Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments on Raspberry Pi 400 kit ships with 7-inch or 13.3-inch touchscreen display

Raspberry Pi 400 kit ships with 7-inch or 13.3-inch touchscreen display

Raspberry Pi 400 13-3-inch display

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has recently launched the Raspberry Pi 4 keyboard computer with impressive performance thanks to a well-designed cooling solution, and I think it’s a great tool for kids (and adults) who may want to carry a Raspberry Pi around. However, you’d still need a display in each location, so until the foundation releases the Raspberry Pi 4000 laptop next year (full disclose: I made that up!), it might be cool to have a portable display coming with the keyboard PC. That’s what Waveshare is offering with two kits combining a Raspberry Pi 400 together with a 7-inch or 13.3-inch HDMI touchscreen display and other accessories. Not quite as portable as a laptop but it gets close. Here’s the full list of accessories in the kits: Raspberry Pi 400 Kit with keyboard PC with UK keyboard (sadly the only layout option for now), power supply, HDMI cable, preloaded […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on MINIX NEO P1 tiny 66W GaN USB-C power supply can handle up to 3 devices

MINIX NEO P1 tiny 66W GaN USB-C power supply can handle up to 3 devices

I’m now using MINIX NEO P2 GaN USB-C charger for all review using USB powered devices. But with four-ports and up to 100W of power, it’s a bit over-powered for one or two Raspberry Pi 4 or equivalent SBCs, and it also costs around $60. So the Hong Kong company has now introduced a new model with MINIX NEO P1 being a tiny 66W GaAN USB-C power adapter with two USB-C ports and one USB Type-A port and international plug adapters that make ideal to use on the go. MINIX NEO P1 key features and specifications: Power Input – 100-240V AC input with 2-prong US plug and adapters for EU, UK, and AU Power Output Up to 66 W in total 2x USB Type-C ports support up to 65 W with USB PD 3.0 (5-15V/3A, 20V/3.25A) 1x USB Type-A port supports up to 36 W with QC 3.0 (5V/3A, 9V/3A, […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments on Pine64’s PINECIL RISC-V soldering iron launched for $25

Pine64’s PINECIL RISC-V soldering iron launched for $25

PINECIL RISC-V soldering iron

We’ve previously mentioned PINECIL RISC-V soldering iron during Pine64’s release of PineCube open-source IP camera development kit, and the good news is the soldering iron is now available for $24.99 on Pine64 store together with optional sets of gross or fine soldering tips compatible with the one used with TS100 model The soldering iron is powered by GigaDevice GD32VF103TB 32-bit RISC-V general-purpose microcontroller and features a small display and two buttons for user interaction, as well as changeable tips. It can be powered by a USB-C power adapter or a 12 to 24V power brick such as the ones you’d found with laptops. PINECIL soldering iron key features and specifications: MCU – GigaDevice GD32VF103TB 32-bit RV32IMAC RISC-V “Bumblebee Core” @ 108 MHz with 128KB flash, 32KB SRAM Display – 0.69-inch OLED monochrome display with 96×16 resolution Tip – 106mm long, Type B2 Temperature range – 100°C to 400°C; reaches operating […]

Posted on by Abhishek Jadhav - 7 Comments on Hantro H1 hardware accelerated video encoding support in mainline Linux

Hantro H1 hardware accelerated video encoding support in mainline Linux

Hantro H1 Block diagram

With the increasing need for video encoding, there are some breakthrough developments in hardware-accelerated video encoding for Linux. Bootlin has been working on the implementation of Hantro H1 hardware accelerated video encoding to support H.264 encoding on Linux which follows the company’s work on the previously-released open-source VPU driver for Allwinner processors. Hantro H1 Hardware Hantro H1 is a common hardware H.264 encoder, it can also do VP8 and JPEG. It is found in a few ARM SoCs including a lot of Rockchip (RK3288, RK3328, RK3399, PX30, RK1808) and NXP (i.MX 8M Mini). Depending on the version, it can support up to 1080p at 30 or 60 fps. Here we can see different blocks used for encoding. Hantro H1 is a stateless hardware implementation which means it has no microcontroller or firmware running. As can be seen in the diagram, it has a pre-processor that can do things like cropping, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on $89 Lite3DP resin 3D printer fits in the palm of your hand (Crowdfunding)

$89 Lite3DP resin 3D printer fits in the palm of your hand (Crowdfunding)

Lite3DP resin 3D printer

I thought Selpic A-star 3D printer we recently covered was already small, but if you’re looking for an ultra-portable printer, it will be hard to beat the Arduino-based, open-source hardware Lite3DP resin 3D printer that can fit in the palm of your hand, and weighs just around 350 grams. That also means a pretty small build volume of just 45.1 x 33.8 x 70 mm, so it’s really for small objects, and for instance, a typical Raspberry Pi case could not be printed. But let’s have a look. Lite3DP printer’s key features and specifications: Electronics – All-in-one PCB with Arduino Pro Mini, a driver for the stepper motor, a module for a microSD card, and a screen with dual-functionality. Technology – MSLA // LCD-SLA Resolution – XY: 0.14 mm; Z: 0.05 and 0.1 mm Build volume (W x L x H) – 45.1 x 33.8 x 70 mm Tray volume […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 46 Comments on ASUS unveils Tinker Board 2 SBC with faster Rockchip RK3399/OP1 processor

ASUS unveils Tinker Board 2 SBC with faster Rockchip RK3399/OP1 processor

Tinker Board 2S SBC

ASUS surprised the maker community in 2017 with the introduction of the Rochchip RK3288 powered Tinker Board to compete as Raspberry Pi 3 Model B. It was followed by Tinker Board S with built-in storage and other new features, as well as Tinker Board Edge T and Edge R SBC’s both with an AI accelerator namely Google Edge TPU and the NPU inside Rockchip RK3399Pro. The company has now launched a new model called Tinker Board 2 without AI accelerator, but featuring Rockchip RK3399, or more exactly the higher grade Rockchip OP1 used in Chromebooks,  delivering 96% faster single-thread performance and a 64% boost in multi-core performance compared to the Rockchip RK3288 processor found in the original Tinker Board, while the GPU is around 28% faster with glmark2-es2 off-screen benchmark. There are two variants of the board with Tinker Board 2 and Tinker Board 2S with the latter adding onboard […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments on Reolink RLC-810A review – A 4K security camera with people & vehicle detection

Reolink RLC-810A review – A 4K security camera with people & vehicle detection

Reolink RLC-810A Review

Last week I received Reolink RLC-810A 4K smart security camera with support for people and vehicle detection. I listed the specifications and check out the content of the package of the first security camera I’ve received with artificial intelligence. That should be great to avoid all unnecessary alerts from motion detection I get from my “dumb” IP cameras. In this review, I’ll write a small guide showing how to use the camera with the Reolink app, the web interface, and check out RTSP and ONVIF support. I’ll also see if people and vehicle detection lives up to my expectations. Reolink RLC-810A Camera installation and setup As noted in the first part of the review, the camera does not come with a power adapter and does not support WiFi. So I had to find a 12V power adapter and used a 15-meter Ethernet cable to connect it to my router. Before […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on Khadas VIM3 & VIM3L SBC’s become Android reference boards

Khadas VIM3 & VIM3L SBC’s become Android reference boards

Khadas VIM3 & VIM3L Android Reference Boards

If you need to work on the very latest development version of Android or AOSP, you can either get one of the supported phones such as Google Pixel 5,  one of the reference boards for Android which should be better for development and also fairly cheaper. We previously reported about Hikey, Hikey960, and DragonBoard 845c single board computers being part of the short list of reference boards for the Android Open-Source Project (AOSP), but Amlogic powered Khadas VIM3 and VIM3L have recently been added to the official devices page which makes them the first AOSP reference boards with a dedicated NPU / AI accelerator. As a quick reminder, Khadas VIM3 is the most powerful board with an Amlogic A311D hexa-core Cortex-A73/A53 processor with up to 4GB RAM and 32GB flash, and Khadas VIM3L is the light version with an Amlogic S905D3 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB flash. […]

Boardcon LGA3576 Rockchip RK3576 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications