Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Novasom M7+ SBC Adds FFC HDMI Connector, USB & RS-485 Headers, Improves on Raspberry Pi 3 SW Compatibility

Novasom M7+ SBC Adds FFC HDMI Connector, USB & RS-485 Headers, Improves on Raspberry Pi 3 SW Compatibility

Novasom M7+

We previously wrote about Novasom M7 Rockchip RK3328 SBC being promoted as a drop-in replacement for Raspberry Pi 3 in industrial projects. That’s despite the different port arrangement, and instead, the company bases the claim on the availability of the 40-pin header, mounting holes matching RPI 3 board design, as well as software compatibility thanks to a library that allows customers to re-use the code written for Raspberry Pi boards. Based on feedback from customers, the company has made some changes to their design and launched Novasom M7+ SBC, and made several improvement to the software to be even more compatible with Raspberry Pi 3 board. Specifically there are five changes: Ability to power the board via the USB type-A port (5V) as an alternative to the 12V power barrel jack Stronger Backlight Driver for display  up to 6A @5V) t FFC cable for HDMI output – The dimension of the HDMI cable and its rigidity may make it hard …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 31 Comments on Rock Pi S mini SBC Now Available for $15 with 512MB RAM, 512MB SD NAND Flash, WiFi & Bluetooth

Rock Pi S mini SBC Now Available for $15 with 512MB RAM, 512MB SD NAND Flash, WiFi & Bluetooth

Rock Pi S SBC

Rock Pi S is a tiny single board computer powered by Rockchip RK3308 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor coupled with up to 512MB RAM, up to 1GB SD NAND flash, as well as a USB port, Fast Ethernet & optional WiFi & Bluetooth connectivity which was announced to sell for as low as $9.90 with 256MB RAM, 256MB flash and no wireless module. Seeed Studio has now started to take pre-orders for Rock Pi S with the board selling for $14.90 with 512 MB RAM, 512MB SD NAND flash, WiFi & Bluetooth. Shipping is scheduled to start on October 15th. [Update: Seeed Studio has also listed the 256MB RAM version of the board for $9.90] Rock Pi S specifications as currently sold on Seeed Studio: SoC – Rockchip RK3308 quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 processor @ up to 1.3 GHz with built-in VAD (Voice Activity Detector) System Memory – 512MB RAM Storage – MicroSD card for OS storage media, 4-Gbit onboard SD NAND storage …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 30 Comments on NanoPI NEO2 Black Allwinner H5 SBC Adds an eMMC flash Module, Up to 1GB RAM

NanoPI NEO2 Black Allwinner H5 SBC Adds an eMMC flash Module, Up to 1GB RAM

NanoPi NEO2 Black

NanoPi NEO2, now called NanoPi NEO2 LTS, is a great little Allwinner H5 SBC designed for server/headless applications with Ethernet & USB ports, as well as I/O headers. FriendlyELEC is now about to launch a new variant called NanoPi NEO2 Black with the same form factor and Allwinenr H5 64-bit Arm SoC, but adding an eMMC flash module, supporting up to 1GB RAM, modifications to the I/O headers, and featuring a black PCB instead of the blue PCB found in NEO2-LTS. NanoPi NEO2 Black SBC specifications with changes in bold or stricken-through: SoC – Allwinner H5 quad-core Cortex A53 processor with an ARM Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 512 MB or 1GB DDR3 Storage – MicroSD card slot, eMMC flash module connector Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet (via RTL8211E-VB-CG chip) USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 1x micro USB OTG port, 2x 1x USB via headers Expansion headers 10-pin header with I2C, 2x UART, SPI, GPIOs, PWM, and power signals …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Rock Pi 4C SBC to Support Dual Display Setups via micro HDMI and mini DP Ports

Rock Pi 4C SBC to Support Dual Display Setups via micro HDMI and mini DP Ports

rock pi 4 model C

Rockchip RK3399 powered Rock Pi 4 SBC was introduced at the end of 2018 and followed nearly exactly Raspberry Pi 3 Model B form factor just with a more powerful processor, GPU, as well as more memory depending on which model you purchase. But in June 2019, the Raspberry Pi foundation launched Raspberry Pi 4 SBC with a much faster processor and many of the same ports as its predecessor except for support for two HDMI displays via micro HDMI ports. Radxa has now followed suit with Rock Pi 4C which offers two modern video outputs, but with a twist as the upcoming SBC combines one micro HDMI port with one mini DP port. Rock Pi 4C was introduced at the XDC 2019 conference where open-source graphics developers meet, and Radxa was a “supporter”. The company explains Rock Pi 4B uses RK3399’s USB type-C controller for the two USB 3.0 ports, and as a result, they only have 2 remaining …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on NPi i.MX6ULL (Not So) Industrial-grade Linux SBC Starts at $39

