Rockchip RK35xx Category - CNX Software

May 9, 2026May 9, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Review of Rikomagic DS08 Android 13 digital signage player

Rikomagic has sent me a sample of their DS08 digital signage player for review. It’s based on a Rockchip RK3588 SoC paired with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB eMMC flash, and offers two HDMI 2.1 ports, gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6, and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, as well as several USB ports, optical S/PDIF audio output, and more. I was initially not sure I could receive a sample, as Thailand is pretty strict with licenses for this type of hardware, but Rikomagic told us that it would not be a problem when using DDP (delivered duty paid), and the courier handles all paperwork. And indeed we did receive the parcel without issue. Since Rockchip RK3588 is now a mature platform, we won’t run benchmarks in this review, but instead go through an unboxing and a teardown, and focus on digital signage features such as video playback, RTC support, and display orientation […]

May 3, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Banana Pi BPI-OM7 AI 3D camera pairs BPI-M7 RK3588 SBC with ORBBEC Gemini 2 depth camera

Banana Pi BPI-OM7 is an AI 3D depth camera that combines Banana Pi BPI-M7 low-profile Rockchip RK3588 SBC with an ORBBEC Gemini 2 depth camera, targeting applications in 3D vision, robotics, edge AI, and spatial perception. The solution ships with 8GB of RAM and a 64GB eMMC flash by default, offers HDMI and USB-C video outputs, dual 2.5GbE networking, and a few USB ports. It’s mounted on a tripod for convenience. Banana Pi BPI-OM7 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588 octa-core processor with CPU – 4x Cortex‑A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex‑A55 core @ 1.8 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G610 MP4 GPU Video decoder – 8Kp60 H.265, VP9, AVS2, 8Kp30 H.264 AVC/MVC, 4Kp60 AV1, 1080p60 MPEG-2/-1, VC-1, VP8 Video encoder – 8Kp30 H.265/H.264 video encoder AI accelerator – 6 TOPS NPU System Memory – 8GB (default), 16GB, or 32GB LPDDR4x Storage 32GB, 64GB (default), or 128GB eMMC flash […]

April 30, 2026April 30, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Forlinx UP4 – A 40×40 mm LCC + LGA system-on-module family with Rockchip, NXP, and Allwinner CPU options

Forlinx Embedded UP4 is a new family of pin-to-pin compatible system-on-modules currently offered with Rockchip RK3568J/RK3562J, NXP i.MX 9352, or Allwinner T527N/T536 processors. The UP4 modules measure just 40×40 mm and expose 487 pins through a hybrid LCC (Leadless Chip Carrier) and LGA (Land Grid Array) design with 1.0mm contact pitch and 1.27mm ball pitch, respectively. This should allow companies to design a single carrier board for multiple CPU variants. Forlinx UP4 specifications: SoC FET-MX9352-UP4 – NXP i.MX 9352 with 2x Arm Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 1.7 GHz, Cortex-M33 real-time core @ 250 MHz, 2D GPU only, 0.5 TOPS Arm Ethos U65 microNPU FET3568-UP4 – Rockchip RK3568B2/J with 4x Arm Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 2.0/1.8 GHz, Arm Mali-G52 MP2 3D GPU, 1 TOPS AI NPU FET3562J-UP4 – Rockchip RK3562J with 4x Arm Cortex-A53 cores @ 1.8 GHz, Arm Mali-G52-2EE 3D GPU, 1 TOPS NPU FET527N-UP4 – Allwinner T527N […]

April 28, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

What a difference two years make? Comparing SBC prices in 2024 and 2026

Looking back, 2024 feels like a golden year for single board computers, as the increasing price of RAM (and storage and other components) since late 2025 due to the AI demand has made those much less attractive, price/performance ratio-wise. We’ve already documented Raspberry Pi SBC price hikes, and after several increases, the Raspberry Pi 5 16GB went from $120 to $305, or a 154% change in price. Yesterday, I noticed the Banana Pi BPI-M4 Zero had a new version with 4GB RAM and 32GB eMMC flash, and a reader was quick to point out the $181 price tag to Europe was painful, bearing in mind it also includes VAT and shipping. Looking at the original December 2023 article, the BPI-M4 Zero 2GB/8GB sold for $28.90 plus shipping, and it now shows up at $115 before taxes. That’s a 297% hike, or about four times the price from a little over […]

