CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

May 12, 2026May 12, 2026 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

Firefly AIBOX-K3 – An Edge AI mini PC powered by SpacemiT K3 RISC-V SoC

AIBOX K3 High Performance RISC V Edge Box

Back in July last year, SpacemiT unveiled the SpacemiT K3 SoC. After that, we saw some system information and early benchmarks come out around January this year. The company has just officially launched the K3 Pico-ITX SBC, which is now available through various distributors. Firefly has launched its own K3 hardware with the AIBOX-K3, a complete industrial-grade RISC-V edge computing box. The AIBOX-K3 Edge AI mini PC is built around the SpacemIT Key Stone K3 octa-core processor and features an integrated AI engine that delivers up to 60 TOPS of compute performance, making it suitable for local LLM inference and edge AI applications. Firefly AIBOX-K3 specifications: SoC – SpacemiT K3 CPU 8x 64-bit RISC-V X100 “big” cores clocked up to 2.4 GHz, RVA23 compliance; 130 KDMIPS performance (similar to RK3588) 8x RISC-V A100 AI Cores with support for up to 1024-bit RVV1.0 parallel computing, optimized for matrix operations. GPU – Imagination […]

May 12, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Geniatech launches Renesas RZ/V2N, RZ/V2H, and RZ/V2L OSM Size-M/L system-on-modules

Geniatech has introduced three OSM system-on-modules powered by Renesas RZ/V2N/V2H/V2L Cortex-A55/M33 microprocessors, namely the OSM Size-M (45x35mm) SOM-V2N-OSM, plus the OSM Size-L (45x45mm) SOM-V2H-OSM and SOM-V2L-OSM modules, all designed for Edge AI and computer vision applications. Geniatech SOM-V2N-OSM Specifications: SoC – Renesas RZ/V2N CPU Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.8 GHz Arm Cortex-M33 @ 200 MHz GPU – Arm Mali-G31 3D graphics engine (GE3D) with OpenGL ES 3.2 and OpenCL 2.0 FP VPU – Encode & decode H.264 – Up to 1920×1080 @ 60 fps (Renesas specs, but SOMDEVICES also mentions up to 4K @ 30 FPS) H.265 – Up to 3840×2160 @ 30 fps AI accelerator – DRP-AI3 up to 4 dense TOPS / 15 sparse TOPS System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4x RAM Storage – 64GB eMMC flash 476 LGA contacts with Display – 4-lane MIPI-DSI Camera – 2x 4-lane MIPI CSI-2 Audio – 2x I²S Networking – 2x Gigabit Ethernet […]

RVA23-compliant K3 Pico-ITX SBC and K3-CoM260 SoM feature SpacemiT K3 octa-core RISC-V AI SoC, up to 32GB RAM, 256GB UFS

SpacemiT has now officially launched the K3 Pico-ITX SBC and K3-CoM260 system-on-module with the RVA23-compliant, SpacemiT K3 octa-core X100 CPU with up to 60 TOPS of AI performance, up to 32GB LPDDR5, 256GB UFS, and PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe SSD support. The board also features an eDP connector, a 10GbE SFP+ cage, a Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port, built-in WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless connectivity, two USB Type-C connectors, four USB 2.0 ports, an M.2 Key-B socket coupled with a NanoSIM card slot for 4G LTE or 5G cellular connectivity, and more. K3 Pico-ITX SBC specifications: System-on-Module – K3-CoM260 SoC – SpacemiT K3 CPU 8x 64-bit RISC-V X100 “big” cores clocked up to 2.4 GHz, RVA23 compliance; 130 KDMIPS performance (similar to RK3588) 8x RISC-V A100 AI Cores with support for up to 1024-bit RVV1.0 parallel computing, optimized for matrix operations. GPU – Imagination Technologies BXM4-64-MC1 GPU with Vulkan 1.3, OpenCL […]

May 11, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Mind xPlay display and keyboard review using Khadas Mind and Mind 2 mini PCs

Khadas xPlay connected to Crowview USB C display

In this review, I’ll report my experience with the Khadas Mind xPlay display and keyboard using the Mind and Mind 2 mini PCs, as well as a CHUWI CoreBook Air Plus 16 laptop to test it as a standard external display. Using Mind xPlay with the Mind 2 mini PC I received the Mind xPlay with the Mind 2 Meteor Lake mini PC, and I already showed how to connect it and get started in the first part of the review. So I’ll continue the review with it initially. I used the EIZO monitor test website to evaluate the display panel itself. I went through all 13 tests, including dead pixel and gradients tests. The pattern above looks fine too, so I compare the Mind xPlay monitor to the 16-inch display of the ASUS Vivobook 16 to find differences. Both were set to maximum brightness. The xPlay delivers noticeably more […]

May 11, 2026May 12, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Up to 256 MB FERRIT modular F-RAM storage device preserves critical data for up to 200 years

Machdyne’s FERRIT is a modular USB F-RAM storage device with a capacity of up to 256 MB and capable of storing data for up to 200 years with a virtually unlimited number of writes and high-radiation resistance. It builds upon the earlier Blaustahl F-RAM storage device that only offers 8KB capacity. The FERRIT device supports 8 MB to 256 MB by combining up to 256 individual 1 MB F-RAM ICs. The prototype below is housed in a metal frame and looks like a typical cluster solution. FERRIT specifications and key features: FERRIT-CY controller based on Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU with USB-FS Type-C port FERRIT-M8 removable ferroelectric memory cards with up to 16MB capacity using 16x 1MB F-RAM ICs (double-sided: 2x 8 chips) FERRIT-16 backplane with slots for FERRIT-CY and 16x FERRIT-M8 connected over SPI/QSPI bus Max capacity – 256 MB+ through up to 256x memory devices (16 memory cards with 16 chips) […]

May 11, 2026May 12, 2026 by Debashis Das - 5 Comments

Pi Slate – A Raspberry Pi 5 handheld Linux cyberdeck with a 5-inch 1280×720 touchscreen display

We previously wrote about Carbon’s CyberT, a Blackberry-style Raspberry Pi CM4 handheld Linux cyberdeck designed for Kali Linux and penetration testing. The company, now operating under the CyberArch/Carbon Computers brand, has introduced the Pi Slate, a more powerful handheld cyberdeck designed for portable computing and security-focused applications. Built around the Raspberry Pi 5, the Pi Slate integrates a 5-inch 1280×720 touchscreen, a backlit RGB keyboard with an integrated cursor, and a 10,000 mAh battery for 3–5 hours of portable use in a compact enclosure. It supports modular expansion for HATs such as LoRa, SDR, AI accelerators, and M.2 storage, and includes cooling support, antenna mounts, and an optional modular back with a kickstand. It targets penetration testers, IT professionals, and field technicians needing a compact, preconfigured system for cybersecurity and field work. Pi Slate specifications: SBC – Raspberry Pi 5 with 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB LPDDR4X RAM options Storage […]

May 10, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

My experience upgrading the BIOS of a Windows 11 mini PC (with BitLocker) in 2026

I don’t always update the BIOS of my system, but when I do, I always make sure to waste several hours doing so. Last time I did that was in 2020, but this happened again when I updated the BIOS for the Khadas Mind 2 to test it with the Mind xPlay display and Mind Graphics 2 dock. Khadas provides the BIOS with instructions to update the Mind 2 mini PC, and it’s supposed to take five minutes, but I ended up wasting two about hours… The first step is to download and extract a zip file (mind-2-bios-v1.07-260122.zip), then start the Flash_BIOS upgrade program, and finally wait for the upgrade to complete. That part went great. No problem, but when the system rebooted, I was greeted by a BitLocker window asking me to enter a recovery key to carry on with the boot process. There’s no way to avoid this, […]

May 9, 2026May 9, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Review of Rikomagic DS08 Android 13 digital signage player

Rikomagic has sent me a sample of their DS08 digital signage player for review. It’s based on a Rockchip RK3588 SoC paired with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB eMMC flash, and offers two HDMI 2.1 ports, gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6, and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, as well as several USB ports, optical S/PDIF audio output, and more. I was initially not sure I could receive a sample, as Thailand is pretty strict with licenses for this type of hardware, but Rikomagic told us that it would not be a problem when using DDP (delivered duty paid), and the courier handles all paperwork. And indeed we did receive the parcel without issue. Since Rockchip RK3588 is now a mature platform, we won’t run benchmarks in this review, but instead go through an unboxing and a teardown, and focus on digital signage features such as video playback, RTC support, and display orientation […]