ubuntu News - Page 76 of 167 - CNX Software

February 27, 2019April 2, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

MINIX NEO Z83-4U Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Teardown

MINIX NEO Z83-4U Ubuntu mini PC was unveiled just a few days ago as the first mini PC from MINIX HK running a Linux operating systems, namely Ubuntu 18.04. The company has sent me a sample for evaluation, so as usual, I’ll first have a look at the hardware in the first part of the review, before reporting my experience with the mini PC in a few weeks. MINIX NEO Z83-4U Unboxing The company has done away with the black and green package for their Android TV boxes and Windows mini PC, and instead went with a purple and (Ubuntu) orange package. I already wrote the specifications in the announcement post, but here they are again on the back of the package. The main difference, in terms of terms, against MINIX NEO Z83-4 Pro (Windows 10 Pro) mini PC is that the storage has been upgraded to 64GB flash since […]

February 25, 2019February 26, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

MINIX NEO Z83-4U Ubuntu 18.04 Mini PC Launched for $180

Introduced in 2016, MINIX NEO Z83-4 was an Intel Cherry Trail Windows 10 (Home) mini PC powered by Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor coupled with 4GB RAM and 32GB flash, which was followed by MINIX NEO Z83-4 Pro the next year with basically the same hardware specifications but based on Atom X5-Z8350 processor running Windows 10 Pro instead. The company has now launched another version with MINIX NEO Z83-4U model that comes with 64GB storage, and more importantly comes pre-loaded with Ubuntu 18.04, a rarity in today’s low power mini PC world. MINIX NEO Z83-4U Ubuntu mini PC specifications with bold highlights showing differences against NEO Z83-4 Pro model: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8350 “Cherry Trail” quad core processor @ 1.44 GHz / 1.92 GHz (Turbo) with 12 EU Intel Graphics HD graphics 400 @ 200 / 500 MHz (2W SDP) System Memory – 2 or 4GB DDR3L Storage – 64 […]

February 20, 2019February 20, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 28 Comments

NanoPi R1 is an Allwinner H3 Gateway with Dual Ethernet, WiFi and Bluetooth

A couple of years ago, Shenzhen Xunlong Software launched Orange Pi R1 board powered by Allwinner H2+ processor with two Fast Ethernet ports, and some I/Os which could be useful for intelligent controllers and simple IoT gateways. FriendlyElec has now launched a similar, but improved product with their NanoPi R1 featuring Allwinner H3 processor coupled with 512MB or 1GB memory, two Ethernet ports, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, packaged in a neat metal case. NanoPi R1 specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad-core Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ up to 1.2GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 512MB or 1GB DDR3 RAM Storage – MicroSD Slot, optional 8GB eMMC flash Connectivity 1x Gigabit Ethernet, 1x Fast Ethernet 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 with SMA antenna interface Bluetooth 4.0 dual mode (Classic / LE) USB – 2x USB Type-A host ports, 1x micro USB OTG port Debugging – 3-pin 2.54mm pitch header for serial console Serial […]

February 19, 2019February 19, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 38 Comments

Design your own NAS with $25 4x SATA HAT for NanoPi M4 Board

NanoPi M4 is one of the many Rockchip RK3399 boards available on the market today. The SBC follows Raspberry Pi form factor, comes with 2 to 4 GB RAM, four USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit Etherent, HDMI 2.0, etc.. and exposes the 2-lane PCIe interface from the Rockchip processor not through a typical PCIe slot or mini PCIe slot, but instead through a 2.54mm pitch header. I feel like an odd choice at first glance, but it now makes complete sense, as the company has launched a 4x SATA HAT for NanoPi M4 board that leverages the header with PCIe 2x signals. 4x SATA HAT for NanoPi M4 key features and specifications: PCIe to SATA Chipset – Marvell 88SE9215 four-port 6Gbps SATA I/O controller USB – 2x 4-pin USB 2.0 host connectors Expansion – NanoPi M4 40-pin header exposed Misc Power key, unpopulated power key jumper Power LED, 4x SATA LEDs […]

