CNX Software – Embedded Systems News
Reviews, tutorials and the latest news about embedded systems, IoT, open-source hardware, SBC's, microcontrollers, processors, and more
I’ve recently received an early sample of Radxa ROCK5 Model B (aka ROCK 5B) SBC part of the “Developer Edition” batch with 16GB RAM, and already showed the hardware and it booting successfully in Debian 11.
I’ve now spent more time with the board, and as part of the “debug party” tested performance and features in Debian 11. As one would expect, some things work fine, providing excellent performance, but others still need improvements.
I’ve written the first part of Mekotronics R58 review last month with an unboxing, teardown, and first boot with 3D graphics benchmarks. I’ve now had more time to play with Android 12 on the Rockchp RK3588 mini PC, so I’ll report my experience with the device. User interface and settings As already mentioned, the box ships with Android 12 for TV and the stock launcher. The Google Play store is working, and I had no troubles installing all apps I needed for the review. Most of the settings are pretty much standard. While the first time, I used Ethernet, and also tried WiFi 6 connecting the R58 to Xiaomi Mi AX6000 router. It worked but not without some effort, as initially, all I got were messages like “Couldn’t find SSID” both with 2.4GHz and 5GHz SSIDs. It turned out I had to disconnect the Ethernet to make WiFi work, and […]
Intel Meteor Lake processor family is supposed to succeed the 13th generation Raptor Lake chips itself coming after the current 12th generation Alder lake processors. It is scheduled to launch next year (2023), but we already have some details about the Meteor Lake U, P, and H mobile processors from a leak. Just like most Alder Lake processors, Meteor Lake will be hybrid processors with power and energy-efficient cores, but they’ll also feature new LP E-cores which should stand for “low power efficiency” cores in order to further lower the power consumption while a laptop or mini PC in standby mode. Meteor Lake mobile processors highlights: CPU P cores + E cores + LP-E cores architecture U-series with up to 12 cores P- and H-series up to 14 cores; Up to 6+8 configuration with up to 24MB LLC/core (Note the LP-E cores don’t seem to be part of the main […]
Radxa ROCK5 Model B (aka ROCK 5B) is one of the most anticipated Rockchip RK3588 single board computers due to its features set and relatively affordable price. It was first showcased in January, but it’s taking a while as the Cortex-A76/A55 SoC is a complex beast. The good news is that the public launch is getting closer as Radxa sent “developer edition” samples to developers and enthusiasts for a “debug party”. I was one of the recipients so, in this post, I’ll have a closer look at the latest revision of the board, and give it a quick try first before going into more details in the second of this preview. ROCK5 Model B unboxing I received the 16GB RAM version which should be the same for all board part of the “developer edition batch. Developers are invited to submit reports to Radxa forums, and since those are public, anybody […]
Quectel SG560D is a 5G Sub-6GHz & WiFi 6E module for AIoT applications that runs Android 12 on a Qualcomm QCM6490 SoC with an octa-core Kryo 670 64-bit Arm CPU and a Qualcomm Adreno 643L GPU. The SG560D module is equipped with 4GB LPDDR4X RAM and 64GB UFS storage by default, supports up to 2520×1080 MIPI display at a refresh rate of 144Hz, and can deliver up to 14 TOPS for AI inference. Quectel SG560D key features and specifications: SoC – Qualcomm QCM6490 octa-core processor with one Kryo 670 Gold plus high-performance core up to 2.7 GHz, 3x Kryo Gold cores at 2.4 GHz, 4x Kryo Silver low-power cores @ 1.9 GHz, Adreno 643L GPU, 6th gen AI Engine delivering up to 14 TOPS, up to 4Kp30 H.265/H.264 video encode, 4Kp60 video decode; 6nm process. System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4X by default Storage – 64GB UFS flash by default Display […]
Mekotronics R58 is a cost-optimized Rockchip RK3588 mini PC and SBC that sells for as low as $169 with 4GB and 32GB eMMC flash. The company has now sent me a model with 8GB RAM and 64GB flash for evaluation, and in the first part of the review, I’ll do an unboxing, check out the hardware more closely, and boot it up for a quick check. Mekotronics R58 Unboxing There’s no retail package so to speak with just a white box and a sticker reading “MINI 8+64G” indicating the RAM and storage capacity for the device. The mini PC ships with a 12V/3A power adapter and cord, an IR remote control with two AAA batteries, two WiFi antennas, an HDMI cable, and a USB-A to USB-C cable probably to flash the firmware if needed. The mini PC is housed in a metal enclosure with plenty of ventilation holes at the […]
Espressif Systems ESP32-C5 is an upcoming wireless RISC-V microcontroller for IoT applications that supports dual-band (2.4 & 5.0 GHz) WiFi 6 connectivity as well as Bluetooth 5.0 LE. It is the first dual-band processor from Espressif, as while the Shanghai-based company previously announced the ESP32-C6 WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5 LE RISC-V SoC last year, it only supports 2.4 GHz frequency. Note it’s not the first dual-band WiFi 6 IoT chip on the market as NXP introduced the IW612 Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, 802.15.4 tri-radio solution last January, but ESP32-C5 should target different use cases. ESP32-C5 preliminary specifications: CPU – Single-core 32-bit RISC-V processor @ up to 240 MHz Memory – 400KB SRAM on-chip Storage – 384KB of ROM on-chip, support for external flash Connectivity Dual-band 802.11ax WiFi 6 in the 2.4GHz and 5 GHz bands, with 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 standard support for backward compatibility 20MHz bandwidth for the 802.11ax […]
MediaTek has recently introduced the Filogic connectivity family with two parts, namely the Filogic 830 Wi-Fi 6/6E system-on-chip (SoC), and the Filogic 630 Wi-Fi 6E network interface card (NIC) solutions. The WiFi 6/6E tri-band (2.4, 5, and 6 GHz) chips are Wi-Fi Alliance EasyMesh certified, and designed for home, business, and enterprise router and repeater devices, home automation bridges, IoT gateways, as well as consumer devices such as laptops, TVs, IP cameras, etc… The MediaTek Filogic 830 is a complete 12nm SoC with a quad-core Cortex-A53 processor clocked at up to 2 GHz per core delivering over 18,000 DMIPs, hardware acceleration engines for Wi-Fi offloading and networking, dual 4×4 Wi-Fi 6/6E for up to 6Gbps connectivity, two 2.5Gbps Ethernet interfaces, and various other peripheral interfaces, but MediaTek did not provide any details about those. The company also says the chip includes FastPath low latency technology for gaming and AR/VR applications. […]