Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Turing Pi 2 mini-ITX cluster board takes four Raspberry Pi Compute Modules 4

Turing Pi 2 mini-ITX cluster board takes four Raspberry Pi Compute Modules 4

Can you remember Turing Pi mini-ITX cluster board taking up to 7 Raspberry Pi Compute Modules launched last year? Honestly, I had forgotten about it until I was asked this morning is Gumstix CM4 to CM3 adapter could be used to replace Compute Modules 3 with Compute Modules 4 in the cluster board. When I went to Turing Pi website to have a look at the board, I discovered the company had made an announcement about Turing Pi 2 cluster board specifically designed to taken up to four Raspberry Pi CM4 modules. We only have the layout for the cluster board because it’s still under development. Since board-to-board connectors – as found in Raspberry Pi Computer Module 4 – are not ideal for density, the company went with a design including 260-pin SO-DIMM connectors plus CM4 adapter boards. But more on that a little later. Turing Pi 2 preliminary specifications: SoM interface – 4x 260-pin SO-DIMM slot for up to […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Qualcomm IPQ6000 embedded SBC offers dual Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi 6 connectivity

Qualcomm IPQ6000 embedded SBC offers dual Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi 6 connectivity

At the beginning of the month, we covered Mango-DVK development kit based on a  Qualcomm IPQ6000/IP6010 powered system-on-module enabling 2.5GbE and WiFi 6 connectivity. Wallys Communications contacted us earlier this week, about one of their new “802.11ax low-end product”, namely DR6000 SBC that happens to be based on Qualcomm IPQ6000 “CP03” reference design, and offers both WiFi 6 and dual Gigabit Ethernet connectivity in a round-shaped board. DR6000 / CP03 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Atheros IPQ6000 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.2GHz processor System Memory –  512MB DDR3L Storage – 128MB Nand Flash, 16MB NOR flash Networking Wired – 2x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 ports Wireless 2.4GHz 2×2 MU-MIMO OFDMA 802.11b/g/n/ax WiFi 6, up 573 Mbps, up to 20dBm per chain 5GHz 2×2 MU-MIMO OFDMA 802.11a/n/ac/ax WiFi 6, up to 1201 Mbps, up to 20dBm per chain 2x U.FL Connectors, diplexer allows dual band concurrent operation USB – 1x micro USB 2.0 port Serial – 12-pin header for serial interface Misc […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Arm Ethos-U65 microNPU enables low-power AI inference on Cortex-A & Neoverse SoC’s

Arm Ethos-U65 microNPU enables low-power AI inference on Cortex-A & Neoverse SoC’s

Arm introduced their very first microNPU (Micro Neural Processing Unit) for microcontrollers at the beginning of the year with Arm Ethos-U55 designed for Cortex-M microcontrollers such as Cortex-M55, and delivering 64 to 512 GOPS of AI inference performance or up to a 480x increase in ML performance over Cortex-M CPU inference. The company has now unveiled an update with Arm Ethos-U65 microNPU that maintains the efficiency of Ethos-U55 but enables neural network acceleration in higher performance embedded devices powered by Arm Cortex-A and Arm Neoverse SoCs. Arm Ethos-U65 delivers up to 1 TOPS, and as seen in the diagram enables features that can not be done with Ethos-U55 including object classification and real-time classification. Compared to Ethos-N78 NPU, the new microNPU offers less AI performance, but a significantly higher efficiency although AFAIK no quantified by Arm. The company says the development workflow remains the same with the use of the TensorFlow Lite Micro (TFLmicro) runtime that runs on a Cortex-M […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on SwarmDrive is an ESP32 motor driver board for brushless motors (Crowdfunding)

SwarmDrive is an ESP32 motor driver board for brushless motors (Crowdfunding)

Netherlands based NickStick BV has developed a motor driver board powered by an ESP32 dual-core WiFI and Bluetooth module and capable of controlling brushless DC motors. The SwarmDrive board targets users who want to start experimenting with motor control, and learn about commutation strategies, PID for balance plateau or balance robots, cartesian gantries and spatial navigation, drive by wire and wireless, swarm intelligence experiments, etc. SwarmDrive specifications: Wireless module – Espressif Systems ESP32-WROOM-32D module with ESP32 dual-core processor @ 240 MHz, 4 Mbit flash Connectivity 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n WiFi up to 150 Mbps Bluetooth v 4.2 BR/EDR and BLE Motor Control L6234 triple half-bridge motor driver, 5 A peak current 3-pin terminal block for motor output 3x enable pins are broken out to a bridging connector Programming and debugging – Micro USB serial port via USB to UART bridge, Misc – Boot and reset push-buttons Power Supply Supply Voltage – 7-13 V via screw terminal or pin headers Power output […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 35 Comments on ODROID-HC4 low-cost dual NAS comes with 4GB RAM, supports 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA drives

