Nordic’s nRF9161 SiP and DK support cellular IoT and DECT NR+ non-cellular 5G technology

Nordic nRF9161 SiP and Development Kit

Nordic Semiconductor recently announced the availability of the nRF9161 system in package (SiP) and pre-certified Development Kit designed to power both cellular IoT and non-cellular 5G technologies. This new device can connect to LTE-M, NB-IoT, and DECT NR+ networks while maintaining long battery life, better location tracking, and strong connectivity. Additionally, Nordic offers support through their nRF Connect SDK and the Nordic Developer Academy. The nRF9161 SiP is an improved version of the nRF9160 SiP, which has been the basis for various projects like the Actinius Icarus SoM DK, Conexio Stratus, nRF9160 Feather LTE IoT and GPS Board,  Ruuvi Node, and many other projects. Feel free to check those out if interested. The press release mentions that this new chip is an update of the nRF9160 and includes features like an Arm Cortex-M33 processor, 1 MB flash, 256 KB RAM, along with SPI, I2C, UART, PWM, and a 12-bit ADC […]

GEEKOM Mini IT12 Review – Part 3: Ubuntu 22.04 Linux on an Intel Core i7-12650H mini computer

GEEKOM Mini IT12 mini PC Review Ubuntu 22.04 Linux

We first checked out the hardware of GEEKOM Mini IT12 with an unboxing and teardown, before testing the Intel Core i7-12650H mini PC with Windows 11 Pro in the second part of the review, and we’ve now had time to test the device with Ubuntu 22.04 to see how well (or not) it works with a Linux distribution. In the third part of the review, we will report our experience with installing Ubuntu 22.04 on the GEEKOM Mini IT12, checking all main features, and benchmarking the system to evaluate its performance. This includes some networking and storage performance tests, a stress test to check CPU temperature and cooling performance, and the measurement of the fan noise and power consumption. Ubuntu 22.04 installation on GEEKOM Mini IT12 Since we wanted to install Ubuntu 22.04 alongside Windows 11 Pro, we shrunk the Windows 11 partition by about half in the Disk Management […]

GEEKOM Mini IT12 review – Part 2: Windows 11 Pro tested on an Intel Core i7-12650H Alder Lake mini PC

GEEKOM Mini IT12 Mini PC Review

We first checked out the GEEKOM Mini IT12 with an unboxing and teardown of the Intel Core i7-12650H Alder Lake mini PC in the middle of December 2023, and we’ve now had plenty of time to test the mini PC with Windows 11 Pro since the device was out of stock for a while and we were asked to postpone the review… Now that the mini PC is for sale again, we will report our experience with the Windows 11 Pro operating system in the second part of the review of the Mini IT12. This will include an overview of the software, features testing, various benchmarks including storage and networking performance, 4K and 8K YouTube video streaming, cooling performance, fan noise, and finally, we will provide some power consumption numbers. Software overview and features testing The System->About menu wrongly shows we have a “Mini Air12” mini PC instead of a […]

This new ESP32-C6-based IoT development board supports solar battery charging

FireBeetle 2 ESP32 C6 IoT Development Board with Wi Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, Solar Powered

DFRobot’s FireBeetle 2 ESP32-C6 is an IoT Development Board with 802.11ax (now called Wi-Fi 6), Bluetooth 5, Zigbee 3.0, Thread 1.3, and flexible power options including USB Type-C, 5V DC, and a CN3165 Lithium Ion battery charger for solar-powered systems. This isn’t the first solar-based board we’ve covered. We’ve also explored boards like Conexio Stratus, Wisblock Kit 2, and RAK8211-NB iTracker along with other solar-powered devices such as solar-powered laptops, solar-powered headphones, and even a solar-based power supply. FireBeetle 2 ESP32-C6 IoT Development Board Specifications: Processor – ESP32-C6 RISC-V single-core, 160 MHz Memory SRAM – 512KB ROM – 320KB Flash – 4MB RTC SRAM – 16KB USB – USB 2.0 CDC Wi-Fi Protocols – IEEE 802.11b/g/n, IEEE 802.11ax (20 MHz-only non-AP mode) Bandwidth – Supports 20 MHz and 40 MHz at 2.4 GHz Modes – Station, SoftAP, SoftAP+Station Frequency – 2.4GHz Frame Aggregation – TX/RX A-MPDU, TX/RX A-MSDU Bluetooth Protocol […]

