CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

September 15, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

LOLIN S2 Pico – A compact ESP32-S2 board with an OLED display

If you’re into small MCU boards with an integrated display, you’re in luck as LOLIN launched the S2 Pico board with ESP32-S2 and an OLED display about at the time same as LILYGO T-Display RP2040 board we covered yesterday. Wemos/LOLIN S2 Pico board offers WiFi connectivity, a 128×32 OLED display, USB Type-C port for power and programming, as well as the usual GPIO headers in a compact 50×23 mm form factor. LOLIN S2 Pico specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S2FN4R2 single-core Xtensa LX7 processor with 4MB flash, 2MB PSRAM, and WIFI connectivity only, i.e.no Bluetooth support Display – 128×32 OLED display based on SSD1306 driver USB – USB Type-C port for power and programming Expansion 16-pin + 8-pin headers with 21x GPIO with interrupt/PWM support, ADC, DAC, I2C, SPI, UART, USB OTG 4-pin I2C connector Misc – Reset and user buttons Power Supply – 5V via USB-C port Dimensions – […]

September 15, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

TopJoy ButterFly is a Full-Color DES Screen e-Reader with Android 11 (Crowdfunding)

TopJoy ButterFly is a full-color DES screen e-Reader running Android 11 on a quad-core Cortex-A55 processor that appears to be the same Rockchip RK3566 processor used in the upcoming PineNote e-reader. Two models of the e-Reader are offers with E601 fitted with a 6-inch display and E701 with a larger 7.8-inch display both offering 300 PPI for black & white content and 150 PPI for color, and equipped with 2GB RAM & 32GB storage by default, an option for 4GB RAM and 64GB storage for the larger display. TopJoy Butterfly specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 quad-core A55 processor up to 1.8 GHz with Mali-G52 EE GPU, 0.8 TOPS AI accelerator System Memory – 2GB RAM (option for 4GB for E701) Storage – 32 GB eMMC flash (option for 64GB for E701) Display E601 – 6-inch DES color e-Paper display with 1072 x 1448 resolution; 150 PPI for color, 300 PPI […]

September 15, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 29 Comments

ASUS Tinker Board 2S SBC launched for $120 and up

ASUS unveiled the Tinker Board 2 SBC with faster a Rockchip RK3399/OP1 processor together with the ASUS Tinker Board 2S board that adds a 16GB eMMC flash last October without pricing information. The good news is that the 2GB RAM version of Tinker Board 2S is now available on Amazon and Aliexpress for $120 and up. Note you’ll get a 5% discount if you are a follower on Aliexpress for a total of $132.99 including shipping. Compared to the first Tinker Board, the new boards are also offered with up to 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, an additional video output option with USB-C DisplayPort Alt mode, an upgrade to USB 3.0 ports and WiFi 5, RTC battery support, and a more stable 12V to 19V DC input. Here’s a reminder of Tinker Board 2S specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 (OP1) hexa-core processor with 2x Arm Cortex-A72 cores up to 2.0 GHz, four […]

September 14, 2021September 14, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 25 Comments

CH9102F – A replacement for CP2104 USB to UART bridge

I’ve just mentioned Silabs CP2104 USB to UART chip price had increased, and indicated WCH CH9102F chip could be used as an alternative instead in a post about LILYGO T-Display boards. I had never heard about CH9102 chips before (CH9102F and CH9102X), so I decided to investigate a bit more by checking out both CH9102 and CP2104 datasheets. The good news is that CH9102F and CP2104 have basically both the same pinout albeit with some small differences that may or may not matter depending on the application, and come in a 4x4mm 24-QFN package (4x4mm) meaning if you run out of CP2104 chips, CH9102F can be used as an alternative, and should be a drop-in replacement. CH9102X is pretty similar to CH9102F but offered in a 5x5mm 28-QFN package with extra GPIOs. Back to the main contenders… According to LILYGO, one of the differences between CH9102F and CP2104 is the […]

September 14, 2021September 14, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

$10 LILYGO T-Display RP2040 board integrates a 1.14-inch color display

As its name implies, LILYGO T-Display RP2040 is a Raspberry Pi RP2040 based development board that comes with a display, and more exactly a 1.14-inch color display with 240×135 resolution and based on ST7789V SPI display driver. The T-Display RP2040 board joins other Rasberry Pi RP2040 boards with integrated displays like Arducam Pico4ML, but does so at a much lower price with LILYGO selling the board for just $9.98 on Aliexpress. LilyGO T-Display RP2040 specifications: Microcontroller – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ MCU with 264 KB of embedded SRAM Storage – 4MB SPI flash Display – 1.14-inch full-color IPS LCD Display (ST7789V SPI controller) with 240 x 135 resolution Expansion – 15-pin + 12-pin expansion headers with 14x GPIOs, 6x PWMs, up to 2x UART, up to 2x I2C, up to 2x SPI, 2x programmable high-speed I/O, 5V, 3.3V, Vbat, and GND Misc – Boot & enable buttons, 2x user […]

September 14, 2021September 14, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Portenta H7 Lite cost-optimized Arduino Pro board drops WiFi, USB-C video output, NXP secure element

Arduino Portenta H7 Lite is a cost-down version of Portenta H7 STM32H7 that shaves off a little over $30 of the Arduino Pro board by doing without a wireless module nor USB-C video output and opting for a lower cost Microchip ATECC608 secure element. Arduino says the new board provides a cost-optimized solution for companies developing high-end industrial machinery, laboratory equipment, computer vision, PLCs, robotics controllers, and mission-critical devices. Arduino Portenta H7 Lite specifications (with differences in bold or strikethrough): Microcontroller – STMicro STM32H747XI Cortex-M7 @ 480 MHz + M4 @ 200 MHz MCU with 2MB dual-bank Flash memory, 1 MB RAM, Chrom-ART graphical hardware accelerator System Memory – 2MB SDRAM (upgradeable up to 64MB) Storage – 16MB QSPI NOR Flash (Upgradeable up to 128MB) Connectivity 2.4GHz WiFi 802.11b/g/n up to 65 Mbps and Bluetooth 5.1 BR/EDR/LE via Murata 1DX module On-board 10/100M PHY Video I/F – MIPI DSI & […]

September 13, 2021September 13, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

RK3399 based Industrial computer runs Debian 9.0 or Android 7.1

Vecow EIC-1000 in an industrial Edge AI computer powered by Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core Cortex-A72/A53 processor with 9V to 55VDC wide-range supply input, an operating temperature range of 0°C to 70°C, and designed for digital signage, factory automation, smart retail, and other AIoT/Industry 4.0 applications. The fanless mini PC is equipped with 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM and 32GB eMMC flash, offers 4K video output via HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0/2.0, and RS232/RS485 serial ports, and more. Vecow EIC-1000 specifications: SoC- Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core Arm processor with dual-core Arm Cortex-A72 @ 2.0 GHz, quad-core Cortex-A53 @ 1.6GHz, Arm Mali-T860MP4 GPU System Memory – 1GB or 2GB DDR3L 1066MHz SDRAM Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card socket Video Output – HDMI 2.0 output up to 4Kp60 Video Encoder – Up to 1080p30 H.264/MVC/VP8 Decoder Up to 4Kp60 H.264/H.265 10-bit, VP9 Up to 1080p60 MPEG-4/MPEG-2/VP8 Audio – 3.5mm headphone and microphone jacks, Networking […]

September 13, 2021July 4, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

AAEON PICO-TGU4 Pico-ITX Tiger Lake UP3 SBC Comes with 2.5 GbE, SATA, HDMI & eDP

I’ve just written about the first Tiger Lake UP3 Pico-ITX motherboard I’ve seen with Commell LP-179 equipped with an Intel Core i7 or Celeron processor, but while doing research on the topic, AAEON PICO-TGU4 Pico-ITX SBC with “11th Generation Intel Core i7/i5/i3/Celeron U-Series Processor SoC” showed up. More specifically, the PICO-TGU4 Pico-ITX SBC features processors from the Tiger Lake UP3 family, comes with up to 32GB RAM, SATA storage, HDMI output, dual Gigabit Ethernet, dual USB 3.2, and more. But we’ve now got some photos and key features & specifications for AAEON PICO-TGU4 SBC: SoC – 11th Generation Intel Core i7/i5/i3/Celeron Tiger Lake UP3 SoC up to 4.8 GHz System Memory – Up to 32GB LPDDR4x 3200 MHz on-board memory, optional In-Band ECC for Tiger Lake GRE processors, only available upon request Storage – 1x SATA port Video Output HDMI 2.0b port up to 4Kx2K 60Hz 1x eDP up to […]