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

February 21, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

u-Blox Launches JODY-W3 WiFi 6 & Bluetooth 5.1 Module for Automotive Applications

u‑blox has just launched JODY-W3 wireless module which the company claims to be the first automotive-grade WiFi 6 module. Apart from supporting 802.11ax WiFi with 2×2 MIMO, the module also comes with dual-mode Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity. WiFi 6 will be used for applications demanding higher bitrates such as ultra‑HD video infotainment streaming and screen mirroring, wireless back‑up cameras and cloud connectivity as well as vehicle systems maintenance and diagnostics. Bluetooth 5.1 will be used for keyless entry systems and other applications leveraging direction-finding and the longer range offered by the latest version of Bluetooth. JODY-W3 module specifications: Connectivity Dual-band 802.11ac WiFI 5 and 802.11ax WiFI 6 with 2×2 MIMO support, WPA3 security Bluetooth 5.1 Classic and Low Energy; HCI profile Antennas JODY-W374 variant – 2x antenna pins for separate Bluetooth and Wi-Fi external antennas JODY-W377 variant – 2x antenna pins for Wi-Fi and one antenna pin for Bluetooth external antennas Interfaces – UART, PCM (Bluetooth audio), PCIe, SDIO Dimensions – …

Continue reading… “u-Blox Launches JODY-W3 WiFi 6 & Bluetooth 5.1 Module for Automotive Applications”

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or become a Patron on Patreon

February 20, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Google Releases Android 11 Developer Preview – What’s New?

I’ve only just upgraded my Xiaomi Mi A2 phone to Android 10 earlier this week, but Google is already preparing for the next version of the mobile operating system, and the company has already released the first developer preview for Android 11 OS. Enhancements for foldables and 5G, call-screening APIs, new media & camera capabilities, and machine learning are some of the improvements brought to Android 11 so far. Some of Android 11 highlights include: Updates of existing connectivity APIs to take advantage of improved 5G speeds. Dynamic meteredness API to check whether the connection is unmetered in order to offer higher resolution or quality for users who don’t need to pay extra for data Bandwidth estimator API to check the downstream/upstream bandwidth without having to poll the network. Pinhole and waterfall screen support – Pinhole screens are the ones with a round opening for the camera, and waterfall screens are displays that are curved on the edges. Android …

Continue reading… “Google Releases Android 11 Developer Preview – What’s New?”

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or become a Patron on Patreon

February 20, 2020February 20, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Qualcomm Snapdragon X60 5G Modem to Deliver up to 7.5 Gbps Download Speeds in 2021

While 5G networks are ramping, most people don’t have coverage, let alone a 5G capable smartphone or laptop, but after Snapdragon X50 and Snapdragon X55, Qualcomm has just unveiled its third-generation 5G modem with Snapdragon X60. The new 5G modem is said to feature the world’s first 5-nanometer 5G baseband and the first 5G modem-RF system to support spectrum aggregation across all key 5G bands, namely mmWave and sub-6 using frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD). Snapdragon X60 key features: Cellular Technology 5G NR – 5G TDD, SA (standalone), 5G FDD, NSA (non-standalone) LTE – LTE FDD, LTE TDD including CBRS support, LAA, LTE Broadcast WCDMA (DB-DC-HSDPA, DC-HSUPA), TD-SCDMA, CDMA 1x, EV-DO, GSM/EDGE 5G Spectrum – mmWave-sub6 carrier aggregation, sub-6 carrier aggregation (FDD-TDD, FDD-FDD, TDD-TDD), Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), mmWave, sub-6 GHz mWave specs – 800 MHz bandwidth, 8 carriers, 2×2 MIMO sub-6 GHz spec -: 200 MHz bandwidth, 4×4 MIMO 5G Peak Speeds – Download: 7.5 …

Continue reading… “Qualcomm Snapdragon X60 5G Modem to Deliver up to 7.5 Gbps Download Speeds in 2021”

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or become a Patron on Patreon

February 19, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

GIGABYTE Unveils Four BRIX Comet Lake-U mini PC’s

Intel unveiled Intel Comet Lake processors last summer with two sub-family namely the 15W Comet Lake-U processors and the lower power 7W Comet Lake-Y processors. We’ve found the latter in products such as OneMix 3 Pro mini laptop, and the former in some System76 Linux laptops. But so far, I had not really paid attention to Comet Lake mini PCs. There have been a few announcements at CES 2020 with Asus “Mini PC PN62“, ECS Liva Z3 Plus, ZOTAC MI662 nano and a few others all based on Intel Comet Lake-U processors. GIGABYTE has also unveiled four Comet Lake mini PC’s with the following key features and specifications: SoC BRIX BRi3H-10110 – Intel Core i3-10110U dual-core/quad-thread processor @ 2.1/4.2 GHz (Turbo) with 23EU Intel UHD Graphics; 15W TDP BRIX BRi5H-10210 – Intel Core i5-10210U quad-core/octa-thread processor @ 1.6/4.2 GHz (Turbo) with 24EU Intel UHD Graphics; 15W TDP BRIX BRi7H-10510 – Intel Core i7-10510U quad-core/octa-thread processor @ 1.8/4.9 GHz (Turbo) with …

Continue reading… “GIGABYTE Unveils Four BRIX Comet Lake-U mini PC’s”

