CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

November 15, 2019July 22, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Acromag COM Express Type 10 Mini-ITX Carrier Card Supports Four Acropack mini PCIe Modules

COM Express Mini ITX Atom-x5 Apollo Lake & mPCIe Modules

Acromag, a company based in Michigan and specialized in the industrial I/O market, has recently launched ACEX4041 COM Express Type 10 Mini-ITX carrier card which supports up to four of the company’s AcroPack mini-PCIe I/O modules. ACEX4041 COM Express Type 10 Mini-ITX Carrier Card The Mini-ITX form factor of the board enables it to interfaces four plug-in AcroPack I/O modules to an Intel Atom E3950 (Apollo Lake) CPU module with provisions for both M.2 and SATA SSD data storage and a variety of peripherals on-board. ACEX4041 specifications: SoM Compatibility Electrical and mechanical interface for industry-standard COM Express Type 10 Mini (55mm x 84mm) CPU modules with four PCIe lanes configured as an x4 port for optimal performance. Current CPU Option – Intel Atom E3950 quad-core, 1×4 PCIe configuration, 1.6/2.0GHz (Turbo) , 4GB RAM, 12W. PCIe Switch – 9-port 12-lane PCIe Gen 2 switch expands the single host PCIe x4 port […]

November 15, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Mudi is a Tor & VPN Enabled Portable 4G LTE WiFi Router (Crowdfunding)

GL.inet has made routers for a long time, and its latest product is called Mudi which they promote as a “4G LTE Privacy Router for Road Warriors”. Mudi is battery-powered, and designed to improve security and privacy compared to using only public WiFi access points, and comes with Tor and VPN support – the latter turned on/off with a physical switch – out of the box. Mudi (GL-E750) hardware specifications: SoC – Qualcomm QCA9530 MIPS24Kc processor @ 650 MHz System Memory – 128MB DDR2 Storage – 16MB + 128MB flash + MicroSD card slot up to 128GB Connectivity WiFi 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 up to 300 Mbps 5 GHz 802.11n/ac WiFi 5 up to 433 Mbps Cellular – 4G LTE Cat.6 or Cat.4 module + NanoSIM card slot USB – USB type-C port Display – OLED display Misc – Power button, VPN switch button Power Input – 5V/2A Power […]

November 15, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

X96 Link 2-in-1 Android TV Box & Router Combines Arm and MIPS Processors

Most TV boxes come with WiFi and/or Ethernet to access the Internet or local network in order to stream videos, but there are a few rare exceptions with TV boxes also acting as router such as Zome ZMT-330A we covered way back in 2014 with two Ethernet ports. Shenzhen Tomato informed me about another TV box router product dubbed Nut Link powered by Amlogic S905W processor and equipped with not two but three Ethernet ports. A quick web search reveals the device is better known as X96 Link and sells for as low as $39 shipped on sites like GearBest or Aliexpress. X96 Link specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905W quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0a port up to 4K @ 60 Hzm AV port for composite video and […]

November 14, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Rikomagic R6 Mini Projector Review – Part 2: Android 7.1

We’ve already quickly checked out Rikomagic R6 mini projector in the first part of the review with an unboxing and first boot, but now I’ve had more time to play with the device, so I’ll report about my experience. Android Launcher and Default Apps Here’s the launcher pre-installed in the projector. Media Center The Media Center app allows you to display images, play audio files as well as videos. It will show thumbnails of images present in the current folder… and as soon as you select one image in the folder it will start a slideshow with classic music playing the background. You’ll be able to see what it looks like in the video at the end of this review. Happy Cast It’s an app in Chinese, that apparently allows you to cast from other Chinese apps, but I have not used it. WiFi Display WiFi Display will be one […]

November 14, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Giveaway Week Winners – November 2019

We just had another of our yearly “Giveaway week” on CNX Software with 7 prizes including Arm and RISC-V development boards, NB-IoT tracker, USB-C hub, as well as development kits based on ESP32 or ESP8266 WiSoCs. People just had to comment within a 48 hours period, and we would randomly select a winner each day. We now have all confirmed winners with a strong start from Europe, Asia catching up mid-week, before with Poland and Brazil taking the week-end prizes: Balena Fin Developer Kit – Laurent H, FRANCE WisCellular NB-IoT & eMTC GPS Tracker – Jimmy, SWEDEN MINIX NEO S1 USB-C Hub with 120GB built-in SSD – Jeroen, BELGIUM Maixduino Sipeed M1 RISC-V AI Kit – Nguyen Tung, VIETNAM ANAVI Gas Detector Starter Kit – Bumsik Kim, SOUTH KOREA Particle Mesh IoT Development Kit – Wojciech Lubicz-Lapinski, POLAND NanoPi M4V2 SBC & Metal Case Kit – Thiago Tavares, BRAZIL I […]

November 14, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

$10 HelTec CubeCell LoRa Board Features Cypress PSoC 4 MCU

HelTec CubeCell is an Arduino-compatible LoRa module based on Semtech SX1262 transceiver and a Cypress PSoC 4 mixed-signal MCU. The module itself currently sells for $6.90, but you’ll also find a more convenient board for $9.90, as well as a $13.90 IP67 “capsule” housing a battery, an antenna, and a sensor board. All three are available on the same Aliexpress page. CubeCell LoRa board specifications: SoC – ASR Microelectronics ASR6501 with MCU – Cypress PSoC 4 Arm Cortex-M0+ @ 48 MHz with 128KB flash, 16KB SRAM LoRa Transceiver – Semtech SX1262 LoRa Connectivity Bands – EU433, CN470-510, EU863-870, US920-928 Output Power – 21 dB +/- 1 dB max LoRaWAN standard protocol support USB – 1x Micro USB port for power and programming Expansion – 2x 11-pin headers with GPIO’s, UART, I2C, SPI, ADC, Reset, and VIN, 5V, 3.3V, and GND power signals Misc – User and boot buttons, RGB LED […]

November 14, 2019November 14, 2019 by Stephen Vicinanza - 3 Comments

Peakago 7-inch Windows 10 Fanless Mini-Laptop Launched for $269 and Up (Crowdfunding)

Peakago fanless mini-laptop Peakago Computer has started an IndieGoGo campaign for its 7″ fanless laptop and mini-PC the Peakago. The campaign has raised 831% of the original target funding on its first day. Market Similarities for Mini-Laptops The Peakago is not a new idea, as there have been a number of 7″ to 9″ display laptops that offer Windows operating systems. The advent of the pocket sized laptop has inspired a number of different versions of similar types and operating systems. The Pretech 700Mi Mini is one of those iterations that was reported on here and is a look-alike to the Peakago. In fact, Peakago and the Pretech are from the same tooling company. A Wide Viewing Angle Display The campaign does say the display has a 178° viewing area, but this unit is very portable and could easily be used in a densely populated locale, so maybe such a […]

November 13, 2019February 19, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

GOWIN GW1NRF FPGA Comes with Bluetooth 5.0 LE Radio & 32-bit ARC MCU

I first heard about GOWIN Semiconductor last month when I found out about Sipeed Tang Nano FPGA board going for $5 and featuring GOWIN GW1N FPGA. The company has now announced what it claims is the first Bluetooth FPGA on the market with GW1NRF FPGA integrating a Bluetooth 5.0 LE radio and a 32-bit ARC microcontroller beside FPGA fabric. GOWIN GW1NRF-LV4N uSoC FPGA key features and specifications: FPGA Fabric – 4.6K LUTs, 180 Kb block SRAM, and 16 multipliers MCU – 32-bit ARC microcontroller with 48KB IRAM, 48KB DRAM 136KB block ROM, 128KB block OTG Security – AES-128, RNG, Key GEN Power Management – Wake-up timer, pin monitoring Wireless – Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) 5.0 Transceiver with PHY & MAC Power Supply – 3V or 1.5 V with battery support via on-chip LDO regulator and step-up/step-down DCDC regular Power Consumption – 5nA power disable mode Package – 6x6mm QFN48 package […]