Beelink SER4 Review – Windows 11, Ubuntu 20.04, and “overclocking” AMD Ryzen 7 4800U SoC

Beelink SER4 review

Beelink has released the SER4 which is the latest in their ‘SER’ mini PC series and it features a Zen 2 AMD mobile processor. Beelink kindly sent one for review and I’ve looked at performance running both Windows and Ubuntu and dabbled with ‘overclocking’. Beelink SER4 Hardware Overview The Beelink SER4 physically consists of a 126 x 113 x 40mm (4.96 x 4.45 x 1.57 inches) square metal case. As an actively cooled mini PC, it uses AMD’s 7 nm Zen 2 Ryzen 7 4800U Renoir processor which is an eight-core 16-thread 1.8 GHz mobile processor boosting to 4.2 GHz with Radeon Graphics. The front panel has an illuminated power button, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a Type-C USB 3.1 port with Alternate Mode, dual USB 3.1 ports, and a reset pin-hole ‘CLR CMOS’.  The rear panel includes a gigabit Ethernet port, a USB 3.1 port and a USB 2.0 port, […]

ASUS Tinker Edge R SBC with 3GB RAM, Rockchip RK3399Pro sells for $179

ASUS Tinker Edge R 3GB RAM

ASUS Tinker Edge R Pico-ITX single board computer with Rockchip RK3399Pro AI processor was first unveiled in 2019 with 6GB RAM, but a cheaper 3GB RAM version with 2GB RAM for the CPU, and 1GB RAM with the integrated NPU just showed up in my news feeds. Whether it comes with 3GB or 6GB RAM, the Tinker Edge R board should mostly be interesting for AI accelerated workload thanks to the 3 TOPS built-in NPU, as well as the two MIPI CSI camera interfaces. ASUS Tinker Edge R (3GB) SBC specifications: SoC – Rochchip RK3399Pro hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 2x Cortex A72 cores up to 1.8 GHz, 4x Cortex A53 cores @ 1.4 GHz, an Arm Mali-T860 MP4 GPU up to 800 MHz with OpenGL ES 1.1 to 3.2, OpenVG1.1, OpenCL 1.2 and DX 11 support, and NPU delivering up to 3.0 TOPS System Memory – 2 GB dual-channel LPDDR4 […]

How to Install dnsmasq caching DNS server in Ubuntu

cnx-software.com DNS server dnsmasq

As you may have noticed in recent days, my domain registrar (HostFast) suspended cnx-software.com domain for what I believe are dubious reasons, meaning the site was inaccessible to the outside world and myself. I cannot do much about the latter and I’m held hostage to what the domain registrar’s will, but I was able to access my own website with my domain name after installing a DNS server through dnsmasq on my Ubuntu 20.04 laptop. Edit: most of the steps below are actually not needed in Ubuntu 20.04, since you could just edit /etc/hosts (step 4). I’ll just leave the instructions below in case somebody needs to install dnsmasq. Here are the steps I followed. Install dnsmasq

This did not work at first since systemd-resolved is already installed, so I disabled it by following instructions on askubuntu:

I then added name servers to /etc/dnsmasq.conf:

and cnx-software.com IP […]

Kontron Pi-Tron CM4 mini PC leverages Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 for industrial applications

Kontron AL Pi-Tron CM4

Kontron Pi-Tron CM4 is a single-board computer and mini PC based on the Raspberry Pi Compute Module with a Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor, up to 8GB RAM, up to 32GB eMMC flash, HDMI video output, two Ethernet ports, optional WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, and an M.2 slot for AI or wireless expansion. Designed for industrial applications, the Pi-Tron CM4 is also equipped with RS232, RS485/CAN FD bus, and GPIO terminal blocks, supports 24V input voltage, and is optionally sold as AL Pi-Tron CM4 in a housing suited for challenging environments. Kontron Pi-Tron CM4 specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4) with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @1.5 GHz, VideoCore VI GPU, H.265 (HEVC) up to 4Kp60 decode, 1080p30 encode, up to 8GB LPDDR4, up to 32GB eMMC flash Storage – MicroSD card socket (only for Raspberry Pi CM4 Lite module) Display I/F HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60 […]

VESA compatible mini PC is powered by Vortex86DX3 x86 processor

VESA-compatible Vortex86DX3 mini PC

ICOP EB-3362-I fanless mini PC powered by DM&P Vortex86DX3 x86 processor coupled with 2GB DDR3 of memory and designed to be mounted on the back of a VESA compatible display or monitor, a wall, or even a DIN rail through an adapter. The mini PC will be mostly useful for legacy x86 applications with features like VGA video output, multiple DB9 COM ports, as well as SATA storage.  The wide 8V to 24V input voltage and -20 to 70C  temperature range will also make it suitable for some industrial applications. ICOP EB-3362-I specfications: SoC – DM&P Vortex86DX3 dual-core x86 processor @ 1GHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – SATA interface, SD card socket Display Output – VGA up to 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz Networking 10/100M Ethernet RJ45 port Optional additional Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port Optional WiFi via USB 2.0 port, and external antenna USB – 3x USB […]

Hardkernel launches ODROID-M1 Rockchip RK3568B2 SBC

ODROID-M1

It’s been a while since we have seen new hardware from Hardkernel, but the Korean company has just launched the ODROID-M1 SBC powered by Rockchip RK3568 with up to 8GB RAM. The single board computer is cooled with a large heatsink placed underneath, supports SATA and NVMe storage, offers HDMI and MIPI DSI video output, Gigabit Ethernet networking, as well as two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 ports, an RTC backup battery, and a 40-pin GPIO header. ODROID-M1 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568B2 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 MP2 GPU, 0.8 TOPS AI accelerator System Memory – 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4 RAM Storage 16MB SPI flash preinstalled with Petitboot MicroSD card socket eMMC module socket Native SATA 3.0 port + SATA power (5V only) tested up to around 500 MB/s M.2 NVMe M-Key socket (2-lane PCIe 3.0) for M.2 SSDs tested up to around […]

INNOTECH AX-1020 Atom x6000E Elkhart Lake SBC targets fanless equipment

INNOTECH AX-1020

Japan-based INNOTECH has announced the AX-1020 SBC based on Intel Atom x6000E Elkhart Lake processor designed for fanless industrial equipment, medical equipment, surveillance/security, and transportation applications. The board supports up to 16GB of RAM, SATA & NVMe storage, and is equipped with three display interfaces, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, six USB3.0/2.0 interfaces, one RS-485/422, and four RS-232C serial interfaces. INNOTECH AX-1020 specifications: Choice of Atom x6000E Elkhart Lake SoC Intel Atom x6425E quad-core processor @ 2.00 GHz / 3.0 GHz with 32 EU UHD graphics; 12W TDP Intel Atom x6413E quad-core processor @ 1.50 GHz / 3.0 GHz with 16 EU UHD graphics; 9W TDP Intel Atom x6211E dual-core processor @ 1.30 GHz / 3.0 GHz with 16 EU UHD graphics; 6W TDP System Memory – 4GB to 16GB DDR4 SO-DIMM (The company tells customers to contact them first when using 8GB or 16GB RAM) Storage – 1x SATA port, […]

Capyloon mobile Web-based OS works on Pinephone Pro, Librem 5, Pixel 3a

Capyloon

Capyloon is an experimental Web-based OS leveraging b2gOS that served as the base for the now-defunct Firefox OS. The developers’ goal is to provide an open-source OS improving privacy and user control through web technologies. It’s still early stage, and some of the technologies used include the IPFS protocol, WebAssembly plugins, and the Tor network. Capyloon is more like a new phone shell as it replaces Phosh when installing it in a Linux smartphone. The first version of Capyloon released last month worked on Pixel 3a, other Android phones through a generic system image, and 64-bit x86 Debian machines. But since then, the developers added support for Apple M1, and yesterday they released Debian packages for PinePhone Pro and Librem 5 Linux smartphones to run Capyloon on top of a Mobian image. Instructions are as follows: Download the Debian package for PinePhone Pro or Librem 5 Install the package withsudo […]