CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

March 23, 2015March 23, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

How to Install Ubuntu 14.04 on Acer Aspire E5 Laptop

I’ve been owning an Acer Aspire One D255E netbook with a 10″ display, an Intel Atom N455 processor and 1GB RAM that served me well during my travels, but as I’ve become older and less patient, I felt I needed to upgrade it. I planned to spend around 10,000 Baht (~$300), wanted a 14″ display, one of the low power CPU such as Intel Bay Trail-M or AMD Mullins / Beema processors, at least 500GB storage, 4GB RAM, and the ability to install Ubuntu. Finally, after going through several products at my local shop, I had to chose between Acer Aspire E5-411-P3CL with a 7.5W TDP Intel Atom N3540 and Acer Aspire E5-421G-45L0 with a 15W TDP AMD A4-6210 processor that both sell for 11,900 Baht ($365). Despite my preference for processor with lower TDP, I still went with the AMD system, since the performance is a little better, the […]

March 22, 2015March 23, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Acer Shamelessly Sells Aspire E5 Laptops with a Crippled UEFI Setup Utility

Yesterday, I bought an Acer Aspire E5-421G-45L0 laptop powered by AMD A4-6210 “Beema” processor and after some effort I managed to install Ubuntu 14.04 and make it mostly work, but more on that later. I also planned to copy a 64-bit OS VirtualBox virtual machine from another PC to this PC, but I quickly realized I could only select 32-bit operating systems, so my 64-bit image could not boot. Virtualization extension are required for 64-bit support in VirtualBox, and I had not checked whether AMD A4-6210 supported these before purchase. Amazingly, I could not find that information on AMD’s very own website, but CPU Boss reports A4-6210 does indeed support AMD-V virtualization. All good, so I must be just a question of enabling it in the “BIOS”. So I rebooted the laptop, and pressed F2 to enter InsydeH20 Setup Utility. There are few options with only Information, Main, Security, Boot, […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

March 21, 2015March 21, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 38 Comments

Orange Pi 2 Allwinner H3 Quad Core Development Board Sells for $35

After Orange Pi Plus development board powered by Allwinner H3 quad core cortex A7 processor, the company has decided to launch a lower cost version of their Allwinner H3 board with Orange Pi 2, that has started selling for a compelling $35 + about $4 shipping worldwide, and provides another sub-$50 alternative to Raspberry Pi 2, ODROID-C1, and Radxa Rock Lite boards. Orange Pi 2 board specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.6 GHz with 256KB L1 cache, 1MB L2 cache, and an ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU up to 600 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot (up to 64GB) Video Output – HDMI, AV port Audio I/O – HDMI, AV port, on-board microphone Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi (Realtek module) USB – 4x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB OTG port Camera – CSI Interface Expansions – 40-pin […]

March 20, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Asus C201 Chromebook to be Powered by Rockchip RK3288 Processor

If you’ve been following this blog, you should know that Rockchip is working with Google on Chrome OS, so it was just a matter of time before a Rockchip powered Chromebook or Chromebox sees the light of the day. The first Rockchip RK3288 chromebook might end up being Asus C201 Chromebook with apparently a custom version of the Cortex A17 processor dubbed Rk3288-C, as OMG Chrome found out in Troxell’s 2015 brochure for K-12 education. So far we only know a few details about the specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3288-C quad core Cortex A17 processor @ up to 1.8GHz System Memory – 2 to 4 GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC Display – 11.6″ display with 1366×768 resolution Webcam – VGA resolution The exact model name should be C201PA. Rockchip RK3288 should provide performance quite similar, and in some cases even better, to Intel Atom Z3735F, except possible when it comes […]

March 20, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Cloudsto Embed+ RK3288 is a Rockchip RK3288 Board for Digital Signage and Point-of-Sale Applications

As Rikomagic launched their MK80LE (Linux Edition) mini PCs on Cloudsto a few days ago, I also noticed a new page entitled embed+ RK3288, which described what should be the first board sold by Rikomagic/Cloudsto. The Rockchip RK3288 based board can be used as an Android & Linux development board, but it appears to mainly target OEMs for applications such as digital signage, point-if-sale, and web kiosks. Rikomagic embed+ RK3288 specs: SoC – Rockchip 3288 quad core ARM Cortex A17 up to 1.8 GHz with Mali-T764 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 /3.0, and OpenCL 1.1 System Memory – 2G DDR3 Storage – 8 to 32 GB eMMC flash. The daughterboard adds an SD card slot. Video / Display interfaces – HDMI 2.0, LCD interfaces (backlit, power, data) Audio Output – HDMI, 3.5mm earphone / audio output jack, and built-in microphone. Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi , and Bluetooth 4.0 (external). Gigabit LAN via a daughterboard. USB […]

March 20, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Xilinx Zynq-Z7015 FPGA + ARM based System-on-Modules Include High Speed Transceivers

There’s a fair amount of low cost boards powered by Xilinx Zynq Z-7010 and Z-7020 with dual core Cortex A9 processor and Artix-7 FPGA, but those who wanted to have PCIe ports or high speed transceivers had to go with the higher-end Xilinx Z-7030/7040/7050 with Kintex-7 FPGA fabric for a much higher cost. But Xilinx introduced Zynq Z-7015 late last year, a low cost Artix-7 FPGA + Cortex A9 SoC that also adds four 6.25Gbps SerDes ports and one PCIe Gen2 x4 integrated block. At least two modules based on the new SoC are currently available with DAVE Embedded Systems’ BORA Xpress and Trenz Electronic TE0715 Series. DAVE Zynq XC7Z015/XC7Z030 BORA Xpress BORA Xpress specifications: SoC Xilinx ZYNQ XC7Z015 dual ARM Cortex-A9 @ up to 866MHz with Artix-7 FPGA with 74K logic cells, 46K LUTs, 92K Flip flops, 380 KB RAM. 32 KB I-cache, 32 KB D-cache, 512 KB L2 […]

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

March 20, 2015May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Cubieboard4 (CC-A80) Unboxing and Getting Started Guide

A few samples of Cubieboard4 board may have been available in China in October 2014, but Cubietech only officially launched their Allwinner A80 development board about ten days ago, and you can buy it for $125 + shipping on sites like R0ck.me, Eleduino, Seeed Studio, and many other distributors. The company decided to send a sample for evaluation, and today I’ll start with a post showing some pictures of the kit, and explaining how to get started with assembly and first boot. Cubieboard 4 Pictures I received the board within two days after the company told me they would send a sample, as they used DHL. I also had to pay a bit of import tax and DHL’s handling fee. There should be CC-A80 box with the board and accessories, a white box for the power supply, and a power cord. There’s quite a few items to play with… The […]

March 19, 2015March 19, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

MeLE F10 Lite is an Air Mouse with Keyboard using 2x AAA Batteries

MeLE has several models of air mouse, and they are great to use with Android mini PCs, and sometimes I also use these with my regular PC. I started with the original MeLE F10, but then switched to MeLE F10 Deluxe which provides a better pointer control. It’s not perfect as game mode only works with MeLE media devices, I could never make the IR learning function work, and the pointer tends to jump when I press the OK button, so I’m using the mouse button for clicks instead as it does not suffer from this issue. Nevertheless, MeLE F10 Deluxe is still the device I prefer to use during my mini PCs and boards’ reviews. Previous MeLE F10 air mice all comes with a built-in battery, but some people prefer to use standard batteries, and that’s just what the latest MeLE F10 Lite uses, with other features similar to […]

Boardcon CM3588 Rockchip RK3588 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications