MINIX Z100-0dB review – Part 3: A fanless Intel N100 mini PC tested with Ubuntu 22.04

MINIX Z100-0dB review Ubuntu 22.04 Linux

After the first part of the review with an unboxing and a teardown of the MINIX NEO Z100-0dB mini PC, we tested the fanless Intel N100 mini PC with Windows 11 Pro in the second part, and we are now ready to report our experience with Linux, and more specifically Ubuntu 22.04, on the MINIX Z100-0dB mini PC in the final and third part of the review. We will go through features testing, run some benchmarks to evaluate the performance in Linux, perform storage and network performance tests, check the cooling ability of the mini with a stress test, and also check its power consumption under different scenarios. We will also compare the MINIX Z100-0dB to the actively cooled GEEKOM Mini Air12 mini PC that uses the same Intel Processor N100 CPU. Ubuntu 22.04 installation We will install Ubuntu 22.04 alongside Windows 11 Pro in dual boot configuration, so we […]

ePulse Feather C6 – An ESP32-C6 development board with Adafruit Feather form factor, LiPo battery support

ePulse Feather C6

ThingPulse ePulse Feather C6 is a new ESP32-C6 development board with WiFi 6, BLE5, Zigbee, Thread, and Matter connectivity that follows the Adafruit Feather form factor and supports LiPo battery charging through a charger IC and a fuel gauge. Just like its predecessor called ePulse Feather, the ePulse Feather C6 is optimized for low power consumption but replaces an ESP32-WROVER-E-N8R8 module but an ESP32-C6-MINI-1 with a 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee, Thread, and Matter, as well as 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 LE connectivity. ePulse Feather C6 specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-C6-MINI-1 SoC – ESP32-C6H4 32-bit RISC-V microprocessor up to 160 MHz with 320KB ROM, 512KB HP SRAM, 16KB LP SRAM, 4MB flash Wireless – 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 with Target Wake Time (TWT) support, Bluetooth 5.3 LE and Mesh, 802.15.4 radio with Zigbee, Thread, and Matter PCB Antenna USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power/charging and programming […]

Beelink SEi12 i7-12650H mini PC review – Part 3: Ubuntu 22.04 Linux

Beelink SEi12 i7-12650H mini PC Review Ubuntu 22.04

After going through an unboxing and teardown of the Beelink SEi12 i7-12650H mini PC, and testing the 12th gen Intel Core i7-12650H mini PC in Windows 11 Pro, we’ll now report our experience with Ubuntu 22.04 in the third part of the review to show how the Beelink SEi12 performs in Linux. We will perform feature testing, run some benchmarks to evaluate performance, test Ethernet, WiFi 6, and Bluetooth, submit the system to a stress test to check its cooling performance and measure fan noise and power consumption. We’ll also compare it to the GEEKOM Mini IT12 mini PC with the same Intel Core i7-12650H CPU. Ubuntu 22.04 installation We shrank the Windows partition is about half to install Ubuntu 22.04 in dual boot configuration along with Windows 11 Pro. We then installed Ubuntu 22.04.3 ISO from a USB flash without any issues. Ubuntu 22.04 system information After a system […]

$20 coupon codes for the GEEKOM Mini IT13 mini PC with Core i7-13620H, 32GB RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD (Sponsored)

GEEKOM Mini IT13 20 dollar coupon codes

GEEKOM is offering a $20 discount for the powerful GEEKOM Mini IT13 mini PC with coupon codes for Amazon (code CNXSWIT13) and the official GEEKOM store (code cnxsoftware) bringing the price down to just $609. The mini PC features an Intel Core i7-13620H 10-core/16-thread Raptor Lake processor, 32GB DDR4 RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD for storage. It can drive up to four 4K displays through HDMI and USB4 ports, supports 2.5GbE and WiFi 6E networking, and comes with a total of six USB ports for expansion. GEEKOM Mini IT13 specifications: SoC – Intel Core i7-13620H 13th Gen Raptor Lake processor with 10 cores, 16 threads up to 4.90 GHz, 24MB Cache, Iris Xe graphics; PBP: 45W System Memory – 32GB dual-channel DDR4-3200 via 2x SODIMM sockets Storage 1TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD M.2 2242 SATA SSD slot, expandable up to 1TB 2.5-inch SATA HDD (7mm) slot, […]

