Category: Processors

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 38 Comments on Helios4 Personal Cloud DIY NAS Supports 3.5″ Hard Drives, RAID, and More (Crowdfunding)

Helios4 Personal Cloud DIY NAS Supports 3.5″ Hard Drives, RAID, and More (Crowdfunding)

A few months ago, we covered GnuBee Personal Cloud 1, a NAS that runs on open source software, and that supports up to six 2.5″ SATA drives. The crowdfunding has been successful – after lowering the funding target -, and backers should hopefully get the NAS right after summer. But at the time, some people complained about the  memory capacity (512MB),  the lack of support for 3.5″ drives, and a few other items. A new project called “Helios4 Personal Cloud” addresses many of those concerns. It comes with 1 to 2GB RAM, enclosure supporting four 3.5″ drives, supports RAID, and is powered by Marvell ARMADA 388 processor that has been specifically designed for this type of application. Helios4 NAS specifications: SoC – Marvell ARMADA 388 dual core Cortex A9 processor @ up to 1.866 GHz with RAID5/6 acceleration engines, security acceleration engines, etc… System Memory – 1 or 2 GB […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Imagination PowerVR “Furian” Series8XT GT8525 GPU Targets High-end Smartphones, Virtual Reality and Automotive Products

Imagination PowerVR “Furian” Series8XT GT8525 GPU Targets High-end Smartphones, Virtual Reality and Automotive Products

Imagination Technologies has unveiled their first GPU based on PowerVR Furian architecture with Series8XT GT8525 GPU equipped with two clusters and designed for SoCs going to into products such as high-end smartphones and tablets, mid-range dedicated VR and AR devices, and mid- to high-end automotive infotainment and ADAS systems. The Furian architecture is said to allow for improvements in performance density, GPU efficiency, and system efficiency, features a new 32-wide ALU cluster design, and can be manufactured using sub-14nm (e.g. 7nm process once available). PowerVR GT8525 GPU supports compute APIs such as OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.0 and OpenVX 1.1. Compared to the previous Series7XT GPU family, Series8XT GT8525 GPU delivers 80% higher fps in Trex benchmark, an extra 50% fps in GFXbench Manhattan benchmark, 50% higher fps in Antutu, doubles the fillrate throughput for GUI, and increases GFLOPs for compute applications by over 50%. GT8525 GPU is available for licensing […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments on Meet Zynqberry, a Xilinx Zynq FPGA Board with Raspberry Pi 2/3 Form Factor

Meet Zynqberry, a Xilinx Zynq FPGA Board with Raspberry Pi 2/3 Form Factor

Earlier this year, I wrote about Trenz Electronic’s Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale+ system-on-module, but I’ve just found out I missed another interesting product from the company. The ZynqBerry is a board powered by Zilinx Zync Z-7007S or Z-7010 ARM + FPGA SoC with Raspberry Pi 2/3 form factor. ZynqBerry specifications: SoC Xilinx Zynq XC7Z007S-1CLG225C (Z-7007S) single core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore up to 766MHz + FPGA with 23K logic cells Xilinx Zynq XC7Z010-1CLG225C (Z-7010) dual core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore up to 866 MHz + FPGA with 28K logic cells System Memory – 128 or 512 MB DDR3L Storage – 16 MB Flash SPI flash + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI, MIPI DSI interface Audio Output – HDMI, 3.5mm audio jack (PWM audio only) Connectivity – 100 MBit Ethernet via (LAN9514 USB Hub with Ethernet USB – 4x USB 2.0 host ports Camera – MIPI CSI-2 interface Expansion – 40-pin Raspberry […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Rockchip RK3328 Powered T98 4K Ultra HD TV Box Comes with 2GB RAM

Rockchip RK3328 Powered T98 4K Ultra HD TV Box Comes with 2GB RAM

We’ve already seen one of the first Rockchip RK3328 4K UHD TV boxes with A5X Plus Mini model now selling for $34.60, but with only 1GB RAM. There’s now another model called T98 with 2GB RAM, and mostly the same other specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3328 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 8 GB eMMC flash + micro SD card up to 32 GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDR10 and HLG support, 3.5mm AV port (composite video + stereo audio) Audio Output – HDMI, AV, and optical S/PDIF Video Codec – 4K VP9, H.265 and H.264. 1080p VC-1, MPEG-1/2/4, VP6/8 Connectivity – Fast Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (No Bluetooth) USB – 1x USB 2.0 port, 1x USB 3.0 port Misc – IR receiver, power LED Power Supply – 5V/2A Dimensions […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Christmann RECS|Box Atlas Quad Apalis Microserver Evaluation Kit Supports Four Toradex Apalis SoM

