nvme News - Page 4 of 10 - CNX Software

December 18, 2023February 9, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

ODROID-M1S review – Part 1: Ubuntu 20.04, Vu8S touchscreen display, UPS Kit, and WiFi Module 5BK

ODROID-M1S review with UPS module and V8uS module

Hardkernel ODROID-M1S single board board was recently launched to celebrate the company’s 15th anniversary. While the ODROID-M1 board was introduced with the Rockchip RK3568 SoC last year, the new ODROID-M1S board is smaller and cheaper starting at just $49 and comes with a Rockchip RK3566 SoC. Hardkernel sent us a sample of the ODROID-M1S board for review with 8GB of memory and 64GB of storage as well as accessories. Let’s unpack the box before trying it out with Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop and testing each accessory. ODROID-M1S unboxing with ODROID-Vu8S display, UPS kit, and WiFi dongle The review package we received from Hardkernel included the ORDROID-M1S SBC in its plastic enclosure, the VU8S 8-inch touchscreen display, a UPS board, and a dual-band WiFi 5 USB dongle. The UPS module comes without a battery, so we had to find an 18650 battery to use it. As we’ll see further below, the UPS […]

December 13, 2023December 15, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

$14 Pimoroni NVMe Base adds an M.2 PCIe socket underneath the Raspberry Pi 5 SBC

Pimonori has started to take pre-orders for the NVMe BASE add-on board that adds an M.2 PCIe socket underneath the Raspberry Pi 5 SBC with support for M.2 NVMe SSDs and M.2 AI accelerators with 2230, 2242, 2260, or 2280 sizes. It’s not the first M.2 expansion board for the Raspberry Pi as the PineBerry Pi HatDrive TM1 and BM1 add-on boards launched last month can also do that either on top of on the bottom of the Raspberry Pi, but the NVMe BASE is quite cheaper at just 13.50 GBP inc. VAT or $14.29 ex. VAT at the time of writing. NVMe Base key features and specifications: NVMe Base PCB M.2 M-key slot Holes for 2230, 2242, 2260, and 2280 sized M.2 modules Raspberry Pi FFC PCIe connector ‘PCIe Pipe’ Flat Flex Cable M2 bolt and 2x nuts for SSD mounting 4x 7mm M2.5 standoffs for base mounting 8x […]

December 13, 2023February 7, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Maxtang MTN-FP750 (Ryzen 7 7735HS) mini PC review – Part1: Specs, unboxing, teardown, and first boot

Maxtang MTN-FP750, also known as NUC-7735HS-A16, is a mini PC powered by AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS (or Ryzen 5 6600H) CPU with up to 64GB of memory, up to 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD, and ports such as HDMI 2.0, USB4, 2.5GbE, etc… It also optionally supports WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, takes a 2.5-inch SSD via an FPC connector, and optionally comes with Windows 11 Pro operating system with the company saying the mini PC is ideal for office retail and digital signage. Maxtang sent us an MTN-FP750 mini PC sample for review with an AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS, 32GB DDR5, and a 512GB M.2 SSD preloaded with Windows 11 Pro. Today we will look at the specifications, go through an unboxing, teardown the device to check out the hardware design and boot it up to make sure it works as expected. We will then review Windows 11 Pro and […]

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

Radxa ROCK 3B Rockchip RK3568 SBC combines Pico-ITX and Raspberry Pi form factors

Radxa ROCK 3 Model B, or ROCK 3B for shorts, is a “PI-CO ITX” SBC powered by a Rockchip RK3568 SoC that combines the benefits of Pico-ITX and Raspberry Pi form factors in the sense that the 100x72mm board features all main ports on the rear side and supports expansion through a 40-pin Raspberry Pi-compatible GPIO header and several M.2 sockets for storage and wireless modules. The ROCK 3B is the younger, but bigger brother of the ROCK 3A business card-sized SBC introduced in 2021, still with an RK3568 CPU and up to 8GB LPDDR4, but the board features two gigabit Ethernet ports, an M.2 B Key socket for 4G LTE/5G cellular modules, an M.2 PCIe 3.0 x1 socket for an M.2 2280 SSD not necessitating an expansion board, besides the M.2 Key-E socket for WiFi 6. ROCK 3B specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568(J) CPU – Quad-core Cortex A55 processor […]

November 27, 2023November 27, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 37 Comments

FriendlyELEC CM3588 NAS Kit comes with four M.2 Key-M 2280 PCIe Gen 3 x1 sockets

FriendlyELEC CM3588 NAS Kit is a new Rockchip RK3588 board with four M.2 Key-M sockets each with a PCIe Gen 3 x1 interface and designed to take 2280 NVMe SSDs or other M.2 PCIe modules. Equipped with the CM3588 Core system-on-module, the feature-rich CM3588 NAS SDK board also comes with a 2.5GbE RJ45 connector, two HDMI 2.1 video outputs, one HDMI 2.0 video input, MIPI DSI and CSI connectors, several USB 3.0/3.1 ports, and a 40-pin GPIO header for expansion. FriendlyELEC CM3588 NAS Kit specifications: System-on-Module – CM3588 Core board SoC – Rockchip RK3588 CPU – 4x Cortex‑A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex‑A55 core @ 1.8 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G610 MP4 “Odin” GPU Video decoder – 8Kp60 H.265, VP9, AVS2, 8Kp30 H.264 AVC/MVC, 4Kp60 AV1, 1080p60 MPEG-2/-1, VC-1, VP8 Video encoder – 8Kp30 H.265/H.264 video encoder AI accelerator – 6 TOPS NPU System Memory – 4GB, […]

November 26, 2023November 26, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GEEKOM Mini IT13 review – Part 3: Ubuntu 22.04 tested on an Intel Core i9-13900H mini PC

We published the review of the Core i9-13900H powered GEEKOM Mini IT13 mini PC in Windows 11 Pro earlier this week and have now installed Ubuntu 22.04 and tested the machine with the Linux-based operating system in detail with benchmarks, features testing, networking and storage performance tests, power consumption, and thermal performance which we will report in this third and final part of the review. Installing Ubuntu 22.04 on GEEKOM Mini IT13 I shrank the Windows partition by about 500 MB in Disk Management in Windows 11 (Disk 1) in order to install Ubuntu 22.04.3 in dual boot configuration. The installation went smoothly using WiFi 6 to retrieve newer files and I could log in to the Ubuntu 22.04 desktop. But there was a trick, as I had to go to Windows first to select “Advanced Startup” and select Ubuntu on the next boot since the GRUB menu would just […]

November 16, 2023November 16, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

Raspberry Pi 5 gets an M.2 PCIe HAT – Meet PineBerry Pi HatDrive

The Raspberry Pi 5 SBC comes with a PCIe 2.1 x1 interface that has not been overly useful so far since it’s exposed through a non-standard FPC connector. Raspberry Pi Ltd is working on its own HATs to make use of the PCIe connector, but PineBerry Pi may have beaten them to it with the launch of the HatDrive M.2 HAT for Raspberry Pi 5. The HatDrive comes with an M.2 Key-M socket with a PCIe x1 interface and support for 2230 and 2242 modules, so you can install an SSD, an AI accelerator, or another compatible M.2 module. The HAT is connected through a 40mm long 16-pin FPC cable (that supports up to PCIe Gen3) as well as the 40-pin Raspberry Pi GPIO header for the I2C EEPROM required by compliant HATs, plus power supply monitoring and diagnostics, and to let users add another HAT on top if needed. […]

November 12, 2023December 1, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GEEKOM A5 AMD Ryzen 7 5800H mini PC review – Part 1: Unboxing, teardown, and first boot

GEEKOM A5 is a Windows 11 Pro mini PC based on an eight-core, sixteen-thread AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor with up to 64GB RAM, NVMe/SATA SSD support up to 2TB, and interfaces such as dual HDMI 2.0, five USB 3.2 Gen 2 10 Gbps ports, 2.5GbE, as well as support a WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless module. The company has sent us a review sample of the GEEKOM A5 mini PC with 32GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. Today, we will look at the Mini PC’s specifications, go through an unboxing, followed by a teardown, and quickly check out if it works properly with a first boot to Windows 11 Pro. In the next part of the GEEKOM A5 review, we will test performance and features with Windows 11 Pro, followed by an evaluation of the mini PC with Ubuntu 22.04 in the final and third part of the […]