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

July 17, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Star Lite Mk III Pentium N5000 Laptop Ships with a Choice of 6 Linux Distributions

There aren’t that many companies shipping Linux laptops, and often it’s either at the entry-level of the market with Arm-based Pine64 PineBook or PineBook Pro, or at the higher-end with products such as Dell XPS 13 developer edition or System76 Linux laptops. If you’d like something in between, you could install Ubuntu on a laptop yourself, but drivers are not always working, and sometimes when the laptop is confirmed to work, the manufacturer may decide to completely redesign the hardware. Star Lite Mk III Linux laptop may be an interesting alternative, as the Intel Pentium N5000 Gemini Lake laptop is up for pre-order for $427 US and up with delivery scheduled to start in September. Specifications: SoC – Intel Pentium N5000 quad-core Gemini Lake processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.7 GHz (Turbo) with 4MB cache, Intel UHD 605 graphics @ 200/750 MHz; 6W TDP System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4 @ […]

July 17, 2020July 21, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

Rock Pi E SBC Comes with WiFi, Bluetooth, Two Ethernet Ports, and Optional PoE

Radxa has launched several Rockchip boards from the higher-end Rock Pi N10 (RK3399Pro) and Rock Pi 4 (RK3399) SBC’s, to the low-end and tiny Rock Pi S powered by an RK3308 Cortex-A35 processor. The company has now launched Rock Pi E single board computer equipped with the popular Rockchip RK3328 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor and designed for router & gateway application with two Ethernet ports, WiFi, and Bluetooth. Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) also comes as an option. Rock Pi E specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3328 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.3 GHz System Memory – 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, or 2GB DDR3 Storage – MicroSD card slot up to 128GB, eMMC module support ( 16GB / 32GB / 64GB / 128GB) Video & Audio – 3.5mm AV output jack (Not 100% sure whether composite video is supported) Connectivity 1x Gigabit Ethernet port with PoE support via an additional HAT 10/100M Ethernet Wireless […]

July 17, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 Coming Next Year with PCIe/NVMe Support

The Raspberry Pi 4 features a Broadcom BCM2711 processor with Cortex-A72/A53 cores that makes it competitive against other SBC’s based on Rockchip RK3399 or Amlogic S922X/A311D processors. The new processor also happens to have a PCIe interface, but it’s not exposed on the board since the interface is used by VIA VL805 PCIe USB 3.0 controller for the four USB 3.0 ports on the little computer. At the time, we expected the PCIe interface to be exposed in future Raspberry Pi boards or a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4. But some people did not feel like waiting and instead hack the Raspberry Pi 4 SBC to access the PCIe interface. That hack is clearly not for everyone though… But based on a recent interview of Eben Upton with Tom’s Hardware we got pretty much confirmation that the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 will be coming next year, and expose PCIe […]

July 16, 2020November 8, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 53 Comments

ODROID-N2 Plus SBC Gets Amlogic S922X Rev. C Processor Clocked at up to 2.4 GHz

Announced in February 2019, ODROID-N2 Amlogic S922X SBC launched the following month with 2GB to 4GB RAM, HDMI 2.0 output, Gigabit Ethernet, multiple USB 3.0 ports with pricing starting at $63 making very good value for an hexa-core Cortex-A73/A53 processor. The company has now announced an upgraded with ODROID-N2 Plus SBC featuring Amlogic S922X Rev.C bringing the Cortex-A73 big core maximum clock frequency from 1.8 GHz to 2.2GHz. But Hardkernel also found out they could overclock the processor up to 2.4 GHz in all 300 boards they have delivered a 33% boost over the original ODROID-N2 board. The Cortex-A53 cores are also a bit faster up to 2.0 GHz. ODROID-N2+ specifications: SoC – Amlogic S922X Rev.C hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 4x Arm Cortex A73 cores @ up to 2.2/2.4GHz, 2x Arm Cortex A53 cores @ 2.0GHz, Arm Mali-G52 GPU @ 846MHz; 12nm manufacturing process System Memory – 2GB or 4GB […]

July 16, 2020July 16, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Xiaomi Mi TV Stick with Android TV Launched for as low as $29.99

There’s been a fair amount of leaks related to Xiaomi Mi TV Stick around the web for the last few months, but the company has now finally launched their Android TV TV stick with a quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, and 8GB storage. While there were rumors about a 4K version, Xiaomi Mi TV Stick only outputs up to 1080p60, and since it runs the official Android TV OS, supports Chromecast and Google Assistant out of the box. Official Price: 39.99 Euros. But you can get it on Aliexpress for as low as $29.99 with coupon 715MITVSTICK. Xiaomi Mi TV Stick specifications: SoC- Amlogic S805Y quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.2 GHz with Arm Mali-450MP GPU (Source: Twitter) System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 8GB storage Video Output – HDMI up to 1080p60 Video Codecs – VP9-10, H.265, H.264, VC-1, MPEG1/2/4, real 8/9/10 Audio – Via HDMI, Dolby and DTS support […]

July 16, 2020July 16, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Pinephone “Community Edition: PostmarketOS” Launched with 3GB RAM, 32GB Flash, USB-C Hub

After PinePhone “BraveHeart Edition” with any OS pre-installed introduced at the end of last year, Pine64 launched PinePhone “Community Edition: UBports” with Ubuntu Touch last April, and now the company is taking pre-orders for Pinephone “Community Edition: PostmarketOS with Convergence Package”. Besides using a different operating system, the new PinePhone also got a hardware upgrade with 3GB RAM and 32GB flash instead of the 2GB/16GB configuration from earlier models. Due to the changes and the addition of a USB-C dock for convergence, the price has also gone up from $149.99 to $199.99 with shipping scheduled to start at the end of August. If you don’t need the extra memory, storage, and convergence package, you can still pre-order PinePhone with postmarketOS for $149.99. PinePhone “Community Edition: PostmarketOS with Convergence Package” specifications: SoC – Allwinner A64 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.2 GHz with Arm Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 3GB […]

July 15, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

GloDroid Brings Android 10 OS to Raspberry Pi 4, Orange Pi SBC’s, PinePhone, and PineTab

The community of developers working on software for single board computers often prefer to focus on Linux support, as companies will often provide Android firmware images. But those Android OS images are often not maintained at all, so we’ve seen some projects like the past such as H3droid bringing a better Android OS to Allwinner H3 and H2+ boards and devices. The project is still using Android 4.4 KitKat and that’s getting old with some apps like the latest version of Kodi not working anymore. But a new project has just been brought to my attention with GloDroid leveraging AOSP to bring Android 10 to various Allwinner based boards and platforms, as well as Raspberry Pi 4B. List of supported Allwinner hardware: Allwinner H3 (32-bit) based – Orange Pi Plus 2 SBC, Orange Pi Plus 2E board, Orange Pi PC Allwinner H5 (64-bit) based – Orange Pi Prime, Orange Pi […]

July 15, 2020January 30, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Kano PC 2-in-1 DIY Hybrid Laptop is Powered by an Intel Celeron N4000 Gemini Lake SoC

Kano PC DIY computer kit was launched last year with a low-end Intel Atom x5-Z8350 processor and designed to help kids learn about computers. The company has now launched the second-generation Kano PC with a faster Intel Celeron N4000 dual-core processor, and longer battery life making the 2-in-1 DIY Hybrid laptop/tablet capable of rivaling with entry-level laptops and Chromebooks. Kano PC specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N4000 dual-core Gemini Lake processor @ 1.10 GHz with Intel UHD graphics; 6W TDP System Memory – 4GB DDR3L RAM Storage – 64GB eMMC flash with 164 MB/s write speed, MicroSD slot Display – 11.6″ touchscreen with 1366 x 768 resolution Video Output – 1x HDMI port Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack, 3.5mm speaker level jack, 1x microphone Connectivity – Dual-band Wi-Fi 4 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 5.0 USB – 2x USB 3.0, 1x USB-C LEDs – 1x power on (red), 1x barrel connector (red), […]