Radxa Rock 2 Square is the low cost version of Radxa Rock 2 Full development board. Both board are based on Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex A17 processor, but the former has not quite as many features as the full version. The good news is that about 90 samples of Rock2 Square Beta can now be purchased for $129, with the price dropping to $99 with ROCK2^2BETA coupon (to be used after login to Paypal). The price include a Radxa RK3288 system-on-module with 2GB RAM and 16 GB eMMC, but a 4GB/32GB version is also planned for later. Rock2 Square board specifications: Processor/Memory/Storage – Via Rock2 SoM including Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex A17 processor, 2 to 4 GB RAM, and 16 to 32 GB eMMC. External Storage – SATA and micro SD slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0, LVDS connector Audio I/O – HDMI, headphone jack, built-in microphone, and […]
Radxa Rock 2 Square is a Rockchip RK3288 Development Board for Hobbyists
When Radxa Rock 2 was first unveiled, it became clear it was not aimed at the hobbyist market, as it includes lot of features such as SATA, 3G modem, dual Gigabit Ethernet, up to 4GB memory and so on, and is likely to cost a few hundred dollars. The company is now working a cheaper baseboard called Radxa Rock 2 Square leveraging the same Radxa Rock 2 SoM used with the full-featured baseboard (now also called Radxa Rock 2 Full), but with less features and at price point that should be more affordable to individuals. Preliminary Rock 2 square specifications (derived from picture above): Processor/Memory/Storage – Via Rock2 SoM including Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex A17 processor, 2 to 4 GB RAM, and 16GB eMMC. External Storage – SATA and micro SD slot Video Output – HDMI, LVDS connector Audio I/O – HDMI, headphone jack, built-in microphone, and optical S/PDIF […]
Xilinx Zynq-Z7015 FPGA + ARM based System-on-Modules Include High Speed Transceivers
There’s a fair amount of low cost boards powered by Xilinx Zynq Z-7010 and Z-7020 with dual core Cortex A9 processor and Artix-7 FPGA, but those who wanted to have PCIe ports or high speed transceivers had to go with the higher-end Xilinx Z-7030/7040/7050 with Kintex-7 FPGA fabric for a much higher cost. But Xilinx introduced Zynq Z-7015 late last year, a low cost Artix-7 FPGA + Cortex A9 SoC that also adds four 6.25Gbps SerDes ports and one PCIe Gen2 x4 integrated block. At least two modules based on the new SoC are currently available with DAVE Embedded Systems’ BORA Xpress and Trenz Electronic TE0715 Series. DAVE Zynq XC7Z015/XC7Z030 BORA Xpress BORA Xpress specifications: SoC Xilinx ZYNQ XC7Z015 dual ARM Cortex-A9 @ up to 866MHz with Artix-7 FPGA with 74K logic cells, 46K LUTs, 92K Flip flops, 380 KB RAM. 32 KB I-cache, 32 KB D-cache, 512 KB L2 […]
TechNexion Introduces Intel Edison Compatible PICO-iMX6 SoM and DWARF Board
Intel Edison is a board made for wearables featuring an SoC with Intel Atom and Quark CPU cores. TechNexion, an embedded systems company based in Taiwan, has decided to make a mechanically and electrically compatible system-on-module featuring Frescale i.MX6 Solo or Duallite ARM Cortex A9 processor called PICO-iMX6. The company is also providing a PICO-DWARF baseboard that’s both compatible with PICO-iMX6 SoM and Edison board. DWARF stands for “Drones, Wearables, Appliances, Robotics and Fun”, so that pretty much explains what the platform is for. PICO-iMX6 System-on-Module Two version of the modules are available: PICO-iMX6-SD and PICO-iMX6-EMMC, the former with a micro SD slot for storage, and the latter a 4GB eMMC. Both share the followings specifications: SoC – Freescale i.MX6 Solo / Duallite single/dual core ARM Cortex A9 @ 1Ghz with Vivante GC880 3D GPU and Vivante GC320 2D GPU (Composition) System Memory – 512MB or 1GB DDR3 Storage – […]
Theobroma Systems Introduces A31-μQ7 Micro QSeven System-on-Module Powered by Allwinner A31 Processor
