Windows Subsystem for Linux can be installed from the Microsoft store in Windows 11

Windows Subsystem for Linux Microsoft Store

The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) that offered a Ubuntu Bash on Windows was first introduced in 2016, as more and more developers required a Linux environment within Windows, and Microsoft kept on improving it with, for instance, Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 released in 2019 bringing an actual Linux kernel, improved performance, and Docker support. Until now, WSL was an optional component inside of Windows, requiring you to go to the “Turn Windows Features on or off” dialogue to enable it, and restart your machine. But Microsoft has now announced you can install (a preview of) Windows Subsystem for Linux directly from the Microsoft Store as long as you run Windows 11. The change also means your WSL will be up-to-date as Microsoft pushes new features and bug fixes, and you do not need to modify/update your Windows version to get the latest changes. You’ll still need to go […]

$55 Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max supports 4K AV1 videos, Wi-Fi 6

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max

Amazon will release new Fire TV Sticks from time to time, and most are only mildly interesting, but the Amazon Fire TV Stick TV 4K Max brings two new interesting features with 4K AV1 video playback, as well as Wi-Fi 6 connectivity which should prevent buffering for higher bitrate 4K videos. The new device builds upon the MediaTek MT8695 based Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K released in 2018, with a more powerful MediaTek MT8696 processor clocked at 1.8 GHz, more memory (2GB vs 1.5 GB), and the same 8GB of storage for the Android 9 based Amazon Fire 7 OS. Amazon claims the new stick is 40% faster, despite a frequency bump from 1.7 GHz to 1.8 GHz only, and MT8696 relies on Cortex-A73 cores Cortex-A55 cores (See comments), instead of the Cortex-A53 cores found in MediaTek MT8695, so the performance improvement probably refers to the faster GPU. Amazon Fire […]

IBASE launches 3.5-inch SBC with AMD Ryzen Embedded V2000 processor

3.5-inch SBC AMD Ryzen V2000

We’ve covered plenty of AMD Ryzen Embedded V2000 SBCs in the past, but it appears IBASE IB952 might be the first 3.5-inch SBC with a Ryzen V2000 processor for the industrial and IoT markets. The board supports up to 64GB RAM, offers two SATA III ports for storage, dual Gigabit Ethernet networking, four display outputs with DisplayPort, eDP and LVDS interfaces, USB and serial ports, as well as expansion through two M.2 sockets. IBASE IB952 specifications: SoC – AMD Ryzen Embedded V2000 with Radeon Vega graphics System Memory – DDR4-2400 SO-DIMM, up to 64GB with ECC support Storage 2x SATA III ports M.2 M-Key socket for NVMe SSD Flash for AMI BIOS Video Output 1x DisplayPort 1.4 port up to 4Kp60 1x DisplayPort 1.2 port via USB-C port up to 4Kp60 1x 24-bit dual-channel LVDS up to 1080p60 1x eDP (embedded DisplayPort) up to 4Kp60 Four independent display support Audio […]

M5Stack UnitV2 AI module gets USB camera and M12 camera versions

M5Stack Unitv2 USB

M5Stack UnitV2 is an ultra-compact Linux AI camera powered on Sigmastar SSD202D SoC with a dual-core Cortex-A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz, and 128MB on-chip DDR3 that was launched in April 2021 with a Full HD camera featuring a 68° field-of-view. M5Stack has now introduced two new models, one called M5Stack UnitV2 USB without any camera at all, instead relying on an external USB UVC camera, and the other named M5Stack UnitV2 M12 equipped with an M12 socket and shipping with both a normal focal length camera with an 85° FoV and wide-angle focal length with a 150° FoV. M5Stack UnitV2 USB M5Stack Unitv2 USB specifications: SoC – SigmaStar SSD202D dual-core Cortex-A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz with 128MB on-chip DDR3 Storage – 512MB on-chip NAND flash with around 100MB free space, MicroSD card socket Camera – N/A Audio – Built-in microphone Connectivity – 2.4GHz WIFi 4 up to 150 Mbps (RTL8188FTV), […]