Christmann RECS|Box Atlas Quad Apalis Microserver Evaluation Kit Supports Four Toradex Apalis SoM

System-on-modules are normally used in low volume embedded systems, but they can also be used in microservers, for example to upgrade capacity as needed. Christmann informationstechnik + medien GmbH has developed a microserver evaluation kit taking up to 4 Toradex Apalis SoMs for example based on Nvidia Tegra K1 processor, and also offers full rack systems with up to 72 modules. Christmann RECS|Box Atlas Quad Apalis specifications: Modules – 4x Slots for Apalis SoM Connectivity – 1 GBit/s Compute Ethernet, 1 GBit/s Management Ethernet Video Output – 1x HDMI USB – 3x USB host ports, 1x micro USB port Misc – 5 Status LEDs for USB, communication, and serial console, 4x fan connectors, KWM switch, 5x temperature sensors, 6x current sensors, 1x voltage monitor, fan speed monitoring Power Supply – 12V via a 4-pin jack Dimensions – 300 x 145 x 68 mm The evaluation kit includes an Atlas board […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 31 Comments on Allwinner G202 Dual Core Processor is Designed for Voice Activated Smart WiFi Speakers

Allwinner G202 Dual Core Processor is Designed for Voice Activated Smart WiFi Speakers

Today I received Banana Pi BPI-M2 Ultra board together with Allwinner catalog. As I flicked through it, I discovered new Allwinner B-Series ARM Cortex A7 processors (B188 and B288) designed for e-readers, as well as Allwinner G-Series ARM Cortex A7 processors (G102 and G202) targeting the WiFi speaker market, now dominated by products like Amazon Echo or Google Home (in the US). Allwinner G202 specifications: CPU – Dual core ARM Cortex A7 processor Memory I/F – DDR2/DDR3/DDR3L SDRAM Storage I/F – eMMC 5.0, SD 2.0 compliant Audio 24-bit/192 Khz audio playback 2x I2S/PCM interfaces up to 384 KHz sample rate, and 16 channel TDM with 32bit sample resolution DSD (Direct Stream Digital) interface with 2 channels,64/128/256bit sample mode DMIC (Digital Microphone) interface with 8 channels, maximum 48KHz sample rate S/PDIF OUT interface Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi with WPS, WPA/WPA2 security Other interfaces – USB 2.0 OTG, UART, SPI, TWI […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Qualcomm Introduces Snapdragon 630 and 660 “Mobile Platforms” for Mid-Range Smartphones & Tablets

Qualcomm Introduces Snapdragon 630 and 660 “Mobile Platforms” for Mid-Range Smartphones & Tablets

Qualcomm has announced two new Snapdragon SoCs Mobile Platforms, namely Snapdragon 630 and 660, with the aim of introducing “high-end features” to mid-range devices. Both chips come with eight cores, an Adreno GPU, and are manufactured with 14nm FinFET technology. Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 Key features: CPU – 8x ARM Cortex A53 clocked at up to 2.2 GHz (low power cluster up to 1.8 GHz) GPU – Adreno 508 with support for OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 full,Vulkan, DX12 DSP – Hexagon 642 DSP Memory I/F –  LPDDR4, dual channel up to 1333MHz, 8GB RAM Storage I/F – eMMC and UFS flash Display – Up to 1920×1200 resolution; DisplayPort and USB type-C support Video – Up to 4K @ 30 fps playback and capture; H.264, H.265 and VP9 codecs Audio – Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec and speaker amplifier; Qualcomm aptX audio playback Camera – Up to 24MP single camera, up to […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on SHA2017 Conference Badge To Feature ESP32 SoC, e-Paper Display

SHA2017 Conference Badge To Feature ESP32 SoC, e-Paper Display

In most conference, you’ll wear a badge showing your name, job description and company, but with the price of electronics going down, it may be time for a conference badge upgrade. SHA2017 is a non-profit outdoor hacker camp taking place in The Netherlands in 2017 on August 4 – 8, and the organizers are planning to use a special badge comprised of Espressif ESP32 processor, and an e-Paper Display. SHA2017 Badge specifications: Wireless Module – Espressif ESP32 based ESP-WROOM-32 module with WiFi and Bluetooth Display – 2.9″ e-paper display (296×128) Storage – micro SD slot Expansion – 12-pin expansion header with GPIOs, I2C, 3.3V, GND Debugging – micro USB port + USB->TTL chip for programming Misc – Direction keys, select, start, A and B buttons for input; 6x RGB, LEDs; pager motor for notifications Battery – Battery sized to last at least a day Beside your name and company details, […]