Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft), Author at CNX Software

October 18, 2021October 18, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Raspberry Pi CM4 handheld console looks like a Nintendo Switch Lite

StonedEge and Dmcke5 have come up with an incredibly well-designed Raspberry Pi CM4 handheld console that looks like a Nintendo Switch Lite “clone”, and that can run Dreamcast and PSP emulators at full speed using RetroPie. The RetroLite CM4 The design includes a 5-inch display, speakers, all buttons, joysticks, and D-PAD controlled via a custom Arduino board, a micro HDMI port to connect an external display, and a 4000 mAh LiPo battery charged over the USB Type-C port, and it seems to work, albeit we are told there’s still some more work to do. RetroLite CM4 specifications include: Linux capable SoM – Raspberry Pi CM4 Lite module with custom copper heatsink and fan Storage – MicroSD card slot All-on-one PCB with Arduino for inputs, TI bq24292i for battery management controlled via a PIC16F15234 MCU, and backlight boost converter circuitry Display – ~5-inch LCD IPS screen Audio – Stereo speakers User […]

October 18, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

OpenBSD 7.0 adds 64-bit RISC-V, improves Apple Arm silicon support

OpenBSD 7.0, the 51st release of the UNIX-like operating system, was outed on October 14, 2021, with the introduction of 64-bit RISC-V support for HiFive Unmatched and PolarFire SoC Icicle Kit boards, as well as further improvements to ARM64 targets, notably for Apple Silicon Macs, although it’s not quite ready for general use yet. You’ll find the complete list of new features and updates on the OpenBSD website, but here are some of the highlights: New platforms – OpenBSD 7.0 add 64-bit RISC-V support Extended platforms arm64 Improvements to Apple Silicon Macs support USB 3, NVMe storage, GPIO driver, power management, etc… Enabled LEDs for the LAN7800 chip as found on the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+. Added Type-C PHY controller found on the Rockchip RK3399. Implemented multicast support to Marvell ARMADA chips Various other changes to mips64, amd64, armv7, powerpc64 Kernel improvements Enabled dynamic tracker (dt) for GENERIC kernels […]

October 17, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Zidoo M6 preview with Android 11

I’ve now had more time to play with Zidoo M6 Arm mini PC powered by a Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor. I intended to review the device with Ubuntu, but I misunderstood, and Android 11 was pre-installed on the device. I was also told since this model is mainly for industrial control, I might want to focus on performance and connectors rather than how well all functions work. So this will not be a review, but rather a preview of Zidoo M6, since as we’ll see below there’s still more work do to fix all issues. As an industrial platform. some features like Google Services may not be needed or even desirable. First boot and Settings I’ve connected a USB keyboard for screenshots, MINIX NEO A2 Lite air mouse, an HDMI cable to my 4K TV, and the power supply to get started. I also add two AAA batteries to […]

October 16, 2021October 16, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Raspberry Pi 4, Rockchip RK3399 SBC’s get Arm SystemReady IR certification

RockPro64 RK3399 Arm SystemReady IR certification

The first hardware platforms getting Arm SystemReady IR certification for IoT Edge applications were announced a few months ago with namely NXP i.MX 8 Mini evaluation kit and Compulab IOT-GATE-IMX8 gateway being able to run off-the-shelf operating system images such as Fedora IoT, OpenSuSE Leap 15.3, and Debian 11 thanks to UEFI firmware. But following PinePhone Pro Linux smartphone announcement, and Pine64 October update, we also learned that Rockchip RK3399 based RockPro64 was also Arm SystemReady IR certified, and check Arm’s website directly revealed it was joined by Lenovo Leez P710 “Gateway” SBC, as well as Raspberry Pi 4 and Pi 400 platforms. Let’s check the details and see what off-the-shelf images each board has been tested with. Pine64 RockPro64 RK3399 SBC achieved SystemReady IR v1.0 Level 1 certification meaning it complies with some waivers and workarounds found in the errata document. The board has been successfully tested with Fedora […]

October 15, 2021October 16, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments

PinePhone Pro Linux smartphone to feature a power-optimized Rockchip RK3399S processor

Pine64 has now announced the PinePhone Pro Linux smartphone with a Rockchip RK3399S hexa-core processor clocked at 1.5 GHz, that’s a power-optimized version of the popular Rockchip RK3399 processor. It will provide a noticeable upgrade to the PinePhone Linux smartphones launched in November 2019, which, by today’s standards, is quite underpowered. Besides the faster processor, PinePhone Pro also comes with 4GB RAM and 128 GB storage which should make it a better candidate at mobile desktop convergence, as well as a 5.95-inch display with 1440×720 resolution, a 13MP rear camera, a 5MP front-facing camera, and more. PinePhone Pro specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399S with an hexa-core processor comprised of 2x Cortex-A72 core @ up to 1.5 GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 cores, Arm Mali T860 quad-core GPU @ 500Mhz System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 @ 800MHz Storage – 128GB eMMC flash storage, MicroSD slot Display – 5.95-inch 1440 x 720 in-cell IPS with […]

October 15, 2021October 18, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Rockchip RK3566 Benchmarks in Android 11 (Zidoo M6)

I received Zidoo M6 last month, a mini PC based on Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor. I initially understood it came with Ubuntu Linux, but actually, it came pre-loaded with Android 11, so I’ve decided to run some benchmarks on the RK3566 device to see how it performs compared to other Arm systems Zidoo M6 system info But before running benchmarks, let’s have a look at some system info with CPU-Z CPU-Z has never heard about RK3566, so it detects it as RK3066, but the rest of the information seems correct with a quad-core Cortex-A55 clocked between 400 MHz and 1.8 GHz, an Arm Mali-G52 GPU, 3775KB RAM, and 24.12 GB internal storage from the 32GB flash. The system runs Android 11 on top of Linux 4.19 which will be supported until December 2024. I can set the video output to 4K, but the UI is still limited to 1920×1080 […]

October 15, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

PCIe adapter adds four USB 3.2 ports to Raspberry Pi CM4 IO board

Raspberry Pi CM4 IO Boards USB 3.2 ports

Waveshare has introduced a non-standard PCIe adapter that adds four USB 3.2 ports to the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 IO carrier board in a way that does not take too much height. It’s non-standard as it can not be inserted directly into a typical computer PCIe slot, and Waveshare recommends a PCIe extension cable to connect it to a motherboard. Having said that It looks much better on the IO board. Waveshare USB PCIe adapter features: PCIe host interface 4x USB 3.2 Gen1 ports, USB 3.0 / 2.0 / 1.1 compatible Onboard VIA Labs VL805 chip as found on Raspberry Pi 4 SBC Power supply – 12V via PCIe connector or 4-pin header Designed for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 IO Board Dimensions – 82×39 mm Since it’s basically using the same design as Raspberry Pi 4 providing USB ports through the same VL805 PCIe chip, there’s no […]

October 15, 2021October 15, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

ASUS PN41 mini PC offers 2.5GbE networking for $169 and up

When I looked for an SBC or a mini PC with 2.5GbE networking following the discontinuance of ODROID-H2+ SBC, I focused on systems with dual 2.5GbE ports to closely match Hardkernel’s SBC specifications, and most of those systems were rather expensive. But if a single 2.5 GbE port is enough for your application, then there’s a good alternative to ODROID-H2+ with ASUS PN41 mini PC powered by a choice of Jasper Lake processors, and pricing starting at $169 on Amazon for a barebone model with an Intel Celeron N4500 dual-core processor. ASUS PN41 mini PC specifications: Jasper Lake N-Series SoC (one or the other) Pentium Silver N6005 quad-core processor @ 2.0GHz / 3.3GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD graphics; 10W TDP Celeron N5105 quad-core processor @ 2.0GHz / 2.9GHz with Intel UHD graphics; 10W TDP Celeron N4505 dual-core processor @ 2.0GHz / 2.9GHz with Intel UHD graphics; 10W TDP Pentium Silver […]