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

May 24, 2023May 24, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

AMD Ryzen and Athlon 7020-C processors to power Chromebooks with up to 19.5 hours of battery life

Dell Latitude Chromebook 3445 with Ryzen or Athlon 7020-C processor

AMD has just unveiled the Ryzen and Athlon 7020-C series processor family designed for Chromebooks, with up to four “Zen 2” cores clocked at up to 4.3 GHz, AMD RDNA 2 graphics, and promises of high power efficiency with Chromebook based on the entry-level Athlon Silver 7120C processor lasting up to an estimated 19.5 hours on a charge. AMD says the Ryzen 3 7320C processor in the Dell Latitude Chromebook 3445 delivers 1.6 times higher average performance than a Chromebook based on the previous generation Ryzen 3 3250C processor and provides a 15% performance advantage with up to 3.5 hours longer battery life compared to the HP Chromebook MT7921 powered by an Intel Core i3-N305 “Alder Lake-N” processor. Four models are available at launch: Ryzen 5 7520C, Ryzen 3 7320C, Athlon Gold 7220C, and Athlon Silver 7120C. All are 15W TDP parts, manufactured with a 6nm process, and come with […]

May 23, 2023May 24, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Zotac PI430AJ Pico mini PC features Airjet solid-state active cooling chips

ZOTAC PI430AJ Pico is the first mini PC equipped with (two) Airjet solid-state active cooling chips introduced at CES 2023, doing without the metal case required by typical fanless systems, and instead relying on a plastic case. The PI430AJ Pico is powered by a recent 7W Intel Core i3-N300 octa-core Alder Lake-N processor coupled with up to 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and an M.2 NVMe SSD up to 1TB capacity. The mini PC is showcased at COMPUTEX 2023 with a transparent cover to showcase the two FRORE Systems Airjet mini PC, but it will eventually be sold with a black plastic enclosure. ZOTAC PI430AJ Pico preliminary specifications: SoC – Intel Core i3-N300 octa-core processor up to 3.8 GHz with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel UHD Graphics Gen 12 @ 1.25 GHz; TDP: 7W System Memory – Up to 16GB LPDDR5 Storage – Up to 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD, microSD card slot Video […]

May 23, 2023May 23, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

FireBeetle 2 ESP32-S3 camera board ships 16MB flash, 8MB PSRAM, PCB or external antenna

DFRobot “FireBeetle 2 ESP32-S3” is a 2MP camera board with ESP32-S3N16R8 dual-core WiFi and Bluetooth microcontroller fitted with 16MB flash and 8MB PSRAM, and offered in two versions: a more compact variant with a PCB antenna, and one with an external antenna offering a better signal quality. The FireBeetle 2 ESP32-S3 also features two rows of I/Os with GPIO, I2C, SPI, ADC, USB 2.0, etc…, a USB-C port for power and programming, a few buttons, and support for a LiPo battery through a 2-pin JST connector and a charging circuit. FireBeetle 2 ESP32-S3 specifications: ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 wireless module SoC – ESP32-S3FN16R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ 240 MHz with 2.4 GHz 802.11n WiFI 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity Memory – 8MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB SPI flash Camera – Camera connector fitted with 2MP OV2640 camera with 68° FoV, up to 1600×1200 resolution Display – GDI connector for optional 1.54-inch, […]

May 23, 2023May 23, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Ultrawide 8.8-inch HDMI and USB information display is offered with optional touchscreen support

8.8-inch information display HDMI USB touchscreen

Last year, I wrote about the Turing Smart Screen low-cost 3.5-inch display based on a WCH CH552T 8-bit E8051 core microcontroller that connects to a PC or other device through a USB Type-C cable in order to display system or other information using AIDA64 software or an open-source Python software. I’ve just come across another display that appears to serve the same purpose, except the “GeekTeches V35” is an ultrawide 8.8-inch display with 1920×480 resolution, micro USB and micro HDMI interfaces, and optional support for a touchscreen. GeekTeches V35 specifications: Display 8.8-inch IPS display with 480×1920 resolution (21:9 aspect ratio) with optional touch screen Pixel size – 0.114 x 0.114 mm Display area – 54.72 x 218.88 mm Wide display angle Brightness – 550cd/m2, adjustable Driver: IC/LCM Driver IC Display interface – “MIPI BIT interface”. Not sure what this is… a typo for MIPI DSI? Backlight current – 160ma Backlight […]

May 22, 2023May 23, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Link.ONE LTE-M, NB-IoT, and LoRaWAN all-in-one LPWAN devkit is programmable with the Arduino IDE

RAKwireless Link.ONE is an all-in-one LPWAN development kit programmable with the Arduino IDE and based on nRF52840 Cortex-M4F 2.4 GHz multi-protocol wireless microcontroller, Semtech SX1262 LoRa RF transceiver, and Quectel BG77 LTE-M and NB-IoT module and comprised of components from the company’s WisBlock IoT prototyping platform. Besides the WisBlock modules, the kit includes everything to get started with four antennas for LTE-IoT, LoRaWAN, GNSS, and Bluetooth connectivity, a USB cable for power and programming, and a Monogoto SIM card with global coverage and 500MB of data valid for 10 years. Link.ONE hardware specifications: RAK19007 WisBlock base board with USB connector and Li-ion charger RAK4631 WisBlock core module with Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ 64 MHz with 1 MB Flash, 256 KB RAM, Bluetooth Low Energy 5.0 protocol stack Semtech SX1262 LoRa/LoRaWAN RF transceiver with LoRaWAN 1.0.2 protocol stack (supports Class A & C), global coverage support: RU864, […]

May 22, 2023February 9, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

SparkFun “Datalogger IoT – 9DoF” no code platform supports over 50 Qwiic sensor modules

SparkFun “DataLogger IoT – 9DOF” is an ESP32-based data logger board that transfers data to a microSD card or wirelessly to the cloud and comes with firmware that can automatically detect over 50 Qwiic modules without any programming required from the user making it a so-called “no code platform“. The board comes with a 9-axis IMU sensor + magnetometer, and two Qwiic connectors, and the data is stored in CSV or JSON formats on a microSD card or sent to IoT cloud platforms such as Amazon AWS IoT, Microsoft Azure, or Mathworks ThingSpeak using protocols like MQTT or HTTP. SparkFun “Datalogger IoT – 9DoF” specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-WROOM-32E: ESP32 dual-core microcontroller 4MB flash 2.4 GHz WiFi and Bluetooth LE connectivity, built-in PCB antenna Storage – MicroSD card slot Sensors 6-axis IMU accelerometer & gyro (ISM330DHCX) Magnetometer (MMC5983MA) 2x Qwicc I2C connectors for additional sensors USB – 1x USB Type-C […]

May 22, 2023May 22, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments

$25 Sipeed Tang Nano 20K FPGA board can simulate a RISC-V core, run Linux, retro games

The Sipeed Tang Nano 20K is a low-cost FPGA development board based on Gowin GW2AR-18 FPGA with 20,736 logic cells and 64Mbit RAM, which coupled with 64MBit QSPI flash provides enough resources to simulate a 32-bit RISC-V core booting Linux or playing retro games in an emulator. The FPGA board comes with a USB-C port for power and to load the FPGA bitstream through a BL616 microcontroller that also acts as a USB to serial chip, an HDMI port and an RGB LCD interface for video output, two user buttons, and two rows GPIOs to connect peripherals such as gamepads (through adapters). Sipeed Tang Nano 20K specifications: FPGA – Gowin GW2A-LV18QN88C8I7 with 20,736 logic units (LUT4) 15,552 flip-flops (FF) RAM 41,472 shadow SRAM (S-SRAM) 828K block SRAM (B-SRAM) Numbers of B-SRAM – 46 64Mbit 32-bit SDR SDRAM 48x 18×18 multipliers 2x PLLs 8x I/O Bank Onboard debugger – Bouffalo Labs […]

May 21, 2023May 29, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Using BTT Pad 7 touchscreen display with Raspberry Pi CM4

The BTT Pad 7, or BIGTREETECH Pad 7 in full, is a 7-inch touchscreen display that ships with the CB1 Allwinner H616 system-on-module compatible with Raspberry Pi CM4. The display is mostly designed for 3D printers with its SPI and CAN Bus interfaces, but it can also be used as a standard tablet PC. So today, I’ll switch the CB1 with a Raspberry Pi CM4 Lite module and report my experience doing the conversion and using it as a Raspberry Pi CM4 tablet PC running Raspberry Pi OS, and test it with a 3D printer with Klipper in another post later on. Installing a Raspberry Pi CM4 (Lite) module in the BTT Pad 7 We’ll need the Pad 7, a Raspberry Pi CM4, and a few tools. The first step is to remove the red heatsink by loosening four screws with a 2.0mm hex key, as well as the cover […]