CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

January 15, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Inkplate 10 ESP32 e-Paper display offers faster refresh rates (Crowdfunding)

Inkplate 6 is an ESP32 powered wireless e-Paper Display based on a recycled Kindle E-reader display, and that e-Radionica launched in December 2019 via a crowdfunding campaign. The company says backers were “happy about the versatility and simplicity of the display” but wished for a larger display, a faster refresh rate, and extra features. This gave birth to an upgraded version: Inkplate 10. The new ESP32 wireless display comes with a recycled 9.7-inch display with 1200 x 825 resolution, up to 38% faster refresh rates, as well as extra GPIO pins, an RTC clock, a USB Type-C port, and lower power consumption. Inkplate 10 specifications: Wireless module – ESP32 WROVER module with dual-core ESP32 processor with Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 4.0 (BLE) connectivity, 8MB PSRAM, 4MB flash External storage – MicroSD card socket Display – 9.7-inch, 1200 x 825 e-paper display with support for grayscale, partial updates, and quick refresh cycles: […]

January 14, 2021January 14, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Stripped-down Raspberry Pi 3B+ SBC powers YARH.IO Micro 2 DIY handheld PC

We’ve already seen a few DIY Raspberry Pi-based handheld computers in the past with the likes of Zero Terminal V3 or hgTerm powered by a Raspberry Pi Zero and a stripped-down Raspberry Pi 3 board respectively. So why not another? YARH.IO Micro 2 DIY handheld PC is based on a Raspberry Pi 3B+ SBC stripped from its Ethernet port, whose double stack USB connectors have been replaced with single stack USB connectors. The DIY computer also adds off-the-shelf parts with a 4″ touch screen display and a Bluetooth keyboard without touchpad, and gets its power from a 3,500 mAh battery. YARH.IO Micro 2 key components and features: SBC – Stripped-down Raspberry Pi 3B+ SBC Display – HyperPixel 4.0 4-inch IPS display with 800×480 resolution, touchscreen from Pimoroni Keyboard – 49-key mini keyboard with Bluetooth 3.0 ($10) USB – USB straight and right-angle connectors for four USB ports around the device […]

January 14, 2021 by Saumitra Jagdale - 3 Comments

Mini-ITX SBC with Tiger Lake UP3 CPU offers dual 2.5GbE, quad display support

IEI launched tKINO-ULT6 is a Thin Mini-ITX SBC that comes with an 11th generation Intel core processor part of the Tiger Lake-UP3 CPU family. The tKINO-ULT6 Mini-ITX SBC also supports quadruple independent displays, SATA 6Gb/s, dual Intel 2.5GbE, HD audio, and RoHS. It can handle a wide range of input DC power from 9V to 36 V. The tKINO-ULT6 SBC is expected to be found in CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machines, real-time controls, human-machine interfaces, tool applications, medical imaging, and other applications requiring high resolution. Key Features of the tKINO-ULT6 Mini-ITX SBC Mini-ITX form factor with 11th Gen. Intel Tiger Lake UP3 Embedded processor, support for DDR4-3200 memory Video Output – Four independent displays via HDMI, DP, eDP/LVDS, USB4 Networking Dual Intel 2.5GbE LAN M.2 A key for WIFI+Bluetooth (PCIe x1/USB 2.0), M.2 M key for Storage (PCIe x2/SATA) Expansion – PCIe x8 Gen 4.0 slot The tKINO-ULT6 Mini-ITX SBC […]

January 14, 2021January 14, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Pine64 mailbag – PinePhone postmarketOS Edition, PineCone BL602 board, and Pinecil soldering iron

Pine64 community was pretty busy last year with the launch of several products. Recently I’ve received a couple of packages with some of those products, namely PinePhone Community Edition: PostmarketOS, PineCone WiFi & BLE IoT board based on BL602 RISC-V SoC, and Pinecil soldering iron also based on a RISC-V chip for control, but this time GD32V generic-purpose MCU. I’ll most show what I have received without going into too many details, except for PinePhone which I have already set up and used for one hour or so. PineCone BL602 board I received PineCone at the end of last year in a separate envelope with the board only. There’s not much to it with the BL602 processor offering WiFI and Bluetooth, a USB-C port for programming and power, and a few I/Os. The board is interesting as it is the first RISC-V IoT board with wireless connectivity built into the […]

January 13, 2021July 31, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments

$119+ BeagleV powerful, open-hardware RISC-V Linux SBC targets AI applications

Running Linux on RISC-V hardware is already possible, but you’d have a choice of low-end platforms like Kendryte K210 that’s not really practical for anything, or higher-end board like SiFive HiFive Unmatched or PolarBerry for which you’d have to spend several hundred dollars, or even over one thousand dollars to have a complete system. So an affordable, usable RISC-V Linux SBC is clearly needed. We previously wrote about an upcoming Allwinner RISC-V Linux SBC that will be mostly useful for camera applications without 3D GPU, and a maximum of 256MB RAM. But today, we have excellent news, as the BeagleBoard.org foundation, Seeed Studio, and Chinese fabless silicon vendor Starfive partnered to design and launch the BeagleV SBC (pronounced Beagle Five) powered by StarFive JH7100 dual-core SiFive U74 RISC-V processor with Vision DSP, NVDLA engine, and neural network engine for AI acceleration. BeagleV specifications: SoC – StarFive JH7100 Vision SoC with: […]

January 13, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Xiaomi Mi AX6000 WiFI 6 “Enhanced” Router sells for $92 (in China)

Yesterday, I wrote about Linksys AXE8400 WiFi 6E router which the company claimed was the world’s first, but it was pointed out to me that Xiaomi Mi AX6000 router was outed a few days earlier, and is even available right now in China or, while the Linksys router is scheduled to launch in spring or summer. Another big difference is the price with the Xiaomi router offered for 599 CNY (about $92) while the Qualcomm Networking Pro 1210 based Linksys router will sell for $450. That can partially be explained by the speed for WiFi (6000 Mbps vs 8000 Mbps), and Ethernet (2.5 Gbps WAN vs 5 Gbps WAN), but the Xiaomi router should still offer decent performance. Another reason for the cheaper price, as pointed by some smart people on OpenWrt forums is that the Xiaomi router goes not support 6 GHz, so it’s NOT a WiFi 6E router […]

January 13, 2021January 13, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

ZimaBoard Intel Apollo Lake SBC and micro server goes for $69.99 and up (Crowdfunding)

We’ve had our fair share of low-cost x86 SBCs in recent years, mostly based on Intel Cherry Trail processor, with the likes of Atomic Pi and Rock Pi X. Ice Whale Technology has come up with its own low-cost Intel single board computer with ZimaBoard “single board server” as it mostly has network storage applications in mind, but with a 4K capable mini DisplayPort connector it could also be used as a standard SBC or mini PC. There are two versions of the board both with Apollo Lake processors: ZimaBoard 216 with a dual-core Celeron N3350 coupled with 2GBRAM and 16GB eMMC flash, and ZimaBoard 832 powered by a quad-core Celeron N3450 with 8GB RAM and 32GB storage. Both ZimaBoard SBC shares most of the same specifications in terms of I/Os: SoC – ZimaBoard 216 – Intel Celeron N3350 dual-core processor @ 1.1/2.4GHz (Burst freq.) with 12 EU Intel HD […]

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

Samsung Exynos 2100 5G mobile SoC offers Cortex-X1 core, LPDDR5 memory and more

Following the introduction of Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G premium processor last December, Samsung has now unveiled the Exynos 2100 5G mobile SoC with many of the same features and specifications. The new 5G processor notable features a similar eight-core design with one Cortex-X1 core, three Cortex-A78 cores, and four low-power Cortex-A55 cores, 26 TOPS of AI computing, support for 4K UHD displays, as well as a 5G modem built into the chip. Samsung Exynos 2100 key features and specifications: SoC – Octa-core processor with Single-core Cortex-X1 @ up to 2.9GHz Triple-core Cortex-A78 @ up to 2.8GHz Quad-core Cortex-A55 @ up to 2.2GHz GPU – Mali-G78 MP14 AI Accelerator – 26 TOPS triple NPU Memory – LPDDR5 (51.2GB/s) Storage – UFS 3.1 Display – 4K/WQUXGA @ 120Hz max, QHD+ @ 144Hz max; HDR10+ support Cellular Modem 5G NR Sub-6GHz 5.1Gbps (DL) /1.92 Gbps (UL) 5G NR mmWave 7.35Gbps (DL) /3.67 Gbps […]