The “Snapdragon QC710 Developer Kit” for Windows 10 on Arm app development was unveiled last May, and it’s now available for $219 on Microsoft Store as the “ECS LIVA Mini Box QC710 Desktop”. The developer kit can also be purchased at a discount for $197.10 by students, parents(!), teachers, and members of the military. I suppose this applies only to the US military and showing your Taliban membership card may not work. The developer kit looks like a standard mini PC and features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Compute Platform (SC7180), 4GB RAM, 64GB eMMC flash, HDMI output, 10/100M Ethernet and WiFi 5, and several USB ports. ECS LIVA Mini Box QC710 Desktop specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Compute Platform (SC7180) with octa-core Qualcomm Kryo 468 (2x Cortex-A76, 6x Cortex-A55) CPU @ up to 2.4 GHz, Adreno 618 GPU System Memory – 4GB Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card […]
How to flash firmware to Rockchip devices in Windows and Linux (2021 Edition)
We’ve written several articles detailing methods to flash firmware to Rockchip devices in Windows or Linux over the years, with tools like RKAndroidTool, RkFlashKit, upgrade_tool, or the open-source rkdeveloptool utility. This is mostly useful to flash another OS or if the device does not boot, as most products will now support OTA firmware updates. But following my review of Zidoo M6 with Android 11, I’ve now got a Linux image for the Rockchip RK3566 mini PC, so let’s revisit the firmware flashing methods in 2021. Zidoo sent me instructions for Windows, but since I’m a Ubuntu user, I flashed the firmware with the Linux tools used by Firefly. The same methods should work for the older processors such as RK3066, RK3288, and RK3399, besides the more recent Rockchip RK3566 and RK3568 processors. How to flash Rockchip firmware in Linux [Important update: If your device comes with both eMMC flash and […]
Android 12 on Raspberry Pi 4 – (Almost) everything works
Android 12 (AOSP) source code was released last month, and a developer took the opportunity to port Android 12 to the Raspberry Pi 4 single board computer and derivatives. More specifically, KonstaT created an unofficial build of LineageOS 19.0 for Raspberry Pi 4, Raspberry Pi 400 keyboard PC, and Compute Module 4 working on systems with at least 2GB of RAM. While it’s reserved for advanced users, the Android 12 build appears to work pretty well with most features supported including: Video HDMI display including CEC Touchscreen/multi-touch (USB touchscreens, Waveshare SPI touchscreens) Hardware-accelerated graphics (V3D, OpenGL & Vulkan) Audio HDMI, 3.5mm jack, USB microphones, Bluetooth speakers/headphones Audio DACs such as Hifiberry DAC+ Connectivity Ethernet WiFi including tethering Bluetooth including Bluetooth tethering GPS using external USB modules USB tested with USB mouse, keyboard, storage, etc… USB-C: ADB, MTP, PTP, USB tethering I/Os (GPIO, I2C, SPI) tested with Remote controls via external […]
Portwell COM Express Tiger Lake-H module supports 2.5GbE, PCIe Gen 4, 8K, up to 64GB DDR4
Portwell PCOM-B657VGL joins other COM Express and COM HPC modules based on Intel Tiger Lake-H Xeon, Core, and Celeron embeddded processors such as ADLINK Express-TL and Congatec conga-HPC/cTLH. Just like its competitors, the Portwell COM Express Type 6 Basic module offers 8K video output, PCIe x16 Gen 4, up to 64GB DDR4, USB 3.2 Gen 2, and 2.5GbE networking for a wide range of higher-end embedded applications such as industrial automation, medical equipment, graphics-intensive applications, and artificial intelligence. Portwell PCOM-B657VGL specifications: SoC (one or the other) General Embedded Intel Celeron 6600HE dual-core processor @ 2.6GHz with 8MB L3 Cache, 16EU Intel UHD graphics, 35W TDP Intel Core i3-11100HE processor with 4 cores / 8 threads @ 2.4GHz (up to 4.4GHz in Turbo Boost) with 8MB L3 Cache, 16EU Intel UHD graphics, 45/35W cTDP Intel Core i5-11500HE processor with 6 cores / 12 threads @ 2.6GHz (up to 4.1GHz in Turbo […]
Amlogic T972 multimedia networking SBC supports 4K V-by-One displays
We’ve seen plenty of Amlogic S-series TV boxes and SBCs over the years, but Amlogic also manufacturer T-series SoCs designed for televisions. Since there are relatively few TV manufacturers compared to TV boxes or board manufacturers we seldom read about those. But a few years ago, we noticed a TV box based on Amlogic T962E quad-core Cortex-A53 processor offering both HDMI input and output ports, and now Shenzhen Tomao just informed me they were offering an Amlogic T972 multimedia network SBC for digital signage applications with multiple HDMI inputs and a V-By-One display interface with support for up to 4K resolutions. Amlogic T972 SBC specifications: SoC – Amlogic T972 (or T962X2) quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.98 GHz with Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.1 and OpenCL 2.0 System memory – 2GB or 4GB DDR4 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card socket Display […]
Raspberry Pi inspired Intel SBC supports Myriad X AI accelerator, 5G connectivity
Axiomtek KIWI310 may look like a Raspberry Pi SBC but it packs an Intel Celeron N3350 processor, an M.2 slot with support for Myriad X AI accelerator, and the company also offer a HAT with 5G cellular connectivity. The single board computer also comes with up to 4GB LPDDR4 memory, up to 64GB eMMC flash, a Micro HDMI port, two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports, as well as the ubiquitous 40-pin GPIO header. Power options are also an improvement over your typical Raspberry Pi board with USB-C PD as well as LiPo battery support. Axiomtek KIWI310 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N3350 dual-core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.4 GHz (Turbo) with Intel HD Graphics 500; 6W TDP System Memory – Up to 4GB (specs) or 8GB (YouTube video) LPDDR4 Storage – Up to 64GB eMMC flash, SPI flash for AMI BIOS Video & audio output […]
NXP i.MX 93 processor combines Cortex-A55 cores with Ethos U65 microNPU
NXP has unveiled the i.MX 93 processor family comprised of i.MX 935x, 933x, 932x, and 931x parts at this time with up to two Cortex-A55 cores, one Arm Cortex-M33 real-time core, as well as an Ethos U65 microNPU for machine learning (ML). We wrote about i.MX 9 family back in March with NXP telling us it would include an Arm Ethos U-65 microNPU and EdgeLock secure enclave, be manufactured with a 16/12nm FinFET class process, and includes the “Energy Flex” architecture to optimize power consumption by turning on/off specific blocks in the processor. The NXP i.MX 93 is the first family leveraging those new features, and we know have some more details. NXP i.MX 93 processor specifications: CPU 1x or 2x Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.7 GHz with 32KB I-cache, 32KB D-cache, 64KB L2 cache, 256KB L3 cache with ECC 1x Arm Cortex-M33 @ 250 MHz low power microcontroller with 256KB […]
NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 12-core Cortex-A78E module delivers up to 200 TOPS
The upcoming NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin module packs some serious processing power with a 12-core Cortex-A78AE processor, 2048 CUDA cores, and 64 Tensor cores delivering up to 200 TOPS of AI performance, or 6 times more than its predecessor, the Jetson AGX Xavier module. Designed for robotics, autonomous machines, medical devices, the Jetson AGX Orin delivers the same performance as a GPU-enabled server, but in a much more compact 100 x 87mm form factor. The module can be operated in three power modes, namely 15W, 30W, or 50W depending on performance and power requirements, and a compact developer kit will also be made available. Jetson AGX Orin specifications: CPU – 12-core Arm Cortex-A78AE v8.2 64-bit processor with 3MB L2 + 6MB L3 cache GPU / AI accelerators NVIDIA Ampere architecture with 2048 NVIDIA CUDA cores and 64 Tensor Cores @ 1 GHz DL Accelerator – 2x NVDLA v2.0 Vision Accelerator […]