Linux Category - Page 269 of 606 - CNX Software

April 8, 2019November 26, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Kettlepop is a Limited Edition of a CHIP Pro Derivative with 8GB eMMC flash

Next Things Co. CHIP was a $9 Arm Linux board based on Allwinner R8 processor that become fairly popular due to its low price, built-in WiFi & Bluetooth connectivity, open source hardware design, and integration into fun kits such as PocketCHIP portable gaming console/ Linux handheld computer. Later the company expanded their product line with CHIP Pro featuring Allwinner GR8 system-in-package, and designed as a low profile system-on-module to make it more suitable for integration into commercial products. Sadly, the company eventually ran into financial problems, and had to fold later in 2018. However, later that year, a company called Source Parts announced they were working on Popcorn Computer, a derivative of C.H.I.P. board, and appears to have sold it through Amazon US for a time. But this morning, I was informed that a board called Kettlepop was added to HackerBoards database with Next Things Co. GR8 SiP, and also […]

April 6, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Avnet Azure Sphere MT3620 Starter Kit Features Two mikroBUS Sockets

Microsoft and MediaTek worked together to design MediaTek MT3620 Arm Cortex-A7 processor with Microsoft Pluton security sub-system required for Microsoft Azure Sphere IoT ecosystem. We’ve already covered boards from Seeed Studio including the just announced low cost MT3620 mini dev board. But Microsoft also cooperated with Avnet which has recently introduced Azure Sphere MT3620 Starter Kit equipped with two mikroBUS sockets enabling the platform to leverage one of the 633 “click boards” available from MikroElektronika. Just like the latest Seeed Studio board, Avnet Azure Sphere MT3620 Starter Kit is comprised as a baseboard with a soldered-on CPU module that can later be used for mass-production is a custom designed board. Specifications: Azure Sphere MT3620 CPU Module Mediatek MT3620AN single core Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ 500 MHz with 4MB SRAM, dual core Arm Cortex-M4F real-time core @ 200 MHz with 64KB RAM, Microsoft Pluton security sub-system, and WiFi. Storage – TBD […]

April 2, 2019April 2, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

MINIX NEO Z83-4U Review – Ubuntu 18.04, Kodi 18, and Xibo Digital Signage

MINIX NEO Z83-4U is a Cherry Trail mini PC pre-loaded with Ubuntu 18.04. I received a sample a little while ago, and in the first part of NEO Z83-4U review I checked out the specifications and hardware that appears to be exactly the same a MINIX NEO Z83-4 Pro mini PC, except for the eMMC flash capacity that has increased from 32GB to 64GB. Since the mini PC comes with an older Atom X5-Z8350 processor, and is designed for commercial applications, I’ve decided to make a slightly different review. We already now how the system is supposed to perform thanks to benchmarks with NEO Z83-4 mini PC running Windows 10 Pro, so I’ll just check the main features are working as expected in Ubuntu 18.04, test audio & video support in Kodi 18.1, and try out Xibo Linux open source digital signage CMS and player on the mini PC. MINIX […]

April 1, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

ARBOR Introduces SOM-RP301 Rockchip PX30 SoM for Retail Kiosks

Rockchip PX30 is a quad core Cortex-A35 processor with a dual VOP (Video Output Processor) in order to drive two independent displays, that has low power consumption, low thermal requirements, and that we previously found in some car infotainment systems. But the processor is also suitable for other applications, and ARBOR Technology recently launched SOM-RP301 system-on-module based on the PX30 processor, and specifically designed for fanless retail kiosks such as electronic restaurant menus, automated currency exchange machines, ticketing kiosks and more. SOM-RP301 system-on-module specifications: SoC – Rockchip PX30 quad core Cortex-A35 processor @ 1.5 GHz with Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB LPDDR3 (Up to 4GB as option) Storage – 16 GB eMMC flash Connectivity – Fast Ethernet transceiver, 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 + Bluetooth 4.0 module Edge Connector – SO-DIMM connector with Display – LVDS or MIPI DSI Camera – MIPI CSI RX interface with 8MP ISP […]

