Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC gets upstream Linux support

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Linux

Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform just a few days ago, but Linaro has just announced that Linux was already upstreamed to the premium mobile SoC featuring a 3.2 GHz Arm Cortex-X3 “Prime” core, four performance cores at up to 2.8 GHz, and three Efficiency cores clocked at up to 2.0 GHz. Most of the work was done by Linaro Engineers Abel Vesa and Neil Armstrong with initial support posted on November 16th on the Linux kernel mailing list, and with the set of patches released so far, it is even possible to boot a minimal AOSP image on a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 development kit shown below which should be manufactured by Lantronix, if history is any guide. The following features are enabled in mainline Linux for the Qualcomm 8 Gen 2 processor, codenamed SM8550: Qualcomm Kryo CPUs with DVFS and Power Control support System – […]

Orange Pi OS – An Android-based desktop OS with Windows 11’s look and feel

Orange Pi OS Android Windows 11 interface

The manufacturer of Orange Pi boards, Shenzhen Xunlong Software, has formally announced the release of Orange Pi OS based on Android with a Windows 11-styled desktop that we are told can also be switched to macOS look and feel, and offering features typically found in desktop operating systems such as multi-window support. I understand the current release of the operating system works on Orange Pi 800 keyboard PC and the Orange Pi 5 SBC should also be supported once soon. We’re told Orange Pi OS is based on Android 12, but that may be an error since I’m not aware of an Android 12 SDK for the Rockchip RK3399 processor. The company plans to release an Arch Linux Arm version named Orange Pi OS (Arch) as well as an Open Harmony variant called Orange Pi OS (OH) next year. Orange Pi OS highlights: Design similar to Windows 11 with a […]

LinkStar H68K – A Rockchip RK3568 “multimedia” router with dual 2.5GbE, dual Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6

LinkStar H68K

Linkstar H68K is a Rockchip RK3568 multimedia router with two 2.5GbE ports, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, an optional WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 module, a few USB ports, and an HDMI 2.1 port supporting up to 4Kp60. Rockchip RK3568 was initially introduced as a solution for NVRs, but I’ve yet to see any, Instead, we’ve gotten some SBCs and mini PCs, as well as several routers such as NanoPi R5S, FastRhino R68s, and the upcoming Radxa E25 that will be announced next week. Linkstar H68K specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 MP2 GPU, 0.8 TOPS AI accelerator, 4Kp60 H.265/H.264/VP9 video decoder, 1080p60 H.264/H.265 video encoder System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4X Storage 32GB eMMC flash MicroSD card socket Video Output – 1x HDMI 2.1 port up to 4Kp60 Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, digital audio via HDMI Networking 2x 2.5GbE RJ45 […]

GOLE 1 R mini PC offers Rockchip RK3588 CPU, 5.5-inch touchscreen display

GOLE 1 R RK3588 mini PC touchscreen

HIGOLE introduced the GOLE1 mini PC with a touchscreen display in 2015 mostly to get a free and legal Windows 10 license, but over the years the company launched more Intel models inspired by the original design. However, their latest model, the GOLE 1 R, is based on Rockchip RK3588 octa-core Arm Cortex-A76/A55 SoC instead and running Android 12 by default. The GOLE 1 R is equipped with 8GB RAM, 128GB eMMC flash, a 5.5-inch touchscreen display, Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi connectivity, a microphone, speaker, a gravity sensor, and a 2,500 mAh battery. The company also sells the GOLE 1 RN mini PC without a display, a microphone, a speaker, or a battery for power. GOLE 1 R/RN specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588 octa-core processor with four Cortex-A76 cores @ 2.4 GHz, four Cortex-A55 cores @ 1.8 GHz, an Arm Mali-G610 MP4 GPU, a 6TOPS NPU, 8K 10-bit decoder, 8K […]

Giveaway Week 2022 winners announced!

