SOMDEVICES µSMARC RZ/V2N is a system-on-module powered by the Renesas RZ/V2N AI MPU and offered in a micro SMARC (µSMARC) form factor that’s quite smaller at 82x30mm than standard 82x50mm SMARC modules. The company told CNX Software it’s still 100% compatible with SMARC 2.1 with a 314-pin MXM 3.0 edge connector. It’s also cost-effective with a compact PCB and can be used in space-constrained applications. The µSMARC features up to 8GB LPDDR4, up to 128GB eMMC flash, two gigabit Ethernet PHY, and an optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1 wireless module. µSMARC RZ/V2N specifications: SoC – Renesas RZ/V2N CPU Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.8 GHz Arm Cortex-M33 @ 200 MHz GPU – Arm Mali-G31 3D graphics engine (GE3D) with OpenGL ES 3.2 and Open CL 2.0 FP VPU – Encode & decode H.264 – Up to 1920×1080 @ 60 fps (Renesas specs, but SOMDEVICES also mentions up to 4K @ 30 […]
Linux 6.14 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architecture
Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 6.14 on LKML: So it’s early Monday morning (well – early for me, I’m not really a morning person), and I’d love to have some good excuse for why I didn’t do the 6.14 release yesterday on my regular Sunday afternoon release schedule. I’d like to say that some important last-minute thing came up and delayed things. But no. It’s just pure incompetence. Because absolutely nothing last-minute happened yesterday, and I was just clearing up some unrelated things in order to be ready for the merge window. And in the process just entirely forgot to actually ever cut the release. D’oh. So yes, a little delayed for no good reason at all, and obviously that means that the merge window has opened. No rest for the wicked (or the incompetent). Below is the shortlog for the last week. It’s nice and […]
EDATEC ED-IPC3630 Raspberry Pi CM5-powered industrial PC gets eight DI, eight DO, and two CAN Bus
EDATEC ED-IPC3630 is an industrial PC (IPC) built around the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 (CM5) with up to 8GB RAM and designed for industrial automation, IoT, and control applications with features like a wide 9V to 36V DC power input and a DIN-rail mount. The industrial computer also offers dual GbE, optional WiFi 5 and/or 4G LTE cellular connectivity, HDMI video output, a few USB ports, eight digital inputs (DI), eight digital outputs (DO), and two CAN Bus interfaces. ED-IPC3630 Specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi CM5 SoC – Broadcom BCM2712 quad-core Cortex-A76 processor @ 2.4GHz with VideoCore VII GPU System Memory – 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB LPDDR4-4267 SDRAM (the 16GB model is not offered, maybe due to supply issues) Storage – Options for 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB eMMC flash Wireless – Optional dual-band WiFi 5 and Bluetooth LE 5.0 module Storage M.2 Key-B socket optionally fitted with 128GB, 256GB, […]
rpi-image-gen build system creates custom images for Raspberry Pi boards
Raspberry Pi has just released the rpi-image-gen build system to generate custom Raspberry Pi images designed for a specific application and based on packages from the Debian and Raspberry Pi OS repositories I was initially surprised by this announcement, as there are already build tools like the Yocto Project or buildroot designed for this purpose. They are however somewhat complex to use and there’s a steep learning curve, so maybe Raspberry Pi made something easier to use. Let’s have a look. The build is mostly defined by a configuration file which defines the profile and image layout. The company explains the main reasons for creating yet another build system. First, the images are quick to build with the rpi-image-gen build system since you don’t have to build the whole project from source, contrary to something like the Yocto Project which can take hours (for the first build at least). That’s […]
Axiomtek GMB850 Raptor Lake Refresh mini-ITX motherboard GMB850 is made for casino gaming machines
Axiomtek GMB850 is a mini-ITX motherboard powered by up to 14th Gen Intel Raptor Lake-Refresh processors and designed for casino gaming machines requiring advanced features like gaming analytics, real-time player interaction systems, and dynamic content management. While mini-ITX motherboards may serve multiple markets, there’s a specific market for casino and arcade gaming often using AMD processors. We’ve previously covered such boards in the past with the AMD Ryzen Embedded V2000-powered Sapphire FS-FP6 or the AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000/R1000-based Axiomtek GMB140. Axiomtek Gaming’s GMB850 is a more powerful update with Intel Raptor Lake Refresh processors supporting up to four independent displays with up to 4K resolution and gaming I/O modules making it suitable for casino slot machines, electronic table games, and video walls. Axiomtek GMB850 specifications: SoC – LGA1700 socket for 12th/13th/14th Gen. Intel Core i9/i7/i5/i3/Pentium/Celeron “Alder Lake-S” or “Raptor Lake-S” processor System Memory – Up to 64GB DDR5 4800 MHz […]
JetKVM – A $69 KVM over IP solution with open-source software
We’ve been writing about some low-cost KVM over IP solutions like the Sipeed NanoKVM Cube or GL.iNet Comet in recent times, but the JetKVM has been pointed out to me as another alternative with the benefit of having open-source software (which the NanoKVM also got last month). The JetKVM was launched for $69 on Kickstarter last fall and the crowdfunding campaign was amazingly successful with over 4 million dollars raised from just over 30,000 backers. Key features include 1080p60 video with 30-60ms latency using H.264 encoding, mouse and keyboard emulation, remote management via JetKVM Cloud using WebRTC for accessing the devices from outside the LAN, and open-source software written in Golang on Linux. JetKVM specifications: SoC – Rockchip RV1106G3 CPU – Arm Cortex A7 @ 1.0GHz VPU – H264 & H265 hardware encoder Memory – 256 MB DDR3L on-chip Storage – 16 GB eMMC flash Display – 1.69-inch IPS capacitive […]
Forlinx FET3506J-S low power system-on-module features Rockchip RK3506J industrial-grade tri-core Cortex-A7 SoC
Forlinx FET3506J-S system-on-module (SoM) is based on a Rockchip RK3506J SoC, the industrial version of the RK3506 tri-core Cortex-A7 SoC, designed for smart industrial applications, and operating at a low power consumption of about 0.7 Watts. The Rockchip RK3506 SoC was first unveiled in 2023 through a product roadmap. However, we only spotted it in a product at the very end of 2024 with the Luckfox Lyra and Luckfox Lyra Plus featuring a MIPI CSI display connector and optional Ethernet. The Forlinkx FET3506J-S CPU module is the first platform with the industrial version (RK3506J), and the company also provides the OK3506 carrier board/development board for evaluation. Forlinx FET3506J-S system-on-module Specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3506J CPU 3x Arm Cortex-A7 core up to 1.5 GHz or 1.6 GHz (depending on where one looks in the documentation) Arm Cortex-M0 real-time core GPU – 2D GPU only No VPU, no NPU System Memory – […]
Canonical now officially supports Ubuntu on NVIDIA Jetson system-on-modules
The NVIDIA JetPack SDK has been based on Ubuntu ever since it was created (although the Jetpack 6 SDK changed that somewhat), so I was surprised to read that Canonical now officially supports Ubuntu on NVIDIA Jetson, since I assumed there may have already been a partnership in place. The announcement explains that Canonical has announced the General Availability (GA) of Ubuntu for the NVIDIA Jetson Orin for edge AI and robotics “bringing enterprise-grade stability and support” to the popular system-on-modules. Canonical further explains the collaboration enables better performance with optimized Ubuntu images for the NVIDIA Jetson platform, enterprise-level security with updates and long-term support, a unified environment from edge to cloud, and improved stability and reliability with Canonical’s QA team performing over 500 OS compatibility-focused hardware tests. If we visit the NVIDIA Jetson page of the Ubuntu website, we’ll find Ubuntu Server 22.04 images for the Jetson AGX Orin, […]