April 1, 2019April 1, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Introducing CNX Election Meddling System

We love what we do at CNX Software, covering news, product launches, reviewing various types of boards and devices related to embedded systems. But we are also trying to expand our readers’ and our own horizon, always on the look out for unmet market needs that may be filled by the community at large. A few years ago, we found out that while democracy was all good, about people power and blah blah, it could create severe mental stress to the losing side, with talks of dark days for democracy, the end of the country as we know it, and so forth and so on. So we thought about ways to either help change the election outcome, at least lower the blow by making people feel they did the best they could possibly do beside just throwing a piece of paper in a box. That’s why we came up with […]

March 29, 2019March 31, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 85 Comments

ClearFog ITX Workstation May be the Ultimate Arm Developer Platform

Most people are still doing Arm development work on x86 platforms, because there aren’t really any viable equivalent in the Arm world. Current options include Edge Server SynQuacer E-Series (aka Linaro Developer Box), a $1,250 Arm PC shipping with a 24-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor, 4GB RAM (by default), a 1TB hard drive, and Geforce GT710 graphics cards, as well as the much more powerful GIGABYTE ThunderXStation workstation with up to two Cavium ThunderX 32-core Armv8 processors, 32GB to 128GB RAM configuration, NVMe storage, and more. The former was a good place to get started, but the Arm Cortex-A53 cores clicked at 1GHz provided limited performance, and the GIGAGYTE workstation costs over $12,000, so it’s only suitable for projects with specific needs and/or a high expected return on investment. That’s why there will be a discussion about Designing a next generation ARM Developer Platform at Linaro Connect 2019 next week in […]

March 28, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Ultra96-V2 96Boards AI Platform Adds Certified WiFi, PMICs, Industrial Temperature Range

Avnet Ultra96 was unveiled last year as one of the four 96Boards AI platforms designed to develop applications leveraging hardware to accelerated artificial intelligence workloads. The 96Boards CE compliant board comes with a Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC, 2GB RAM, a 16GB microSD card, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity and more. The company has now launched an upgraded version with Ultra96-V2 featuring most of the same specifications but with a WiFi & Bluetooth module certified in 75 countries, industrial temperature range, and Infineon’s PMIC’s for additional power control and monitoring. Ultra96-V2 specifications: SoC – Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC ZU3EG A484 with four Cortex A53 cores, two Cortex-R5 core, Arm Mali-400MP2 GPU, and FPGA Fabric System Memory – 2 GB (512M x32) LPDDR4 Memory Storage – 16 GB MicroSD card + adapter pre-loaded with PetaLinux environment Video Output – Mini DisplayPort (MiniDP) Connectivity – Microchip ATWILC3000 certified 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 4 / Bluetooth […]

March 25, 2019March 25, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

PYNQ-Z2 Python FPGA Board Adds Raspberry Pi Header, 24-Bit Audio Codec

PYNQ-Z1 is a board by Digilent powered by Xilinx Zynq-7020 Arm Cortex-A9 + FPGA SoC that’s designed specifically for PYNQ, an open-source project that aims to ease the design of embedded systems with Xilinx Zynq Systems on Chips (SoCs) by leveraging the Python language and libraries. PYNQ-Z2 is very similar to PYNQ-Z1, but it’s made by Taiwanese company TUL, and the board is slightly longer to allow for an extra 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible header, and Analog Devices ADAU1761 24-bit audio codec. PYNQ-Z2 board specifications: SoC – Xilinx Zynq-7020 (XC7Z020-1CLG400C) dual core Arm Cortex-A9 processor @ 650 MHz with FPGA with 13,300 logic slices, each with four 6-input LUTs and 8 flip-flops System Memory – 512MB DDR3 Storage – Micro SD card slot, 16MB QSPI Flash with factory programmed globally unique identifier (48-bit EUI-48/64 compatible). Video – HDMI In and HDMI Out Audio – Mic in, Line Out ADAU1761 codec […]