Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on Orange Pi AI Stick Lite $20 Neural Compute Stick Ships with Free Training Tools

Orange Pi AI Stick Lite $20 Neural Compute Stick Ships with Free Training Tools

Orange Pi AI Stick Lite

Shenzhen Xunlong Software launched Orange Pi AI Stick 2801 neural compute stick last year for $69. It was interesting as an alternative to Intel Neural Compute Stick. But once the documentation and SDK were released a few days later we discovered you could only run demos with the stick for that price, and the training tools would cost an extra $149. The excellent news is that the company has now launched an updated, yet similar Orange Pi AI Stick Lite for just $19.99, and best of all the PLAI training tools are now entirely free. Orange Pi AI Stick Lite specifications: ASIC – Gyrfalcon SPR2801S Lightspeeur series processor with 2-dimensional Matrix Processing Engine (MPE) with AI Processing in Memory (APiM) delivering up to 2.8TOPS @ 300mW, 5.6 TOPS @ 100 MHz (peak performance) Storage – eMMC 4.5 flash with 68 MB/s read, 84.69 MB/s write Host interface – USB 3.0/2.0 port Power Consumption – 5V @ 200mA Dimensions – 66.5 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on E-ALE is a Free & Open Source Linux Training Program for Embedded Engineers

E-ALE is a Free & Open Source Linux Training Program for Embedded Engineers

E-ALE official hardware kit

As I wrote about the Embedded Linux Conference 2019 schedule a few days ago, I found out one of talk planned to use E-ALE hardware kit for the session. I had never heard about this kit, but a quick search led me to e-ale.org website which explains E-ALE stands for Embedded Apprentice Linux Engineer. The training program is made for embedded engineers with experience designing firmware for microcontrollers, but now need to transition to embedded Linux. Training only happens in-person (no webinar) at existing Embedded Linux conferences and is comprised of 8 to 9 seminars over 2 to 3 days. It usually starts with a presentation on one subject, followed by lab time to practice the relevant learned skills. The training takes place on the E-ALE kit at each conference, but it does not refer to a specific hardware platform. In most conferences, the PocketBeagle and BaconBits add-on board are used to lab sessions, but for example this year at […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments on Orange Pi AI Stick 2801 Neural Compute Stick SDK & Documentation Released

Orange Pi AI Stick 2801 Neural Compute Stick SDK & Documentation Released

How to use Orange Pi AI Stick SDK

We covered the launch of Orange Pi AI Stick 2801 neural compute stick a few days ago, the first easily available Gyralcon Lightspeeur based USB stick, and noted that while the hardware was there, we had no details about software development kit and documentation at the time. I’ve got some more information now. First, the company release an English presentation about the neural stick, and while it’s not technical documentation, it provides insights into what it is capable of, and an overview about the workflow. More importantly, Shenzhen Xunlong Software also released Orange Pi AI Stick SDK and user manual for x86 PC, as well as cat/dog data and pre-trained models to get started. However, if you want to perform training with your own data, you’ll need to purchase the stick plus PLAI model transformation and training tools sold on Aliexpress for $218 plus shipping, that’s $69 for the hardware, and $149 for the software tools. The company further explains […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on 20-Hour Free Blockchain Training Course from the Linux Foundation

20-Hour Free Blockchain Training Course from the Linux Foundation

If we believe all the talk on the internet, blockchain technology will change the future by offering an ultra secure way to store all sort of data, and as we’ve seen with the IOTA tangle previously,  it should impact all types of sectors and applications including the Internet of Things. So even if it is still early it might be worth learning more about the technology,  and the Linux Foundation, which normally offers course from a few hundred dollars to several thousands dollars, is also offering a free blockchain training course entitled “Blockchain: Understanding Its Uses and Implications“. You’ll get 20 hours of video content and transcript, and can learn on demand at your own pace. Course outline: Chapter 1. Introduction to Blockchain – This section covers some of the technical aspects that comprise a blockchain and explain why blockchain is different and “works” in comparison with technologies of the past. Chapter 2. Governance and Consensus –  This section covers […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on $89 MiniZed Development Board based on Xilinx Zynq Z-7007S SoC Includes WiFi, Bluetooth, Arduino Headers

