Digi International has announced the Digi ConnectCore 8M Mini System-on-Module (SOM) which is an addition to its ConnectCore family modules. We saw the Android application development kit featuring earlier Digi Wireless modules based Freescale i.MX51 (ConnectCore Wi-i.MX51) and i.MX53 (ConnectCore Wi-i.MX53) in early 2012. The new Digi ConnectCore 8M Mini comes with a built-in Video Processing Unit specialising in vision use cases. The Digi ConnectCore 8M Mini SOM is an industrial i.MX 8M Mini quad-core system-on-module that comes with Arm Cortex-A53 cores, one Cortex-M4 core, and the Cortex-M0-based Digi Microcontroller Assist. This enables optimal power consumption while simultaneous maintenance of highly efficient performance. Main benefits of Digi Connect Core 8M Mini SOM Digi SMTplus form factor (40 x 45 mm) for flexibility and reliability while designing. Power management with both hardware and software support for low-power designs. Display and camera capabilities with graphics and video hardware acceleration make it suitable […]
KloudNote 10.3-inch E-reader supports WiFi, Bluetooth and cellular connectivity
Geniatech used to be better known for their Amlogic TV boxes, before expanding their business to development boards and systems-on-modules. But the company has now introduced KloudNote, a 10.3-inch E-reader running Android 8.1 on a quad-core Cortex-A35 processor. The device is equipped with 2GB of RAM and a 16GB eMMC flash, supports WiFi 5 and Bluetooth, as well as optional 2G/3G/4G LTE cellular connectivity, and comes with a USB-C port and a headphone jack. KloudNote (sometimes written Kloud Note) specifications: SoC – Unnamed quad-core Cortex-A35 processor @ 1.2 GHz System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 16GB or 32GB eMMC flash Display – 10.3-inch E-Ink flexible screen with cover-lens, 1872×1404 resolution, capacitive touch and electromagnetic touch with support for a stylus with 4096-level of pressure sensitivity Connectivity 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac WiFi 5, Bluetooth 4.2 Optional 2G/3G/4G Audio – Earphone jack, built-in speaker & microphone USB – 1x USB-C port for charging Documents […]
TI AM64x 7-core processor is made for PLC’s, motor drives, industrial robots
Texas Instruments AM64x is a family of 64-bit Arm processors with functional safety designed for Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), motor drives, remote I/O, and industrial robots. The top-end processor of the family, AM6442, comes with seven cores including two Cortex-A53 application cores, four Cortex-R5F real-time cores, and one Cortex-M4F isolated core. AFAICT, while the documentation is dated January 2021 and TI announced the processor in February in a blog post with a cryptic title, it was only first picked up by Embedded Computing in early May. Besides the processor itself, TI also provides an AM64x starter kit and a full-featured AM64x evaluation kit, and several companies are already preparing development boards and modules as we’ll see further below. TI AM64x processor AM64x key features & specifications: CPU cores Dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.0 GHz with 256KB L2 shared cache with SECDED ECC, 32KB L1 D-cache, 32KB L1 I-cache Up […]
Xilinx announces Versal AI Edge Series with Cortex-A72 & R5 cores, FPGA fabric
Edge AI solves the latency and security issues through on-device AI acceleration for optimal computations at a low power supply. Xilinx announces its Versal AI Edge Series which is 4th member of the Adaptive Compute Acceleration Platform (ACAP) family. The versal series consists of seven models ranging from VE2002 to VE2802 with the processor fabrication on 7 nm silicon technology. Talking more about ACAP, it is a platform that provides a combined essence of a processor and FPGA. The processing features efficient memory and I/Os, whereas programmable arrays allow logical control over the hardware. Also, as Xilinx specializes in FPGA products, the additional support of computational features makes the ACAP hardware even more flexible and dynamic. The Versal AI Edge series features different types of engines for specific functionalities in terms of adaptable, scalar, and intelligent engines. The seven processor models vary with respect to engine and platform specifications. However, […]
Radxa Zero SBC – A powerful quad-core alternative to Raspberry Pi Zero W
Radxa Zero SBC follows Raspberry Pi Zero W form factor, but thanks to an Amlogic S905Y2 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor clocked at up to 2.0 GHz offers much higher performance, which Radxa says corresponds to about 70% of Raspberry Pi 4 CPU performance. The tiny Arm Linux board comes with up to 4GB RAM, 16GB eMMC flash, and either AP6212 or AP6256 wireless module. plus all interfaces from Raspberry Pi Zero W, but with a twist as the mini HDMI port is replaced by a micro HDMI port, and USB-C ports are used instead of micro USB ports. Radxa Zero preliminary specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905Y2 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz with Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU System Memory – 512MB RAM, 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – MicroSD slot, optional 8GB or 16GB eMMC flash Video Output – micro HDMI port up to 4Kp60 Connectivity Ampak AP6212 […]
GMK NucBox Review – A palm-sized Windows 10 mini PC
GMK released their diminutive mini PC called the NucBox a while ago however they have recently updated the BOM with a new fan and WiFi module together with changing their logo from GMK to GMK TEC. GMK sent the new NucBox for review and the results from various testing are detailed below. Hardware Overview The NucBox physically consists of a 62 x 62 x 42mm (2.44 x 2.44 x 1.65 inches) rectangular metal case with a plastic top and base plate. As an actively cooled mini PC, it uses Intel’s 14 nm J4125 Gemini Lake Refresh processor which is a quad-core 4-thread 2.00 GHz processor boosting to 2.70 GHz with Intel’s UHD Graphics 600. The front has just the power button whilst the rear includes two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port, and a Type-C USB port for power. The left side has a microSD card slot and a headphone […]
NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier Industrial module adds lockstep Cortex-R5 cluster, ECC RAM, and more
NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier is the most powerful module from the Jetson family packing 32 TOPS of AI inference performance. But with some customers wanting to use the embedded AI computer in harsher conditions, the company has now introduced a rugged version of the module with NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier Industrial. Some changes included a slightly lower performance (30 TOPS) to cater for an expanded temperature range, a dual-core Cortex-R5 cluster in lockstep, ECC memory, and compliance with shock and vibration standards. NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier Industrial specifications with bold highlights showing differences / new features: CPU – 8-core NVIDIA Carmel Arm v8.2 64-bit CPU with 8MB L2 + 4MB L3 GPU – NVIDIA Volta architecture with 512 NVIDIA CUDA cores and 64 Tensor cores for up to 20 TOPS (INT8) (Note: the standard version support 22 TOPS) DL Accelerator – 2x NVDLA accelerators for up to 10 TOPS (INT8) […]
Windows 11 build leaked, Windows 10 support ending in 2025
There’s been some rumors about Windows 11 – codename Sun Valley – in the last couple of weeks, but now I suppose that’s official as a leaked build of Windows 11 has made the rounds in the press, and Microsoft also announced Windows 10 support will be ending in October 2025 both for the Home and Pro version of the operating systems, as well as Windows 10 IoT Enterprise. Websites that tested the Windows 11 leaked build, including XDA Developers and NotebookCheck, report it’s very much like Windows 10, but with the scrapped Windows 10X shell. Since Microsoft is scheduled to announced Windows 11 on June 24, the user interface and experience should be pretty close to the actual release. The most obvious visual change compared to Windows 10 is that the taskbar is now centered. Other cosmetic changes include Windows and menus with rounded corners, a new Windows logo, […]