Linux 5.17 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 5.17 changelog

Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 5.17: So we had an extra week of at the end of this release cycle, and I’m happy to report that it was very calm indeed. We could probably have skipped it with not a lot of downside, but we did get a few last-minute reverts and fixes in and avoid some brown-paper bugs that would otherwise have been stable fodder, so it’s all good. And that calm last week can very much be seen from the appended shortlog – there really aren’t a lot of commits in here, and it’s all pretty small. Most of it is in drivers (net, usb, drm), with some core networking, and some tooling updates too. It really is small enough that you can just scroll through the details below, and the one-liner summaries will give a good flavor of what happened last week. Of course, this means […]

$249 Rockchip RK3588 8K mini PC comes with up to 16GB RAM

Mekotronics R58X RK3588 mini PC

Mekotronics R58X is an embedded mini PC powered by Rockchip RK3588 Cortex-A76/A55 processor with 16GB RAM, dual Gigabit Ethernet, 8K capable HDMI and DisplayPort video output ports, HDMI input, M.2 NVMe storage, and more. This is yet another announcement of Rockchip RK3588 hardware following ROCK5 Pico-ITX SBC, Firefly ITX-3588J mini-ITX motherboard,  and Mixtile Blade 3 server board among others. Melotronix R58X may have different use cases, as it is suitable as an IoT gateway, an industrial PC, an edge computing platform, a video analytics server, digital signage, a vehicle control unit, and other embedded applications. Mekotronics R58X mini PC/SBC specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588 octa-core processor with four Cortex-A76 cores @ 2.4 GHz, four Cortex-A55 cores @ 1.8 GHz, an Arm Mali-G610 MP4 GPU, a 6TOPS NPU, 8K 10-bit decoder, 8K encoder System Memory – Up to 16GB LPDDR4x Storage eMMC 5.1 flash 2x SATA 3.0 connectors + SATA power […]

Firefly is working on a Rockchip RK3588 Mini-ITX motherboard (ITX3588J)

ITX-3588J RK3588 motherboard

After Radxa ROCK5 Pico-ITX SBC and Banana Pi RK3588 SoM and devkit, Firefly ITX3588J mini-ITX motherboard is the third hardware platform we’ve seen with Rockchip RK3588 octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor. The board will be interesting to people wanting an Arm PC or workstation as the mini-ITX form factor will allow the board to be fitted to a standard enclosure, and there’s plenty of resources and I/Os with up to 32GB RAM, four SATA ports, multiple 8K/4K video outputs and inputs, dual Gigabit Ethernet, WiFI 6 and Bluetooth 5.0,  a PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, and more. Firefly ITX3588J mini-ITX motherboard specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588 octa-core processor with  four Arm Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, four Arm Cortex-A55 cores, ArmMali-G610 MP4 quad-core GPU with support for OpenGL ES3.2, OpenCL 2.2, Vulkan1.1, 6 TOPS NPU, 48MP ISP, 8Kp60 video decoding, 8Kp30 video encoding System Memory – 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB […]

Qualcomm IPQ8076A WiFi 6E access point offers dual 10GbE, supports PoE++

WiFI 6E access point 10GbE PoE++

Lanner LWR-X8460 is an enterprise-grade 12-stream, tri-band Wi-Fi 6E access point powered by Qualcomm IPQ8076A quad-core Cortex-A53 processor also equipped with two 10GbE multi-speed ports, and four additional Gigabit Ethernet ports. The access point also supports IEEE 802.3bt standard for the PoE++ power delivery, Bluetooth 5.1 for IoT management, and its features set makes it suitable for remote video conferencing, telehealth, distance learning, public safety monitoring, IoT applications, as well as general connectivity in any crowded and dense Wi-Fi environments. Lanner LWR-X8460 specifications: WiSoC – Qualcomm IPQ8076A Hawkeye quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 2.2GHz part of the Networking Pro 1200 Platform System Memory – 1GB DDR4 Storage – 8MB NOR flash, 256MB NAND flash Networking Wi-Fi Standards – IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax Peak PHY Rates – 2.4GHz: 1147 Mbps; 5GHz: 2402 Mbps; 6GHz: 4804 Mbps 12x antennas 2.4GHz: Peak gain 3.6dBi, Internal 4×4, Omnidirectional 5GHz: Peak gain 5.7dBi, Internal 4×4, Omnidirectional 6GHz: […]

MOREFINE M6 – An ultra-thin Jasper Lake mini PC (Crowdfunding)

MOREFINE M6

We’ve seen a fair amount of Jasper Lake mini PCs, and even reviewed one with Beelink U59. MOREFINE M6 stands out due to its size and thickness, being about the size of two smartphones stacked together. The features are also promising with an Intel Celeron N5105 quad-core processor coupled with up to 16 GB RAM, up to 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD, as well as dual 4K video output through HDMI and USB-C ports, a 2.5GbE ports WiFi 6 & Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, and three USB 3.1 ports. MOREFINE M6 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N5105 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 2.0GHz / 2.9GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD graphics 605; 10W TDP System Memory – 8GB or 16GB LPDDR4 Storage – 512GB or 1TB M.2 NVMe 2280 SSD, or 256GB M.2 SATA SSD Video Output 1x HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60 1x DisplayPort Alt Mode via USB-C port up to […]

Radxa E25 carrier board, 2.5GbE switch, and WiFi 6 router

Radxa E25 2.5GbE switch-Xiaomi AX6000 WiFi 6 router

I’ve just received an early sample of Radxa E25 dual 2.5 GbE carrier board for Radxa CM3 Plus (RK3568) system-on-module, a 2.5GbE TP-Link switch, and Xiaomi AX6000 WiFi 6 + 2.5GbE router. Here’s the back story before looking into the devices. I’ll soon have to review UP Xtreme i11 mini PC with a 2.5GbE port, and after writing about the upcoming ROCK5 Model B SBC with both 2.5GbE and WiFI 6/6E, I realized I should really get some hardware to test 2.5GHz and WiFi 6. So I started to ask what could be the best options for a $200 budget. While thinking about it, I remember Radxa was working on the Radxa E23 board with 2.5GbE, and adding a WiFi 6 USB dongle might be an option. But they told me Radxa E25 would be a better option with two 2.5GbE ports and support for WiFi 6, although that one […]

Rockchip RK3568 SBC to power 4G/5G, WiFI 6 connected smart displays, features an optional tuner

Geniatech K3-3568 SBC smart display

Geniatech is back with another Rockchip RK3568 SBC. The K3-3568 single board computer is designed specifically for smart displays with 4G LTE, 5G, or WiFi 6 connectivity, and follows last year’s “Geniatech RK3568 development board” (aka DB3568) offered as a full-featured development kit for Rockchip RK3568 SoC. K3-3568 SBC ships with up to 8GB RAM, up to 64GB eMMC flash, and offers multiple display interfaces with HDMI, MIPI DSI, LVDS, eDP, plus and an internal HDMI input connector, as well as support for an optional DVB-T2, ISDB-T, DMBT, or ATSC digital tuner. Geniatech K3-3568 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor up to 1.5/2.0 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.1, 0.8 TOPS NPU for AI acceleration System Memory – 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB LPDDR4 Storage 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB eMMC 5.1 flash MicroSD card slot M.2 socket for NVMe SSD (See expansion […]

NXP IW612 Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, 802.15.4 tri-radio solution supports Matter

NXP IW612 block diagram

Matter, previously known as Project Chip, is a unified interface for Smart Home devices to improve interoperability between devices from different manufacturers and associated services like Google Assitant or Amazon Alexa. Matter can work over Thread, WiFi, Ethernet, BLE, etc… so it’s not limited by the physical layer. So far, we mostly heard about development related to Matter, and Espressif has published a series of posts about Matter to be for instance used by their upcoming ESP32-H2 wireless MCU, but I had not seen many other solutions, not commercial products. This is going to change in 2022, as Belkin announced it’s working on “redesigned smart plugs and lighting solutions” with support for Matter over Thread” that start selling this summer. Separately, NXP also announced the IW612 tri-radio solution with Matter support and dual-band WiFI 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and 802.15.4 radios. NXP IW612 IW612 key features and specifications: Dedicated, independent CPUs […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC