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

October 13, 2016October 13, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Vensmile K8 Keyboard PC includes a Touch Panel & Flexible Keyboard

I’ve seen some strange and/or innovative mini PCs over the years, and Vensmile K8 certainly gets into the top products of that category. That’s basically a mini PC powered by an Intel Atom Cherry Trail processor, but with the top cover acting as a touch panel, and the device is also connected to flexible QWERTY keyboard. Vensmile K8 flexible keyboard PC specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8300 “Cherry Trail” quad core processor @ 1.44 GHz / 1.84 GHz with Intel Gen8 HD graphics (2W SDP) System Memory – 4 GB DDR3L (option for 2GB) Storage – 64 GB eMMC flash (option for 32GB) + micro SD slot up to 32GB Touch Panel – 10 point capacitive touch panel Keyboard – 87-key flexible QWERTY keyboard Video Output – HDMI and VGA ports Audio I/O – HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack, built-in microphone Connectivity – Dual band 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0 […]

October 13, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Imagination Technologies Announces MIPS Warrior I-class I6500 Heterogeneous CPU with up to 384 Cores

Imagination has just unveiled the successor of MIPS I6400 64-Bit Warrior Core with MIPS Warrior I-class I6500 heterogeneous CPU supporting up to 64 cluster, with up to 6 cores each (384 cores max), themselves up to 4 thread (1536 max), combining with IOCU (IO coherence units), and external IP such as PowerVR GPU or other hardware accelerators. The main features of MIPS I6400 processor are listed as follows: Heterogeneous Inside – In a single cluster, designers can optimize power consumption with the ability to configure each CPU with different combinations of threads, different cache sizes, different frequencies, and even different voltage levels. Heterogeneous Outside – The latest MIPS Coherence Manager with an AMBA ACE interface to popular ACE coherent fabric solutions such as those from Arteris and Netspeed lets designers mix on a chip configurations of processing clusters – including PowerVR GPUs or other accelerators – for high system […]

October 12, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Intel Has Started Sampling Altera Stratix 10 ARM Cortex A53 + FPGA SoC

Intel bought Altera last year, which means Intel is now in the FPGA business, and the company has recently announced they had started to provide samples of Startix 10 SoC manufactured using Intel 14 nm tri-gate process. The interesting part if that beside FPGA fabric, the SoC also includes four ARM Cortex A53 cores. Intel / Altera Stratix 10 SoC key features and specifications: Processor – Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 MP Core up to 1.5 GHz Logic Core Performance – 1 GHz Logic Density Range – 500K LE – 5.5M LE Embedded Memory – 229 Mb Up to 11,520 18 x 19 Multipliers Up to 144 Transceivers up to 30 Gbps data rate (Chip to Chip) Memory Devices Supported – DDR4 SDRAM @ 1,333 MHz,DDR3 SDRAM @ 1066 MHz, LPDDR3 @ 800 MHz, RLDRAM 3 @ 1200 MHz, QDR IV SRAM @ 1066 MHz, QDR II+ SRAM @ 633 MHz, Hybrid […]

October 12, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Android 7.1 Developer Preview Coming Soon with Image Keyboard Support, App Shortcuts API, etc…

Google will soon release Android 7.1 Developer Preview for Nexus 5X & Nexus 6P smartphone, as well as Pixel C tablet, listed some of the changes you can expect in the new dot release, and provided a timeline for other devices and the official launch. Android 7.1 developer and user visible changes will include: App shortcuts API will allow developer to set up to 5 shortcuts accessibly from app icon directly in the launcher. For example, a messaging app could have shortcuts to your favorite users and/or open a new conversation. Circular app icons support to create rounded icons similar to what is used in Pixel launcher. Enhanced live wallpaper metadata so that developers can show existing metadata such as label, description, and author, as well as a new context URL and title to link to more information. Image keyboard support will let user easily insert custom stickers, animated gifs, […]

October 12, 2016October 12, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments

CHIP Pro is a $16 WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2 System-on-Module Powered by a $6 GR8 ARM Cortex A8 SIP

Next Thing CHIP board and corresponding PocketCHIP portable Linux computer have been relatively popular due to their inexpensive price for the feature set, as for $9, you’d get an Allwinner R8 ARM Cortex A8 processor, 512MB flash, 4GB NAND flash, WiFi & Bluetooth connectivity, and plenty of I/Os, which made it very attractive for IoT applications compared to other cheap boards such as Raspberry Pi Zero and Orange Pi One. The first board was mostly designed for hobbyists, but company has now designed a new lower profile system-on-module called CHIP Pro based on Next Thing GR8 SIP combining Allwinner R8 SoC with 256MB DDR3 RAM that can be used for easy integration into your own hardware project. While the original CHIP board exposed full USB ports and interface for video signal, the new CHIP Pro is specifically designed for IoT with the following specs: SIP – Allwinner R8 ARM Cortex […]

October 11, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 34 Comments

SolidRun MACCHIATOBin is Another Marvell ARMADA 8040 Networking Mini-ITX Board

We’ve already seen SolidRun is working on a Marvell ARMADA 8040 quad core Cortex A72 community board for networking and storage applications, but based on a picture taken at Linaro Connect, the company is also working on a similar board with extra connectivity options called MACCHIATOBin. Apart from the picture, there’s no info on the web about this board, so we’ll have to derive specs from the photo, the community board features, and info provided by Marcin Juszkiewicz, so all details are preliminary and subject to change: SoC – ARMADA 8040 (88F8040) quad core Cortex A72 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz System Memory – 1x DDR4 DIMM up to 16GB RAM Storage – 3x SATA 3.0 port + micro SD slot Connectivity – 1x Gigabit RJ45 port, 1x SFP SGMII @ 2.5Gbps, 2x 10Gbps copper (RJ45) with auto switchover to dual SFP+ Expansion – 1x PCIe-x4 3.0 slot, Marvell […]

October 11, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Exilong RF & WiFi Irrigation System Automatically Takes Care of Your Garden Watering (Crowdfunding)

I find it fun to spend time watering the flowers and grass in my garden, but if you’d rather do it automatically then Tevatronic Exilong might be for you as the irrigation system controls up to 4 valves, triggers watering based on RF water sensing sensors via a gateway connected to the cloud through your wireless router. The kit gateway takes care of RF communication with sensors, WiFi connectivity to the cloud server, and turn on and off up to four 24V DC water valve part of your existing installation. It can be configured by iOS or Android mobile app, or your web browser. The other part of the kit are the water pressure sensors that you need to insert into the soil of your garden in order to monitor trees, bushes, and/or flowers. The sensors are using RF (433/915 MHz) communication, send data back to the gateway every minute, […]

October 11, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Samsung Starts Mass-Production of Exynos 7 Dual (7270) Processor used in Galaxy Gear S3 Smartwatch

Samsung has just issued a press release announcing the Korean company had just started mass-production of the first SoC for Wearables using 14-nm FinFET process with their Exynos 7 Dual (7270) dual Cortex A53 processor. Exynos 7270 is also said to be the first such SoC to embed full connectivity and LTE modem integration. Exynos 7270 specifications: CPU – Dual-core ARM Cortex–A53 processor @ up to 1.0 GHz GPU – ARM Mali-T720 Memory – LPDDR3 support Storage – eMMC 5.0, SD card interfaces Display – Up to 960×540 (qHD) resolution Camera – Up to 5MP pixel sensor support Multimedia – HD (720p@30fps) video with HEVC, H.264, VP8 Codec LTE Modem – LTE Category 4 non-CA Connectivity – WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, FM Radio GNSS – GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou PMIC – Integrated in SiP-ePoP package Package – SiP-ePoP, 10x10mm (SiP: System-in-Package; ePoP: embedded Package-on-Package) The SoC will be packaged inside a SiP-ePOP […]