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

March 26, 2015March 26, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

MXCHIP EMW3162 is a $10 Low Power Wi-Fi Module for IoT Applications

You can’t beat ESP8266 Wi-Fi modules on price to add Wi-Fi to your IoT projects, but Hackaday found a new Wi-Fi module by Shanghai MXCHIP Information Technology that sells for $10 on Seeed Studio or Amazon US, that should be better suited to battery operated project thanks to a lower power consumption. EMW3162 also features a more powerful STM32F205 cortex M3 micro-controller, as well as more I/Os than ESP8266. Specifications for EMW3162 Wi-Fi module: MCU – STM32F2 Cortex M3 MCU @ 120 MHz with 128KB RAM, 1MB flashOn Wi-Fi connectivity 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n (single stream) on channel 1-14 @ 2.4GHz WEP, WPA/WPA2 PSK/Enterprise (hardware encryption) Transmit power: 18.5dBm@11b; 15.5dBm@11g; 14.5dBm@11n MIN Receiver Sensitivity: -96 dBm Max Data rate: 11Mbps@11b; 54Mbps@11g; 72Mbps@11n HT20 Wi-Fi modes: Station, Soft AP and Wi-Fi direct Advanced 1×1 802.11n features: Full/Half Guard Interval, Frame Aggregation, Space Time Block Coding (STBC), Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) Encoding […]

March 25, 2015March 25, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Mr.NUC V3-J1900 is an Intel NUC Clone Based on Celeron J1900 Processor

Intel NUC (Next of Computing) are tiny and relatively low cost computers made by Intel. But in case you wondered if there were any clones available to save a few extra dollars, and/or gain a faster processor, a Chinese company is now selling Mr.NUC V3-J1900 barebone system with an Intel Celeron J1900 quad core processor for $169 + shipping, which adds over $40 since the mini PC only ships by courier. If you happen to live in the US, it’s probably not such as good deal, but in other countries maybe… This mini PC is said to be based on a custom designed motherboard made by Gigabyte (MZBAYAP) for Realan, with the following technical specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J1900 Quad core processor @ 2.0 GHz (base) / 2.41 GHz (Burst) with Intel Gen 7 HD graphics (10W TDP) System Memory – DDR3L 1333/1666 MHz SO-DIMM slot Storage – 2.5″ […]

March 25, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Radxa Rock 2 Square is a Rockchip RK3288 Development Board for Hobbyists

When Radxa Rock 2 was first unveiled, it became clear it was not aimed at the hobbyist market, as it includes lot of features such as SATA, 3G modem, dual Gigabit Ethernet, up to 4GB memory and so on, and is likely to cost a few hundred dollars. The company is now working a cheaper baseboard called Radxa Rock 2 Square leveraging the same Radxa Rock 2 SoM used with the full-featured baseboard (now also called Radxa Rock 2 Full), but with less features and at price point that should be more affordable to individuals. Preliminary Rock 2 square specifications (derived from picture above): Processor/Memory/Storage – Via Rock2 SoM including Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex A17 processor, 2 to 4 GB RAM, and 16GB eMMC. External Storage – SATA and micro SD slot Video Output – HDMI, LVDS connector Audio I/O – HDMI, headphone jack, built-in microphone, and optical S/PDIF […]

March 25, 2015May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Cubieboard4 Benchmarks in Android

Last time I tried running benchmarks in an Allwinner A80 board (A80 OptimusBoard), it either rebooted during the benchmark, or had fairly disappointing results for example for USB storage. I documented my findings in a post entitled “Current Performance and Stability Issues on AllWinner A80 OptimusBoard Development Board” which was written in October 2014. But a few months have passed, and since Cubieboard4 is another hardware platform, so I was interested in running benchmarks including storage and networking performance testing on the new board to see if any progress was made. Cubieboard4 Android Benchmarks – Antutu, Vellamo, and 3DMarks Manufacturers can add the key ro.sys.hiritsu to build.prop in order to artificially inflate their Antutu scores with Allwinner A80 processor. So before running Antutu, I checked /system/build.prop in the firmware, and found out no trace of this variable, which can only be good for CubieTech reputation. CC-A80 board, the other name […]

March 25, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Texas Instruments Introduces MSP432 ARM Cortex-M4F MCU Family

Texas Instruments has just launched a successor for its 16-bit MSP430 MCU family with MSP432 MCU series featuring a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4F core, a DSP, up to 256 KB flash, up to 64 KB SRAM, and according to the company ” delivering a ULPBench score of 167.4 outperforming all other Cortex-M3 and -M4F MCUs on the market”. The new MCU family targets consumer & portable electronics, building & factory automation & control, smart grid & energy, healthcare & fitness, and wearables applications. Key features listed for MSP432P4xx: MCU – 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4F up to 48 MHz with FPU and DSP. Delivers 3.4 Coremark/MHz Memory – Up to 64 KB RAM; Selectable RAM retention Storage – Up to 256 KB Flash; dual bank for simultaneous reading and writing Security – 256-bit AES encryption, JTAG access lock, 4 IP Protection regions EnergyTrace Technology Real-time power measurement and debugging Generate application energy profiles including […]

March 24, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

CSQ CSW9 is a $200 Intel Celeron J1900 mini PC with an Internal Hard Drive

CSQ CSW9 is a thin Intel Celeron J1900 “Bay Trail” based mini PC that also comes with a 500GB internal hard drive, 2GB RAM, VGA and HDMI video output, and sells for a little over $200 on Aliexpress. Complete hardware specifications are as follows: SoC – Intel Celeron J1900 Quad core processor @ 2.0 GHz (base) / 2.41 GHz (Burst) with Intel HD graphics (10W TDP) System Memory – 2 GB DDR3L (Apparently SO-DIMM, so it might be upgradeable?) Storage – 2.5″ 500GB SATA hard drive + micro SD card slot + optional 32GB to 128GB eMMC flash Video Output – HDMI 1.4a + VGA Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet (Gigabit Ethernet as option?), 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 Audio – Realtek ALC269 HD audio codec, 1x headphone jack USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x USB 3.0 port. Misc – IR receiver, power button, and power LED Power Supply […]

March 24, 2015September 8, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Iocean M6752 Smartphone Review

Last week I provides specs, took some pictures, and run Antutu benchmark on Iocean M6752, a 64-bit ARM smartphone powered by Mediatek MT6752 octa-core Cortex A53 processor with 3GB RAM, 16 GB eMMC, and a 5.5″ FullHD display. I’ve been using the device as my main smartphone for over a week, and I’m now ready to write a full review for the phone. General Impressions At first the material and color used on the back cover feels a little strange, but I quickly got used it, and the build quality seems pretty good, and the phone is very light. I must have made one or two calls during the week, and I mainly use my smartphone to check emails, run social network apps, browse the web, play some casual games like Candy Crush Saga, watch YouTube videos, and make Skype calls, and for these tasks I could not really fault […]

March 24, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Firefox OS Ported to MIPS Based Tablet (Ingenic JZ4780)

Imagination has announced that an experimental version of Firefox OS has been ported to a reference tablet powered by Ingenic JZ4780, a MIPS based processor, that’s also used in MIPS Creator CI20 development board, and that the company organized a raffle to send 15 of these tablets for people to try or develop on. The tablet is said to cost less than $100, runs either Firefox OS or Android 4.4 KitKat, and comes with the following specifications: SoC – Ingenic JZ4780 dual core MIPS32 processor @ 1.2 GHz with Imagination PowerVR SGX540 GPU. 32kI + 32kD per core, 512K shared L2. System Memory – N/A Storage – N/A Display – 9.7” screen; 1024 x 768 resolution Video Output – mini HDMI port Audio – Headphone jack, stereo speakers, microphone Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 1x Micro USB port Camera – Front and rear cameras Misc – […]