Author: Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on USB4 docking station supports up to five 4K displays with 120 Hz refresh rate

USB4 docking station supports up to five 4K displays with 120 Hz refresh rate

USB4 Penta-4K120 Docking Station

Action Star Technology, a Taiwanese OEM/ODM of USB productivity solutions part of Qisda (BenQ group), has unveiled its USB4 penta-4K120 docking station at Computex 2023 with support for up to five 4K displays at a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz. The docking station is based on Synaptics chips, and besides support for up to five 4K displays, it can also handle up to three 8K displays at 60+ Hz, and offers Ethernet, audio, and 10 Gbps USB 3.2 interfaces. USB4 Penta-4K120 docking station specifications: USB4 docking station backward compatible with USB-C/USB 3.x Based on Synaptics VMM9430 DisplayPort 2.1 (DP 2.1) multi-stream transport (MST) hub and DisplayLink DL-7400 universal display docking solution. See the separate (January 2023) press release about the chips Display Support up to 5x 4K/120Hz video outputs 1x native DisplayPort up to 8K/85Hz using DSC (8K/75Hz for HDR) 4x DisplayLink outputs up to quad 4K/120Hz or […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on AMD Ryzen and Athlon 7020-C processors to power Chromebooks with up to 19.5 hours of battery life

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

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 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on Zotac PI430AJ Pico mini PC features Airjet solid-state active cooling chips

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 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on FireBeetle 2 ESP32-S3 camera board ships 16MB flash, 8MB PSRAM, PCB or external antenna

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, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Ultrawide 8.8-inch HDMI and USB information display is offered with optional touchscreen support

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

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 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Link.ONE LTE-M, NB-IoT, and LoRaWAN all-in-one LPWAN devkit is programmable with the Arduino IDE

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, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on SparkFun “Datalogger IoT – 9DoF” no code platform supports over 50 Qwiic sensor modules

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 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments on $25 Sipeed Tang Nano 20K FPGA board can simulate a RISC-V core, run Linux, retro games

$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 […]

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