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

November 9, 2022April 15, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

GL.iNet GL-MT2500A security gateway review – Part 1: Unboxing and teardown

The Brume 2 security gateway/router is powered by a MediaTek MT7981B (Filogic 820) dual-core processor @ 1.3 GHz and is available as the GL-MT2500A with a metal enclosure or the GL-MT2500 with a plastic case. GL.iNet sent me the GL-MT2500A for review. In the first of the review, we’ll have a look at the device and accessories, and tear it down to check out the hardware design and main components. I’ll then need some time to test OpenWrt 21.02 and features such as WireGuard and OpenVPN, AdGuard Home, Tor Anonymity, and soon. GL.iNet GL-MT2500A (Brume 2) unboxing The router ships with a short Ethernet cable, a 5V/2A USB Type-C power supply with EU, US, and UK plug adapters, and some minimal documentation that points to the users to more detailed online documentation and support on the company’s Facebook page. There’s not much too see on the front panel and right […]

November 9, 2022November 11, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 148 Comments

Giveaway Week 2022 – Pico:ed Smart Cutebot Kit

The third prize of this year’s giveaway week comes courtesy of ELECFREAKS which offers a Cutebot Pico:ed kit based on the Pico:ed board with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller and following BBC Micro:bit form factor. The kit also includes two high-speed motors to drive two wheels, ultrasonic & distance sensors, two RGB LED lights and clearance lamps on the bottom, two line-tracking probes, and an active buzzer used as a horn. It is powered by three AAA batteries. The company initially me asked me if I wanted to review the board/robot, but since I may not have the time to do so, I asked whether they wanted to be included in our yearly giveaway week which they accepted. The company provides instructions to program the robot with “Micro block” visual programming IDE, C++, and CircuitPython. You’ll find resources to get started and eight projects for the robot in the Wiki. […]

November 8, 2022November 8, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 48 Comments

ODROID-N2L is a smaller, low-cost variant of ODROID-N2+ Arm SBC

ODROID-N2L SBC is a smaller and cheaper version of the ODROID-N2+ single board computer powered by an Amlogic S922X hexa-core Cortex-A73/A53 processor and offered with 2GB or 4GB single-chip LPDDR4X memory. While the ODROID-N2+ is the most popular board from Hardkernel, it’s also fairly larger than most hobbyist SBCs on the market, and following requests from customers, the company designed the ODROID-N2L with a compact form factor that is smaller than Raspberry Pi Model B SBCs and sold at a lower price at the cost of missing some of the features of its big brother. ODROID-N2L specifications: SoC – Amlogic S922X hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 4x Arm Cortex A73 cores @ up to 2,208/2,400 MHz, 2x Arm Cortex A53 cores @ 1,908/2,016GHz, Arm Mali-G52 GPU @ 846MHz; 12nm manufacturing process System Memory – 2GB or 4GB LPDDR4 @ 3216 MT/s Storage – eMMC flash module socket up to 128GB, microSD […]

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

T8-Pro Celeron N5095 mini PC offers triple HDMI output, dual Gigabit Ethernet

T8-Pro is a low-cost mini PC powered by an Intel Celeron N5095 Jasper Lake processor that offers features such as triple 4K HDMI output and dual Gigabit Ethernet usually found in more expensive models for the industrial/embedded market. The actively-cooled mini PC is equipped with 8GB RAM and an M.2 2242 SSD of 128GB to 1TB capacity. It also comes with a WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 module, three USB 3.0 ports, and a 3.5mm audio jack. T8-Pro mini PC specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N5095 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 2.0GHz / 2.9GHz (Turbo) with 4MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD Graphics; 15W TDP System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4X (Up to 16GB, but not offered for sale) Storage – 128GB to 1TB M.2 2242 NVMe SSD Video Output – 3x HDMI 2.0 ports up to 4Kp60 Audio – 3.5mm audio jack (headphone & microphone) jack, digital audio via HDMI Connectivity […]

