debian News - Page 32 of 72 - CNX Software

May 9, 2020May 9, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

MNT Reform Open Source Hardware Laptop Launched for $999 and Up (Crowdfunding)

MNT Reform DIY Arm Linux laptop has been in the works at least since 2017. The open source hardware laptop is also fully modular with Boundary Devices Nitrogen8M SoM featuring NXP i.MX 8M quad-core Cortex-A53 processor and 4GB RAM, M.2 NVMe SSD storage, and standard, replaceable 18650 batteries. The good news is the laptop is now almost ready for prime-time and has been launched on Crowd Supply with price starting at $999 in DIY kit form without storage, and $1,300 for a complete, assembled system with 256GB NVMe storage. If you don’t have that amount of money to spend, but would like to support the project, a $40 MNT Reform T-shirt is also offered. Alternatively, the motherboard only goes for $550. Here’s a reminder of MNT Reform specification: SoM – Boundary Devices Nitrogen8M SoC – NXP i.MX 8MQuad quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz, 1x Arm Cortex-M4F real-time core Vivante […]

May 5, 2020May 5, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

WiFi & Cellular Router Focuses on Security, Always-on Connectivity with 2GB Free Monthly Data (Crowdfunding – US)

We previously covered Roqos Core RC10 Intel Atom-based AC router that was offered for only $19 with the catch of having to $17 per month for “advanced cybersecurity and parental control features” for at least a year. The company is now back with Roqos Core RC20 AC router that adds supports for cellular connectivity including 2GB per month of cellular data, and a focus on security with built-in VPN service so you can connect securely from anywhere, even public WiFi hotspots. Roqos Core RC20 hardware specification: SoC – Intel Atom E3845 quad-core processor @ up to 1.91 GHz cores System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 8GB flash Video Output – HDMI (but not sure whether it’s used since not listed in the specs) Connectivity Wired – 1x Gigabit Ethernet WAN port, 4x Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports Wireless – Simultaneous dual frequency 3×3 802.11ac WiFi 5 and 2×2 802.11n WiFi […]

February 22, 2020April 15, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

ADLINK Industrial-Pi (I-Pi) SMARC Development Kit Features Rockchip PX30 SoC

ADLINK Technology has just announced the Industrial-Pi (I-Pi) SMARC Development Kit to help engineers quickly design prototypes for industrial applications using peripherals and sensors. The I-Pi SMARC development kit is comprised of a baseboard, LEC-PX30 SMARC-compliant Rockchip PX30 system-on-module, an acrylic case, a 12V/2A power supply, USB cable, and a 32GB MicroSD card. The company promotes the kit as “an industrial-ready substitute for Arduino and Raspberry Pi (RPi) platforms that are commonly used for prototyping but cannot typically be ‘dropped’ into an industrial solution as-is“. LEC-PX30 SMARC System-on-Module Specifications: SoC – Rockchip PX30 Quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 CPU with TrustZone technology, ARMv8 Cryptography Extensions, Mali-G31 GPU System Memory – 1GB or 2GB DDR3L at 1066/1333 MHz Storage – 8, 16, 32 or 64 GB eMMC flash Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet from SoC, 10/100M Ethernet via LAN9514 USB 2.0 Ethernet controller Video Decoding – H.264 up to 1080p60, H.265/HEVC up to 1080p60, […]

January 30, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Ntablet Android & Linux Tablet Features a Replaceable RK3288 CPU Module, GPIO Board

Most tablets on the market either run Android or Windows, and while some have tried to launch Linux tablets, none of the products have really caught on, although the upcoming PINETAB might change that. Another option might be Ntablet 7″ tablet that runs either Android, Debian or WebOS Linux operating systems, but also offers some innovative features such as a replaceable Rockchip RK3288 CPU module, and an external GPIO board for makers. Ntablet hardware specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3288 quad-core Cortex-A17 processor @ 1.8 GHz with Mali-T760 quad-core GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot up to 32GB Display – 7″ touchscreen IPS display with 1920×1200 resolution Video Output – Micro HDMI port Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack Camera – 5MP front-facing camera (OV5648 sensor) Connectivity – 802.11b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.0 via Ampak AP6255 module USB – 1x USB 2.0 port, […]

