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April 3, 2024 by Debashis Das - 5 Comments

$101+ CWWK X86-P1 fanless SBC and mini PC is powered by Intel N3050, N3160, or N3700 Braswell SoC

X86-P1 Development Board Version and Standard Edition

In a previous post, we wrote about the CWWK X86-P5, a $219 fanless mini PC powered by the Alder Lake N-series N100 SoC. However, during a recent search on AliExpress, I stumbled upon the CWWK X86-P1 fanless mini PC and SBC. This compact device offers three variants (N3050, N3160, and N3700) with a TDP of only 6W. It features dual GbE Ethernet, dual USB 3.0, HDMI, and a GPIO header. Additionally, it includes a built-in fan header for improved cooling. It supports Windows 11, Ubuntu 22.04, and networking OS options like pfSense or OpenWrt along with all major x86-based operating systems. CWWK X86-P1 Fanless Mini PC Specification SoC options Intel Celeron N3050 – Dual core Braswell processor @ up to 2.16 GHz with Intel HD Graphics Gen8 – 6W TDP Intel Celeron N3160 – Quad-core Braswell processor @ up to 2.24 GHz with 12EU Intel HD graphics 400 – 4W […]

March 30, 2024March 30, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

INCTEL N100 fanless mini PC and micro firewall appliance comes with four 2.5GbE ports using Intel i226V controllers

INCTEL N100, also sold under the Partaker brand, is a fanless mini PC and “micro firewall appliance” powered by an Intel Processor N100 CPU and equipped with four 2.5GbE ports all using Intel i226V. It has features similar to the tiny, actively cooled iKOOLCORE R2 Alder Lake-N mini PC that combines Intel and RealTek controllers, but the INCTEL model has a larger yet thinner design. The device supports up to 16GB DDR5 memory, can take an M.2 NVMe SSD and/or a 2.5-inch SATA drive for storage, and also provides two video outputs through HDMI and DisplayPort, as well as a few USB ports, an RJ45 console port, and optional support for WiFi and 4G LTE connectivity. INCTEL N100 specifications: SoC- Intel Processor N100 quad-core Alder Lake N-series processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD graphics @ up to 750 MHz; TDP: 6W System Memory […]

January 4, 2024March 29, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Qotom Q20332G9-S10 fanless “mini PC” features four 10 GbE and five 2.5GbE ports

Qotom Q20331G9-S10 fanless network appliance

Qotom Q20332G9-S10 is described as a fanless mini PC or somewhat more accurately as a router PC with four 10GbE SFP+ cages and five 2.5GbE RJ45 ports powered by an Intel Atom C3758R Denverton Refresh eight-core processor first introduced in 2020. I would rather call it a network appliance than anything with “PC” in its name since the system only comes with VGA video output (e.g. no HDMI or DisplayPort output), no audio support, and Denverton server processors lack an internal GPU. The Qocom device supports up to 64GB DDR4 memory, up to two 2.5 SATA drives, and two M.2 NVMe SSDs, and comes with one extra M.2 socket for cellular connectivity and a few USB ports. Qotom Q20332G9-S10 specifications: SoC – Intel Atom C3758R Denverton Refresh 8-core processor @ 2.4 GHz with 16M cache; TDP: 26W System Memory – Up to 64GB dual-channel DDR4 @ 2400MHz Storage 2x M.2 […]

December 19, 2023December 20, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

iKOOLCORE R2 (Core i3-N300) system review – Part2: Proxmox VE, Ubuntu 22.04, pfSense

iKOOLCORE R2 Ubuntu Promox VE dual display

In the first part of iKOOLCORE R2 mini PC & router review, I had a look at the hardware with an unboxing and a teardown of the Intel Core i3-N300 Alder Lake-N computer and also noticed the device booted to a UEFI shell. So for the second part of the review, I will report my experience installing Proxmox VE on the iKOOLCORE R2 and setting up and using Ubuntu 22.04, pfSense 2.7.2, and OpenWrt 23.05 virtual machines, making sure I can still use a physical display, keyboard, and mouse with Ubuntu while pfSense firewall is running. As a side note, the previous generation iKOOLCORE R1 mini PC that was sent to Ian for review with Proxmox VE and various virtual machines preinstalled OpenWrt, Debian 11, and Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC set to Chinese language by default. As I understand it, iKOOLCORE still does that for the Chinese market, but not […]