GEEKOM Mini Air12 mini PC review – Part 3: Ubuntu 22.04 Linux

GEEKOM Mini Air12 mini PC Review Ubuntu 22.04 Linux

After going through an unboxing and teardown for the GEEKOM Mini Air12, we tested the Intel Processor N100 mini PC with Windows 11 Pro, and we’ve now had time to check Ubuntu 22.04 on the device and will report our experience with Linux in the third part of the review. We tested the hardware features, networking and storage performance, YouTube video streaming, and ran some benchmarks in Ubuntu 22.04, before checking out the cooling performance, fan noise, and power consumption of the GEEKOM Mini Air12 in Linux. We installed Ubuntu 22.04 alongside Windows 11, after having shrunk the Windows 11 partition by about half before inserting a USB drive with Ubuntu 22.04.3 ISO, and the installation went smoothly with no drivers missing. Ubuntu 22.04 system information The About window in the settings confirms we have a mini PC with a quad-core Intel Processor N100 SoC, 16GB of RAM, and a […]

ECS LIVA X3A – A Rockchip RK3588-powered fanless Android 12 mini PC with four HDMI ports

LIVA X3A Rockchip RK3588 fanless mini PC

Powered by a Rockchip RK3588 processor, ECS LIVA X3A fanless Android 12 mini PC is designed for digital signage and self-service kiosks with its four HDMI output ports capable of driving three 4K displays and an additional Full HD display. ECS is better known for its x86 mini PCs, but the company also introduced Rockchip Arm-based platforms in the past with the LIVA Q1A (RK3288/RK3399) and LIVA M300-W (RK3399K) mini PCs as well as the ECS-RK3568 3.5-inch SBC. The latest LIVA X3A fanless mini PC features the most powerful Rockchip processor, namely the RK3588 octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 SoC. ECS LIVA X3A specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588 CPU – Octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz GPU –  Arm Mali-G610 GPU with OpenGL ES 3.2,  OpenCL 2.2, and Vulkan 1.2 support VPU – 8Kp60 video decoder for H.265/AVS2/VP9/H.264/AV1 codecs, 8Kp30 […]

GL.iNet Flint 2 router review – Part 2: WiFi 6, 2.5GbE, WireGuard performance

GL.iNet Flint 2 Review

In the first part of the review of the GL.iNet GL-MT6000 “Flint 2” WiFi 6 router, I had a look at the package content and the hardware design with a teardown of the router, and quickly tried it out. I’ve now had more time to play with the router focusing the review on WiFi 6 and 2.5GbE performance, and checking whether of 900 Mbps Wireguard VPN claim had any truth to it. The router also supports the Tor network to anonymously browse the web, Adguard Home to get rid of unwanted ads, and Repeater mode among other features. Those all work with the Fliont 2 router, but I won’t cover those in detail here, and invite you to check out the GL.iNet Brume 2 security gateway review for Tor and Adguard Home and the GL.iNet Beryl AX review for the repeater mode test. Connecting wired and wireless clients The Flint […]

Chatreey AM08 Pro review – Part 3: Ubuntu 22.04 and ESXi 7.0 on an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS mini PC

Chatreey AM08 Pro Review Ubuntu VMWare ESXi

In the first article, I checked out the hardware of the Chatreey AM08 Pro mini PC powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU and tested it with Windows 11 Pro in the second part of the review. Now it’s time for the third part where I’ll test Ubuntu 22.04.03 Desktop OS and ESXi 7.0 update 3C hypervisor on the AM8 Pro mini PC. The installation process was simple enough and both WiFi and Ethernet were detected correctly. Contents Ubuntu 22.04 System information with AM08 Pro Performance of AM08 Pro 7940HS sbc-bench.sh Geekbench  iozone3  FIO  Network performance (2.5GbE and WiFi 6) of AM08 Pro 7940HS 2.5 GbE WiFi 6E  Stress test and CPU temperature of AM08 Pro 7940HS Power consumption of AM08 Pro 7940HS Jellyfin on Ubuntu 22.04.03 (server) ESXi 7.0 Installation The stability Conclusion 1. Ubuntu 22.04 1.1. Ubuntu System information with AM08 Pro The system information in Ubuntu […]

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