Geniatech ATV1660K TV Box Supports Dual HDMI Output, HDMI Input

Android TV Box Dual HDMI Output

There are many applications that may benefit from dual display support from digital signage to healthcare to retail or entertainment either to provide access to two different output for the service provider and customer or simply to mirror content.  Most Android TV boxes only come with one display output however, so in most cases, you’d have to switch to an Intel mini PC or add a USB-C display adapter if supported by the hardware. Geniatech ATV1660K TV box supports dual HDMI output out of the box, as well as HDMI input. The Android 5.1 TV box is powered by the time-tested Rockchip RK3288 processor and comes with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage by default. Geniatech ATV1660K specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3288 quad-core Arm Cortex-A17 processor at up to 1.8GHz, with Mali-T764 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 (1GB optional) Storage – 16GB eMMC flash (4GB-32GB optional), full-size SD card slot […]

RK3588 8K Arm Cortex-A76/A55 SoC, Rockchip Roadmap to 2020

RK3588

Rockchip had their annual event yesterday offering a view of past achievements, as well as a glimpse into the future with new products announcements. The company is ready to go to the next level with their Rockchip RK3588 featuring Cortex-A76 and Cortex-A55 cores, 8K video decoding support, 4K user interface support, an NPU 2.0 (Neural Processing Unit) manufactured using an 8nm LP process. The processor should have eight cores in a 4+4 dynamIQ configuration according to a tip from “coldfish”, and the new 8nm process is expected to increase performance by 20 to 30 percent, while the power consumption will be reduced by 40 percent. Mass production is expected for Q1 2020. The company also showed a slide with their video encoder/decoder IP, and Gen3 should be in RK3588 since that’s the only one with an 8K 60 fps decoder using either AVS3 or H.266 (VVC). I’m quite confused with […]

Intrinsyc Open-Q 855 Snapdragon 855 Development Board Launched for $1,149

Snapdragon 855 SBC

When we wrote about Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Hardware Development Kit last month, and while it was not available at the time, we expected it to eventually be sold through Intrinsyc. And sure enough, the company is now taking orders for the very first Snapdragon 855 development board sold under the “Open-Q 855” name. Price tag: $1,149 for the board only. The expansion board and display pictured below are not included by default and sold separately We already had a pretty good idea of the technical details last month, but Intrinsyc has provided us with the missing bits of information for Snapdragon 855 HDK specifications: SoC –  Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Octa-core processor with 1x Kryo 485 Gold Prime core at up to 2.7+ GHz, 3x Kryo 485 Gold cores at up to 2.4+ GHz, and 4x Kryo 485 Silver low-power cores at up to 1.7 GHz, Adreno 640 GPU, Hexagon 690 […]

Ruuvi Node Open-source Node Solution Combines Nordic Semi nRF9160 Cellular SiP & nRF52840 Bluetooth SoC

Ruuvi Node NB-IoT Bluetooth 5 Solution

Back in 2016, we covered Ruuvi Innovations’ Ruuvitag open source Bluetooth & NFC sensor beacon is based on Nordic Semi nRF52832 Bluetooth SoC. The company has now introduced Ruuvi node, another open source multi-purpose, industrial-grade cellular gateway, environmental sensing, and asset tracking node solution based on not one, but two Nordic Semi chips with nRF91 cellular IoT SiP (System-in-Package) with NB-IoT and LTE M (eMTC) connectivity and nRF52840 multi-protocol Bluetooth 5.0 SoC. It’s an early announcement with the launch of the first pilots of Ruuvi Node planned for Q2/Q3 of this year, so the full specifications are yet to be released. However, thanks to a press release on Nordic Semi website, we do know that Ruuvi Node is meant to be maintenance-free, will include a solar panel for  energy harvesting (which mean the included 45Wh battery may never run out depending on the application), several environmental sensors, GPS positioning provided […]

Qualcomm Centriq ArmServer SoCs Are Truly Dead with the Closure of HuaXinTong

HuaXinTong

We already knew Qualcomm had given up on their Centriq processor since mid June 2018, but earlier this year, it seemed the solution had found a new life with HuaXinTong StarDragon 4800 Server SoC born out of a joint venture between Qualcomm and Guizhou provincial government. The processor was allegedly a customized version of the original Centriq 2460 48-core Arm SoC. But recent reports point out that 10 employees from HuaXinTong Semiconductor (aka HXT) have claimed the joint venture is closing down with executives at the company said the venture would shut down by April 30 in an internal meeting. HXT representatives declined to comment on the rumor. The Arm server market is really brutal. Qualcomm and Guizhou government had invested a combined $570 million in HXT as of August 2018 according to company’s fillings. Broadcom and AMD gave up one Arm server chips a little while ago. AFAIK, this […]

AJIT is a Microprocessor Made in India

AJIT MicroProcessor Made-in-India

There are only a few countries with companies that can design and/or manufacture chips. Some of the ones that come to my mind off the bat include: the US, China, Taiwan, Japan, France, and Italy. But India did not… That’s until recently as IIT Bombay conceived AJIT the first Indian microprocessor, which was then manufactured at the Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) in Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab and Haryana states. Details are limited. For example, I’m unable to find out which architecture was used by the processor, but we do know it’s a microcontroller class 32-bit microprocessor clocked at 70 to 120 MHz with an arithmetic logic unit, a memory management unit, a floating point unit, as well as a hardware debugger unit. The sample pictured above has been manufactured with a 180nm process, but they plan to move to a 65nm process eventually. Tools used for development include AHIR-V2 which […]

Pioneer Edition FreedomBox Home Server Launched with Olimex A20-OLinuXino-LIME2 Board

Pioneer Edition FreedomBox Home Server

Olimex works on open source hardware boards, while the FreedomBox Foundation has been developing FreedomBox, a free and open source private server system, since 2010 with the goal of empowering regular people to host their own internet services, like a VPN, a personal website, file sharing, encrypted messengers, a VoIP server, a metasearch engine, and more. When you mix open source hardware, open source software, and a bit of Internet freedom it gives birth to a product called “Pioneer Edition FreedomBox Home Server” based on Olimex A20-OLinuXino-LIME2 board and running FreedomBox software. Pioneer Edition FreedomBox Home Server specifications: SoC – Allwinner A20 dual-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU @ 1.0 GHz  with dual-core Mali 400 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – microSD slot fitted with 32GB class 10 card loaded with FreedomBox, SATA data and power connectors, 2KB EEPROM for MAC address and custom data Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet Video […]

Intel adds Three 7W Amber Lake-Y Processors

Intel Amber Lake Q1 2019

Intel announced their Amber Lake family of low power high performance processors, officially known as Intel Core Y-Series processor last year with three SKUs: Core m3-8100Y, Core i5-8200Y, Core i7-8500Y which are all dual core/quad thread processor offering different base and boost CPU frequencies, and sporting the same UHD 615 graphics. As I browsed Intel’s Ark “previously Amber Lake Y”  page this morning, I found out the company added three more processors to the family in Q1 2019. The new processors also come with two cores and four thread, but at higher frequency, and TDP is fixed to 7W, while the first three model at a 5W TDP configurable up to 7 or 8 Watts or down to 3.5 or 4.5 Watts. They are also equipped with Intel UHD Graphics 617 graphics that appears to only offer a higher boost frequency to 1.05 GHz instead of 900/950 MHz for UHD […]

Firefly NVIDIA Jetson products