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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on Rockchip RK1820/RK1828 SO-DIMM and M.2 LLM/VLM AI accelerator modules, devkits, and benchmarks

Rockchip RK1820/RK1828 SO-DIMM and M.2 LLM/VLM AI accelerator modules, devkits, and benchmarks

Rockchip RK1820/RK1828 SO-DIMM module development board

Rockchip unveiled two RK182X LLM/VLM accelerators at its developer conference last July, namely the RK1820 with 2.5GB RAM for 3B parameter models, and the RK1828 with 5GB RAM for 7B parameter models. A few months have passed, and we have a few more details since a development kit based on Rockchip RK1820/RK1828 SO-DIMM module is now available, some basic documentation has been released, and the RK1828 has been benchmarked against the Rockchip RK3588’s NPU. I was also told that M.2 modules are coming soon. Firefly RK182X 3D RAM Stacking Development Kit The “RK182X 3D RAM Stacking Development Kit” is based on the AIO-GS1N2 carrier board, previously offered with a Rockchip RK3576 or RK3588(s) and with a NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano or NX AI module. Specifications: Main module (now only RK3588 variant for sale as part of the RK182x kit) Core-3588JD4  – Rockchip RK3588 with 6 TOPS NPU, 4GB to 32GB […]

Posted on by Debashis Das - 1 Comment on Rockchip RK628D based HDMI-to-MIPI-CSI board converts HDMI video into camera feed for embedded systems

Rockchip RK628D based HDMI-to-MIPI-CSI board converts HDMI video into camera feed for embedded systems

Firefly HDMI to MIPI CSI adapter board

The Firefly HDMI-to-MIPI-CSI converter board converts an HDMI video and audio source into a MIPI-CSI camera stream for supported Rockchip SoCs, which is the complete opposite of the Olimex MIPI-HDMI adapter that converts MIPI DSI display signals to HDMI output. Built around the Rockchip RK628D video bridge chip, the board supports HDMI 1.4/2.0 input with 8-bit and 10-bit video, RGB888 and YUV420 color formats, and resolutions up to 4K @ 60fps. On the output side, it provides a MIPI-CSI interface compliant with MIPI D-PHY v1.2, with video output in YUV422 color format, supporting resolutions up to 4K @ 30fps. Audio output is available through a 3.5 mm headphone jack and onboard pin headers, making the board suitable for HDMI capture, smart display, micro-projector, and embedded video conversion applications. Firefly HDMI-to-MIPI-CSI board Specifications: Main Chip – Rockchip RK628D HDMI-to-MIPI CSI-2 converter Input HDMI 1.4 / HDMI 2.0 compliant 8-bit and 10-bit […]

Posted on by Debashis Das - 2 Comments on Firefly CAM-3576 series – Tiny Rockchip RK3576 SBCs for commercial, industrial, and automotive applications

Firefly CAM-3576 series – Tiny Rockchip RK3576 SBCs for commercial, industrial, and automotive applications

CAM 3576Q38 Mini AI SBC

Firefly Technology has introduced the CAM-3576 series of tiny (38 × 38 mm) SBCs based on the Rockchip RK3576 processor with a 6 TOPS NPU for AIoT, edge AI, smart vision, industrial, and automotive applications. It comes in three variants, which include the CAM-3576Q38 (commercial), the CAM-3576JQ38 (industrial), and the CAM-3576MQ38 (automotive) modules designed for smart cameras, intelligent security systems, dash cams, and private on-device AI model deployment. The CAM-3576 series supports up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, up to 256GB eMMC flash, and also includes a microSD card for expansion. Additionally, the boards feature a MIPI CSI input for up to 16MP camera sensors with HDR support, Fast Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6, USB 2.0, USB-C (device), RS-485, UART, I²C, ADC, GPIOs, audio input/output, and RTC support. Firefly CAM-3576Q38 specifications: SoM – ICORE-3576Q38 SoC – Rockchip RK3576 (Q38 – Commercial) or Rockchip RK3576J (JQ38 – Industrial) or Rockchip RK3576M (MQ38 – Automotive) […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on Linux 6.18 LTS release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.18 LTS release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.18

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 6.18 on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML), which will likely become the next LTS kernel [update: it’s now official]: So I’ll have to admit that I’d have been happier with slightly less bugfixing noise in this last week of the release, but while there’s a few more fixes than I would hope for, there was nothing that made me feel like this needs more time to cook. So 6.18 is tagged and pushed out. Most of the last-minute fixes are minor fixes to drivers, with some random noise elsewhere (bluetooth, ceph, afs..). Nothing strikes me as standing out, but hey, there’s a shortlog appended if you want to see the details. And this obviously means that the merge window will open tomorrow, and I already have three dozen pull requests pending. Thanks. And as I already mentioned a couple of […]

