Reviews - Page 12 of 119 - CNX Software

August 15, 2023November 13, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Khadas Mind Review – An ultra-thin Core i7-1360P mini PC tested with Windows 11

We wrote about the Khadad Mind portable mini PC a few weeks ago with quite a unique design bringing the Intel Core i7-1360P Raptor Lake processor to a super thin design and enabling extension through the Mind Link connector with PCIe, HDMI 2.1, and USB 3.2 Gen 2 interfaces. We’ve now had time to test the Khadas Mind with the Khadas Dock adding 2.5GbE, two HDMI ports, and several 5 Gbps USB connectors, as well as an audio jack and a full-size SD card reader with the Windows 11 Home operating system, so we’ll report our experience that has been mostly positive. Software overview and features testing The Khadas Mind ships with Windows 11 Home 22H2 build 22621.1992 and the System About menu confirms we have a mini PC equipped with an Intel Core i7-1360P processor with 32GB RAM. HWiNFO64 provides more details about the Core i7-1360P processor, Khadas Mind […]

August 15, 2023August 16, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Mini review of GGtag e-paper display programmable through sound or USB serial

GGtag is a 3.52-inch e-paper display based on the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller and programmable through sound or USB serial from your web browser, plus it also supports emulation of 125 kHz RFID tags (ASK and FSK). When Radoslav Gerganov contacted me about the upcoming Crowd Supply campaign for the GGtag e-paper badge, I happened to have just discussed using an e-paper display to sell some samples on Facebook Groups where requirements include using the seller’s name and date in the photos. So I asked for a sample if any were available, and I just received it today… GGTag specifications: MCUs Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM Microchip ATtiny85 8-bit AVR microcontroller (used for RFID) Storage – 2 MB flash Display – 3.52-inc e-paper display with USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and serial programming Sensor – PDM digital microphone for data-over-sound […]

August 7, 2023August 30, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Blackview MP80 Processor N95 mini PC review – Part 1: Specs, unboxing and teardown

Blackview MP80 is an upcoming tiny (0.285L) and lightweight mini PC powered by an Intel Processor N95 quad-core Alder Lake-N CPU clocked at up to 3.4 GHz and equipped with 16GB RAM, and a 512GB M.2 SSD preloaded with Windows 11 Pro. The mini PC also comes with three HDMI 2.0 video outputs, three USB 3.0 ports, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, as well as Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 wireless connectivity. Blackview sent us an early sample of the MP80 mini PC for review and we’ll have a look at the specifications, go through an unboxing and attempt a teardown in the first part of the review, before publishing our experience with Windows 11 Pro and Ubuntu 22.04 once the mini PC officially launches in September. Blackview MP80 specifications SoC – Intel Processor N95 Alder Lake-N quad-core/quad-thread processor @ up to 3.4 GHz with 6MB cache, 16 EU Intel UHD […]

August 7, 2023August 6, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

SunFounder Zeus Car Kit review – A fun toy and Arduino learning tool

SunFounder Zeus Car Kit is an Arduino UNO and ESP32 Cam-based educational kit for children (and adults) that can be used to learn more about electronics, robotics, and programming. It’s a car comprised of four 6cm Mecanum wheels for omnidirectional motion and various sensors that can be controlled with an Android app enabling first-person view (FPV) thanks to the built-in camera. The company sent us a Zeus Car Kit for review and evaluation, and after assembly, we’ll use it in “Play Mode”, or in other words a toy that basically works out of the box, before checking out the “Programing Mode” and related Arduino tutorials to evaluate it’s educational potential. Zeus Car Kit Unboxing The kit comes in a nice retail package which highlights some of the capacities of the kit: FPV, Omnidrive, AI vision, compass, IR control, APP control, and RGB lights. The package itself contains four more boxes […]

August 6, 2023August 5, 2023 by Paisit Wongsongsarn - 13 Comments

SONOFF SNZB-01P/SNZB-02P Review – Zigbee wireless switch and temperature & humidity sensor tested with Home Assistant

SONOFF SNZB-01P & SNZB-02P Zigbee Review Home Assistant

SONOFF launched their 1st gen Zigbee product about a few years ago, and SONOFF have finally started to upgrade their Zigbee devices, and we received two Zigbee 3.0 devices from SONOFF for review, namely the SNZB-01P wireless switch and the SNZB-02P temperature and humidity Sensor. In a nutshell, their appearance looks more modern, with a round shape compared to the rectangular design of the previous models. Importantly, they are sturdier than before, and the battery capacity has increased almost 2x. As we anticipated, they can be used with other Zigbee Hubs from different brands as well. The main application used with both devices is still, of course, eWeLink, which many people are familiar with (a Zigbee Bridge Hub/Bridge is required). However, this review will focus more on the popular app called Home Assistant, which is widely used globally. SNZB-01P wireless switch After trying it out for a while and comparing […]

July 31, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

e-con systems See3CAM_24CUG USB 3.1 global shutter camera review

e-con Systems See3CAM_24CUG a full HD color global shutter USB 3.1 Gen 1 camera based on an Onsemi AR0234CS CMOS image sensor capable of capturing moving scenes at up to 120 fps. This global shutter camera is especially useful for robotics and other applications that may require a high frame rate such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR), gesture recognition, drones, barcode scanners, factory automation, conveyor monitoring cameras, and traffic monitoring systems. e-con Systems sent a See3CAM_24CUG USB global shutter camera sample to CNX Software for review. I’ll go through an unboxing before testing in Ubuntu with both an AMD Ryzen 7 2700U laptop and a Raspberry Pi 4 single board computer. It happens to be based on the same sensor as the e-CAM20_CURB camera for Raspberry Pi 4 that we reviewed last year. See3CAM_24CUG specifications ON Semiconductor AR0234CS CMOS sensor with 1/2.6″ optical form-factor Global […]

July 30, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Robo Pico review – A Raspberry Pi Pico W-based motor & sensor control board tested with BocoBot robotic kit

Robo Pico Review Raspberry Pi Zero W robot

Cytron Robo Pico is a carrier board for the Raspberry Pi Pico (W) specially designed for robotics & IoT applications with a 2-channel DC motor driver, four servo motor ports, and seven Grove I/O connectors to connect various sensors and/or actuators. When the company asked us to review the Robo Pico board, I noticed they had a car robotic kit based on the board called the BocoBot that comes with installation videos and five tutorials including obstacle avoidance movement with ultrasonic sensors, light search, line following, and WiFi remote control. So I asked for the full kit to make the review more fun and interesting. Robo Pico board Robo Pico specifications: Supported MCU board – Raspberry Pi Pico/Pico W and compatible Motor control 2x DC Motor terminals with Motor status LEDs for each motor terminal 2x motor test buttons for each motor terminal Header to connect to 4x servos Expansion […]

July 23, 2023January 7, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

CZUR ET24 Pro book scanner review with Ubuntu 22.04 Linux

CZUR ET24 Pro book scanner Ubuntu review

The CZUR ET24 Pro is a professional book scanner that works with Windows, macOS, and Linux, so I decided to review it in Ubuntu 22.04 since we are fans of hardware that can interface with Linux at CNX Software.

If you haven’t already, I strongly recommended reading the unboxing part of the CZUR ET24 Pro review, as we go through the specifications, show the various interfaces of the scanner, showcase the various accessories, and also try it out with the HDMI interface in presentation/preview mode. It will help you better understand the second part of the review, where we’ll connect the CZUR ET24 Pro scanner to a Ubuntu 22.04 laptop using the provided USB cable.