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

November 22, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

One Mix 3 Pro Comet Lake Mini Laptop Launched for $960

There have been several mini laptops from GPD, Chuwi, and One Netbook launched over the last few years. One Netbook One Mix 3Pro is one of the most powerful with one of the latest Comet Lake processor coupled with 16GB RAM, a 512GB NVMe SSD, and equipped with an 8.4″ touchscreen display with 2560×1440 resolution. So far, the device was only available in China for 6,919 RMB ($984 US), but GeekBuying is now selling the One Mix 3 Pro for $959.99 with free shipping and either an English or Japanese keyboard. You may lower the price by $20 using Mix3Pro coupon code, and even $60 with coupon GKB19BF60 valid for orders over $600 as we reported in our Black Friday 2019 post. Here’s a reminder of One Mix 3 Pro specifications: SoC – Intel Core i5-10120Y Comet Lake-Y (10th gen) 4-core/8-thread processor @ 1.0 GHz (base) / 4.0 GHz (turbo […]

November 21, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Magicsee N5 Plus Amlogic S905X3 TV Box Comes with a 2.5″ SATA HDD/SSD Bay

Amlogic S905X3 TV boxes have been announced since June. S905X3 is Amlogic’s first Arm Cortex-A55 processor and targets 4K UHD HDR TV boxes. If you plan to play files locally, you may do so from a USB hard drive connected to one of the USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 ports, but Magicsee N5 Plus offers another option thanks to a SATA bay for 2.5″ hard drives or SSD’s. Magicsee N5 Plus specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X3 quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.9 GHz with Arm Mali-G31MP2 GPU System Memory – 2GB or 4GB DDR4 Storage – 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot, 2.5″ SATA HDD/SSD bay up to 4TB Video & Audio Output HDMI 2.1 up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDCP, CEC, HDR 3.5mm AV jack for composite video (480i/576i) and stereo audio Optical S/PDIF Video Playback – 10-bit H.265 up to 8K @ […]

November 21, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Khadas VIM3 NPU ToolKit Release & Video Demo

Khadas VIM3 board based on Amlogic A311D processor with a 5TOPS Neural-network Processing Unit (NPU) launched last June. We’ve reviewed VIM3 with Android 9 shortly after launch, but until recently it was not possible to leverage the NPU since the software was not quite ready yet. The goods news is that Khadas has now released the NPU toolkit for both VIM3, and the cheaper VIM3L boards. The NPU toolkit contains the following directory: docs – Model conversion documentation acuity-toolkit – Model conversion tools linux_sdk – Linux SDK android_sdk – Android SDK The toolkit works in host PCs running Ubuntu 16.04 or 18.04 with Tensorflow framework, and inference can run on both Linux and Android OS in Khadas VIM3/3L board. It includes an Inception v3 sample with 299×299 sample photos, among other demos. You’ll find documentation to get started with model conversion and inference in Linux on Khadas Wiki. You can […]

November 20, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Boardcon EM-IMX8M-MINI SBC Drives a MIPI DSI Display via NXP i.MX 8M Mini Processor

We’ve been covered SBC’s and SoM’s from Boardcon for at least 5 years, with our latest article detailing Boardcon Idea3399 SBC powered by Rockchip RK3399 processor, and launched this September. The company has now launched another single board computer with EM-IMX8M-MINI featuring an NXP i.MX 8M Mini system-on-module (SoM) with 2GB LPDDR4, 8GB eMMC flash, and wireless connectivity. The board is designed for a “wide range of multimedia applications” and offers a MIPI DSI interface for LCDs up to 1920×1080 resolution. Boardcon EM-IMX8M-MINI specifications: SOM-IMX8M-MINI SoM (aka PICO-IMX8MM-V1) SoC – NXP i.MX8M Mini Quad with 4x Arm Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.8GHz, Arm an Arm Cortex-M4F real-time microcontroller @ 400MHz, Vivante GCNanoUltra 3D GPU, and Vivante GC320 2D GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR4 RAM Storage – 8GB eMMC 5.1 flash, QSPI NOR flash Connectivity – 802.11n WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.0 via an Ampak AP6236 module I/Os via 200-pin […]

