Zora P1 Amlogic A311D Development Board interfaces with Orbbec 3D Cameras

Zora P1 Development Board

We have already seen the powerful Amlogic A311D powered Khadas VIM3 SBC, and Orbbec announced the Zora P1 development board for Orbbec 3D cameras, supporting robotics, gaming, smart homes, etc. Some of the other products showcased at the CES 2021 by Orbbec include its first 3D sensor with time-of-flight (TOF) technology, the latest Astra+ camera, and a real-time industrial 3D camera. “Innovations in 3D imaging, combined with broader advances like 5G, artificial intelligence, and ultra-fast processors, are transforming the application landscape for designers and engineers,” said David Chen, co-founder, and director of engineering at Orbbec. “Our new camera with time-of-flight (TOF) technology is a great example. Its high resolution and tracking capabilities make it perfect for all kinds of products including fall detection, security, even at-home yoga and exercise products.”  Orbbec’s Zora P1 Development Board Zora P1 is a processing board for developers and enthusiasts to integrate 3D imaging and associated computing tasks for demanding industrial applications. Orbbec has specially designed this long-lasting solution to work with its 3D […]

Mecool KM6 Deluxe (Amlogic S905X4) TV Box Review

Back in September 2020, Jean-Luc wrote about the Mecool KM6 TV Box. This comes with the Amlogic S905X4 with AV1 support and preloaded with Android TV 10. Since Jean-Luc could not review the KM6, I offered to do this for him. It was already mentioned the box was delayed in the previous article published in September. After that, it was further delayed until January 2021. So last week I received the Mecool KM6 deluxe for review. It comes with a remote, a 2A/5V PSU, and an HDMI cable. My deluxe version has 4GB LPDDR4 and a 64GB eMMC flash. They also sell the KM6 Classic which comes with 2GB LPDDR4 and a 16GB eMMC flash. Under the moto, don’t turn it on, take it apart. I opened the box to see its internals. There were 4 screws to undo under its rubber feet. It comes with a metal plate on […]

Renesas RZ/G2L MPUs Feature Cortex-A55 & Cortex-M33 Cores for AI Applications

Block Diagram of RZ-G2L

Renesas Electronics Corporation announced RZ/G2L MPUs, allowing enhanced processing for an extensive variety of AI applications. The RZ/G2L group of 64-bit MPUs includes three new MPU models featuring Arm Cortex-A55, and an optional Cortex-M33 core. These are RZ/G2L, RZ/G2LC, and RZ/G2UL MPUs. The Cortex-A55 CPU core typically delivers approximately 20 percent improved processing performance compared with the previous Cortex-A53 core, and according to Renesas, is around six times faster in “essential processing for AI applications”. The company already has four mid to high-end design level MPUs including RZ/G2E, RZ/G2N, RZ/G2M, and RZ/G2H, with combinations of Cortex-A53 and Cortex-A57 cores. The new RZ/G2L group of three MPUs forms the entry-level design with Cortex-A55. Hence, the seven MPU models together provide scalability from entry-level to high-end design. Common Key Features in RZ/G2L, RZ/G2LC, and RZ/G2UL MPUs Up to 2x Cortex-A55 cores Cortex-M33 core Camera interface (MIPI-CSI) Display interface (Parallel-IF) USB 2.0 interface […]

Cybovac S31 Review – A smart robot vacuum cleaner with visual SLAM support

Kyvol Cybovac S31 Review

I’ve been asked to review robot vacuum cleaners in the past but refused because they were quite basic with a simple vacuum function, obstacle detection, maybe a mopping function, and not much else. But Kyvol Cybovac S31 is different as it integrates a laser distance sensor (LDS) enabling visual SLAM to create a map of your house, and can be controlled with a mobile app for Android or iOS which ended up even more useful than I initially expected. S31 Smart Robot Vacuum Cleaner Unboxing The package was much bigger than I expected, mostly because the charging station also includes a dust bag where dust from the main unit is automatically vacuumed each time cleaning is complete. Key features of the system as shown above: LDS robot vacuum cleaner (main unit) 4 levels of suction power Cleaning modes – Auto, area, spot, edge Anti-drop and anti-collision features 2.4 GHz WiFi […]

