$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 […]

$55+ Orange Pi 4 LTS SBC features YT8531C Ethernet PHY, CDW 20U5622-00 wireless module

Orange Pi 4G LTS

Orange Pi 4 LTS is a cost-optimized (and availability-optimized) variant of the Rockchip RK3399 powered Orange Pi 4 single board computer that was introduced in 2019 with 4GB RAM for $49.90 and up. Shenzhen Xunlong Software mainly kept the same design with the cost savings involving a choice of 3GB or 4GB RAM, and the replacement of Realtek Ethernet PHY and Ampak wireless module with the equivalent MotorComm YT8531C Ethernet chip and CdTech wireless module with WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. Orange Pi 4 LTS specifications with changes highlighted in bold: SoC – Rockchip K3399 hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with two Arm Cortex A72 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz, four Cortex A53 cores, and an ARM Mali-T860 MP4 GPU System Memory – 3GB or 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – MicroSD card socket, optional 16 GB eMMC flash Video Output/Display Interface HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60 Hz LCD connector for […]

Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS sells with metal enclosure for $35.99

Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS metal enclosure

Shenzhen Xunlong Software previously launched the Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS router board powered by Rockchip RK3328 quad-core processor last November for $27.99 on Aliexpress. As expected, albeit with some delays, the company has now introduced a metal enclosure for the Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS board transforming it into a complete router or gateway. You can get it as part of a kit for $35.99 plus shipping, or if you’ve already purchased the board previously, get the enclosure only for $9 plus shipping. Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS router/gateway specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3328 quad-core Cortex-A53 @ 1.5 GHz with Arm Mali-450MP2 System Memory – 1GB LPDDR3 RAM Storage – MicroSD card slot, 16 MB SPI flash Connectivity 2x Gigabit Ethernet via YT8531C Ethernet PHY and RTL8153B USB 3.0 to Ethernet chip; both tested by the company up to 945 Mbps Tx and 963 Mbps Rx On-board WiFi is not […]

Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit officially released

Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has now officially released Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit about two years after the first beta version was released. Despite some potential performance benefits from using 64-bit code instead of 32-bit, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has resisted moving too quickly to a 64-bit OS because if it would create two separate worlds for their earlier 32-bit boards like Raspberry Pi 2 or Raspberry Pi Zero, and the newer 64-bit boards starting with Raspberry Pi 3 onwards and may confuse users besides the extra workloads. Some of the main reasons to finally release a 64-bit version include improved software compatibility with many closed-source applications only available for arm64, and some open-source ones not fully optimized for the armhf port, some performance benefits, and the ability for a process to make use of the full 8GB RAM, removing the 3GB limit when using LPAE (Large Physical Address Extension) on […]

PiGear Nano – A Nano-ITX Raspberry Pi CM4 carrier board with 7-30V DC input

PiGear Nano

PiGear Nano is an Nano-ITX carrier board for Raspberry Pi CM4 (Compute Module 4) designed for industrial applications with a -30°C to +80°C temperature range, 7 to 30V DC input, as well as RS232, RS485, and CAN bus interfaces. The board also features one Gigabit Ethernet port, one HDMI port, MIPI DSI and CSI display & camera interface, M.2 SSD storage, eight USB 3.0 ports, mini PCIe and SIM card sockets for 4G LTE cellular connectivity, and various digital input and output interfaces. Pigear Nano specifications: Supported SoM – Raspberry Pi CM4 and CM4 Lite modules Storage – 1x NVMe SSD M.2 socket,  1x MicroSD card slot for Compute Module 4 Lite only Display I/F – 1x HDMI Type-A connector, 1x MIPI DSI interface x 1 Camera I/F – 1x MIPI CSI interface Networking 1x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port Optional 4G LTE/GPRS via mini PCIe socket plus SIM card slot […]

Building a NanoPi M4V2 based All-in-One Linux PC running Armbian (Ubuntu/Debian)

Armbian Ubuntu All-in-One PC

At the end of my review of “RPI All-in-One” PC with Raspberry Pi 4, I noted the system also appeared to be compatible with NanoPi M4V2 single board computer. I’ve now tried it out, and assembling the board inside the 10.1-inch display is even easier than I initially thought. That means I now have a NanoPi M4V2 All-in-One PC running Ubuntu Hirsute or Debian Buster with XFCE desktop environment from Armbian, and most features work including the display and wireless connectivity, but I still have an issue with the touchscreen function. Here are the steps I followed initially: Download Armbian Buster XFCE image from Armbian and flash it to a microSD card with tools like USBimager. Insert the microSD card in the board Install the USB Type-C and HDMI-A adapters in the display. Insert the USB Type-C and HDMI port of the NanoPi M4V2 SBC into the adapters Install the […]

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 […]

Raspberry Pi CM4 Nano industrial mini PC supports wide temperature range, 12-18V DC input

Raspberry Pi CM4 Nano industrial mini PC

If you ever wanted a mini PC similar to Raspberry Pi 4 but working within a wider temperature range and supply voltage, as well as a few extra features, the Raspberry Pi CM4 Nano industrial mini PC with a metal enclosure might be worth looking at. Based on the EDATEC CM4 Nano carrier board, the mini PC supports Raspberry Pi CM4 with up to 8GB RAM, 32GB storage, optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0, and offers one HDMI port, a flat cable HDMI + Touchscreen connector, Gigabit Ethernet, three USB 3.0 ports and more. It works in settings with -25 to +60°C ambient temperature and offers a 12-18V DC input. EDATEC (Raspberry Pi) CM4 Nano specifications compared to Raspberry Pi 4 SBC: The company uses the Raspberry Pi OS image for the board plus a Board Support Package (BSP) specific to CM4 Nano to support extra features like the RTC: […]