How to fix “The device isn’t Play Protect certified” error message in Android

Android 11 Google Play Not-Play Protect certified

I’m currently testing Zidoo M6 with Android 11. The mini PC is mostly designed for industrial and commercial use cases, so it may not need to be certified by Google in order to access Google apps and services like a consumer device. But for review purposes, it can still be an inconvenience, as I got the message “The device isn’t Play Protect certified – Google apps and services can’t run on this device” when trying to use Google Play and login with one of my Google accounts. This does not look good, and Chrome, a Google app, refuses to work as well. I still tried to log in, but it just failed, returning an error telling me: “Your account wasn’t added. Try again”. That would mean I’d have to download the apps on my PC and sideload them with a USB flash drive. That’s not practical, and there’s must be […]

GPU-less NXP i.MX 8XLite Cortex-A35/M4 SoC is aimed at IIoT & V2X applications

NXP i.MX 8XLite

NXP i.MX 8XLite SoC is a cost-optimized version of NXP i.MX 8X automotive processor with up to two Cortex-A35 cores, one Cortex-M4F real-time core, and in a GPU-less configuration since it lacks the Vivante GPU found in i.MX 8X family. The headless processor also comes with dedicated Hardware Security Modules (HSM) to enable telematics solutions, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) applications including vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) solutions, road infrastructure connectivity, as well as IIoT applications such as industrial equipment and building automation. NXP i.MX 8XLite key features and specifications: Processor complex 1x or 2x Arm Cortex-A35 cores @ up to 1.2 GHz with 256KB L2 cache with ECC 1x Arm Cortex-M4F core for real-time processing Memory I/F – 16-bit DDR3L-1866 and LPDDR4-2400 with ECC protection Storage I/F 1x FlexSPI for fast boot from SPI NOR flash 2x SD 3.0 card interfaces 1x eMMC5.1/SD3.0 NAND (62-bit ECC support) Networking – 1x Gigabit Ethernet […]

Ubuntu Frame is a secure display server for embedded systems

Ubuntu Frame

Canonical has announced and released the Ubuntu Frame display server for embedded systems such as interactive kiosks, digital signage solutions, or any other embedded devices with a graphical output. The solution aims to allow developers to build and deploy graphical applications more easily and quickly, as Ubuntu Frame requires less code since, as Canonical explains, there’s no need to integrate and maintain partial solutions such as DRM, KMS, input protocols, or security policies. Ubuntu Frame fullscreen shell is based on Wayland, requires snaps support, and offers compatibility with existing graphical toolkits such as Flutter, Qt5/6, GTK3/4, Electron, and SDL2, as well as support for web-based graphical applications written with HTML5 and/or Java. Besides the ease of development, the other main reason to use Canonical new display server is security: Ubuntu Frame adopts Wayland for a modern and secure approach to graphics. Thanks to Ubuntu Frame’s own secure socket, applications can […]

Amlogic S905W4 TV Box ships with Amlogic W1 WiFi 5 module

Amlogic S905W4 TV Box with Amlogic W1 WiFi 5

As I just posted about MediaTek Filogic 830/630 WiFi 6/6E chip, I was informed that Amlogic may have its own WiFi chip as “W1” module showed up in the SDK’s source code. It turns out there’s at least one TV box with Amlogic W1 802.11b/g/n/ac module/chip?, namely X96 Mini+, that also happens to come with an Amlogic S905W4 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor we’ve never covered on CNX Software. Apart from the new processor and WiFI module, X96 Mini Plus is your typical entry-level 4K TV box with up to 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, HDMI 2.0 video output, composite video output, Ethernet, and a couple of USB ports. X96 Mini Plus specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905W4 quad-core Arm Cortex A53 @ 1.2GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750MHz System Memory – 1 or 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB or 16GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to […]

Youyeetoo X1 x86 SBC