rockchip News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

March 13, 2026March 13, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Rockchip RK3538 TV Box SoC and RK3572 mid-range HMI processor are coming soon

While we are eagerly waiting for the RK3668 and RK3688 high-end processors, Rockchip is planning to launch two mid-range SoCs with the RK3538 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor designed for TV boxes, and the RK3572 hexa-core Cortex-A73/A53 SoC for HMI (Human Machine Interface) applications. Rockchip RK3538 TV box SoC Rockchip RK3538 specifications: CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor with NEON, FPU, ARMv8 Crypto… Cache 32KB L1 instruction cache 32KB L1 data cache and 64KB L2 data cache 512KB unified system L3 cache GPU Arm Mali-G310 3D GPU with support for OpenCL 3.0, OpenGL ES1.1/2.0/3.2, Vulkan 1.2 2D Graphics Engine VPU Decoder H.265, H.264, AV1 (up to two simultaneous 1080p60 channels) VP8, VC1, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, MPEG-1 yp to 1920×1088 @ 60 FPS (1088 is not a typo) H.263 up to 720p60 (M)JPEG up to 8176×8176 @ 76 million pixels per second Encoder – N/A MCU core – RISC-V MCU in PMU domain with […]

February 27, 2026February 28, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Rockchip RK3588 and RK3576 H.264 and H.265 video decoders gain mainline Linux support

Rockchip RK3588 RK3576 main linux H.265 H.264 video decoders

VDPU381 and VDPU383 video decoders are found in Rockchip RK3588 and RK3576 SoCs and variants like the RK3588S and RK3576J. So far, we had to rely on the Rockchip BSP to support hardware video decoding, but Collabora has just announced upstream/mainline Linux support for H.264 (AVC) and H.265 (HEVC) video decoding for RK3588 and RK3576 SoCs. Highlights of H.265/H.264 video decoder implementation on mainline Linux: A 17-patch series adding decoder support, in addition to dt-bindings and device tree nodes New V4L2 HEVC UAPI controls for explicit short-term and long-term RPS (Reference Picture Set) handling Fixing a non-obvious IOMMU restore issue caused by decoder-embedded IOMMU resets Struct-based register programming model to enforce completeness, ordering, and future multi-core readiness The new V4L2 UAPI controls for HEVC long and short-term Reference Picture Set (RPS) are required for the VDPU381 (RK3588) and VDP383 (RK3576) video decoders, contrary to some other decoders (e.g., VeriSilicon) that […]

February 9, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Linux 6.19 Release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 6.19 on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML): No big surprises anywhere last week, so 6.19 is out as expected – just as the US prepares to come to a complete standstill later today watching the latest batch of televised commercials. The betting man would expect them all to be AI-generated, but maybe some enterprising company decides to buck the trend? Doubtful, but there’s always a slight chance. But for anybody outside the US, maybe taking the newest kernel out for a spin instead is an option? I have more than three dozen pull requests for when the merge window opens tomorrow – thank you to all the early maintainers. And as people have mostly figured out, I’m getting to the point where I’m being confused by large numbers (almost running out of fingers and toes again), so the next kernel is going to […]

January 13, 2026January 12, 2026 by Debashis Das - 2 Comments

Radxa launches NX4 SoM with Rockchip RK3576(J) industrial SoC and NX4IO carrier board

Radxa NX4 is a 260-pin SO-DIMM SoM built around the Rockchip RK3576(J) octa-core Cortex-A72/A53 industrial SoC with a 6 TOPS NPU for edge AI workloads. It supports up to 16GB LPDDR5 memory along with optional SPI flash, eMMC 5.1 (up to 256GB), or UFS 2.0 storage (up to 1TB). Radxa has also introduced the NX4 IO carrier board for the module with an HDMI video output, two 4-lane MIPI CSI camera interfaces, four USB 3.2 Type-A ports, one USB 3.2 Type-C port, Gigabit Ethernet with optional PoE, and an M.2 M-key 2280 slot for storage, along with various I/Os. Radxa NX4 SoM specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3576J (industrial-grade version) CPU – Octa-core CPU with 4x Cortex-A72 cores at 2.2 GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 cores at 2.0 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 MC3 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0, and 3.2, OpenCL 2.0, and Vulkan 1.2 NPU – 6 TOPS […]

December 31, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Year 2025 in Review, CNX Software stats, and looking ahead to 2026

Time for the last post of 2025, as the year is almost over. I’ll look back at key developments and notable products launched in 2025, share some CNX Software website traffic statistics, and look ahead to 2026. Year 2025 in Review After 22 product releases in 2024, Raspberry Pi calmed down a little bit in 2025, and the highlights of the year included the Raspberry Pi 500+ mechanical keyboard, the 5-inch variant of the Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2, and a Raspberry Pi 5 1GB RAM. What didn’t quite stop were the accessories from third parties for Raspberry Pi SBC and Raspberry Pi Pico boards. The most exciting Arm SoC release of 2025 was probably the 12-core CIX P1 Armv9 SoC found in Radxa Orion O6 SBC, MINISFORUM MS-R1 Arm mini PC, and Orange Pi 6 Plus board, but while performance was fine, it was overhyped in 2024, and software […]

December 29, 2025 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

Rockchip RK628D based HDMI-to-MIPI-CSI board converts HDMI video into camera feed for embedded systems

The Firefly HDMI-to-MIPI-CSI converter board converts an HDMI video and audio source into a MIPI-CSI camera stream for supported Rockchip SoCs, which is the complete opposite of the Olimex MIPI-HDMI adapter that converts MIPI DSI display signals to HDMI output. Built around the Rockchip RK628D video bridge chip, the board supports HDMI 1.4/2.0 input with 8-bit and 10-bit video, RGB888 and YUV420 color formats, and resolutions up to 4K @ 60fps. On the output side, it provides a MIPI-CSI interface compliant with MIPI D-PHY v1.2, with video output in YUV422 color format, supporting resolutions up to 4K @ 30fps. Audio output is available through a 3.5 mm headphone jack and onboard pin headers, making the board suitable for HDMI capture, smart display, micro-projector, and embedded video conversion applications. Firefly HDMI-to-MIPI-CSI board Specifications: Main Chip – Rockchip RK628D HDMI-to-MIPI CSI-2 converter Input HDMI 1.4 / HDMI 2.0 compliant 8-bit and 10-bit […]

December 24, 2025December 24, 2025 by Debashis Das - 2 Comments

Firefly CAM-3576 series – Tiny Rockchip RK3576 SBCs for commercial, industrial, and automotive applications

Firefly Technology has introduced the CAM-3576 series of tiny (38 × 38 mm) SBCs based on the Rockchip RK3576 processor with a 6 TOPS NPU for AIoT, edge AI, smart vision, industrial, and automotive applications. It comes in three variants, which include the CAM-3576Q38 (commercial), the CAM-3576JQ38 (industrial), and the CAM-3576MQ38 (automotive) modules designed for smart cameras, intelligent security systems, dash cams, and private on-device AI model deployment. The CAM-3576 series supports up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, up to 256GB eMMC flash, and also includes a microSD card for expansion. Additionally, the boards feature a MIPI CSI input for up to 16MP camera sensors with HDR support, Fast Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6, USB 2.0, USB-C (device), RS-485, UART, I²C, ADC, GPIOs, audio input/output, and RTC support. Firefly CAM-3576Q38 specifications: SoM – ICORE-3576Q38 SoC – Rockchip RK3576 (Q38 – Commercial) or Rockchip RK3576J (JQ38 – Industrial) or Rockchip RK3576M (MQ38 – Automotive) […]

December 1, 2025December 12, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Linux 6.18 LTS release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 6.18 on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML), which will likely become the next LTS kernel [update: it’s now official]: So I’ll have to admit that I’d have been happier with slightly less bugfixing noise in this last week of the release, but while there’s a few more fixes than I would hope for, there was nothing that made me feel like this needs more time to cook. So 6.18 is tagged and pushed out. Most of the last-minute fixes are minor fixes to drivers, with some random noise elsewhere (bluetooth, ceph, afs..). Nothing strikes me as standing out, but hey, there’s a shortlog appended if you want to see the details. And this obviously means that the merge window will open tomorrow, and I already have three dozen pull requests pending. Thanks. And as I already mentioned a couple of […]