CNX Software Giveaway Week 2022 Winners

CNX Software’s Giveaway Week 2022 has just ended, and it’s time to announce the winners. Just like last year, some companies added to the review samples I offered with Rakwireless and ELECFREAKS offering a LoRaWAN devkit and an educational robot respectively. If you check out the photo of the items given away below you’ll find quite more than seven because the SONOFF NSPanel kit includes four Zigbee modules, and more importantly, we also organized a parallel giveaway week on CNX Software Thailand with small boards such as the Raspberry Pi Zero W or XIAO BLE. We had eight winners on CNX Software: NanoPi R5S gateway – Ingmar, GERMANY e-con Systems e-CAM20_CURB camera – Johnny, ESTONIA Pico:ed Smart Cutebot Kit –  jednorozec, CZECH REPUBLIC Pico:ed V2 board – Leonardo, BRAZIL Sonoff NSPanel Pro and Zigbee modules – Tim, CANADA RAK Developer Kit (Air Quality Kit) – Magnus, SWEDEN GL.iNet GL-S10 BLE […]

Giveaway Week – Mekotronics R58 mini PC

Mekotronics R58 USB ports

Let’s end Giveaway Week 2022 with a bang, and more exactly a rather powerful Rockchip RK3588 mini PC: Mekotronics R58 (mini). The device comes with 8GB RAM and 64GB flash storage, two 8K capable HDMI 2.0 output ports, one DisplayPort output,  one HDMI input, Gigabit Ethernet and WiFI 6 connectivity,  as well as a few USB 3.0/2.0 ports, plus support for a SATA drive. I reviewed the Rockchip RK3588 mini PC with Android 12 last July, and I was impressed by the CPU and GPU performance, 4K video playback capabilities, except for AV1 which was not stable at the time, and support for HDMI audio passthrough. Android 12 was quite stable at that early stage as well. Some downsides included the lack of a useful HDMI input app and USB 3.0 performance that could be improved. I always test samples before adding them to the giveaway, and I initially thought […]

Orange Pi 5 Rockchip RK3588S SBC launched for $60 and up

Orange Pi 5

Orange Pi 5 (LTS) is a single board computer powered by Rockchip RK3588S cost-down octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor that offers one of the best cost/performance ratios on the market with pre-order pricing starting at just $60. The SBC was initially unveiled with up to  32GB RAM and 32GB eMMC flash, but at launch, Shenzhen Xunlong Software offers models with 4GB and 8GB RAM, and no flash storage. The board supports dual 8K display setups thanks to HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 Type-C video outputs and also features up to two MIPI DSI display interfaces, three camera interfaces, Gigabit Ethernet, and WiFi 6 connectivity, and a few USB ports plus a GPIO header. Orange Pi 5 LTS specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588S octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz, Arm Mali-G610 MP4 GPU, 6 TOPS AI accelerator System Memory – […]

MediaTek unveils Dimensity 9200 Octa-core Cortex-X3/A710/A510 5G mobile processor

MediaTek Dimensity 9200

MediaTek has just launched the Dimensity 9200 octa-core flagship 5G mobile processor with one Cortex-X3 core, two Cortex-A710 cores, and four Cortex-A510 cores, as well as the latest Arm Immortalis-G715 GPU. Manufactured for a TSMC 4nm processor for efficiency, the new flagship processor supports mmWave 5G and sub-6GHz cellular connectivity, LPDDR5x 8,533 Mbps memory, UFS 4.0 storage, and embeds a faster MediaTek APU 690 AI processor   MediaTek Dimensity 9200 specifications: Octa-core CPU subsystem 1x Arm Cortex-X3 core at up to 3.05 GHz 3x Arm Cortex-A710 cores at up to 2.85 GHz 4x Arm Cortex-A510 cores up to 1.80GHz 8MB L3 cache 6MB system cache GPU – Arm Immortalis-G715 with support for Vulkan 1.3, hardware-based ray tracing engine AI Accelerator – MediaTek APU 690 AI processor with MDLA (MediaTek Deep Learning Accelerator), MVPU (MediaTek Vision Processing Unit), SME (I don’t know what that is), and DMA Memory I/F – LPDRR5x 8,533 […]