-S1 is a full-featured development board, adding features such as Fast Ethernet, RS-485, CAN bus, an on-board microphone, and a speaker connector. It still comes with a microSD card slot, MIPI DSI/CSI connectors, and other features, making it suitable for industrial HMIs, gateways, and control applications. WT99P461-S1 specifications: Wireless Module – Wireless-Tag WT01P461-S1 (25 x 25mm) Microcontroller – ESP32-P4X (ESP32-P4 v3.2) MCU Dual-core RISC-V microcontroller @ 360/400 MHz with AI instructions extension and single-precision FPU Single-RISC-V LP (Low-power) MCU core @ up to 40 MHz GPU – 2D Pixel Processing Accelerator (PPA) VPU – H.264 and JPEG codec support Memory – 768 KB HP L2MEM, 32 KB LP SRAM, 8 KB TCM, 32MB PSRAM Storage – 128 KB HP ROM, 16 […]

November 4, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

ZOTAC ZBOX CI471 nano fanless mini PC features Intel Core 7 350, WiFi 7, and dual Thunderbolt 4

ZBOX CI471 nano Intel Core 7 350 mini PC

ZOTAC has introduced the ZBOX CI471 nano, a fanless mini PC powered by an Intel Core 7 350 hexa-core Wildcat Lake processor with integrated Xe3 graphics and a 17 TOPS NPU. The company has also introduced two lower-end models, the ZBOX CI451 nano with a Core 5 320 processor and the ZBOX CI431 nano with a Core 3 304 processor. All three mini PCs use passive cooling and share the same 204 × 129 × 68 mm enclosure. They support up to 64GB DDR5 memory, M.2 NVMe SSD storage, and three 4K displays. Other features include dual Thunderbolt 4, 2.5GbE networking, and WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 wireless connectivity. The systems are offered as barebones, meaning users must install their own memory and storage. ZOTAC ZBOX CI471/CI451/CI431 nano specifications: SoC – Intel Core Series 3 “Wildcat Lake” processors ZBOX CI471 nano – Intel Core 7 350 CPU – 6-core (2x […]

November 4, 2026November 4, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

1.3 million Google-certified Android TV boxes found to have malware

You might assume that a Google-certified Android TV box will both work better and guarantee no malware. However, you’d be wrong, at least for the latter. Google has just published a new Threat Intelligence report entitled “Shutting the Door on the XCPE Botnet”, where they found that 1.3 million TV boxes were infected by the XCPE backdoor, enrolling them into a botnet used for financial gains. Google assesses with high confidence that the malware was intentionally developed, deployed, and operated by Videostrong Technology, a TV box manufacturer, which we frequently covered in the past when Android TV boxes were still somewhat a novelty and at times usable as an alternative to SBCs running Linux. Videostrong apparently monetized the backdoor by allowing affiliates to load malware modules onto infected devices to run ad-fraud schemes, enroll the TV boxes in residential proxy networks, and so on. Google took legal action to disrupt […]