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

May 10, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

My experience upgrading the BIOS of a Windows 11 mini PC (with BitLocker) in 2026

I don’t always update the BIOS of my system, but when I do, I always make sure to waste several hours doing so. Last time I did that was in 2020, but this happened again when I updated the BIOS for the Khadas Mind 2 to test it with the Mind xPlay display and Mind Graphics 2 dock. Khadas provides the BIOS with instructions to update the Mind 2 mini PC, and it’s supposed to take five minutes, but I ended up wasting two about hours… The first step is to download and extract a zip file (mind-2-bios-v1.07-260122.zip), then start the Flash_BIOS upgrade program, and finally wait for the upgrade to complete. That part went great. No problem, but when the system rebooted, I was greeted by a BitLocker window asking me to enter a recovery key to carry on with the boot process. There’s no way to avoid this, […]

May 9, 2026May 9, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Review of Rikomagic DS08 Android 13 digital signage player

Rikomagic has sent me a sample of their DS08 digital signage player for review. It’s based on a Rockchip RK3588 SoC paired with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB eMMC flash, and offers two HDMI 2.1 ports, gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6, and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, as well as several USB ports, optical S/PDIF audio output, and more. I was initially not sure I could receive a sample, as Thailand is pretty strict with licenses for this type of hardware, but Rikomagic told us that it would not be a problem when using DDP (delivered duty paid), and the courier handles all paperwork. And indeed we did receive the parcel without issue. Since Rockchip RK3588 is now a mature platform, we won’t run benchmarks in this review, but instead go through an unboxing and a teardown, and focus on digital signage features such as video playback, RTC support, and display orientation […]

May 8, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Microchip launches LAN878x and LAN888x Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) transceivers with MACSec, TSN, and FuSA

Microchip LAN878x LAN888x Single Pair Ethernet SPE PHY transceivers

Microchip’s LAN878x 100BASE-T1 and LAN888x 1000BASE-T1 Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) PHY transceivers are designed for secure, scalable, and deterministic Ethernet connectivity for automotive, avionics, robotics, and industrial systems. We first noticed Microchip SPE solutions in 2023 with the LAN8650/LAN8651 10BASE-T1S and LAN8770 100BASE-T1 transceivers, and they’ve launched other families since then, such as the LAN887x industrial Single Pair Gigabit Ethernet transceivers. The just-announced LAN878x/LAN88x parts introduce MACsec support, as well as Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) and FuSa (Functional Safety). Microchip LAN878x and LAN888x key features and specifications: Standard and port speed LAN878x – IEEE 802.3bw, 100BASE-T1 LAN888x – IEEE 802.3bp, 1000BASE-T1 MACsec compliant to IEEE 802.1AE-2018 (M Version Only) Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) support Host interface (one or the other, depending on SKU) SGMII (Serial Gigabit Media Independent Interface) RGMII (Reduced Gigabit Media Independent Interface) OPEN Alliance TC10 support / wake-up support IEEE 802.1AS-2020, 802.1AS-2011 ASIL B Functional Safety Ready with […]

May 8, 2026May 8, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

21.5-inch AI Touch Panel PC is powered by NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX module for industrial HMI applications

AAEON NIKY-2215-NX is a 21.5-inch Full HD AI Touch Panel PC powered by the NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX 8GB/16GB and designed for AI-enhanced HMI applications such as production line inspection systems and industrial monitoring dashboards. The panel PC features two GbE RJ45 jacks, four USB 3.2 Type-A ports, CAN Bus, RS-232/422/485, and DIO DB-9/15 connectors, and three M.2 sockets for NVMe storage, WiFI/Bluetooth, and 4G LTE/5G cellular connectivity. It can operate in a -5°C to +55°C temperature range, offers vibration and shock tolerance, and takes 12V to 24V DC input. AAEON NIKY-2215-NX specifications: SoM – NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX Jetson Orin NX 16GB – 8-core Arm Cortex-A78AE CPU, 1024-core NVIDIA Ampere GPU, up to 157 TOPS, 16GB LPDDR5 Jetson Orin NX 8GB – 6-core Arm Cortex-A78AE CPU, 1024-core NVIDIA Ampere GPU, up to 117 TOPS, 8GB LPDDR5 Storage – 128 GB (default) NVMe SSD via M.2 2280 M-Key socket Panel […]

May 8, 2026May 7, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Arbor ARES-2100 Wildcat Lake fanless box PC targets industrial automation, machine vision, and Edge AI applications

Arbor ARES-2100 fanless box PC is another industrial platform based on the new Intel Core Series 3 “Wildcat Lake” processor family, which specifically targets industrial automation, machine vision, and lightweight Edge AI applications. The fanless computer supports up to 64GB DDR5 SO-DIMM memory, UFS 3.1 and/or M.2 NVMe/SATA storage, and offers up to three video outputs, up to three 2.5GbE ports, optional WiFi, Bluetooth, and 4G LTE via M.2 expansion slots, an RS232/RS485 RJ45 connector, and two optional CAN Bus interfaces through a terminal block. As an industrial machine, it’s designed to operate in the -20 to +60°C temperature range, takes 9 to 36V DC input, and received MIL-STD-810H certification for shock and vibration. Arbor ARES-2100 specifications: SoC – Intel Core Series 3 Wildcat Lake processors with five or six cores, Intel Xe3 Graphics, and up to 40 TOPS of combined AI performance. TDP: 15W System Memory – Up to […]

May 7, 2026May 7, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Khadas Mind Graphics 2 and Mind xPlay display + keyboard review – Part 1: Unboxing, teardown, and first try

Khadas has sent us the Mind Graphics 2 dock, Mind xPlay portable display and keyboard, as well as the Mind 2 mini PC for review. In the first part of the review, I’ll start by listing specifications, an unboxing of all three packages, a teardown of the graphics dock, and a first try of the xPlay and Mind Graphics 2 with the mini PC. While the Mind 2 will be used for testing, I won’t go into details here since it’s quite similar to the Mind 2 AI Maker Kit we reviewed last year. Instead, in the next parts, I’ll do a review of the xPlay with it, the first-generation Mind, and maybe another platform with USB-C video output. I’ll follow that by detailed testing of the Khadas Mind 2, including graphics and AI performance with the built-in NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB card, and check all its features. […]

May 7, 2026May 7, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Ploopy Bean open-source hardware pointing stick mouse runs QMK firmware

The Ploopy Bean is a 3D-printed, open-source hardware pointing stick mouse that runs QMK open-source firmware on a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller to control four Omron D2LS-21 buttons and a friction nub. Ploopy is a Canadian company known for its open-source hardware computer accessories. We first covered their headphones in 2023, but they’ve also made a trackball mouse, a trackpad, a USB knob, and other accessories since then. The Bean is just the latest addition. Ploopy Bean specifications: Bean Pointing Stick PCB Microcontroller Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU USB – 1x USB-C port for power and data Buttons – 4x Omron D2LS-21 buttons configured as left click, right click, middle click, and click-to-drag/scroll by default (but customizable) Sensor – Texas Instruments TMAG5273 high-precision 3D hall effect sensor for the nub; up to 20,000 ksps sample rate, detects 3+ microns movements 3D-printed parts – Top, bottom, and spring for red nub Accessories […]

May 6, 2026May 6, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Toradex Zinnia Linux IoT Gateway offers dual GbE, WiFi 5, 4G LTE, I/Os, and simplified software deployment

Toradex Zinnia is an industrial IoT gateway based on the company’s Verdin system-on-module, powered by a choice of NXP or Texas Instruments SoC, with dual Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5, optional 4G LTE or 5G connectivity, a few USB ports, an I/O connectors, and a wide 9-36V power supply range. The first model is based on an NXP i.M 8M Plus SoM with 4GB LPDDR5 and 32GB eMMC flash preloaded with the company’s Torizon OS Linux distribution. Other SoM available are based on TI AM62/AM62P, NXP i.MX 8M Mini, or NXP iMX 95. The gateway targets edge AI and industrial automation, smart cities, and energy infrastructure. Toradex Zinnia specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Plus CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.6/1.8 GHz, Arm Cortex-M7 real-time core @ 800 MHz GPU – Vivante GC7000UL OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, OpenCL 1.2, Vulkan support AI accelerator – 2.3 TOPS NPU […]