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or become a Patron on Patreon

February 19, 2020February 19, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

NetBSD 9.0 Released with Aarch64 Support, Arm ServerReady Compatibility

Yesterday, we wrote about Raspberry Pi 4 getting UEFI+ACPI firmware for Arm SSBR compliance allowing the board to run operating systems designed for “Arm ServerReady” servers out of the box. NetBSD 9.0 was just released on February 14, 2020, with support for Aarch64 (64-bit Arm) which had been in the works for a few years, and includes support for “Arm ServerReady” compliant machines (SBBR+SBSA). NetBSD 9.0 main changes related to hardware support: Support for AArch64 (64-bit Armv8-A) machines Compatibility with “Arm ServerReady” compliant machines (SBBR+SBSA) using ACPI. Tested on Amazon Graviton and Graviton2 (including bare metal instances), AMD Opteron A1100, Ampere eMAG 8180, Cavium ThunderX, Marvell ARMADA 8040, QEMU w/ Tianocore EDK2 Symmetric and asymmetrical multiprocessing support (big.LITTLE) Support for running 32-bit binaries via COMPAT_NETBSD32 on CPUs that support it Single GENERIC64 kernel supports ACPI and device tree based booting Supported SoCs Allwinner A64, H5, H6 Amlogic S905, S805X, S905D, S905W, S905X Broadcom BCM2837 (Raspberry Pi 3B) NVIDIA Tegra X1 …

Continue reading… “NetBSD 9.0 Released with Aarch64 Support, Arm ServerReady Compatibility”

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or become a Patron on Patreon

February 18, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 34 Comments

Raspberry Pi 4 UEFI+ACPI Firmware Aims to Make the Board SBBR-Compliant

As Arm wanted to enter the server market, they realized they had to provide systems that could boot standard operating system images without modifications or hacks – just as they do on x86 server -, so in 2014 the company introduced the Server Base System Architecture Specification (SBSA) so that all a single OS image can run on all ARMv8-A servers. Later on, Arm published the Server Base Boot Requirement (SBBR) specifications describing standard firmware interfaces for the servers, covering UEFI, ACPI and SMBIOS industry standards, and in 2018 introduced the Arm ServerReady compliance program for Arm servers. While those are specific to Arm server, some people are pushing to implement SBBR compliant for Arm PCs, and there’s one project aiming to build an SBBR-compliant (UEFI+ACPI) AArch64 firmware for the Raspberry Pi 4. The UEFI firmware is a build of a port of 64-bit Tiano Core UEFI firmware, and version 1.1 of the firmware was just released on February 14, …

Continue reading… “Raspberry Pi 4 UEFI+ACPI Firmware Aims to Make the Board SBBR-Compliant”

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or become a Patron on Patreon

February 18, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Antmicro GEM ASIC Leverages zGlue Technology to Quickly Bring Custom Arm/RISC-V SoC’s to Market

Introduced in 2018, ZiP (zGlue Integration Platform) chip-stacking technology aims to produce chips similar to Systems-in-Package (SiP) but at much lower costs and lead times. We first found it in a Bluetooth tracker featuring ZGLZ1BA custom chip manufactured with zGlue technology and integrating an Arm Cortex-M0 MCU, flash memory and sensors into a single package. But now the technology is back in the news with Antmicro announcing GEM chiplet-based ASIC last December. At the time of the announced the company’s GEM1 chip featured two Lattice iCE40 FPGAs with a MIPI CSI-2 switch, and they had started working on GEM2 chip combining a hard RISC-V processor and Lattice iCE40 FPGA. Those are so-called demonstrators chip as Antmicro customers will be able to easily and quickly design their own 6×9 mm chip(s) with RISC-V and/or ARM CPUs, FPGAs, sensors, radios and other functional elements to meet the requirements of their specific applications. The company will provide support for open-source operating systems such …

Continue reading… “Antmicro GEM ASIC Leverages zGlue Technology to Quickly Bring Custom Arm/RISC-V SoC’s to Market”

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or become a Patron on Patreon

February 18, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

$99 RAK7246 LoRaWAN Developer Gateway Features Raspberry Pi Zero W SBC

Outdoor LoRaWAN gateways meant to be deployed in the field usually cost several hundred dollars, so companies also offer cheaper gateways for indoor use that can be used by developers. RAKWireless offers this type of gateway with products such as Pilot Gateway Pro RAK7243 based on Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ board, or RAK7244 LoRaWAN Developer Gateway featuring the more recent Raspberry Pi 4 board and sold for $212 and up with price depending on options such as cellular connectivity. The company has now worked on providing much cheaper indoor/developer gateways with their RAK7246 and RAK7246G LoRAWAN developer gateways with the latter adding GPS. RAK7246 is available. RAK7246 key features and specifications: SBC – Raspberry Pi Zero W board with Broadcom BCM2835 ARM11 processor @ 1GHz, 512MB RAM Storage – 16GB MicroSD card Connectivity 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 via Cypress CYW43438 module found on RPi Zero W board RAK2246 Pi HAT LoRaWAN concentrator module: SX1308 baseband processor Full …

Continue reading… “$99 RAK7246 LoRaWAN Developer Gateway Features Raspberry Pi Zero W SBC”

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or become a Patron on Patreon