November 8, 2022November 10, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 123 Comments

Giveaway Week – e-con Systems e-CAM20_CURB camera

Today, we’re giving away the e-con Systems e-CAM20_CURB is a 2.3MP color camera with a global shutter that is designed to work with Raspberry Pi 4 SBC. The camera is based on ON Semiconductor AR0234CS CMOS sensor and supports uncompressed video at 1920 x 1200 (2.3MP) up to 60 fps, 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) up to 65 fps, and 1280 x 720 (HD) up to 120 fps. I just completed the e-CAM20_CURB camera review with Raspberry Pi 4 last weekend and found the video smoothness and quality to be much better than most cameras I’ve tried when there is motion, even in relatively dark scenes, since motion blur and artifacts are reduced. The company provides Yocto Linux and Raspbian/Raspberry Pi OS images with V4L2 drivers and Gstreamer tools, and the camera was fairly easy to use with the Yocto image thanks to the useful documentation provided with the kit. […]

November 7, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

MS2130 based “4K” HDMI to USB 3.0 video capture dongle sells for $19

Mini U3 MS2130 4K HDMI to USB 3.0 video capture dongle

4K HDMI to USB 3.0 dongles based on Macrosilicon MS2130 video and audio acquisition chip are starting to show up on Aliexpress for around $19 with free shipping. We first discovered the MS2130 chip in the YuzukiLOHCC PRO open-source hardware board that claims to have a bills-of-material cost of about $10. But you have to build it and source the components yourself, so it’s not for everyone. Now USB 3.0 adapters capable of recording or streaming up to 1080p60 uncompressed video from an HDMI input up to 4Kp30 are available to anyone with around $20. “Mini U3” HDMI to USB 3.0 video capture dongle specfications: Main chip – MacroSilicon/UltraSemi MS2130 USB 3.2 Gen 1 high-definition video and audio acquisition chip HDMI input up to 4Kp30, 24/30/36-bit depth color Video Output up to 1080p60 in YUV or JPEG output format Audio – L-PCM codec Input cable length – Up to 15 […]

November 7, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

RP2040 firmware converts Raspberry Pi Pico into a an I2C to USB bridge

Nicolai Electronics’ rp2040-ic2-interface open-source firmware for the Raspberry Pi Pico (or other Raspberry Pi RP2040 boards) converts the board into an I2C to USB bridge to connect any I2C sensor or module to a PC or other hardware without GPIOs. The firmware implements the USB protocol expected by the I2C-Tiny-USB kernel driver used by the original I2C-Tiny-USB project for Microchip ATMega 8-bit AVR microcontrollers. The RP2040 is however not a fork of the original project, but instead a complete re-implementation of the firmware. You’ll need to connect your I2C sensor, display, or another module to the SDA (GPIO 2) and SCL (GPIO 3) pins of the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller and flash the “pre-release” firmware to the board. You’ll find it together with the source code written in C language on GitHub. Note the project has a “proof of concept status” and more testing is needed to make sure that […]

November 7, 2022November 9, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 758 Comments

Giveaway Week – NanoPi R5S router

It’s that time of year… CNX Software giveaway week! For the 9th edition, we’ll have seven items to give away, five that I will send myself, and two that will be sent directly from two companies that accepted to add their own products to the giveaway. We’ll start the giveaway with NanoPi R5S router based on Rockchip RK3568 SoC with 2 GB DDR4 RAM, 8GB eMMC flash plus an M.2 socket for NVMe SSD, two 2.5GbE Ethernet ports, one Gigabit Ethernet port, as well as HDMI 2.0 video output and two USB 3.0 ports. I reviewed the NanoPi R5S router with OpenWrt and Ubuntu 20.04 “FriendlyCore”, but I had to call this a “preview” since 2.5GbE was far from optimal, sometimes only a little faster than with a Gigabit Ethernet link. But I can see the company has released new images, including one based on the latest OpenWrt 22.03, […]