Category: Realtek RTD

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments on Raspberry Pi 500 review with Raspberry Pi Monitor and teardown

Raspberry Pi 500 review with Raspberry Pi Monitor and teardown

Raspberry Pi 500 review with Monitor Speaker

The Raspberry Pi 500 keyboard PC is just out along with the 15.6-inch Raspberry Pi Monitor and received samples from Raspberry Pi for review a few days ago.  I’ve had time to play with both, so in this review, I’ll go through an unboxing of the kit I received and report my experience with both the keyboard PC and monitor. Unboxing I received two packages. The first one with the Raspberry Pi Monitor, and the second with a Raspberry Pi 500 (UK layout), a 27W USB-C power adapter, and a micro HDMI to HDMI cable. So not quite a full Raspberry Pi 500 Desktop Kit since there’s no mouse and beginner’s manual but close to it. Let’s start with the keyboard PC. The bottom side of the package has some specs and a logo for the keyboard layout, in this case “UK”. There’s only the keyboard PC in the package. […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on GEEKOM GT1 Mega review with Ubuntu 24.10 – Part 3: Linux on an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H “Meteor Lake” mini PC

GEEKOM GT1 Mega review with Ubuntu 24.10 – Part 3: Linux on an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H “Meteor Lake” mini PC

GEEKOM GT1 Mega Ubuntu 24.10 Linux review

We’ve already had a look at GEEKOM GT1 Mega’s hardware with an unboxing and a teardown before following up with a thorough review of the Intel Core 9 Ultra 185H mini PC with Windows 11 Pro. After being interrupted by some Raspberry Pi reviews, I finally had the time to test the GEEKOM GT1 Mega with Ubuntu 24.10 to check out how well (or not) it works with a recent Linux distribution. I’ve tested the features of the Meteor Lake mini PC in Linux, ran some benchmarks, evaluated storage and network performance, played 4K and 8K videos on YouTube at various frame rates, went through a stress test to check its thermal design, and finally measured the mini PC’s fan noise and power consumption. Ubuntu 24.10 installation I would usually review mini PCs with the latest Ubuntu LTS version which would currently be Ubuntu 24.04.1. However, since the Intel Core […]

Posted on by Paisit Wongsongsarn - 1 Comment on SONOFF CAM Slim Gen2 Review – A tiny indoor security camera tested with eWeLink and Home Assistant

SONOFF CAM Slim Gen2 Review – A tiny indoor security camera tested with eWeLink and Home Assistant

SonoffCAMSlim2 Cover

We have received the latest tiny indoor security camera from SONOFF: the second generation of the CAM Slim series known as the CAM Slim Gen2 (or CAM S2 for shorts). Some of you might remember the first-generation CAM Slim model reviewed by Jean-Luc about two years ago. The Gen2 version keeps the same 1080p resolution but comes with several upgraded features, including AI algorithms to distinguish living beings, customizable detection zones, customizable privacy zones, sleep mode, enhanced low-light image quality, and flexible storage management. Although it’s packed with several enhancements, its price is lower than the Gen1. Let’s delve into the details! SONOFF CAM Slim Gen2 unboxing Inside the box, you’ll find a compact manual, a USB-C cable, a mounting kit, and a sticker template acting as a drilling guide. The camera is smaller than your palm and comes mounted on a versatile, rotatable base, making installation in various positions […]

Posted on by Tomisin Olujinmi - 1 Comment on Realtek Ameba RTL8730E Cortex-A32 audio streaming module offers a cost-effective solution for wireless audio applications

Realtek Ameba RTL8730E Cortex-A32 audio streaming module offers a cost-effective solution for wireless audio applications

Stream210 module

StreamUnlimited and Realtek Semiconductor Corp have collaborated on the Stream210 audio streaming module based on the Ameba Smart RTL8730E Arm Cortex-A32 chip from the Ameba E series, with support for Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and Matter for edge computing and IoT solutions. We have looked at previous Ameba IoT products, such as the Ameba RTL8722DM development board, Ameba Arduino, Ameba RTL8195AM module, and the Ameba RTL8710BN. The Ameba Smart chip is the first entry in the series to feature a Cortex-A32 processor. The Stream210 module is aimed at various audio and IoT applications, including digital radios, streaming audio receivers, wireless speakers, smart speakers, home automation products, and Wi-Fi headphones. Other wireless audio modules we’ve covered in the past include the Up2Stream Pro HiFi board, TTGO T9, and 8devices’ Tobufi module. Stream210 specifications: SoC – Ameba Smart RTL8730E dual-core Arm Cortex-A32 processor @ 1.3GHz Memory – 2Gbit RAM Storage – 2Gbit […]

Posted on by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments on SparkFun Thing Plus – NORA-W306 – A dual-band Wi-Fi 4 and BLE 5.3 IoT board

SparkFun Thing Plus – NORA-W306 – A dual-band Wi-Fi 4 and BLE 5.3 IoT board

Sparkfun Thing Plus - NORA-W306

SparkFun Thing Plus – NORA-W306, is a dual-core, dual-band WiFi 4 and BLE 5.3 microcontroller board in the AdaFruit Feather form factor based on the u-box NORA-W306 module and targeted at low-power wireless applications. The u-blox module integrates the Realtek RTL8720DF chip, a dual-core ARM Cortex-M33 and Cortex-M23 microcontroller with dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and Bluetooth 5.3 Low Energy. It offers up to 4MB of encrypted flash and has an onboard PCB antenna. It’s very similar to the RealTek RTL8720DN we covered a few times in the past, but comes with embedded flash. The SparkFun Thing Plus – NORA-W306 board features a USB-C connector for programming, data, and power. The USB data lines are protected against electrostatic discharge and are connected to a CP2102N USB-to-serial converter for uploading code or serial. This board includes a 2-pin JST-style connector for a LiPo battery, a single-cell charger, and a LiPo fuel […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on RealTek RTD1325 SoC shows up in Formuler Z mini 4K Android 12 dongle

RealTek RTD1325 SoC shows up in Formuler Z mini 4K Android 12 dongle

Realtek RTD1325 Android TV dongle

Formuler Z mini is a 4K Android 12 TV dongle powered by the new RealTek RTD1325 SoC with a Mali-G57 MC1, 4K AV1 video processing unit, and support for features such as Quick Media Switching (QMS) from the HDMI 2.1 specifications. The Android TV dongle also comes with 2GB LPDDR4 memory, 8GB eMMC flash, an HDMI 2.1 port up to 4K resolution, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, Widevine L1 DRM, and a Bluetooth voice remote control. Formuler Z mini specifications: SoC – RealTek RTD1325 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.7GHz with 512KB L3 cache [Updated on April 24, 2024 – See comments section] GPU – Arm Mali-G57 MC1 VPU – 4Kp60 10-bit AV1 video decoder System Memory – 2GB LPDDR4 @ 2400MHz Storage – 8GB eMMC flash Video Output – HDMI 2.1 up to 4K resolution (3840 x 2160) with 4K HDR (HDR10+, HLG), QMS support Networking – […]

Posted on by Tomisin Olujinmi - 1 Comment on Particle’s M-series multi-radio devices connect anywhere with WiFi, cellular, NTN satellite, and LoRaWAN connectivity

Particle’s M-series multi-radio devices connect anywhere with WiFi, cellular, NTN satellite, and LoRaWAN connectivity

Particle M-series M-SoM versions

Particle Industries Inc., an IoT Platform-as-a-Service company, has announced a new line of multi-radio boards and modules that offer multiple connectivity options in a single product. Particle is a complete edge-to-cloud IoT development platform that offers hardware products and software tools for creating IoT solutions. The company’s latest product, the M-series, has a bold tagline: connect anywhere. Although wireless connectivity has come a long way, there is no single wireless technology that works everywhere. Particle’s M-series aims to address that problem by bundling multiple radios – Wi-Fi, cellular, satellite, and LoRaWAN – into one product. Particle is looking to expand from its two primary wireless technologies: Wi-Fi and cellular, and add two more radios, satellite and LoRaWAN, for broader coverage. These two radios will cover devices in areas such as enclosed spaces (boiler rooms, elevator shafts, basements, and mines) and remote locations (methane sensors in oil and gas plants, boats, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on TerraMaster F2-212 is a 2-Bay NAS powered by Realtek RTD1619B Arm Cortex-A55 SoC

TerraMaster F2-212 is a 2-Bay NAS powered by Realtek RTD1619B Arm Cortex-A55 SoC

TerraMaster F2-212

TerraMaster F2-212 is a 2-bay NAS powered by Realtek RTL1619B quad-core Cortex-A55 processor with support for support TRAID flexible disk array management tool, BTRFS file system, Snapshot, and TFSS disaster recovery tool. If you’ve never heard about TRAID (TerraMaster RAID) and TFSS (TerraMaster File System Snapshot) that may be because those are developed internally by TerraMaster as respectively a RAID solution with an automatic combination of disk space, hard disk failure redundancy protection, and automatic capacity expansion, and a BTRFS snapshot tool with support for COW (copy-on-write), filesystem level snapshots, custom snapshot schedules, and more. TerraMaster F2-212 specifications: SoC – Realtek RTD1619B quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 1.7 GHz System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage 2x SATA bays for 3.5-inch SATA HDD and/or 2.5-inch SATA SSD/HDD for up to 2x 22TB drives; hot swapping support File systems Internal Drive – BTRFS, EXT4 External Drive – EXT3, EXT4, NTFS, FAT32, […]

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