ClusBerry 9500-CM4 – A Raspberry Pi CM4 cluster, industrial style

ClusBerry Industrial Raspberry Pi CM4 Cluster

Raspberry Pi cluster boards / solutions pop-up from time to time. But so far, I think we’ve seen only one based on Raspberry Pi CM4 modules with the upcoming Turing Pi 2 mini-ITX cluster board supporting four of those. TECHBASE has now unveiled a different kind of Raspberry Pi CM4 cluster with ClusBerry 9500-CM4 integrating up to eight Raspberry Pi Computer Module 4 in a DIN-Rail housing for industrial applications. ClusBerry 9500-CM4 is designed to be customizable with a choice of Raspberry Pi CM4 based modules and I/O cards: Standard 9500-CM4 cluster module with Compute Module 4 and a selection of configuration that include: I/O Controller with DI, DO, AI, 1-Wire, RS-232/485 and CAN interfaces Communication Gateway with up to 2x Ethernet, serial ports, wireless connectivity: LTE-cat.M1, 4G, 5G, LoRa, ZigBee, Z-Wave, Wireless M-Bus AI Gateway with Coral Edge TPU via PCIe M.2, or up to 4x Coral Edge TPU […]

H2 Net Card adds four 2.5 GbE ports to ODROID-H2/H2+ SBC

H2 Net Card

ODROID-H2+ is already a cool single board computer with an Intel Gemini Lake Refresh processor, up to 32GB RAM, dual 2.5GbE networking, support for SATA and NVMe storage, dual 4K video output, and more. But in recent days, I’ve read people complaining recently announced WiFI 6 or WiFi 6E routers only had one 2.5 Gbps or 5 Gbps Ethernet jack and wanted all/more RJ45 connectors to be 2.5 GbE ports or greater. But if even the two 2.5GbE ports on ODROID-H2+ are not quite enough for your needs, Hardkernel H2 Net Card triples that amount by adding four extra 2.5 GbE to the x86 SBC. It also works on ODROID-H2, meaning you’d get the existing dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, plus the four 2.5GbE ports from the M.2 card. There’s no much in the way of specifications for H2 Net Card: 4x Ethernet ports up to 2.5 GbE via RTL8125 controller. […]

Stripped-down Raspberry Pi 3B+ SBC powers YARH.IO Micro 2 DIY handheld PC

Rasperry Pi 3 Micro PC with USB Ports

We’ve already seen a few DIY Raspberry Pi-based handheld computers in the past with the likes of Zero Terminal V3 or hgTerm powered by a Raspberry Pi Zero and a stripped-down Raspberry Pi 3 board respectively. So why not another? YARH.IO Micro 2 DIY handheld PC is based on a Raspberry Pi 3B+ SBC stripped from its Ethernet port, whose double stack USB connectors have been replaced with single stack USB connectors. The DIY computer also adds off-the-shelf parts with a 4″ touch screen display and a Bluetooth keyboard without touchpad, and gets its power from a 3,500 mAh battery. YARH.IO Micro 2 key components and features: SBC – Stripped-down Raspberry Pi 3B+ SBC Display – HyperPixel 4.0 4-inch IPS display with 800×480 resolution, touchscreen from Pimoroni Keyboard – 49-key mini keyboard with Bluetooth 3.0 ($10) USB – USB straight and right-angle connectors for four USB ports around the device […]

Pine64 mailbag – PinePhone postmarketOS Edition, PineCone BL602 board, and Pinecil soldering iron

Pine64 PinePhone, PineCone, Pincecil

Pine64 community was pretty busy last year with the launch of several products. Recently I’ve received a couple of packages with some of those products, namely PinePhone Community Edition: PostmarketOS, PineCone WiFi & BLE IoT board based on BL602 RISC-V SoC, and Pinecil soldering iron also based on a RISC-V chip for control, but this time GD32V generic-purpose MCU. I’ll most show what I have received without going into too many details, except for PinePhone which I have already set up and used for one hour or so. PineCone BL602 board I received PineCone at the end of last year in a separate envelope with the board only. There’s not much to it with the BL602 processor offering WiFI and Bluetooth, a USB-C port for programming and power, and a few I/Os. The board is interesting as it is the first RISC-V IoT board with wireless connectivity built into the […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC