GL.iNet GL-MT2500A security gateway review – Part 1: Unboxing and teardown

Brume 2 Review

The Brume 2 security gateway/router is powered by a MediaTek MT7981B (Filogic 820) dual-core processor @ 1.3 GHz and is available as the GL-MT2500A with a metal enclosure or the GL-MT2500 with a plastic case. GL.iNet sent me the GL-MT2500A for review. In the first of the review, we’ll have a look at the device and accessories, and tear it down to check out the hardware design and main components. I’ll then need some time to test OpenWrt 21.02 and features such as WireGuard and OpenVPN, AdGuard Home, Tor Anonymity, and soon. GL.iNet GL-MT2500A (Brume 2) unboxing The router ships with a short Ethernet cable, a 5V/2A USB Type-C power supply with EU, US, and UK plug adapters, and some minimal documentation that points to the users to more detailed online documentation and support on the company’s Facebook page. There’s not much too see on the front panel and right […]

T8-Pro Celeron N5095 mini PC offers triple HDMI output, dual Gigabit Ethernet

Gateway T8Pro mini PC

T8-Pro is a low-cost mini PC powered by an Intel Celeron N5095 Jasper Lake processor that offers features such as triple 4K HDMI output and dual Gigabit Ethernet usually found in more expensive models for the industrial/embedded market. The actively-cooled mini PC is equipped with 8GB RAM and an M.2 2242 SSD of 128GB to 1TB capacity. It also comes with a WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 module, three USB 3.0 ports, and a 3.5mm audio jack. T8-Pro mini PC specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N5095 quad-core Jasper Lake  processor @ 2.0GHz / 2.9GHz (Turbo) with 4MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD Graphics; 15W TDP System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4X (Up to 16GB, but not offered for sale) Storage – 128GB to 1TB M.2 2242 NVMe SSD Video Output – 3x HDMI 2.0 ports up to 4Kp60 Audio – 3.5mm audio jack (headphone & microphone) jack, digital audio via HDMI Connectivity […]

Giveaway Week – NanoPi R5S router

NanoPi R5S review

It’s that time of year… CNX Software giveaway week! For the 9th edition, we’ll have seven items to give away, five that I will send myself, and two that will be sent directly from two companies that accepted to add their own products to the giveaway. We’ll start the giveaway with NanoPi R5S router based on Rockchip RK3568 SoC with 2 GB DDR4 RAM, 8GB eMMC flash plus an M.2 socket for NVMe SSD, two 2.5GbE Ethernet ports, one Gigabit Ethernet port, as well as HDMI 2.0 video output and two USB 3.0 ports.   I reviewed the NanoPi R5S router with OpenWrt and Ubuntu 20.04 “FriendlyCore”, but I had to call this a “preview” since 2.5GbE was far from optimal, sometimes only a little faster than with a Gigabit Ethernet link. But I can see the company has released new images, including one based on the latest OpenWrt 22.03, […]

Andes unveils AndesCore AX65 Out-of-Order RISC-V core for compute intensive applications

AndesCore AX60

Andes Technology has unveiled the high-end AndesCore AX60 series out-of-order 64-bit RISC-V processors at the Linley Fall Processor Conference 2022 with the new cores designed for compute-intensive applications such as advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), artificial intelligence, augmented/virtual reality, datacenter accelerators, 5G infrastructure, high-speed networking, and enterprise storage. AndesCore AX65 is the first member of the family and supports RISC-V scalar cryptography extension and bit manipulation extension. It is a 4-way superscalar core with Out-of-Order (OoO) execution in a 13-stage pipeline and can fetch 4 to 8 instructions per cycle. The company further explains the AX65 core then decodes, renames, and dispatches up to 4 instructions into 8 execution units, including 4 integer units, 2 full load/store units, and 2 floating-point units. The AX65’s memory subsystem also includes split 2-level TLBs (translation lookaside buffers) with up to 64 outstanding load/store instructions. Up to eight AX65 cores (or should that then be […]

Axiomtek iNA200 DIN-Rail cybersecurity gateway offers 6x Ethernet ports up to 2.5GbE

Axiomtek iNA200 Gateway

Axiomtek iNA200 is a DIN-rail mountable cybersecurity gateway powered by a choice of Elkhart Lake Atom x6000E-series processor and designed for operational technology (OT) network security. The fanless gateway comes with up to 32GB RAM, supports SATA storage, offers 2.5GbE & Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45/SFP) networking, and as it is designed for industrial settings, can take input from two 9V to 36V power sources and operate in the -40°C to 70°C temperature range. Axiomtek iNA200 specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x6212RE/x6414RE dua-core or quad-core Elkhart Lake processor with 16 EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: x6212RE: 6W, x6414RE: 9W System Memory – Up to 32GB DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM Storage – Support for 2.5-inch SATA III SSD, optional eMMC flash Video Output – HDMI Networking 2x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 ports via Marvell 88E1512 controller with LAN Bypass 2x 2.5GbE RJ45 ports via Intel I225-IT controller with LAN Bypass and TSN function 2x Gigabit Ethernet […]

SiFive P670 and P470 RISC-V processors feature RISC-V Vector Extensions

SiFive Performance RISC-V processors Roadmap

SiFive has announced two new RISC-V Performance cores with the P670 and P470 processors with RISC-V Vector Extension for AI/ML, media and sensor processing, and designed for high volume applications such as wearables, smart home, industrial automation, AR/VR, and other consumer devices. The P670 is comparable to the Cortex-A78, and the P470 is comparable to the Cortex-A55. Both support the standardized RISC-V RVA22 profile for better OS compatibility and implement RISC-V Vector v1.0 and Vector Cryptography extensions. The SiFive Performance P470 and P670 share the following features: Full RISC-V RVA22 profile compliance Full, Out-of-Order, RISC-V Vector implementation, based on the ratified RISC-V Vector v1.0 Specification RISC-V Vector Cryptography extensions SiFive WorldGuard system security Support for virtualization, including a separate IOMMU for accelerating virtualized device IO Advanced Interrupt Architecture (AIA) compliant interrupt controller with better support for Message Signal Interrupts (MSI) and virtualization Enhanced scalability with fully coherent multi-core, multi-cluster, with […]

NanoPi R6S – A Rockchip RK3588S router and mini PC with dual 2.5GbE, GbE, and… HDMI 2.1

NanoPi R6S RK3588S router

FriendlyELEC has launched its sixth generation router with the NanoPi R6S equipped with a Rockchip RK3588S processor, two 2.5GbE ports, one Gigabit Ethernet port, and two USB interfaces. But the device will not exactly be limited to router functions as it comes with 8GB RAM, a 32GB eMMC flash, and an HDMI 2.1 port that support up to 8Kp60 video output, not to mention 8K video decoding capability and the integrated 6 TOPS NPU for AI workloads. NanoPi R6S specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588S octa-core processor with: CPU – 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, four Cortex-A55 cores @ 1.8 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G610 MP4 quad-core GPU with OpenGL ES3.2 / OpenCL 2.2 / Vulkan1.1 support VPU – 8Kp60 H.265/VP9/AVS2 video decoder, 8Kp30 H.264 decoder, 4Kp60 AV1 decoder, 8Kp30 H.265/H.264 video encoder AI accelerator – 6 TOPS NPU System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4X @ 2133 MHz Storage […]

Brume 2 – OpenWrt “security gateway” with MediaTek MT7981B SoC supports WireGuard VPN

Brume 2 MediaTek MT7981B security gateway

GL.inet Brume 2 is an OpenWrt router, or rather a “security gateway” as the company calls it, powered by a MediaTek MT7981B (Filogic 820) dual-core Cortex-A53 processor, and equipped with a 2.5GbE WAN port and a Gigabit Ethernet LAN port. The device also comes with a USB 3.0 port for storage and a USB Type-C port for power. It is offered with either a plastic enclosure (GL-MT2500 model) or an aluminum allow case (GL-MT2500A model), and with WireGuard and OpenVPN, is suitable to host a VPN server and “monitor, manage, and configure SD-WAN settings”. Brume 2 (GL-MT2500/GL-MT2500A) specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT7981B (Filogic 820) dual-core processor @ 1.3 GHz System Memory – 1GB DDR4 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash Networking 1x 2.5 Gbps Ethernet WAN port 1x Gigabit Ethernet LAN port USB – 1x USB 3.0 Type-A port, 1x USB Type-C port for power Misc – Reset button, Power and […]