NanoPi M4B Rockchip RK3399 SBC Drops the USB 3.0 Hub, Adds Bluetooth 5.0, an ADB Switch

NanoPi M4B

NanoPi M4 was launched last year (2018) as a Rockchip RK3399 SBC following Raspberry Pi 3B+ form factor with 2 or 4GB DDR3 RAM, and was followed by NanoPi M4V2 this September with 4GB LPDDR4 memory, and power & recovery buttons. FriendlyELEC has been working on yet another revision with NanoPi M4B mixing some of the features of M4 and M4V2 such as DDR3 memory and power & recovery buttons, but the biggest change is the removal of the USB 3.0 hub which allowed for four USB 3.0 port, and now the company is going native leveraging the two USB 2.0 interfaces and two USB 3.0 interfaces inside Rockchip RK3399 processor which should lower the BoM cost, and in some cases improve performance. NanoPi M4B specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 big.LITTLE hexa-core processor with 2x Arm Cortex-A72 @ up to 2.0GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5GHz, a Mali-T864 GPU […]

Giveaway Week – MINIX NEO S1 USB-C Hub with 120GB built-in SSD

MINIX NEO S1 Giveaway

MINIX NEO S1 & S2 USB-C hubs come with either 120 or 240 GB SSD storage, as well as an HDMI output, 2x USB  3.0 ports, and a USB-C port for power. I reviewed MINIX NEO S2 in details with an SBC running Ubuntu 18.04, and plan to keep it for future reviews, but since I also received MINIX NEO S1, I’ll be given it away for free to one of my readers as part of Giveaway Week 2019. While the device is designed for Apple Macbook Air and Apple Macbook Pro, it should work with any computer or board with a USB-C port with DisplayPort Alternate mode provided you want to use the HDMI output port. An extra USB-C power supply is optional, but I’ve found out it’s mostly required if you’ve going to connect one or more USB 3.0 hard drive to the hub. This item is new, […]

inCharge 6 All-in-One Charging Cable Supports USB-C, USB-A, Lightning, and Micro USB (Crowdfunding)

You probably own a few battery-powered devices, maybe one or two phones, a camera, Bluetooth headset, etc…, and each requires a different cable. It’s also easy to forget bringing the right cable, and once your device runs out of battery you’re out of luck. inCharge 6 universal charging cable aims to solve this first world problem by offering a single cable that supports devices charged through USB Type-C, Lightning or Micro USB port, and small enough to hook to your keyring so you never forget it. Alternatively, the company also offers a 1.5-meter version of the cable. The cable takes power from USB type-A or type-C power supply, and output to USB type-C, Lightning or Micro USB with the latter two available through the same connector. The cable also allows you to charge a device from another device, and transfer data between the two (Charge & Sync) as illustrated below. […]

Ellisys Bluetooth Vanguard is a Best-in-Class Bluetooth Protocol Analyzer

Ellisys Bluetooth Vanguard Advanced All-in-One Bluetooth® Analysis System

ARM TechCon is Arm’s premier industry event, where developers, analysts, and media gather from all around to hear the latest from the semiconductor giant. ARM TechCon 2019 has marked the 15th annual event hosted in San Jose. Arm TechCon 2019 showcased some of the industry’s best products and solutions in the market. Embedded Computing Design hosted a Best in Show Awards showing some of the most innovative solutions from the even. One of the notable award recipients is the Ellisys Bluetooth Vanguard Protocol Analysis System. Ellisys Bluetooth Vanguard Advanced All-in-One Bluetooth Analysis System is being regarded as the most advanced and comprehensive Bluetooth Protocol analyzer ever made mostly because it delivers new advances designed to ease the increasingly complex tasks of Bluetooth developers and many more. Building Bluetooth based applications can be a daunting challenge, especially when working with the wrong tools/equipment. Aside from Bluetooth wireless traffic debugging, other information […]

Up2Stream Pro HiFi Audio Receiver Board Streams Audio over WiFi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, or USB

