CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

February 1, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

microByte ESP32 portable game console comes with a 1.3-inch display (Crowdfunding)

microByte ESP32-portable-game console 1.3-inch display

We’ve previously seen programmable, portable game consoles powered by Espressif Systems ESP32 processor with the likes of ODROID-GO or WiFiBoy32 both equipped with a 2.4-inch display, and design to play retro games or create IoT projects with a small display thanks to I/O headers. But if for some reason, you’d like an even more compact ESP32 portable game console based on the WiFi & Bluetooth SoC, Byte-Mix Labs microByte may be what you are looking for thanks to a tiny 1.3-inch square display. microByte specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-WROVER-E module with ESP32 dual-core processor @ 240 MHz, 8 MB PSRAM, 16 MB flash, and integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antenna Storage – MIcroSD card slot Display – 1.3-inch ST7789 IPS Screen with 240 x 240 pixel resolution, 60 Hz max refresh frequency Audio – On-board speaker powered by a MAX98357AETE+T I2S amplifier Controls – 13x onboard buttons with 8x Inductive direction […]

January 31, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

K210 AI Accelerator Raspberry Pi pHAT targets secure AIoT projects (Crowdfunding)

Kendryte K210 is a dual-core RISC-V AI processor that was launched in 2018 and found in several smart audio and computer vision solutions. We previously wrote a Getting Started Guide for Grove AI HAT for Raspberry Pi using Arduino and MicroPython, and XaLogic XAPIZ3500 offered an even more compact K210 solution as a Raspberry pi pHAT with Raspberry Pi Zero form factor. The company is now back with another revision of the board called “XaLogic K210 AI accelerator” designed to work with Raspberry Pi Zero and larger boards with the 40-pin connector. K210 AI Accelerator board specifications: SoC – Kendryte K210 dual-core 64-bit RISC-V processor @ 400 MHz with 8MB on-chip RAM, various low-power AI accelerators delivering up to 0.5 TOPS, Host Interface – 40-pin Raspberry Pi header using: SPI @ 40 MHz via Lattice iCE40 FPGA I2C, UART, JTAG, GPIOs signals Security Infineon Trust-M cloud security chip 128-bit AES […]

January 30, 2021September 15, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Snapdragon 888 Mobile Hardware Development Kit ships with 12GB RAM, 256GB UFS storage

Snapdragon 888 is the latest premium mobile SoC from Qualcomm with the octa-core processor combining one Cortex-X1 core, three Cortex-A78 cores, and four low-power Cortex-A55 cores, with Adreno 660 GPU and Snapdragon X60 5G modem. The processor will likely most be found in smartphones, but Qualcomm partnered with Lantronix to launch the Snapdragon 888 Mobile Hardware Development Kit designed for Android app developers, hardware vendors, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Snapdragon 888 development board specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 (SM8350) octa-core Qualcomm Kryo 680 CPU with 1x Cortex-X1 core @ 2.84 GHz, 3x Cortex-A78 cores @ 2.42 GHz, and 4x Cortex-A55 cores @ 1.80 GHz, Adreno 660 GPU with support for OpenCL 2.0 FP, OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.1, DX12, and up to 8K 360 VR video playback, Hexagon 780 DSP System Memory – 12GB LPDDR5 PoP memory Storage – 256GB UFS 3.0 flash, 1x MicroSD/UFS card Display HDMI […]

January 29, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

SigmaStar SSD201/SSD202 powered 4G LTE industrial gateway made to run mainline Linux

SigmaStar SSD201 is a dual-core Cortex-A7 processor with 64MB RAM onchip that is designed for smart HD displays. We’ve previously seen it in Industio 7-inch smart display running Linux, but if you want to modify anything you’d need sign an NDA before getting the SDK. Luckily there’s an open-source community named linux-chenxing that aims to bring mainline support to those low-cost SigmaStar processor to mainline, the same way linux-sunxi is working on Allwinner processors. Daniel Palmer noticed MYZR recently launched GW300 4G LTE industrial gateway with specifications that looked familiar. GW300 specifications from manufacturer’s website: Processor – Arm Cortex-A7 dual-core processor @ 1.2GHz Memory – 64MB RAM Storage – 128MByte Flash Connectivity – Ethernet and 4G LTE with high-gain antenna Serial – RS485/ RS232 via 5-pin terminal block Misc – RTC Power Supply – 12V to 24V DC input Dimensions – 127.7 x 87.5 x 30 mm Temperature Range – […]

January 29, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Hisense A7CC 5G smartphone integrates a 6.7-inch color E-Ink display

Hisense A5 was one of the first phones exclusively equipped with an e-Paper display. But following the launch of color E-Ink displays and color eReaders from other companies last year, the Chinese company has now launched Hisense A7CC 5G smartphone with a 6.7-inch color E-Ink display. The phone is powered by UNISOC T7510 octa-core processor, which appears to be based on T710 SoC with 5G modem, and comes with 6GB RAM and 128GB flash storage. Hisense A7CC specifications: SoC – UNISOC Tiger T7510 octa-core processor with 4x Arm Cortex-A75 cores @ 2 GHz, 4x Arm Cortex-A55 cores @ 1.8 GHz, and Imagination PowerVR GM9466 GPU System Memory – 6GB RAM Storage – 128GB flash Display – 6.7-inch E-Ink display with 4096 colors, 100 dpi Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack with AK4377AECB audio DAC; built-in microphone and speaker Camera – Dual rear cameras + single front-facing camera Connectivity Cellular – 5G […]

January 29, 2021September 22, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

UniPi Gate RS485 Linux IoT Gateway features 600 MHz Rockchip RK3328 SoC

Based in the Czech Republic, UniPi Technology design and manufacture programmable logic controllers, gateways, sensors and systems for smart homes, building management systems, industry and automation projects. Their latest product is UniPi Gate G100/G110 Linux IoT gateway with Ethernet and RS485 interfaces. When the company contacted CNX Software about the gateway, they told us the system was based on a quad-core Cortex-A53 processor clocked at 600 MHz. Since we are not aware of such SoC, we asked, and UniPi told us it was Rockchip RK3328. That processor is normally clocked at 1.5 GHz, and it turns out the company purposely underclocked the processor to 600 MHz to extend the temperature range and reduce the heat emitted by the CPU. UniPi Gate G100 & G110 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3328 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 600 MHz System Memory – 512MB RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot Networking – […]

January 28, 2021January 29, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

Cluster Server R2 2U rack cluster server ships with up to 72 Rockchip RK3399/RK3328 SoMs

Rockchip RK3399 and RK3328 are typically used in Chromebooks, single board computers, TV boxes, and all sort of AIoT devices, but if you ever wanted to create a cluster based on those processor, Firefly Cluster Server R2 leverages the company’s RK3399, RK3328, or even RK1808 NPU SoM to bring 72 modules to a 2U rack cluster server enclosure, for a total of up to 432 Arm Cortex-A72/A53 cores, 288 GB RAM, and two 3.5-inch hard drives. Firefly Cluster Server R2 specifications: Supported Modules Core-3399-JD4 with Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core Cortex-A72/A53 processor up to 1.5 GHz, up to 4GB RAM, and optional on-board 2.8 TOPS NPU (Gyrfalcon Lightspeeur SPR5801S) Core-3328-JD4 with Rockchip RK3328 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor up to 1.5 GHz, up to 4GB RAM Core-1808-JD4 with Rockchip RK1808 dual-core Cortex-A35 processor @ 1.6 GHz with integrated 3.0 TOPS NPU, up to 4GB RAM Configuration – Up to 9x blade nodes with 8x […]

January 28, 2021May 13, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Arduino Portenta H7 Gets Embedded Vision Shield with Ethernet or LoRa Connectivity

[Update January 28, 2021: The LoRa version of Portenta Vision Shield is now available] Announced last January at CES 2020, Arduino Portenta H7 is the first board part industrial-grade “Arduino Pro” Portenta family. The Arduino MKR-sized MCU board has plenty of processing power thanks to STMicro STM32H7 dual-core Arm Cortex-M7/M4 microcontroller. It was launched with a baseboard providing access to all I/Os and ports like Ethernet, USB, CAN bus, mPCIe socket (USB), etc… But as AI moves to the very edge, it makes perfect sense for Arduino to launch Portenta Vision Shield with a low-power camera, two microphones, and a choice of wired (Ethernet) or wireless (LoRA) connectivity for machine learning applications. Portenta Vision Shield key features and specifications: Storage – MicroSD card socket Camera – Himax HM-01B0 camera module with 324 x 324 active pixel resolution with support for QVGA Image sensor – High sensitivity 3.6μ BrightSense pixel technology […]