Reviews - Page 41 of 119 - CNX Software

July 26, 2020July 26, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Beelink GS-King X Review with Android 9 – Video & Audio Playback, NAS/File Server Function, and Benchmarks

Last month I received Beelink GS-King X for review and started with an unboxing and teardown to check out the hardware. I’ve now had time to test the device with Android 9 including the file server function, a key selling point since of the device since it supports up to two 3.5″ SATA drives internally. A Tedious and Frustrating Start Eventually, I managed to boot the TV box and access the launcher, but it was no pleasure cruise. The first time, I connected the power, there was nothing at all, with the LED turned off, and no noise from the device. I thought the device was dead. The company asked me to check the power supply, and indeed a quick check with a multimeter confirmed it was dead despite the blue LED (on the power supply) implying the contrary. Nevermind, bad things happen, and the company sent me a new […]

July 19, 2020August 19, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

ODYSSEY-X86J4105 Gemini Lake & Arduino SBC Review with Windows 10 Enterprise

I’ve recently received ODYSSEY-X86J4105 SBC with Re_Computer case, and we’ve had a look at the SBC hardware, installed some internal components like an M.2 SATA SSD, and play around Re_Computer case using Raspberry Pi 4, Beaglebone Green Wireless and Jetson Nano SBC, before assembling the Intel SBC into the enclosure. I’ve now taken the time to test the combo using the pre-installed Windows 10 Enterprise operating systems. ODYSSEY-X86J4105 is very much like any Intel Gemini Lake mini PC, but with the addition of Arduino and Raspberry Pi headers, so we’ll look at those as well. Connections and First Boot For the first boot, I connect USB mouse and keyboard, a HDMI cable to a 4K TV, an Ethernet cable, a USB 3.0 hard drive, and finally the power supply. I actually had a small problem during boot, but we’ll talk about it later as it’s really specific to my setup, […]

July 9, 2020August 19, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

ODYSSEY-X86J4105 SBC Unboxing and Re_Computer Case Review

ODYSSEY-X86J4105 Re_Computer Case Review

Seeed Studio ODYSSEY-X86J4105 is an Intel Celeron J4105 Gemini Lake SBC that also happens to integrate an Arduino compatible Microchip SAMD21 Arm Cortex M0+ microcontroller that makes it suitable as an all-in-one Arduino platform. But it can do much more with 8GB RAM, an optional 64GB eMMC flash, HDMI & USB-C DisplayPort 4K video outputs, dual Gigabit Ethernet, and support for both SATA and NVMe storage. The board runs Windows 10 Enterprise by default (if you purchase the board with an eMMC flash), and supports Linux distributions as well. Seeed Studio sent me a review sample, so I’ll start by checking out the hardware first. ODYSSEY-X86J4105 Unboxing I received ODYSSEY-X86J4105864 with a built-in 64GB eMMC flash pre-loaded with Windows 10 Enterprise. Let’s have a quick look at the board with USB, Ethernet and video output ports previously described, as well as built-in dual-band Wi-Fi 5 & Bluetooth 5.0 module, and […]

June 21, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Checking Out Raspberry Pi OS 64-Bit on Raspberry Pi 4 8GB RAM

The Raspberry Pi 4 with 8GB RAM launched a couple of weeks ago together with the beta version of Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit. Note that you should currently use the 32-bit version of Raspberry Pi OS (previously known as Raspbian) as the 64-bit still has bugs and missing features, but I want to find out the current progress, so I installed raspios_arm64-2020-05-28/2020-05-27-raspios-buster-arm64.zip and had no problem to boot the board. Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit System Information After going through the setup wizard in the desktop environment to configure the language, time, networking, etc…, and make sure the OS is updated, I checkout some information:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo 
processor	: 0
BogoMIPS	: 108.00
Features	: fp asimd evtstrm crc32 cpuid
CPU implementer	: 0x41
CPU architecture: 8
CPU variant	: 0x0
CPU part	: 0xd08
CPU revision	: 3
...
Hardware	: BCM2835
Revision	: d03114
Serial		: 10000000694c8ae2
Model		: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.4

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo

processor : 0

BogoMIPS : 108.00

Features : fp asimd evtstrm crc32 cpuid

CPU implementer : 0x41

CPU architecture: 8

CPU variant : 0x0

CPU part : 0xd08

CPU revision : 3

...

Hardware : BCM2835

Revision : d03114

Serial : 10000000694c8ae2

Model : Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.4

I do have a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.4 with 8GB Memory (revision: d03114), the image comes with a 64-bit Linux kernel:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ uname -a
Linux raspberrypi 5.4.42-v8+ #1319 SMP PREEMPT Wed May 20 14:18:56 BST 2020 aarch64 GNU/Linux

1 2	pi@raspberrypi:~ $ uname -a Linux raspberrypi 5.4.42-v8+ #1319 SMP PREEMPT Wed May 20 14:18:56 BST 2020 aarch64 GNU/Linux

and we do get a 64-bit rootfs.

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ file /bin/busybox 
/bin/busybox: ELF 64-bit LSB shared object, ARM aarch64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib/ld-linux-aarch64.so.1, for GNU/Linux 3.7.0, BuildID[sha1]=fdf7b3dd496e8fd678a0bda5540f9fae4d313d8f, stripped

1 2	pi@raspberrypi:~ $ file /bin/busybox /bin/busybox: ELF 64-bit LSB shared object, ARM aarch64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib/ld-linux-aarch64.so.1, for GNU/Linux 3.7.0, BuildID[sha1]=fdf7b3dd496e8fd678a0bda5540f9fae4d313d8f, stripped

All good. Known issues Before starting the review, let’s make ourselves aware […]

June 18, 2020July 26, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Beelink GS-King X Review – Part 1: Unboxing & Teardown

Beelink GS-King X is a 3-in-1 media center that works as an Android 9.0 TV box, a NAS with support for two 3.5″ hard drives, and a HiFi audio system with two ESS9018 audio DACs powering RCA and balanced audio outputs. The company sent a review sample, and I’ll start by checking out the hardware and accessories, show how to install the hard drive(s), and attempt to tear down the device to check what it’s really made of. Beelink GS-King X Unboxing There’s no mention of TV box nor Android on the package, just “STORAGE” and DTS plus Dolby Audio… The bottom of the package lists the Beelink GS-King X specifications which we already discussed in our previous articles. There’s a red ribbon that helps to take the device out of its package. I wish more companies would do this. Accessories include the voice remote control, an HDMI cable, a […]

June 11, 2020November 7, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

DFI Ryzen Embedded R1606G SBC Review – Part 2: Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC

DFI GHF51 is an AMD Ryzen Embedded R1606G SBC for industrial application that’s about the size of the Raspberry Pi Model B board, and after checking out the hardware in the first of part of the review “DFI GHF51 AMD Ryzen Embedded SBC Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Assembly“, I’ve now had time to play with the board running the pre-installed Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC operating system. DFI GHF51 Hardware Connections Since there aren’t any full-sized USB ports, you’ll need a USB-C hub to get started as you’ll probably want to connect a USB keyboard and mouse for development and testing, as well as a Micro HDMI cable to connect to a TV or display. I tried both MINIX NEO C Plus and Dodocool DC30S USB Type-C hubs, and the former did not work at all, while the latter mostly worked. I also connected an HDMI cable to the […]

June 5, 2020November 3, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

M5Stack Atom Echo Coin-Sized Bluetooth Speaker is Powered by ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP

M5Stack has just launched Atom Echo, a coin-sized programmable Bluetooth speaker based on Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-D4 system-on-package. The company sent me an early sample to play with before launch… but let’s have a look at the specification before checking the device further. Specifications: SiP – Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-D4 system-in-package with ESP32 dual-core processor @ 240MHz Wi-Fi, BLE 4.0 and 4MB flash Audio 0.5W/NS4168 I2S speaker SPM1423 PDM microphone Expansion 5-pin + 4-pin headers with 6x GPIOs, UART, 5V, 3.3V, GND 4-pin digital Grove header with 2 I/Os, 5V and GND Misc – RGB LED (SK6812), Function (Top – G39 pin) and reset buttons (side), IR LED Power Supply – 5V/500mA via USB-C port Dimensions – 24 x 24 x 17mm (plastic material) Weight – 10 grams The Bluetooth speaker is really small, but you may think CNXSoft has big hands and fat fingers so it makes the speaker smaller than […]

May 14, 2020August 14, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

DFI GHF51 AMD Ryzen Embedded SBC Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Assembly

Earlier this year, Taiwan based DFI launched GHF51 Ryzen Embedded R1000 SBC offering some similarities with Raspberry Pi 4 SBC, including a business card form factor, two Micro HDMI ports, and Gigabit Ethernet. But the comparison stopped there, as DFI GHF51 board will vastly outperform the Raspberry Pi 4 boards both in terms of CPU and graphics performance due to AMD Ryzen processor, and DFI embedded board does not target hobbyists nor students, but instead business and industrial customers. The company recently contacted CNX Software, and send GHF51 board with all accessories for review. I was pretty excited since it’s the first AMD Ryzen Embedded SBC that I’ll review, so it should be particularly interesting. I’ve just received the sample and will do a two-part review starting with unboxing and kit assembly, before publishing the second part of the review reporting on my experience with Windows 10 and/or Ubuntu 20.04. […]