ODROID-HC4 low-cost dual NAS comes with 4GB RAM, supports 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA drives

[Edit: Hardkernel has now updated their documentation to clarify the NAS uses ASM1061 PCIe to SATA controller instead of JMB582] It’s hard to find low-cost NAS platforms often because of the mechanism to insert drives and the enclosure add to the cost. An alternative is to use boards like Hardkernel ODROID-HC1 for 2.5-inch drives or ODROID-HC2 for 2.5- and 3.5-inch drives, but each board supports only one drive. The designs are stackable, but you’d need one Linux board per drive, so it’s not ideal. The Korean company has now launched a new model with ODROID-HC4 powered by an Amlogic S905X3 processor and shipping with a case supporting two 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA drives that will start selling later this month for just $65 and up. ODROID-HC4 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X3 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.8 GHz with Mali-G31 MP2 GPU System Memory – 4GB DDR4 Storage 128 Mbit SPI flash for bootloader like Petitboot UHS-1 compatible MicroSD card slot […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Gumstix Introduces CM4 to CM3 Adapter, Carrier Boards for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4

Gumstix Introduces CM4 to CM3 Adapter, Carrier Boards for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4

Raspberry Pi Trading has just launched 32 different models of Raspberry Pi CM4 and CM4Lite systems-on-module, as well as the “IO board” carrier board. But the company has also worked with third-parties, and Gumstix, an Altium company, has unveiled four different carrier boards for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, as well as a convenient CM4 to CM3 adapter board that enables the use of Raspberry Pi CM4 on all/most carrier boards for the Compute Module 3/3+. Raspberry Pi CM4 Uprev & UprevAI CM3 adapter board Gumstix Raspberry Pi CM4 Uprev follows the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 form factor but includes two Hirose connectors for Computer Module 4. The signals are simply routed from the Hirose connectors to the 200-pin SODIMM edge connector used with CM3. Gumstix Raspberry Pi CM4 Uprev is the same except it adds a Google Coral accelerator module. Gumstix Raspberry Pi CM4 Development Board Specifications: 2x stacking board DF40-series connector for Raspberry Pi Compute Module […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 32 Comments on Raspberry Pi CM4 and CM4Lite Modules Launched for $25 and Up

Raspberry Pi CM4 and CM4Lite Modules Launched for $25 and Up

We were expecting Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 sometimes next year, but Raspberry Pi Trading Limited managed to launch the new module much earlier, as Raspberry Pi CM4 and CM4Lite modules have just been launched with a new, much more compact form factor incompatible with the earlier Compute Modules, an I/O board making use of the new features, and a choice of 32 models with variations in terms of memory and storage capacity, as well as the presence or lack thereof of a WiFi and Bluetooth wireless module. Raspberry Pi CM4 & CM4Lite Specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5 GHz with VideoCore VI GPU System Memory – 1, 2, 4, or 8GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM Storage – CM4: 4, 8, 16, or 32GB eMMC flash up to 100MB/s; CM4Lite: No storage device on module Networking Gigabit Ethernet transceiver Optional Wireless module with 802.11b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0; external or PCB antenna (selectable by on-board electronic switch) […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Intel Celeron 6305 and Pentium Gold 7505 Tiger Lake Processors Launched

Intel Celeron 6305 and Pentium Gold 7505 Tiger Lake Processors Launched

Intel launched various Core i3/i5/i7 Tiger Lake processors in early September, shortly followed by more Core i3/i5/i7 UP3  Tiger Lake Embedded SoCs, so I was a little confused when Congatec launched a Tiger Lake COM Express module with of choice of processors including the usual Core processor plus an unnamed Celeron Tiger Lake processor because none were listed in Intel Ark. But a few weeks have passed, and there are now three new Celeron and Pentium Tiger Lake processors in the list namely: Pentium Gold 7505, Celeron 6305, and Celeron 6305E with the later optimized for embedded & IoT applications with a wider temperature range from 0 to 100°C. All three processors come with a 15W TDP and are manufactured using Intel’s 10nm process. As we can see from the table below both Celeron 6305 and Celeron 6305E have the exact same key features. The main difference between the Celeron and Pentium part is that the latter supports Hyperthreading and […]

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