CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

January 11, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Texas Instruments MSP432 LaunchPad Development Board Sells for $4.32 (Promo)

Texas Instruments has started the year by offering a deal on their 32-bit MSP432 LaunchPad Development Kit, dropping the cost from $12.99 to $4.32 for a limited time with coupon code 432@432. MSP432 Launchpad’s key features: MCU – Texas Instruments MSP432P401R ARM Cortex M4F MCU @ 48 MHz with FPU and DSP, 256KB flash, 64KB RAM Expansion – 40 pin BoosterPack Connector, and support for 20-pin BoosterPacks Misc – 2 buttons and 2 LEDs for user interaction Debugging – Back-channel UART via USB to PC, Onboard XDS-110ET emulator featuring EnergyTrace+ Technology Power – Micro USB connector The kit includes the board, micro USB cable and a quick start guide. There’s plenty of technical documentation for the board, although for some unknown reasons, I can’t download any PDF documents from TI website tonight. The coupon is still working, but free shipping on TI eStore seems to be a thing of the […]

January 11, 2016January 11, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Multi-function Power Banks Can Jump Start Your Car Beside Charging Your Phone

Many people carry a USB power bank with them to make sure their smartphone does not run out of battery, but based on my experience failing to start your car because of a depleted or dead battery will bring ever more anxiety. Interestingly/funnily enough, while this happened to my neighbors last week-end, today I was informed that TM08 multi-function power bank was designed to both charge your phone or laptop, and help start your car. TM08 specifications: Input – 12V/1A Output – 5V-2A via USB and 12V jump starter for car with 200A starting current, and 400A peak current Battery Capacity – 12000mah Charging Time – 3 to 4 hours Life cycle – Over 1,000 cycles Dimensions – 130x70x25 mm Weight – 311 grams Operating Temperature – -20℃-85℃ The kit comes with adapters to charge your phone or other devices, as well as cables to connect to your car’s battery. […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

January 11, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 32 Comments

AudioCast M5 is a ChromeCast Audio Alternative with Local Audio Files and Multi-Room Support

ChromeCast Audio launched earlier this year together with ChromeCast 2.0 in order to bring ChromeCast experience specifically to audio files via your speakers or audio system. Wireless audio streamer are not exactly new, and I’ve reviewed a few including SoundMate WM201, and the company behind the SoundMate models, UyeSee, has launched a new AudioCast M2 wireless multi-room sound streamer that looks familiar… The main features of AudioCast M5 are listed as follows: Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n with WPS button Audio Output – 3.5mm stereo jack Power Supply – 5V via micro USB port Multiroom streaming – Stream same song to all speakers, stream different songs to different speakers, stream same or different song to different group speakers using a single smartphone . Streaming from phone’s internal storage, UPnP/DLNA server, online music service including Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and more coming with Tital, Dezzer, GoogleMusic, Tunein, etc… Stereo Pairing – Turn two […]

January 11, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Ublox NEO-6M $10 GPS Module with Antenna Works with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, etc..

Last week, I wrote about NavSpark Mini a $6 GPS + Beidou module, that’s also available for “free” plus $10 shipping. However, if you don’t have an antenna, you’d also need to add a $9 antenna, bringing the total price to $19 for this low cost GPS solution. But there’s actually a cheaper alternative with Ublox NEO-6M GPS module, as it sells for $10 with a GPS antenna including shipping on either Aliexpress or eBay. Ublox NEO-6M based GPS module specifications: NEO-6M-0-001 module Storage – EEPROM for configuration data External interfaces – UART; default baudrate: 9600 bps Misc – RTC battery (MS621FE) Power Supply – 3 to 5V The battery may not always be included due to transport regulations, so you may have to purchase it separately and solder it yourself. The module is not exactly new, and has been around at least since 2013, so there’s also some documentation, […]

January 10, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

MYiR Tech Introduces Atmel SAMA5D4 CPU Module and Development Board

MYiR Tech has launched a new development board – MYD-JA5D4X – featuring their Atmel SAMA5D4 Cortex A5 system-on-module called MYC-JAD5D4X with 512MB DDR2, 512MB Flash, and various ports such as Fast Ethernet, RS485, LCD panel interface, USB connectors and so on. Target applications include control panel/HMI, fitness equipment, smart grid infrastructure, communications gateways, and imaging terminals among others. Let’s start wit the MYC-JAD5D4X CPU module specifications: SoC – Atmel SAMA5D42 or SAMA5D44 ARM Cortex-A5 processor @ up to 600MHz (945DMIPS) with NEON and FPU, 720p hardware video decoder (SAMA5D44 only) System Memory– 512MB (2x 256MB) DDR2 SDRAM Storage – 512MB NAND Flash, 4MB Data Flash, 64KB EEPROM Connectivity – On-board Ethernet PHY I/Os via 200-pin SO-DIMM edge connector 2 x Ethernet 3 x USB2.0 Host 8 x Serial ports 4 x TWI, 3 x SPI 5 x 12-bit ADC 1 x SMD 4 x 4-bit SDIO 1 x LCD 1 x ISI 7 […]

January 9, 2016January 9, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 33 Comments

WeTek Play+ Amlogic S905 Android Set-Top Box Features a Tuner with a SmartCard Reader and an mSATA SSD Bay

When WeTek announced the WeTek Core, some people were disappointed that they did not include a tuner like in the original WeTek Play, but the company has been working on a successor called Wetek Play+ that is based on Amlogic S905-H quad core processor and supports DVB-S/S2, DVB-C/T/T2, ISDB-T and ATSC tuners with a smartcard reader, as well as an extra store with an half-size SSD slot. WeTek Play+ specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905-H (Revision C) quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 Storage – 16 GB eMMC 5.0 flash + micro SD card slot + mSATA SSD socket (implemented via USB to SATA) Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60Hz with HDCP 2.2 support, and AV port Audio – HDMI, AV (stereo), optical S/PDIF Tuners – Support for DVB-S2, DVB-C/T/T2, ISDB-T and […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025

January 8, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

F68 Smart Watch Review

After No.1 D3 and SMA-Q smartwatches, Makibes F68, or just F68, is my third attempt at reviewing a smartwatch, and on paper it matches all of my main requirements namely always-on display, fitness tracking with heart rate monitor, one week of battery life, and IP67 ingress protection rating to have some waterproofness. I’ve already taken pictures of the device, so today I’ll go through the user interface on the watch, and Android app, and report my experience after using the watch for over 10 days. The watch has an e-Paper display with decent viewing angles, and very good readability during the day, however at night, you’ll need to find the light switch or use a torchlight, as the watch does not have backlight at all, and it’s unreadable. There’s actually no buttons at all and everything is controlled via the touchscreen, and/or the app available for Android or iOS. The […]

January 8, 2016August 10, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 138 Comments

Specs, Unboxing and Teardown of KI Plus Android TV Box with DVB-T2/S2 Combo Tuner

If you’ve been following this blog, you must now that I reviewed K1 Plus Android TV box based on Amlogic S905 processor a little while ago. Videostrong has sent me yet another K1 Plus device, except this time it is an Android receiver with a tuner card supporting both satellite (DVB-S/S2) and terrestrial (DVB-T/T2) reception. Today, I’ll list the specs, take a few pictures of the device, before checking out the tuner board. K1 Plus Android DTV receiver specifications The specifications are exactly the same as the TV box, except for the added tuner: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND flash (4 to 32GB optional) + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60Hz with HDCP 2.2 support, and 3.5mm AV jack […]