CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

October 27, 2020 by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 4 Comments

MINISFORUM EliteMini H31G Coffee Lake Mini PC Review with Windows & Linux

MINISFORUM have launched their EliteMini H31G which combines a desktop CPU with a discrete graphics card in a mini PC form factor. It supports various Intel 9th and 8th gen desktop processors combined with an NVIDIA Geforce GTX1050 Ti graphics card and targets both gamers and content creators. Available as a barebones device and in various configurations MINISFORUM sent a fully configured model for review. Hardware overview The MINISFORUM EliteMini H31G is a remarkably small mini PC for what it offers and physically consists of a 154 mm x 153 mm x 62 mm (6.06 x 6.02 x 2.44 inches) rectangular plastic case with a metal base. It is an actively cooled mini PC that uses Intel’s LGA 1151 socket and supports desktop processors up to a maximum TDP of 65W. The review model came with an Intel Core i5 9500F Coffee Lake processor pre-installed which is a six-core 6-thread […]

October 27, 2020October 27, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Chuwi LarkBox Pro mini PC gets a faster Celeron J4125 processor, sells for $179

CHUWI Larkbox is a 2.4-inch mini PC that can fit in the palm of your kid’s hand and that launched last year on Indiegogo for as low as $149. It’s powered by an Intel Celeron J4115 Gemini Lake Refresh processor that currently in the process of being discontinued. So the company has now come up with an upgrade and launched the Chuwi Larkbox Pro with exactly the same specifications, except for the (slightly) faster Intel Celeron J4125 quad-core GLK Refresh processor with a 2.0 GHz base frequency and 2.7 GHz Turbo frequency, against 1.8 and 2.5 GHz respectively for J4115. Chuwi Larkbox Pro specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J4125 quad-core Gemini Lake Refresh processor @ 2.0 / 2.7 GHz (Turbo) / 2.4 GHz (Turbo all cores) with Intel UHD Graphics 600 @ 250/750 MHz; 10W TDP System Memory – 6GB LPDDR4 Storage – 128GB eMMC 5.1 flash, M.2 2244 socket […]

October 26, 2020October 26, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Qualcomm QCS610 micro SoM and devkit to power AI and ML smart cameras

Last July, we missed Qualcomm’s announcement of QCS410 and QCS610 processors designed to bring “premium camera technology, including powerful artificial intelligence and machine learning features formerly only available to high-end devices, into mid-tier camera segments”. The new SoC’s were recently brought to our attention by Lantronix as they have just introduced a new Open-Q 610 micro system-on-module (μSOM) based on Qualcomm QCS610 processor, as well as a development kit designed to bring such smart cameras to market. I first got a bit confused by the product name, but this goes without saying that it is completely unrelated to Qualcomm Snapdragon 610 announced over six years ago. Open-Q 610 micro system-on-module Open-Q 610 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm QCS610 CPU – Octa-core processor with 2x Kryo 460 Gold cores @ 2.2 GHz (Cortex-A76 class), and 6x Kryo 430 Silver low-power cores @ 1.8GHz (Cortex-A55 class) GPU – Qualcomm Adreno 612 GPU @ […]

October 26, 2020October 26, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

STMicro launches cheaper STM32WB30 and STM32WB35 Bluetooth LE & Zigbee MCUs

STMicro introduced the first wireless STM32 microcontrollers in 2018 with STM32WB Cortex-M4/M0+ MCU family equipped with Bluetooth 5.0 and 802.15.4 radios, and they followed earlier this year with STM32WL Cortex-M LoRa SoC. The company has not just announced yet another wireless STM32 family but instead added the more affordable STM32WB35 and STM32WB30 chips that can be obtained for under $2 in quantities. The new STM32WB microcontroller enabled a low BOM cost thanks to their memory configuration. Specifically, STM32W30 comes with 256KB flash while STM32W35 features 512 KB flash, and both offer 96 KB of RAM. This compares to STM32WB55 will up to 1MB flash and 256KB of RAM. Apart from the lower memory and flash capacity, the new wireless MCUs have basically the same features as other members of the STM32WB family with 16-bit ADC, quad-SPI interface (STM32WB35 only), as well as Bluetooth Low Energy 5.0, Zigbee 3.0, and OpenThread […]

October 26, 2020October 27, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Modberry 500 CM4 DIN Rail Industrial Computer Features Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4

We’ve been writing about Techbase Modberry industrial embedded computers with DIN-Rail enclosures such as Modberry M500 or M2000 for several years. Most of their systems are powered by SBC’s like Raspberry Pi 4 or AAEON Up Squared, but they’ve also made models based on Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+, and with the launch of Raspberry Pi CM4, the company has now introduced Modberry 500 CM4 industrial computer powered by Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with up to 8GB RAM and 32GB eMMC flash. Modberry 500 CM4 key features and specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5 GHz, 1 to 8GB RAM, up to 32GB eMMC flash. Storage – Optional NVMe SSD via PCIe 2.0 (mini PCIe or optional M.2 slot) Video Output – Optional HDMI port Connectivity Optional Gigabit Ethernet port Optional Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac) & Bluetooth 5.0 Optional 5G, […]

October 25, 2020August 5, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

BL602 IoT SDK and $5 DT-BL10 WiFi & BLE RISC-V development board

Yesterday, we wrote about Bouffalo BL602 32-bit RISC-V WiFI and Bluetooth LE wireless SoC that should eventually compete with ESP8266 in terms of price but with more features, higher performance. and more resources like memory and storage. At the time, I noted I could not find any tools for the processor, but I was informed a BL602 SDK (Doiting_BL) and documentation had already been released on Github. The basic readme and a user manual are already available in English, but the main documentation is still in Chinese with various examples to configure GPIO, YART, WiFi, and Bluetooth. You’ll find the documentation in Github, as I could not find a website yet:

git clone https://github.com/SmartArduino/Doiting_BL

1	git clone https://github.com/SmartArduino/Doiting_BL

Go to Doiting_BL/docs/html folder and then open index.html in your browser to access the documentation. The SDK works both in Windows and Linux and relies on either Eclipse & OpenOCD or Freedom Studio & OpenOCD. A graphical software […]

October 24, 2020October 28, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

BL602/BL604 RISC-V WiFi & Bluetooth 5.0 LE SoC will sell at ESP8266 price point

Hisilicon Hi3861 may be the first RISC-V WIFI SoC we’ve reported on, but due to political uncertainties and security concerns, supplies may not be available outside of China. So alternatives are welcomed, and Nanjing-based Bouffalo Lab (not a typo, 博流智能科技 in Chinese) has recently introduced BL602 and BL604 32-bit RISC-V WiFi and Bluetooth LE SoC for low-power IoT applications that are supposed to compete against ESP8266 in terms of price but with higher performance and additional features. The BL602 will also be integrated into an upcoming Sipeed Longan-series board, and potentially a new IoT board from Pine64. BL602 / BL604 key features & specifications: MCU subsystem – 32-bit RISC-V CPU with FPU with dynamic frequency from 1MHz to 192MHz, L1 cache Memory – 276KB SRAM on-chip Storage 128KB ROM, 1Kb eFuse, and optional Embedded Flash on-chip XIP QSPI flash support Wireless Wi-Fi 4 – 802.11 b/g/n @ 2.4 GHz Bluetooth […]

October 23, 2020October 23, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

E3K all-in-one wireless bio-sensing platform supports EMG, ECG, and EEG sensors (Crowdfunding)

Over the year, The maker community has designed several platforms to monitor vital signs with boards like Healthy Pi v4 or HeartyPatch both of which are powered by an ESP32 WiFi & Bluetooth wireless SoC. WallySci has designed another all-in-one wireless bio-sensing platform, called E3K, that also happens to be powered by Espressif Systems ESP32 chip, and can be connected to an electromyography (EMG) sensor to capture muscle movements, an electrocardiography (ECG) sensor to measure heart activity, and/or an electroencephalography (EEG) sensor to capture brain activity. The board also has an extra connector to connect a 9-axis IMU to capture motion. E3K main board which the company refers to as “Data Communication and Processing Unit” (DCPU) comes with the following specifications: Supported wireless board – ESP32-DevKitC with ESP32-D0WD-V3 dual-core 32-bit LX6 microprocessor, up to 240 MHz, Integrated 520 KB SRAM, 16 MByte SPI flash. 2.4 GHz WiFI 4, and Bluetooth […]