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

January 17, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

TinyNES – An open-source game console features original or cloned Ricoh RP2A03 & RP2C02 chips (Crowdfunding)

TinyNES open-source hardware NES game console

Tall Dog Electronics’ TinyNES (Tiny Nostalgia Evocation Square) is an open-source hardware game console compatible with NES cartridges and featuring the original MOS 6502-based Ricoh RP2A03 CPU (central processing unit) and the Ricoh RP2C02 PPU (picture processing unit) found in the Nintendo NES, although clones may be also used in the future due to the lack of availability. Designed to offer the same experience as the original Nintendo NES, the console comes with two NES controller ports, a cartridge slot, RCA video composite and mono audio outputs, and all electronics is housed in an FR-4 enclosure, the same material used for most PCBs. TinyNES specifications: CPU – MOS 6502-based Ricoh RP2A03 central processing unit, or UMC UA6527 clone PPU – Ricoh RP2C02 picture processing unit, or UMC UA6528 clone Cartridge slot for NES cartridges Controller ports – 2 original NES-style 7-pin controller ports Video – NTSC composite (CVBS) analog […]

January 17, 2022January 17, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Tang Nano 9K FPGA board can emulate PicoRV32 RISC-V soft-core with all peripherals

Tang Nano 9K FPGA is the third board from Sipeed based on GOWIN FPGA following the original Tang Nano board with 1K LUT and Tang Nano 4K launched last year with GW1NSR-LV4C (aka GW1NSR-4C) FPGA offering 4068 logical units and 64 Mbit PSRAM, plus an Arm Cortex-M3 hard processor. As its name implies, the new board comes with 9K LUTs, as well as 64 Mbit PSRAM, 32 Mbit Flash, a micro SD card, and video I/O (HDMI, RGB LCD connector) that makes it suitable to run Verilog HDL code emulating a PicoRV32 RISC-V soft-core with all peripherals. Tang Nano 9K FPGA board specifications: FPGA – GOWIN LittleBee GW1NR-9/GW1NR-LV9 8,640 logical units (LUTs) 6,480 flip-flop 17,280 bits shadow SRAM (SSRAM) 486 Kbit block SRAM (BSRAM) 64 Mbit PSRAM 608 Kbit user flash 2x PLL Up to 276x user I/O Storage – 32 Mbit SPI flash. MicroSD card socket Display I/F HDMI […]

January 17, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

PineNote Developer Edition mainline Linux e-Reader is now available for $399

Pine64 community has been on a tear in 2022, with the launch of the PineNote Developer Edition Linux e-reader following the availability of the PinePhone keyboard case and PinePhone Pro Explorer Edition Linux smartphone in the last 2-3 weeks. So far a limited number of PineNote prototypes had been sent to developers, but it’s now possible to order the PineNote Developer Edition for $399 directly on the Pine64 store. As its name implies, the e-Reader is not ready for end-users, but recent progress with mainline Linux makes it suitable for developers and enthusiasts who want to play around with the device knowing much more work is needed to make it a usable device. The specifications remain the same as in the initial PineNote announcement: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 quad-core A55 processor @ 1.8 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 EE GPU, 0.8 TOPS NPU (AI accelerator) System Memory – 4GB of LPDDR4 […]

January 16, 2022January 16, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Intel launches NUC 11 Essential mini PC, Kits, and SBC with Jasper Lake SoC

Details about the Intel NUC 11 Essential “Atlas Canyon” mini PCs with Jasper Lake processor were leaked in May 2021, but Intel has now made it official with the “launch” of five NUC 11 Essential SKUs with one Windows 11 mini PC with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, three kits (bare mini PC), and one bare board all listed on Ark Intel. I put “launch” between quotes because it’s only “launched” as stated on Ark Intel, but it does not look like it’s available for sale just yet, but now at least we get confirmation about the specs from the leak that was fairly accurate, except Intel did not launch 10W Jasper Lake J-Series processors, and both 6W and 10W Jasper Lake processors are part of the N-Series. Intel NUC 11 Essential specifications: SoC/memory/storage NUC11ATKC2 Mini PC SoC – Intel Celeron N4505 dual-core processor clocked at 2.0 GHz / 2.9 […]