February 15, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

GPD MicroPC is a Windows 10 / Ubuntu MATE Portable Mini PC for Sysadmins (Crowdfunding)

I shortly discussed GPD MicroPC, a portable computer specifically designed for for network engineers and sysadmins in a post about the company’s Pocket 2 Amber Black mini laptop, but I did not go into details at the time since it was not available. GPD has now launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo for the portable Gemini Lake mini PC, where you can pick one of the 2,000 units that are available for $299 including worldwide shipping. GPD MicroPC specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N4100 quad core Gemini Lake processor with Intel UHD Graphics 600 System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – Replaceable 128GB M.2 2242 SATA SSD, micro SDXC card slot Display – 6″ display with 1280×720, Gorilla Glass 4, 178° viewing angle Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 30 Hz Audio – Built-in microphone, headphone jack, digital audio via HDMI Networking Gigabit Ethernet 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac WiFi […]

February 14, 2019February 14, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

$89 Sheeva64 Plug Computer is Powered by Marvell ARMADA 3720 Armv8 Processor

Sheevaplug is a Linux plug computer powered by Marvell Kirkwood 6281 ARM9 processor that was launched in 2009 with Ubuntu 9.04. As the name implies, Sheevaplug looks like a power adapter that’s plug directly into your mains socket, but it’s actually a headless computer, i.e. without video output, and instead coming with a USB port, Gigabit Ethernet, and an SD card slot. The device got fairly popular at the time, so it ended up in several hardware projects, and was supported by a long list of open source software projects as you’ll find out in the Wikipedia page. Ten years have passed, and Globalscale Technologies has just introduced an upgraded version with the Sheeva64 plug computer based on the same Marvell ARMADA 3720 dual core Armv8 processor as found in ESPRESSOBin board. Sheeva64 plug computer specifications: SoC – Marvell ARMADA 3720 dual core 64bit Arm processor up to 1.2GHz System […]

February 13, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 164 Comments

ODROID-N2 Amlogic S922X SBC Coming in April for $63 and Up

Due to RAM supply issues, Hardkernel canceled RK3399 based ODROID-N1 board last year, and decided to replace it with ODROID-N2 using a “newer SoC .. with faster CPU/GPU cores and native DDR4 support”, but they did not provide any details about the processor, and we speculated it could be the upcoming Amlogic S922X processor. Hardkernel has now formally unveiled ODROID-N2, the first Amlogic S922X SBC to be announced, with 2 to 4GB DDR4 RAM, 4x USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 2.0a video output up to 4K 60p and more. ODROID-N2 SBC specifications: SoC – Amlogic S922X hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 4x Arm Cortex A73 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz, 2x Arm Cortex A53 cores @ 1.9 GHz, Arm Mali-G52 GPU @ 846MHz; 12nm manufacturing process System Memory – 2GB or 4GB DDR4 RAM @ 1320 MHz Storage – 8MB SPI flash, eMMC flash module socket, micro SD card […]

February 12, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 28 Comments

Ubuntu 18.04 Now Boots on Some Snapdragon 835 Arm Laptops

The first “proper” Windows 10 Arm laptops were unveiled at the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018, all based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor with always-on LTE connectivity, 20+ hour battery life, a fairly expensive price tag, and somewhat underwhelming performance. Qualcomm was not interested in supporting Linux, but there was interest from the community, and now it seems Ubuntu 18.04 images are available for Lenovo Miix 630, HP Envy x2, and ASUS Novago TP370 thanks to Aarch64-laptop project currently hosted on Github. Now the prebuilt images are not really ready for end users since UFS storage and WiFi are not working on any laptop yet, the touchpad is not working on the ASUS laptop, and accelerated graphics needs to be implemented. Interestingly WiFi is related to UFS on those laptops, and Marc Gonzalez is said to be being actively worked on UFS upstream support, which should enable for […]