April 13, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Linux 7.0 Release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 7.0 on LKML: The last week of the release continued the same “lots of small fixes” trend, but it all really does seem pretty benign, so I’ve tagged the final 7.0 and pushed it out. I suspect it’s a lot of AI tool use that will keep finding corner cases for us for a while, so this may be the “new normal” at least for a while. Only time will tell. Anyway, this last week was a little bit of everything: networking (core and drivers), arch fixes, tooling and selftests, and various random fixes all over the place. Let’s keep testing, and obviously tomorrow the merge window for 7.1 opens. I already have four dozen pull requests pending – thank you to all the early people. Linus This follows the Linux 6.19 release about two months ago, which brought us PCIe link encryption and […]

April 8, 2026April 8, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GL.iNet Comet 5G – A KVM over IP solution with 5G RedCap cellular connectivity, 3.69-inch touchscreen display

GL.inet Comet 5G (GL-RM10RC) is a KVM over IP solution with a 3.69-inch touchscreen display and 5G RedCap (Reduced Capability) IoT cellular connectivity, enabling remote access even when your regular Internet connection is down. The design builds upon the GL.iNet Comet Pro introduced last year, featuring a larger design and display, and adding 5G cellular connectivity on top of WiFi 6 and Gigabit Ethernet. It still features HDMI input and output (loop) ports, two USB Type-C ports for power and keyboard/mouse emulation, and a USB 2.0 port for accessories like ATX power control or fingerbot for the control of physical buttons on the target. GL.iNet Comet 5G specifications: SoC – Quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU @ 1.5 GHz; potentially a Rockchip RV1126B SoC System Memory – 1GB DDR3L Storage – 64 GB eMMC flash Video & Audio Input – HDMI port up to 4K @ 30 FPS Output – HDMI loop/passthrough port […]

April 2, 2026April 6, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Mekotronics R57-5S – Rockchip RK3576 mini PC and digital player integrates inclined 5-inch touchscreen display

Mekotronics is known for its unusual Rockchip devices, and the R57-5S is a Rockchip RK3576 mini PC for kiosks and digital signage applications with a built-in, inclined 5-inch touchscreen display. The system ships with up to 16GB LPDDR5, up to 128GB eMMC flash, or up to 1TB UFS flash. It also features an M.2 socket for storage or an AI accelerator, HDMI 2.1 and USB-C DP video outputs, a 4K-capable HDMI input port, dual GbE, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1, optional 4G LTE, a few USB ports, and a terminal block with RS232 and RS485 interfaces. MekotronicsR57-5S specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3576 CPU 4x Cortex-A72 cores @ 2.2GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 cores @ 1.8GHz Arm Cortex-M0 MCU at 400MHz GPU – ARM Mali-G52 MC3 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0 and 3.2, OpenCL up to 2.0 and Vulkan 1.1 NPU – 6 TOPS (INT8) AI accelerator with support for […]

March 31, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Rockchip RK3506J-based Forlinx FCU1501 fanless industrial IoT gateway offers dual Ethernet, plenty of I/Os and serial interfaces

Forlinx Technology has recently introduced the FCU1501, a rugged, fanless industrial embedded computer and IoT gateway built around the Rockchip RK3506J processor with a tri-core Cortex-A7 and a single Cortex-M0 core. The system is designed for high-reliability data acquisition and protocol conversion in harsh environments. The gateway comes in two variants (basic and extended), which have similar dimensions but differ mainly in interface density. Both models feature up to 512MB DDR3 RAM, 8GB eMMC flash, dual Fast Ethernet, dual-band Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 5.0, and 4G LTE Cat 1 support. Applications include automation, rail transit, and smart manufacturing. The system supports a wide industrial temperature range (-40°C to +85°C) and meets Level 3 EMC standards. Forlinx FCU1501 Specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3506J CPU 3x Arm Cortex-A7 cores up to 1.5 GHz Arm Cortex-M0 real-time core GPU – 2D GPU only No VPU, no NPU System Memory – 256MB or 512MB DDR3 Storage 256MB NAND […]