November 21, 2023December 20, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

iKOOLCORE R2 mini PC and router review – Part 1: Specs, unboxing, teardown, and first boot

iKOOLCORE R2 is an Intel Alder-Lake-N mini PC and network appliance (router/firewall/gateway) that comes with four 2.5GbE ports, up to 16GB RAM, NVMe storage, and the usual HDMI and USB ports, and offered with either Processor N95 or Core i3-N305 SoC. It’s the successor of the iKOOLCORE R1 with four gigabit Ethernet ports and Intel Celeron N5095 or Jasper Lake processor, and the company sent us a sample for testing, so we’ll start with listing the specifications, check out the mini PC and accessories with an unboxing, teardown the multilayer mini PC to check out the hardware design and explain how to update the SSD or install a wireless module, and check whether it can still boot to Windows 11 (default, preinstalled OS) after my adventurous teardown… iKOOCORE R2 specifications Alder Lake-N SoC Intel Processor N95 quad-core processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD […]

June 26, 2023June 26, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Intel soft router offers up to eight 2.5GbE ports, Comet Lake or Whiskey Lake Core processor

Topton is offering a soft router powered by an Intel Whiskey Lake or Comet Lake processor up to the Core i7-10510U quad-core/octa-thread processor with either eight 2.5GbE RJ45 ports or four 2.5GbE RJ45 ports and two 10GbE SFP+ cages. We’ve previously written about the low-cost InuoMicro G4305L8-S2 fanless industrial PC box with eight 2.5GbE interfaces, but it is powered by an Intel Celeron 4305UE dual-core Whiskey Lake processor, and the Topton model should offer more performance with a choice of 8th or 10th generation Intel Core i3/i5/i7 Whiskey Lake or Comet Lake SoC. Specifications: SoC (one or the other) Intel Core i3-8145UE dual-core Whiskey Lake processor up to 3.90 GHz with Intel UHD Graphics 620; 15W TDP Intel Core i5-10210U quad-core/eight-thread Comet Lake processor @ 1.6 GHz / 3.9 GHz (turbo all cores) / 4.2 GHz (turbo one core), 24EU Intel UHD graphics; 6MB Cache; 15W TDP Intel Core i7-10510U […]

December 8, 2022January 23, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

Gowin R86S mini PC offers 2.5GbE and 10GbE networking for $310 and up

Gowin R86S (aka GW-R86S) is an affordable Intel Celeron N5100 or Pentium N6005 Jasper Lake mini PC, router, and firewall appliance with 2.5GbE and 10GbE networking that sells for $310 and up on Aliexpress. 10GbE used to be reserved for the enterprise market due to the cost of hardware, but costs have gone down a lot as illustrated by the Gowin R86S system with up to three 2.5GbE ports, two 10GbE SFP+ cages, as well as ports that you would typically find a mini PC such as HDMI 2.0 video output, M.2 socket for NVMe SSD, two USB 3.0 ports, and a WiFi module. Gowin R86S specifications: SoC (one or the other) Intel Celeron N5105 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 2.0GHz / 2.9GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD graphics 605; 10W TDP Intel Pentium N6005 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 2.0GHz / 3.3GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD graphics @ up to […]

November 27, 2022April 15, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments

Brume 2 router review with WireGuard, OpenVPN, Tor, and Adguard Home

We started the review of GL.inet GL-MT2500A security gateway, aka Brume 2, with an unboxing and teardown, and I’ve now had time to test the router in more detail so I’ll report my experience using the router with OpenVPN and WireGuard VPN, Tor, Adguard Home, and more. In a nutshell, it’s super easy to use, unless your ISP causes troubles, which it did in this case. Brume 2 connection and initial setup I connected the WAN port of the Brume 2 router to 3BB’s modem router (3BB is an ISP in Thailand), the LAN port to my laptop, and finally the USB-C power supply (power draws is 2.3 Watts at idle). Let’s now go to the dashboard using the default IP (192.168.8.1). This will take us through the configuration wizard to select the language and set up the admin password. I was then immediately greeted by an “Upgrade Reminder” and […]