Up2Stream Pro

Last December, we wrote about Up2Stream WiFi audio module designed for people wanting to build their own DIY wireless speakers. The module is based on  MediaTek MT7688AN MIPS processor with 64MB DDR2 and 16MB flash storage The module also comes with a small baseboard allowing for an easier connection to speakers. The company has now introduced Up2Stream Pro model based on the same module, but with a baseboard adding more features including Bluetooth, Ethernet, USB, and audio jacks. Up2Stream Pro key features and specifications: Audio Output – 3.5mm AUX jack and I2S header Input –  3.5mm AUX-in SNR: 91db THD: 0.03% Sample rate –  24bit up to 192kHz FLAC, Wav, and APE codec supported, but NOT SBC, APT-X, APT-X HD, or LDAC. Multiroom & Multizone support EQ control Connectivity – Ethernet, WiFi, and Bluetooth 5.0 Streaming Protocols – Airplay, DLNA, UPnP, Spotify Connect Compatible Services – Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, Qobuz, […]

USB4 Specification Released, Up to 40 Gbps Data Transfer Rate Supported

USB4 Specification

USB 3.2 was announced about two years ago with speeds of up to 20 Gbps using existing USB 3.1 Gen 2 USB-C cables, but the USB Implementers Forum has done a bit work more and just released the USB4 specification allowing twice the speed at 40 Gbps. The USB4 architecture leverages the Thunderbolt protocol specification that was recently contributed by Intel Corporation to the USB Promoter Group, enables the faster data rate, as well as multiple simultaneous data and display protocols. Highlights of USB4 standard Two-lane operation using existing USB Type-C cables and up to 40Gbps operation over 40Gbps certified cables Multiple data and display protocols that share the maximum aggregate bandwidth Backward compatibility with USB 3.2, USB 2.0 and Thunderbolt 3 Up to 100 Watts power delivery Both USB 3.2 and USB4 require USB-C cables to make use of the maximum transfer rate, so traditional USB cables may fade […]

PhyWhisperer-USB Python Controlled USB 2.0 Sniffer Enables USB Security Testing (Crowdfunding)

PhyWhisperer-USB is a hardware USB sniffer & triggering platform that allows users to test the security of USB devices using side-channel power analysis and fault injection using a Python 3 interface, beside simply capturing packets. This has become especially important now as some USB devices include Bitcoin Wallets, FIDO2 keys, and encrypted drives with valuable data. PhyWhisperer-USB hardware specifications: FPGA – Xilinx Spartan 7S15 with 12,800 logic cells USB USB 2.0 Low/Full/High Speed mode PC connection – Micro-USB 2.0 HS port Host connection – Micro-USB port Target connection – USB-A female connector Trigger pattern – 1 – 64 bytes with mask Trigger delay – 0 – 1048576‬ cycles of 240 MHz internal clock derived from USB clock USB sniffer FIFO – 8192 bytes (FPGA block RAM, adjustable depending on FPGA utilization) Expansion – Spare digital I/O: 8 data pins, 1 clock pin routed to FPGA (on front panel) Clock output […]

AAEON Launches BOXER-8150AI Compact Embedded Box PC Features 8 USB 3.0 Ports

BOXER-8150AI

The new compact embedded solutions’ addition to the BOXER-8100AI family is specially designed for artificial intelligence (AI) support. According to its makers, AAEON, it has a configuration of eight USB 3.0 ports made available through four USB controllers chips. This makes it perfect for a wide range of computer vision applications, some of which are visual inspection, quality control, and facial recognition. Now, each USB chip controls a pair of USB 3.0 ports. By dedicating one chip to one pair of ports, each chip handles less data traffic overall.   This also improves bandwidth from connected devices and allows the BOXER-8150AI to maximize speeds and framerates of AI image processing. The product is currently in stock and available for purchase on AAEON online store for $1,142.00. Key Features of BOXER-8150AI Nvidia TX2 Module HMP Dual Denver 2 + Quad ARM A57 8GB LPDDR4 32GB eMMC 5.1 HDMI 2.0 8x USB […]