Posted on by Debashis Das - No Comments on NVIDIA Jetson T5000-based Firefly EC-ThorT5000 industrial PC features 8x GMSL2 camera interfaces, 4x 10GbE RJ45 ports

NVIDIA Jetson T5000-based Firefly EC-ThorT5000 industrial PC features 8x GMSL2 camera interfaces, 4x 10GbE RJ45 ports

EC ThorT5000

The Firefly EC-ThorT5000 is an industrial edge AI PC built around NVIDIA’s new Jetson T5000 Thor series module, with up to 2070 TFLOPS FP4 performance. The system is one of the first commercial products based on the Jetson Thor platform, launched in late August 2025. The EC-ThorT5000 provides eight GMSL2 camera inputs, four 10GbE and four GbE (PSE) ports, dual NVMe storage, HDMI 2.0, USB 3.0, CAN/RS485/RS232, SIM support, and expansion options for 5G, 4G, and WiFi 6. It also offers up to 92-channel 1080p video decoding in a rugged all-aluminum chassis designed for 24/7 operation, making it suitable for robotics, smart city deployments, and high-density edge AI workloads. Firefly EC-ThorT5000 specifications: SoM – NVIDIA Jetson Thor T5000 module CPU – 14-core 64-bit ARM Neoverse-V3AE @ up to 2.6GHz GPU – 2560-core Blackwell GPU with 96 Tensor Cores, 10-TPC MIG VPU Video Decode – 4x 8Kp30 (H.265), 10x 4Kp60 (H.265), […]

Posted on by Debashis Das - No Comments on Firefly EC-AGXOrin – Jetson AGX Orin 64GB AI inference system supports up to 8 GMSL2 cameras

Firefly EC-AGXOrin – Jetson AGX Orin 64GB AI inference system supports up to 8 GMSL2 cameras

EC AGXOrin NVIDIA Jetson 275 TOPS Edge AI Computer

Firefly EC-AGXOrin is an NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 64GB-powered AI inference system, similar to the AAEON BOXER-8645AI and Vecow RAC-1000 rugged Edge AI systems, and designed for edge AI applications such as in-vehicle computing, robotic control, machine vision, intelligent video analytics, and mobile robots. The device features eight GMSL2 connectors (input via two 4-pin Mini FAKRA interfaces) and supports up to 22-channel 1080p or 8K, 30fps H.265 video decoding. It delivers 275 TOPS of AI performance through the NVIDIA module, and integrates 64GB LPDDR5 RAM, 64GB eMMC storage, and offers M.2 NVMe and MicroSD card storage options. Other ports include a 10GbE RJ45 jack, five GbE jacks, USB 3.0, HDMI 2.0, RS232, RS485, CAN, and the system also supports WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, 4G/5G cellular connectivity, and GPS/GNSS. Firefly EC-AGXOrin specifications: SoM – Jetson AGX Orin module with CPU – 12-core Arm Cortex-A78AE v8.2 64-bit processor with 3MB L2 + […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Linux 6.17 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.17 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.17 changelog

Linux 6.17 has just been released on LKML: No huge surprises this past week, so here we are, with kernel 6.17 pushed out and ready to go. Below is the shortlog for just the last week – not the full 6.17 release – as usual. It’s not exciting, which is all good. I think the biggest patch in there is some locking fixes for some bluetooth races that could cause use-after-free situations. Whee – that’s about as exciting as it gets. Other than that, there’ the usual driver fixlets (GPU and networking dominate as usual, but “dominate” is still pretty small), there’s some minor random other driver updates, some filesystem noise, and core kernel and mm. And some selftest updates. This obviously means that the merge window for 6.18 will open tomorrow, and I already have four dozen pull requests pending. Thanks to the proactive people – you know who […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Linux 6.15 Release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.15 Release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.15 release

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 6.15: So this was delayed by a couple of hours because of a last-minute bug report resulting in one new feature being disabled at the eleventh hour, but 6.15 is out there now. Apart from that final scramble, things looked pretty normal last week. Various random small fixes all over, with drivers as usual accounting for most of it. But we’ve got some bcachefs fixes, some core networking, and some mm fixes in there too. Nothing looks particularly scary. And this obviously means that the merge window opens tomorrow as usual, and I see the usual people being proactive and having sent me their pull requests. It’s memorial day tomorrow here in the US, but like the USPS, “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” – nor memorial day – stops the merge window. [ Actually, thinking back […]