CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

May 19, 2020October 28, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Olimex ESP32-S2-Devkit-LiPo WiFi Board Consumes as Little as 2uA in Sleep Mode

When we covered ESP32 powered TTGO T-Watch-2000 smartwatch this week-end, people noted that with a 350 mAh battery, the watch would last about 3.65 days considering a 4mA drain with the screen always off, WiFI and Bluetooth off, and around 65mA when the screen is on good for about 5 hours of continuous use without Bluetooth nor WiFi. But it’s possible to make a much more-efficient ESP32-S2 Wifi board, as demonstrated by Olimex with their upcoming ESP32-32-Devkit-LiPo based on ESP32-S2-Saola-1 with circuitry to support LiPo batteries. They designed the board with an ultra-low-power power supply circuit which makes current consumption during sleep only 6uA, 4 of which are due to the battery measurement resistor divider, meaning the board should consume only 2uA in sleep mode or about 10 times less than other ESP32 Olimex boards. When reviewed Qoitech Otii power measurement & DAQ tool, we also noted power consumption could […]

May 19, 2020May 19, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

2-Way Ethernet Splitters Sell for as low as One Dollar

When I need to connect more than one device over Ethernet I usually think Ethernet hub or Ethernet switch. I think the former is harder to find these days but was convenient to capture Ethernet packets with Wireshark. I had however never heard about Ethernet splitters until I saw a pair sold on Gearbest for $7.99, but soon found one on Aliexpress for just one dollar plus shipping. At first sight, it does not seem particularly useful especially when looking at the connection diagrams that show it used as some kind of Ethernet extender where you need to connect two Ethernet cables to the router, and again two cables to the targets since the same signal could be transmitted over a single cable with a $10 Ethernet switch at the other side. There’s a method to this (apparent) madness, as Cat 5E or grater cables come with 4 twisted pairs […]

May 19, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

GPD WIN Max Handheld Game Console Raises over One Million Dollars on First Day (Crowdfunding)

The first time we wrote about GPD product was for one of their portable game consoles, but since then the company has made many mini laptops that are fairly similar except for the lack of gaming controls. The company is now back with a portable game console powered by a 15W Intel i5-1035G7 Ice Lake processor designed for AAA games. GPD WIN Max has really made a splash, as the company raised close to 1.4 million dollars a little over a day after the launch on Indiegogo. GPD WIN Max specifications: SoC – Intel Core i5-1035G7 quad-core/octa-thread Ice Lake processor @1.20 GHz / 3.70 GHz (Turbo) with Intel Iris Plus 940 Graphics delivering performance similar to GeForce MX250; 15W configurable to 12W or 25W (But GPD offers 15, 20 and 25W configurable TDP). System Memory – Dual-channel 16GB LPDDR4X-3733 RAM Storage – Dual M.2 SSD sockets with support for single-sided […]

May 18, 2020May 20, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

Most Affordable WiFi 6 Router Yet: $60 Xiaomi Mi Router AX1800

Most Affordable WiFi 6 Router-Xiaomi Mi Router AX1800

[Update May 20, 2020: It did not last long, as Xiaomi Mi Router AX1800 is not the most affordable WiFi 6 router anymore with the launch of Honor Router 3 (XD20) AX3000 router for 219 RMB in China, or about $31 US] When Xiaomi AIoT router AX3600 launched in April for around $135, we noted that while it was the most affordable WiFi 6 router we’d seen so far, the other 802.11ax WiFi 6 routers had also come down in price significantly. But now the company has come up with a really inexpensive router: Xiaomi Mi Router AX1800 which I first discovered on Gearbest for just $67.50, but also available on Aliexpress for about $60 shipped. If you are in China, you should be able to get it for 329 RMB (around $46). Xiaomi Mi Router AX1800 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm IPQ6000 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.2GHz with single-core network […]

May 18, 2020May 18, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

PineTab Linux Tablet Coming Soon for $100. Watch an Ubuntu Touch Demo in the Meantime

PineTab Linux Tablet with Detachable Keyboard

People have been trying to launch Linux tablets for years from PenPod 700 to Jolla Tablet, or more recently NTablet. You may not know or remember about those, as Linux tablets that actually shipped never really gained traction. But in early 2019, Pine64 started to mention development work on PineTab, an Allwinner A64 powered BSD/Linux tablet, and the company/community is really good at developing low-cost hardware and providing decent firmware support, so hopes were high. After COVID-19 related delay, Pine64 has now announced the first PineTab tablets would go for pre-order at the end of the month for $99. PineTab specifications: SoC – Allwinner A64 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor with Arm Mali-400 MP2 GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 RAM Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot, M.2 slot for SATA SSD Display – 10″ MiPi 720p Capacitive LCD Video output – Mini HDMI up to 4K @ 30 Hz […]

May 18, 2020May 18, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Bluetooth USB PD Tester Connects to Windows and Android/iOS Apps for Data Logging

We’ve written about USB-C PD power meters in the past such as Satechi USB Type-C power meter. Those allow you to measure (charging) voltage and current displayed on the screen part of the meter. But thanks to Bluetooth and USB connectivity, Riden TC66C USB PD tester allows you to capture and log data over a period of time by connecting to a Windows program or Android/iOS mobile app. There’s also a version without Bluetooth – TC66 – that only works with the Windows program over USB. Riden TC66C/TC66 Bluetooth USB PD tester specifications: Display 0.96″ color IPS display with 160×80 resolution Auto screen off time – Adjustable up to 9 minutes Measurements Voltage Range – 0.005V-30V +/- 0.1mV; accuracy: ±(0.5%+10digits at 23℃) Current Range – 0 to 5A +/- 0.01mA; accuracy: ±(1%+20 digits, at 23℃) Power Range – 0-150W Temperature Range – 0 to 80°C Load impedance range – 1Ω to 9999.9Ω Charge […]

May 17, 2020May 17, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Lilygo TTGO T-Watch-2020 is a Nicer Looking Arduino Programmable ESP32 Watch

We’ve covered several ESP32 watches over the last year include TTGO T-Wristand, Watchy, and DSTIKE ESP32 watch. Those don’t really have the nicest looking design, and some people complained about various shortcomings including the difficulty to customize/program the watch. Last year, Lilygo introduced TTGO T-Watch smartwatch that, due to support for expansion boards, was relatively thick, but at least documentation and Arduino code samples can be found on Github. The company has now launched a slicker version with Lilygo TTGO T-Watch-2000. TTGO T-Watch-2020 specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32 dual-core wireless processor with 520KB SRAM System Memory – 8MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB QSPI flash Display – 1.54-inch LCD capacitive touch screen Audio – Class-D amplifier, buzzer Connectivity – 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.1 via ESP32 Sensors – BMA423 three-axis accelerometer with built-in step counting algorithm, activity recognition / tracking, advanced gesture recognition. Misc – Power button (round), PCF8563 RTC […]

May 16, 2020August 10, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

NVIDIA Jetson Developer Kits Comparison – Nano vs TX2 vs Xavier NX vs AGX Xavier

NVIDIA launched the Jetson Xavier NX developer kit yesterday, and I included a short comparison table in the announcement between Jetson Nano, TX2, Xavier NX, and AGX Xavier developer kits. But I thought it might be worthwhile to have a more detailed comparison in a separate post, so here we are. As expected, usually the more you spend on a board, the better the performance and features. The exception is Jetson TX2 which’s the same price as the new Jetson Xavier NX devkit but delivers about a fifth of the FP16 AI performance. So as today, there’s little reason to buy a TX2 board for a new project unless you need some of the required features that are missing on Xavier NX.