$89 MiniZed Development Board based on Xilinx Zynq Z-7007S SoC Includes WiFi, Bluetooth, Arduino Headers

Avnet has unveiled MiniZed development board – part of ZedBoard family – powered by a Xilinx Zynq Z-7007s SoC with an ARM Cortex A9 processor and FPGA fabric,  supporting WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, and equipped with Arduino and PMOD headers. MiniZed board (AES-MINIZED-7Z007-G) specifications: SoC – Xilinx Zynq-7007S single ARM Cortex A9 processor up to 677 MHz + FPGA with 23K logic cells, 1.8 Mb block RAM, 60 DSP slices System Memory – 512 MB DDR3L Storage –  8 GB eMMC flash, 128 Mbit QSPI flash Connectivity –  Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.1 plus EDR and BLE  via Murata “Type 1DX” wireless module USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port Sensors – 3-axis accelerator and temperature sensor (LIS2DS12);  Digital Microphone (MP34DT05) Expansion Interfaces: 2x Pmod compatible connectors with 16x GPIOs Arduino UNO R3 compatible header with 22x GPIOs Debugging –  JTAG and serial console via micro USB port Misc – 2x bi-element user LEDs, user & reset push buttons; user switch […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Free Electrons Releases Buildroot Training Materials

Free Electrons Releases Buildroot Training Materials

Free Electrons develops embedded Linux & Android software, and also provides related training. On-site training sessions are scheduled from time to time, or organized on request, and they usually release their training materials for free, as they did for their Embedded Linux training in 2012, or their Yocto Project / OpenEmbedded course more recently. Thomas Petazzoni, Free Electrons’ Chief Technical Officer, recently informed me that the company also released training materials for Buildroot, which like the Yocto Project is a build system, but it had been around for much longer, and the company is actively participating in its development with over 2,800 patches submitted upstream over the years. Four main resources have been released for the course, under a Creative Commons BY-SA license: training materials for Buildroot – 325 pages Practical labs instructions (PDF) with BeagleBone Black – 32 pages Practical labs data (.tar.xz) – Patchsets for drivers, rootfs, and sample app LaTeX source code in their Git repository which […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Free Electrons Publishes Yocto & OpenEmbedded Training Materials

Free Electrons Publishes Yocto & OpenEmbedded Training Materials

Free Electrons is a small (9 people) engineering company focusing on embedded Linux / Android, and open source software, which also happens to have ported several ARM SoC to the mainline kernel. From time to time, they also offer training sessions, and release course materials publicly. Their latest training is a 3-day course dealing with the Yocto Project and OpenEmbedded, using BeagbleBone Black development board for lab sessions, and all materials have been released under a Creative Commons license. The training consists in: Understanding the Yocto Project Using it to build a root filesystem and run it on your target Writing and extending recipes Creating layers Integrating your board in a BSP Creating custom images Application development with an Eclipse SDK Three files are released: yocto-slides.pdf – Yocto Project and OpenEmbedded Training presentation slides (245 pages) give an overview of various build systems, before getting more details about the Yocto Project, and Poky distributions. yocto-labs.pdf – Practical sessions with BeagleBone […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Renesas DevCon Extension Organizes Free One-Day Courses About IoT, Low Power, Sensors and More

Renesas DevCon Extension Organizes Free One-Day Courses About IoT, Low Power, Sensors and More

I’ve just come across a YouTube video called Ultra-Low-Power Solutions for Wearable Technology and the ‘Internet of Things’ On Renesas channel. The video itself promotes Cymbet EnerChip Solid State Batteries and Kits, working together with Renesas MCUs, and the interesting part is that they’ll provide a free training session for the kit as part of Renesas Devcon Extension 2014. This is not a single event as you may think, but instead the company hosts one-day workshops in various cities in the US and Brazil covering various tracks all year long, as you can see in the simplified schedule below. RTOS & Middleware track is not available anymore, but you can still attend training sessions for Human Machine Interfaces, Low Power designs, the Internet of Things and Sensors. As an example, the following lectures are available for the Low Power track: Renesas Low-Power MCU Lineup (30 minutes) – Updated technology roadmap for Renesas’ broad portfolio of low-power MCU Working with Renesas e² […]