January 29, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 49 Comments

Raspberry Pi 4 Benchmarked with 32-bit and 64-bit Debian OS

Raspberry Pi 4 AES memset 32-bit vs 64-bit

The first Raspberry Pi board with a 64-bit Arm processor was Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, and all new models including the latest Raspberry Pi 4 come with four Arm Cortex-A 64-bit cores. But in order to keep backward software compatibility with the original Raspberry Pi and Raspberry Pi 2, the Raspberry Pi foundation decided to keep provided 32-bit OS image, so nearly everybody is now running a 32-bit OS on 64-bit hardware, and Eben Upton famously claimed it did not matter. We already wrote that 64-bit Arm (Aarch64) boosted performance by 15 to 30% against 32-bit Arm (Aarch32) several years ago, but Matteo Croce decided to try it out himself on Raspberry Pi 4 board first running benchmarks on Raspbian 32-bit before switching to a lightweight version of Debian compiled as aarch64. Dhrystones is much faster with the 64-bit OS, namely 50% faster, but as a synthetic benchmark, its […]

January 19, 2020February 16, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

MNT Reform 2 Open Source DIY Arm Linux Modular Laptop Coming Soon (Crowdfunding)

We first covered MNT Reform in fall of 2017, when it was a prototype for a DIY and modular laptop powered by NXP i.MX 6QuadPlus processor, and with plans to eventually use i.MX 8 hexa-core processor. Last year they designed several beta units of Reform to get feedback for a dozen users, and have now fully redesigned the laptop based on an NXP i.MX 8M system-on-module with the crowdfunding campaign expected to go live in February on Crowd Supply. MNT Reform 2 specifications: SoM – Boundary Devices Nitrogen8M SOM with SoC – NXP i.MX 8MQuad quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz, 1x Arm Cortex-M4F real-time core Vivante GC7000Lite 3D GPU System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – Probably none Networking – Atheros Ethernet MAC chip (AR8035) 200 pin SO-DIMM edge connector exposing USB 3.0, PCIe, MIPI DSI, etc… Dimensions – 67.6mm x 48.4mm Motherboard Storage – SD card slot, M.2 […]

January 13, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Variscite Introduces i.MX 8M Mini and Nano SoM’s, Symphony Carrier Board

NXP i.MX 8M Mini and i.MX 8M Nano are lower cost and lower power variants of NXP i.M 8M processors manufactured using a 14nm FinFET process, and cutting some features such as HDMI and embedded DisplayPort, or hardware video decoder. NXP i.MX 8M Mini has been announced for over two years, so we’ve already written about many boards and systems-on-module (SoM) including Boardcon EM-IMX8M-MINI SBC, TechNexion XORE LGA SoM, or Congatec conga-SMX8-Mini SMARC 2.0 module among others. NXP i.MX 8M Nano is more recent, and we only covered a few announcements so far namely iWave Systems iW-RainboW-G34M-SM SoM and Conga-SMX8-Nano SMARC 2.0 computer-on-module. There’s now at least a third company working on a “Nano” module with Variscite announcing VAR-SOM-MX8M-NANO SoM together with a “Mini” version called VAR-SOM-MX8M-MINI, and Symphony carrier board and development kits. VAR-SOM-MX8M-MINI & VAR-SOM-MX8M-NANO Modules Both modules are part of Variscite VAR-SOM Pin2Pin family, and share the […]

December 23, 2019April 27, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Banana Pi BPI-F2S Industrial SBC Launched for $58 with Linux 4.19 based Debian or Fedora OS

Last month we covered Banana Pi BPI-F2S single board computer (SBC) for industrial, IoT, and smart audio application that was powered by the intriguing SunPlus SP7021 “Plus1” processor featuring four Cortex-A7 cores, one ARM9 ARM9 real-time core, and one 8051 I/O controller core, as well as up to 512MB built-in DDR3 RAM. At the time, the board was not available, and we had limited information about software support, except the company would provide a Yocto-based Linux distribution. The good news is that you can now buy Banana Pi BPI-F2S industrial SBC on Aliexpress for $58 and Taobao for 390 RMB, and the company released source code and OS images for the board. Here’s a reminder of Banana Pi BPI-F2S specifications: SoC – Sunplus SP7021 “Plus1” with a quad-core Cortex-A7 processor @ 1.0 GHz, one Arm A926 microprocessor, an 8051 core to handle I/Os, and 128MB or 512MB DDR3 DRAM. Storage […]