Most standardized system-on-modules for embedded and industrial applications are still based on established Silicon vendors such as Freescale, Texas Instruments or Atmel, simply because documentation and support is generally much better than relatively new SoC vendors, most of the time China-based, such as Allwinner or Rockchip. That does not mean nobody is using Rockchip or Allwinner on their modules, as shown recently with Olimex RK3188-SOM, and previously with an Allwinner 10 CoM. But Theobroma Systems, an Austrian based engineering services and embedded systems solutions company, may have a first with a Micro Qseven compliant modules powered by Allwinner A31, simply called A31-μQ7. A31-μQ7 module specifications: SoC – Allwinner A31 quad core ARM Cortex A7 processor up to 1.2GHz with 256KB L1 cache / 1024KB L2 cache, and PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU System Memory – Up to 2GB DDR3 Storage – Up to 64GB eMMC, Up to 16MB SPI NOR flash, On-board […]
Compulab Announces CM-T43 CoM and SBC-T43 Board Powered by TI Sitara AM437x Processors
Compulab has just introduced CM-T43 computer-on-module (CoM) powered by Texas Instruments Sitara AM437x ARM Cortex A9 processor and built-in wired and wireless connectivity, and targeting networking, industrial communications and IoT applications. The company has also announced the corresponding SBC-T43 single board computer featuring the module plus a baseboard. Compulab CM-T43 Module CM-T43 CoM specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments Cortex-A9 Sitara AM4376 / AM4379 SoC up to 1GHz with PowerVR SGX530 GPU (AM4379 only) System Memory – Up to 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4GB to 32GB on-board eMMC, 128MB to 512MB on-board SLC NAND Connectivity – 2x Gigabit Ethernet PHY, and Marvell 88W8897 chipset for dual-band, dual-antenna 2×2 MIMO 802.11ac/a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy, and NFC (ISO 14443A/B, ISO 18092 and ISO 15693) Audio codec – Wolson Audio codec with stereo line-out, line-in, mic via edge connector 204-pin SO-DIMM edge connector with access to: USB2.0 high-speed dual-role (host / device) port, […]
Emcraft Systems STM32F7 ARM Cortex M7 SoM and Development Kit Run uClinux
STMicro announced their STM32F7 MCU family the same as ARM announced their latest ARM Cortex M7 core for high-end micro-controllers last September. Emcraft Systems have now launched a STM32F7 system-on-module with 32MB SDRAM and 16MB NOR flash, and ported uClinux to the platform. The company has also launched a STM32F7 starter kit for evaluation and development. Both target industrial automation, system and power management, wireless networking / sensors and other embedded applications. STM32F7-SOM-1A Module STM32F7 system-on-module specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32F746 Cortex M7 MCU up to 200 MHz with 320KB RAM, 1MB flash in TFBGA-216 package System Memory – 32MB SDRAM Storage – 16MB NOR flash Connectivity – 802.3 Ethernet PHY SoM connectors – 2x 80-pin (0.4mm pitch) Debugging – ARM SWJ-DP combined JTAG and serial wire debug port Misc – Watchdog, RTC, USB and other I/Os via SoM connectors Power – 3.3V DC; Low-power mode with short startup times; […]
DENX Computer Systems Introduces Atmel SAMA5D44 and Freescale i.MX6 System-on-Modules
Embedded World 2015 exhibition and conference will take place in Nuremberg, Germany on February 24-26, 2015, and we should expect interesting news related to MCU, industrial processors, and related development kits and boards next week. DENX Computer Systems has already unveiled two new SoM families with MA5D4 based on Atmel SAMA5D44 Cortex A5 processor, and M6R based on Freescale i.MX 6 Cortex A9 processors. DENX MA5D4 System-on-Module MA5D4 SoM specifications: Processor – Atmel SAMA5D44 Cortex A5 @ 528MHz with 720p hardware video decoder supporting H264/263, VP8, JPEG. System Memory – 128 – 512MB DDR2 RAM Storage – 4 – 32GB eMMC Flash (or optionally 256MB NAND Flash); 4 MB MByte SPI NOR-Flash; I/Os via 230-pin MXM2 edge connector Video Out / Display Support – HDMI. TFT controller, overlay support for image composition, resitive Touchscreen controller Camera – CMOS image sensor interface external bus A/D 25/16 bit 2x 10/100MBit Ethernet, IEEE1588 […]