November 20, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Centaur Unveils an x86 SoC with Integrated AI Coprocessor

Artificial intelligence is handled at different levels in the ecosystem with ultra-powerful systems in the cloud equipped with dedicated hardware such as FPGA or GPU cards, while on the other side of the spectrum we have Arm or RISC-V based processor with AI accelerator for low power systems like smartphones or battery-powered smart cameras. Centaur Technology aims to provide a solution catering to the middle segment of devices that don’t need ultra-low power consumption, nor the highest possible peak performance, but still require a relatively compact form factor and low costs. Their solution is a still-unnamed octa-core x86 processor featuring Centaur NCORE AI coprocessor. SoC with built-in NPU (Neural-network Processing Unit) is pretty common in the Arm and RISC-V world, but it’s apparently a world’s first in the x86 space since existing solutions are all based on external accelerators. Key features of the Centaur x86 AI processor: x86 microprocessor with […]

November 19, 2019November 20, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 33 Comments

Orange Pi 4/4B SBC Comes with Rockchip RK3399 SoC, Gyrfalcon 2801S NPU

Shenzhen Xunlong Software’s Orange Pi RK3399 single board computer launched in early 2018 with 2GB RAM for $109, and earlier this year, the company launched an updated version with 4GB RAM and a lower $99.96 price tag. But there are plenty Rockchip RK3399 SBC’s on the market, including FrienglyELEC NanoPi M4 going for $50 and up ($75 with 4GB RAM), and Pine64 RockPro64 board starting at $59.99 with 2GB RAM, and $79.99 with 4GB. So unless you need the extra features (HDMI Input, SATA port, mPCIe socket…) offered by Orange Pi RK3399, other boards may be more competitive. So the company has been working on lowering the cost with a smaller board. Meet Orange Pi 4. They’ve also provided some extra features with a variant of the board called Orange Pi 4B that adds a Gyrfalcon Lightspeeur 2801S AI accelerator chip/NPU. That says a lot that neither Rockchip RK3399Pro SoC […]

November 19, 2019December 3, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 43 Comments

Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2019 – International Deals

As every year, November is the month of deals. With Single’s Day 2019 behind us, it’s time to look ahead for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There will be plenty of deals in the US, but in this post, I’ll focus on international Black Friday 2019 deals available mostly from Chinese online shops like I did in previous years. Aliexpress Black Friday will start in about 10 days on Nov 29, 2019 ,12:00 AM PT and last until Dec 3, 2019 ,11:59 PM PT. But the site will start to show discounted prices on November 22, and you’ll be able to collect coins and coupons from that date, as well as add items to your cart before making the order during the 6-day promotion. Banggood Black Friday promotions have already started and will last until November 30 16:00 UTC+8. The easiest and most flexible way to get a discount is […]

November 18, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Some FUJITSU FUTRO Thin Clients are Powered by Intel Gemini Lake Refresh SoC’s

Fujitsu FUTRO-Gemini Lake Refresh Thin -Client

Six new Intel Gemini Lake Refresh processors were just announced a couple of weeks ago, and some of the first systems to feature the processor are part of FUJTISU Thin Client FUTRO family. Three models based on the new processors have been introduced with namely FUTRO S9010, S7010, and S5010 thin clients, all passively-cooled, running either eLux RP or Windows 10 IoT Entreprise, and equipped with SO-DIMM slots, M.2 SSD storage, six USB ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and two DisplayPort outputs. Beside the processor, the three thin clients share mostly share the same specifications, especially S5010 and S7010, and S9010 does add a few features: SoC FUTRO S9010 – Intel Pentium Silver J5040 quad-core GLK Refresh processor @ 2.0 GHz (up to 3.2 GHz) with Intel UHD Graphics 605; 10W TDP FUTRO S7010 – Intel Celeron J4125 quad-core GLK Refresh processor @ 2.0 GHz (up to 2.7 GHz) with Intel UHD […]