NPi i.MX6ULL (Not So) Industrial-grade Linux SBC Starts at $39

NPi i.MX6ULL

[Update: I was initially informed the temperature range of the board was -40°C to +105°C, but Seeed Studio issues a correction explaining the Core module itself is rated -20℃ ~ 80℃ temperature range, and they haven’t tested the breakout board at all so we just don’t know. That’s mean the board is not industrial-grade at all. I’ve left the rest of the post mostly unchanged] We’ve covered several NXP i.MX boards in recent days, but here’s another NXP board courtesy of Seeed Studio with NPi i.MX6ULL industrial-grade Linux SBC powered by a low power NXP i.MX6ULL Arm Cortex A7 processor. The board also comes with 512MB RAM, either an 8GB eMMC flash or 256MB NAND flash for storage, features two Fast Ethernet ports, and various I/Os including two 40-pin GPIO expansion headers. NPi i.MX6ULL board specifications: Core Module SoC – NXP MCIMX6Y2CVM08AB single Cortex-A7 core @ up to 800 MHz System Memory – 512MB DDR3L Storage NPi-i.MX6ULL eMMC module – …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on AAEON BOXER-8310AI Rugged Fanless Mini PC Combines Apollo Lake Processor & Myriad X VPU for AI Edge Applications

AAEON BOXER-8310AI Rugged Fanless Mini PC Combines Apollo Lake Processor & Myriad X VPU for AI Edge Applications

AAEON BOXER-8310AI rugged fanless mini PC

We’ve covered several of AAEON rugged mini PCs part of BOXER-8100 family powered by an NVIDIA Tegra X2 processor and targetting AI Edge applications. The company has now introduced three new AI embedded computers for the same AI edge applications but using Intel processors together with Intel/Movidius Myriad X VPU (Vision Processing Unit) for AI acceleration. The three models are BOXER-8310AI, BOXER-8320AI, and the upcoming BOXER-8330AI based on respectively Intel Celeron/Pentium Apollo Lake processor, Intel Core i3 7th gen processor, and an Intel Core i3/77 or Xeon processor. I’ll focus on the Apollo Lake model in this post to introduce AAEON BOXER-8300AI family of rugged mini PCs. BOXER-8310AI specifications: SoC (one or the other) Intel Pentium N4200 quad-core Apollo Lake processor Intel® Celeron N3350 dual-core Apollo Lake processor System Memory –  1x DDR3L SODIMM slot supporting up to 8GB RAM @ 1867 MHz Storage Device – mSATA socket AI Module – AI Core X with Intel Movidius Myriad X VPU …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Piper Computer Kit 2 is a DIY Raspberry Pi 3 Computer for Kids’ Education

Piper Computer Kit 2 is a DIY Raspberry Pi 3 Computer for Kids’ Education

Piper Computer 2

Kids can easily build theirs own computer and then learn more about electronics and programming thanks to Piper Computer Kit 2. The kit is based on Raspberry Pi 3 SBC, a 9″ display, a power bank, and all bits and pieces required for assembly. There’s also a 16GB microSD with the OS and the company’s PiperCode software to learn the basics of programming. The complete kit comes with the following items: SBC – Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Storage – 16GB MicroSD card Display – 9″ 1024 x 600 LCD display with HDMI cable Audio – Integrated speaker 25+ laser-etched wooden and acrylic pieces 50+ hardware pieces 20+ electronic components Battery – 7,800 mAh rechargeable battery/power bank Phillips-head screwdriver 8 square foot laminated blueprint USB Mouse This is whay it looks like after around two hours of assembly time. Kids can then start playing Raspberry Pi Edition Mineccraft and some mini-games, and get started with PiPerCode projects first using Google’s …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Raspberry Pi CM3+ based EagleEye Smart Camera Works with OpenCV and LabVIEW NI Vision

Raspberry Pi CM3+ based EagleEye Smart Camera Works with OpenCV and LabVIEW NI Vision

Raspberry Pi CM3 Industrial Smart Camera

We previously covered Q-Wave Systems’ Melon S3 board combining a Xilinx Spartan 3E FPGA with ESP8266, but the Thai company is back is a completely different product: EagleEye Smart Camera. The board is powered by Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+ (CM3+) with 16GB or 32GB flash, and equipped with a 5 MP camera for machine vision and robotics applications.  There are two version of the board Uno and Industrial with the latter adding 24V digital input and outputs, circuit protections and support for industrial temperature range. EagleEye smart camera key features & specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi CM3+ with Broadcom BCM2837B0 quad core cortex-A53 processor, 1 GB RAM, and 16GB or 32 GB flash Camera – 5 MP OV5647 image sensor,  CS/M12 lens holder + 4mm CS lens Video Output – mini HDMI port Networking – 10/100M Ethernet USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port up to 1.2A Expansion Uno – 4x 3.3V digital input; 4x 3.3V digital output; both …

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