MINIX Z100-0dB review – Part 2: A fanless Intel Processor N100 mini PC tested with Windows 11

MINIX Z100-0dB review Windows11

We’ve already done an unboxing and a teardown of the MINIX NEO Z100-0dB fanless mini PC powered by an Intel Processor N100 CPU, and equipped with a 16GB DDR4-3200 RAM and a 512GB M.2 SSD before quickly trying the preinstalled Windows 11 Pro operating system in the first part of the review. We’ve now had time to test Windows 11 in the MINIX Z100-0dB fanless mini PC in more detail. So we’ll report our experience in the second part of the review with features testing, benchmarks, some storage and networking performance tests, measurements of fan noise and power consumption, and more. We’ll also compare the MINIX NEO Z100-0dB against other Alder Lake-N mini PCs such as the actively-cooled GEEKOM Mini Air12 that we reviewed at the end of last year. Software overview and features testing The System->About window confirms the Z100-0dB mini PC features an Intel N100 processor at 800 […]

GEEKOM A7 mini PC review – Part 3: Ubuntu 22.04 (and Ubuntu 24.04)

GEEKOM A7 Ubuntu 22.04 Linux review

After a GEEKOM A7 mini PC unboxing and teardown, I tested the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS mini PC in Windows 11 Pro, but I’ll now report my experience with the GEEKOM A7 running Ubuntu 22.04.4 to see our well the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS system performs in Linux. I also had to install Ubuntu 24.04 to check the wireless module further, so I’ll report on that too. The Ubuntu 22.04 review will include features testing, several benchmarks, storage, 2.5GbE, and WiFi 6 networking performance testing, a stress test to check thermal performance, as well as fan noise and power consumption measurements. Ubuntu 22.04 installation I resized the Windows 11 partition to get an unused 500GB partition to install Ubuntu 22.04 from a USB drive. But the first time, it did not work as I was asked to disable BitLocker disk encryption in Windows 11 just like I did for the […]

Semtech AirLink XR60 is the world’s smallest rugged 5G router

Airlink XR60 world smallest rugged 5G router

Semtech AirLink XR60 is a tiny 5G router powered by a quad-core Cortex-A53 processor with up to two Ethernet ports (1Gbps and 5 Gbps), WiFi 6 connectivity, GNSS navigation, and an optional RJ45 serial port. Semtech is better known for its LoRa low-power transceivers, but the company acquired Sierra Wireless last year, so they’ll now have a wider range of wireless products to offer, and the AirLink XR60 5G gateway is the first we cover here on CNX Software since the merger between the two companies. Semtech Airlink XR60 specifications: SoC – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor Memory – 1.2 GB RAM (that should be the free memory) Storage –  1.7 GB (available storage) Networking 5G cellular Sierra Wireless EM9291 5G NR Sub-6 M.2 module Peak downlink – 2800 Mbps Peak uplink – 300 Mbps 4×4 MIMO 4x SMA antenna connectors Dual SIM (Nano-4FF) Carrier – AT&T, FirstNet 4G, T-Mobile, Verizon, […]

ESP32-C6-Bug WiFi 6, Bluetooth LE, and 802.15.4 board takes a PoE Ethernet shield (Crowdfunding)

ESP32-C6 PoE board

We’ve already covered a range of ESP32-C6 boards, but none supporting Ethernet and PoE so far, and the ESP32-C6-Bug board brings that to the table thanks to the Esp32-Bug-Eth shield with a W5500 Ethernet chip, an RJ45 jack and a PoE power module. Like other ESP32-C6 devices, the little board supports Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth LE 5, as well as Thread and Zigbee through its 802.15.4 radio, but it also integrates some other interesting features such as castellated holes for easy soldering on a carrier board and support for LiPo batteries with built-in battery charging and protection circuits. ESP32-C6-Bug board specifications: SoC – ESP32-C6FH4 MCU cores 32-bit RISC-V core @ 160 MHz 32-bit RISC-V core @ 20 MHz low-power coprocessor can run tasks even when the main system is in deep sleep state Memory – 512 KB SRAM Storage – 4 MB Flash Wireless – WiFi 6, Bluetooth LE 5, and […]

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