Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Pico-Ice board combines Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU with Lattice ICE40 UltraPlus 5K FPGA

Pico-Ice board combines Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU with Lattice ICE40 UltraPlus 5K FPGA

Pico Ice Raspberry Pi RP2040 Lattice FPGA board

tinyVision.ai Pico-Ice is a development board with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU and a Lattice ICE40 UltraPlus 5K FPGA connected through an 8-bit bus. The Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller provides the clock for the FPGA and can program the FPGA directly or the dedicated FPGA flash using a drag-drop of a UF2 file. Just a few days ago we wrote about the LILYGO T-FPGA board that combines an ESP32-S3 wireless MCU with a Gowin FPGA connected through a 6-bit bus, and the Pico-Ice board provides a similar option with different chips and without wireless connectivity. Pico-Ice specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM with all pins exposed FPGA – Lattice UltraPlus iCE40UP5K FPGA with 5.3K LUTs, 1Mbit SPRAM, 120Kbit DPRAM, 8x multipliers with all pins brought out Memory & storage chips MCU – 4MB QSPI flash FPGA – 4MB QSPI Flash, 8MB low […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Khadas VIM4 Amlogic A311D2 SBC gets 3.2 TOPS NPU

Khadas VIM4 Amlogic A311D2 SBC gets 3.2 TOPS NPU

Khadas VIM4 Amlogic A311D2-N0D SBC

First introduced in 2022, the Khadas VIM4 SBC will now sell with an Amlogic A311D2-N0D Cortex-A73/A53 processor equipped with a 3.2 TOPS NPU, and the version without AI accelerator will be phased out. I reviewed the Khadas VIM4 with both Android 11 and Ubuntu 22.04 last year, and really liked the user experience notably thanks to the OOWOW system that makes it really easy to try different operating systems downloaded from Khadas servers, although some features like support for GPU acceleration still needed to be worked on at the time. One thing missing compared to the previous generation Khadas VIM3 SBC was an on-chip NPU to accelerate AI workloads, and the latest revision of the Amlogic A311D2 processor (with N0D suffix) fixes that on the Khadas VIM4. “Khadas VIM4 with NPU” specifications: SoC – Amlogic A311D2-N0D octa-core processor with 4x Arm Cortex-A73 cores @ up to 2.2 GHz and 4x […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Realtek WiFi 7 and WiFi 6 roadmap for routers and clients

Realtek WiFi 7 and WiFi 6 roadmap for routers and clients

Realtek Testbed WiFi 7

We’ve just written about Realtek 5 Gbps Ethernet chips, but the company also has some roadmaps for WiFi 6 and WiFi 7 router chips, and a WiFi 7 client module demonstrated at COMPUTEX 2023. The company’s roadmap include five WiFi 7 router solutions: WiFi 7 BE6500 router with a Realtek 8198DS dual Arm core processor @ 1.2 GHz with an RTL8952AR 2×2 MIMO 5 GHz and 6 GHz chip, RTL8902A 2×2 2.4 GHz chip, and an RTL8221B 2.5GbE PHY WiFi 7 BE9400 router with a Realtek 8198DS dual Arm core processor @ 1.2 GHz with an RTL8952AR 2×2 MIMO 5 GHz chip, RTL8902A 2×2 2.4 GHz chip, an RTL8934AR 4×4 MIMO 6 GHz chip, and an RTL8221B 2.5GbE PHY WiFi 7 BE3400 router with a Realtek 8198DS dual Arm core processor @ 1.2 GHz with an RTL8952AR 2×2 MIMO 5 GHz chip, and an RTL8221B 2.5GbE PHY WiFi 7 BE6400 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments on Orange Pi 800 Keyboard PC gets 128GB flash storage

Orange Pi 800 Keyboard PC gets 128GB flash storage

Orange Pi 800 Keyboard PC 128GB eMMC flash

The Orange Pi 800 keyboard PC, launched as an alternative to the Raspberry Pi 400 last year with a Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core Cortex-A72/A53 processor and 4GB RAM, has gotten an upgrade to 128GB of eMMC flash instead of just 64GB. The keyboard PC still comes with HDMI 2.0 and VGA video outputs, built-in speakers and microphone, Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi 5 connectivity, a few USB ports, and a 78-key QWERTY keyboard, plus a 26-GPIO connector accessible without opening the device.   Orange Pi 800 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 2x Arm Cortex-A72 cores up to 1.8GHz, 4x Arm Cortex-A53 cores up to 1.4GHz, and an Arm Mali-T860MP4 GPU System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 128GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot Video Output HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60 VGA port up to Full HD resolution Audio 3.5mm audio (headphone+mic) jack Integrated speaker(s) and microphone Digital […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments on Realtek RTL8126, RTL8157, and RTL8251B 5Gbps Ethernet solutions showcased at COMPUTEX 2023

Realtek RTL8126, RTL8157, and RTL8251B 5Gbps Ethernet solutions showcased at COMPUTEX 2023

RTL8126 5GbE PCie Card prototype

I only upgraded my local network to 2.5 Gbps Ethernet last year, but 5 Gbps Ethernet is soon coming to the home as shown by Realtek at COMPUTEX 2023 with demonstrations of their RTL816, RTL8157, and RTL8251B 5GbE chips that were initially unveiled at CES 2022. The RTL8126-CG is a PCIe 3.0 x1 to 5GbE controller offered in a QFN56 8x8mm package that succeeds the RTL8125 chips, the RTL8157-CG is a USB 3.2 Gen2 to 5Gbps Ethernet controller in a 8x8mm QFN68 package providing an update the RTL8156(B)/(BG) 2.5GbE USB controllers, and the RTL8251B-CG is a single-port “PHYceiver” in a 8x8mm QFM56 package. All support 10/10/100/2500/5000 Mbps links and consumes under 1.5 watts, against 0.7W for 2.5 GbE networking. The same Cat5e cables can be used at the higher speed. The company did not just come with some slides to show and also showcased some test boards for each chip […]

Posted on by Leo Zachary - 3 Comments on MangoPi mCore-R818 module powers CyberPad 3.1-inch handheld android “tablet”

MangoPi mCore-R818 module powers CyberPad 3.1-inch handheld android “tablet”

CyberPad Components

mCore-R818 is the first time that MangoPi adopts the design combination of a core-lite module and a carrier board. As its name suggests, it is an AllWinner R818 SoM whose SoC integrates an Imagination PowerVR GE8300 GPU for UI rendering, can drive MIPI DSI, LVDS, and RGB displays, as well as cameras through a MIPI CSI interface, 8MP/5MP/2MP interfaces. The Allwinner R818 system-on-module powers a feature-rich carrier board as well as an upcoming Cyberpad Android “tablet” with a 3.1-inch display. MangoPi mCore-R818 The package design of the processor itself is small, so the MCore-R818 core board is only 3x3cm in size, but still contains four components with the Allwinner R818, the eMMC flash, LPDDR4 memory, and the AXP717 PMU. MangoPi provides two hardware configurations: 2GB DDR with 16GB eMMC flash, and 4GB DDR with 32GB eMMC flash. MCore-R818 Core Lite Specifications: SoC – Allwinner R818 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments on ARIES v3.0 development board features India-made VEGA RISC-V processor

ARIES v3.0 development board features India-made VEGA RISC-V processor

Made-in-India VEGA RISC-V board

ARIES v3.0 is an Arduino-inspired development board with the made-in-India 100 MHz THEAJS32 ASIC with the VEGA ET1031 RISC-V microprocessor, 256KB of internal SRAM, and various I/Os. Not to be confused by the recent FIVEberry RISC-V SBC made by ARIES Embedded… We first wrote about VEGA RISC-V processors designed in India in February 2022, and at the time, the government worked on five RISC-V processor designs ranging from a single-core 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller-class processor to a Linux-capable quad-core 64-bit out-of-order processor, with the entry-level THEJAS32 and THEJAS64 SoCs based on respectively VEGA ET1031 and VEGA AS1061 cores running on an ARTY A7 FPGA board. But good progress has been made since then, and they have tapped out the THEJAS32 processor and manufactured some development boards such as the ARIES v3.0. ARIES v3.0 development board specifications: MCU – THEJAS32 VEGA ET1031 32-bit 3-stage in-order RISC-V ( RV32IM) microcontroller @ 100 MHz […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on eEver EJ523D chip enables 4Kp60 video capture or streaming over USB 3.2

eEver EJ523D chip enables 4Kp60 video capture or streaming over USB 3.2

eEver EJ523D 4Kp60 HDMI USB video capture

eEver Technology, a subsidiary of eTron Technology, has launched the EJ523D 4Kp60 audio and video capture and streaming processor with a USB 3.2 interface, along with a reference platform currently showcased at COMPUTEX 2023. Over the last few years, we’ve covered some low-cost HDMI to USB 2.0 dongles that capture video up to 1080p30, followed by HDMI to USB 3.0 dongles handling up to 4Kp30, but the latest eEver EJ523D chip will be found in USB 3.2 adapters to capture at up to 4Kp60 resolution with H.265 encoding or 4Kp30 in the NV12 format. Some highlights of the EJ523D: Video capture resolution and frame rate 4K@ 30 fps or 2K @ 120 fps with NV12 4K @ 60 fps with H.265 10-bit HDR/H.264 encoding MJPEG encoding is also supported up to 4K @ 60 fps Integrated scaler – Full range up & down De-interlacing – De-interlace i to p mode […]

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