CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

February 1, 2020December 1, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

Rockchip RK3566, RK3588, RV1109 SoC’s Coming in 2020 based on Rockchip Processor Roadmap

Last year, Rockchip had a presentation in China where they highlighted their processor roadmap for 2020, and we learned about processors such as Rockhip RK3588 Cortex-A76/A55, RK3530 Cortex-A55 SoC’s, and RV1109 camera processor, but we had limited details about the processors at the time. CNX Software has now received a more detailed roadmap that reveals some of the specifications about the new processors, and some Rockchip products that people may not be aware of such as a 3D structured light module and a 4G module. Rockchip RK3566 Rockchip RK3530 is not shown in the roadmap, but there’s a similar RK3566 processor, so I assume the company just changed the name. Rockchip RK3566 specifications: CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 2EE NPU – 0.5 TOPS with support for INT8/ INT16 Multi-Media 8M ISP 2.0 with 3F HDR(Line-based/Frame-based/DCG) Support MIPI-CSI2,4-lane 1080p60 H.265, H.264 encoding 4K H.264/H.265/VP9 60fps […]

January 31, 2020January 31, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 32 Comments

Coronavirus Impact on Manufacturing and Shipping from China

Unless you are living under a rock, you may have heard about the coronavirus originated in Wuhan, China. The Hubei province, and much of China, is in complete lockdown with many businesses closed, and people staying home as the government extended Chinese New Year for a few days until the epidemic is under control. This should obviously have an economic impact, at least in the short term, for the next few weeks or months since people are asked to stay home, and so much of what we consume is manufactured in China. And indeed, I’ve seen more and more companies announcing delays due to the virus, and I’ll provide some examples. Freetronics, an Australian company selling boards and other electronics products, has issued a notice explaining they are directly impacted since they work with manufacturers are based in Wuhan, Beijing, and Shenzhen: Bare PCBs for both Freetronics and SuperHouse products […]

January 31, 2020January 31, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

Reminder: Sometimes Crowdfunding Campaigns Go Wrong

Many products are launched via crowdfunding campaigns, and in theory, both the business and end-users benefit from the opportunity. It helps companies evaluate the demand before committing to large expenses, and reduce their financial risk, while end-users pledging in a crowdfunding campaign will be the first-ever to get the product, and often at a significant discount compared to the eventual retail price. But the flip-side is that they are risks for backers, they did not just buy a product online, but bet on the developers to deliver the products. Sometimes the project fails due to incompetence, unexpected challenges, or even fraudulent behavior from the developers. I remember one project where one of the developers just decided to buy a house with the funds raised instead of developing the promised 3D printer. I was reminded of this important point by email this morning, as I covered TAIHE Gemini 15.6″ full HD […]

January 31, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Google ADT-3 Developer Kit is Now Available for Purchase for $79

Google ADT-3 Android TV 10 Developer-Kit

Google released Android TV on Android 10 last month while announcing the Google ADT-3 developer kit to help developers make sure their TV apps are ready for the latest version of the operating system. The developer kit, that’s basically a TV box, was not available at the time, and we had limited information, but Google ADT-3 can now be purchased for $79 on Askey, an ASUS Computers subsidiary. We also know the full specifications for Google ADT-3: SoC – Amlogic S905Y2 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.8 GHz with an Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 8GB eMMC flash Video Output – HDMI 2.1 port up to 4K Ultra HD resolution @ 60 Hz Connectivity – 802.11ac (2.4GHz / 5GHz) 2T2R WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 classic+LE USB – 1x Micro USB port Misc – Bluetooth Pairing / Recovery Button, red/green status indicator Power Supply […]

January 30, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Ntablet Android & Linux Tablet Features a Replaceable RK3288 CPU Module, GPIO Board

Most tablets on the market either run Android or Windows, and while some have tried to launch Linux tablets, none of the products have really caught on, although the upcoming PINETAB might change that. Another option might be Ntablet 7″ tablet that runs either Android, Debian or WebOS Linux operating systems, but also offers some innovative features such as a replaceable Rockchip RK3288 CPU module, and an external GPIO board for makers. Ntablet hardware specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3288 quad-core Cortex-A17 processor @ 1.8 GHz with Mali-T760 quad-core GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot up to 32GB Display – 7″ touchscreen IPS display with 1920×1200 resolution Video Output – Micro HDMI port Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack Camera – 5MP front-facing camera (OV5648 sensor) Connectivity – 802.11b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.0 via Ampak AP6255 module USB – 1x USB 2.0 port, […]

January 30, 2020January 30, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Semtech LoRa Asset Tracking Reference Kit Includes one LoRaWAN Gateway, Six Waterproof GPS Trackers

LoRa Asset Tracking Reference Kit Gateway

The Things Conference is taking place now until January 31, so we should expect a few LoRaWAN announcements, and yesterday we covered Semtech LLCC68 LoRa transceiver for smart home applications, but the company also introduced a LoRa asset tracking reference kit to ease the deployment and evaluation of LoRa based tracking solutions. The kit is comprised of one LoRaWAN gateway, and six waterproof trackers with GPS and LoRa connectivity which everything supposed to work out of the box. The gateway, as shown above, comes with LoRa, cellular and GPS antennas, as well as a PoE power supply. It ships with a pre-configured SIM card to connect to the cloud platform over 3G/4G. Six industrial LoRaWAN-based GPS trackers are also included with the kit. Each comes with a battery but the trackers need to be activated by the user. Interestingly they are not using a button to turn on and off […]

January 30, 2020 by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 4 Comments

Beelink Gemini T45 Pentium N4200 Mini PC Review

Beelink T45-Pentium N4200 Mini PC Review

No sooner had I written ‘Beelink T45 Review with Windows and Linux, and Tweaking BIOS Power Limits’ than Beelink announce they wouldn’t in fact sell that configuration but an ‘updated’ version. And it is significantly different because this new version is now actively cooled and uses an Apollo Lake N4200 processor. It also still has the same name: the Beelink Gemini T45. I’ve now reviewed this new version and you may experience déjà vu on reading the following as in keeping with Beelink’s philosophy I’ve basically reused the same text as before and just updated where appropriate. Beelink have further extended their ‘Gemini’ range of mini PCs by adding the T45. This is an actively cooled mini PC that uses the slightly older Apollo Lake Intel Pentium N4200 CPU which is a quad-core 4-thread 1.10 GHz processor boosting to 2.50 GHz with Intel’s HD Graphics 505. The T45 is a […]

January 30, 2020September 4, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Gateworks GW16122 IoT mPCIe Card Comes with Long Range Sub-GHz and 2.4GHz Radios

Gateworks GW16122 Dual-Band IoT mPCIe Card

Gateworks GW16122 is a mini PCIe card that adds sub-GHz and 2.4GHz radio to the company line of Ventana and Newport Linux SBC’s, and is meant for industrial IoT (IIoT) applications as an alternative to LoRa and Sigfox. The second generation of the card is based on Texas instruments CC1352P dual-band wireless SoC that supports Wireless M-Bus, IEEE 802.15.4g, 6LoWPAN, KNX RF, and Wi-SUN at sub-GHz frequencies (EU: 868MHz, US: 915MHz), and Bluetooth 5 Low Energy, Thread, and Zigbee at 2.4 GHz. Gateworks GW16122 key features and specifications: MCU – Texas Instruments CC1352P Arm Cortex-M4F MCU @ 48 MHz with 352KB flash, 80KB SRAM, dual-band wireless radio transmitter/receiver Radios Sub-1 GHz Radio 868MHz EU, 915 MHz US (default) Low Power, sensor nodes can run on a coin-cell battery -121dBm Receive Sensitivity for long-range communication 20dBm Output Power Texas Instruments TI-RTOS and TI-15.4 Stack M-Bus, IEEE802.15.4g, Contiki 6LoWPAN, Wi-SUN, KNX RF […]