January 15, 2022January 15, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

USB add-on boards leverage Raspberry Pi Zero test pads, USB Gadget mode

I’ve just come across a few USB boards that take advantage of the Raspberry Pi Zero (W) test pads to add one or more USB Type-A ports to the board without soldering. The first one is “Catda Raspberry Pi zero WH USB expansion board” which I found on Banggood for $9.99. It’s a kit that ships with a USB Zero plug expansion module, an acrylic “isolation protection cover”, an acrylic transparent light diffraction protection cover plus M2.5 screws and nuts for mounting it to the Raspberry Pi Zero WH board, but it should work any Raspberry Pi Zero including the new Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W board since it relies on pogo pin to connect the four test pads for USB data and power, and those are in the same position for all Pi Zero boards. You can then plug it into a laptop or computer to power the board […]

January 14, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

OnLogic unveils Karbon 800 Series Alder Lake-S embedded computers

OnLogic Karbon 800 Alder Lake-S embedded computer

We’ve already seen the newly announced Intel Alder Lake-S desktop IoT processors in some COM Express and COM HPC modules, and quickly mentioned Vecow ECX-3000 rugged computer, and now, OnLogic has just announced the Karbon 800 Series, a family of Alder Lake-S embedded computers. There will be four Karbon 800 models at launch, equipped with up to an Intel Core i9 16-core processor, 64 GB of DDR4 ECC or non-ECC memory, as well as single and dual PCIe Gen 4 slots, and optional “ModBay” hot-swappable bays to add connectivity and storage option up to a six 2.5-inch SSD RAID array or 14 Ethernet ports. All four Karbon 800 embedded computer supports the same processor and memory options, and mostly differ in their storage and expansion options: Karbon 801 Storage – Support for NVME Storage Expansion – 4G Cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Karbon 802 Storage – 2x 2.5-inch SSD with optional Hot […]

January 14, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Khadas Tea – A MagSafe Hi-Fi headphone amplifier to play lossless audio on smartphones (Crowdfunding)

From this side of the Internet, Khadas is better known for their single board computer, but the company has also made Hi-Fi audio products starting with the Khadas Tone in 2018 as an add-on board for Khadas VIM/VIM2 SBC, followed by Khadas Tone 2 Pro mini desktop Hi-Fi system in 2020. The latest audio product from Khadas is a smartphone accessory with Khadas Tea being a thin MagSafe-compatible magnetic Hi-Fi headphone amplifier based on aptX HD and LDAC capable Qualcomm QCC5125 Bluetooth SoC and ESS ES9281AC Pro DAC that sticks to the back of your phone. Khadas Tea specifications: Bluetooth Audio SoC – Qualcomm QCC5125 Bluetooth 5.0 audio chipset USB DAC – ESS ES9281AC Pro Amplifier – RT6863D (Buffer Stage) Audio I/O 3.5mm headphone jack Built-in stereo microphone for making and receiving calls over Bluetooth Sampling Rate USB: up to 32bit 384KHz @ PCM, or DSD 256 (Native) Bluetooth: up […]

January 13, 2022January 13, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

LIVA Q3 Plus pocket-sized AMD Ryzen Embedded mini PC sells for $242 and up

ECS LIVA Q3 Plus is another one of those pocket-sized mini PC’s we’ve seen in the past like the ECS LIVA Q2, Chuwi Larkbox, GMK NucBox, and others. Most of those mini PCs are based on Intel Apollo Lake or Gemini Lake mini PC, but LIVA Q3 Plus comes with a twist as it is powered by a 15W AMD Ryzen Embedded V1605B or R1505G processor making it, according to the Taiwanese company, the world’s smallest 15W AMD mini PC. ECS LIVA Q3 Plus specifications: SoC (one or the other) AMD Ryzen Embedded V1605B quad-core processor @ 2.0GHz up to 3.6GHz; TDP: 15W AMD Ryzen Embedded R1505G dual-core processor @ 2.4GHz up to 3.3GHz; TDP: 15W System Memory – 4GB or 8GB DDR4 2400 MT/s Storage – 64GB or 128GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot Video Output 1x HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60Hz with CEC function 1x mini DisplayPort […]