CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

July 30, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

MediaTek Helio G90 & G90T Processors are Designed for Gaming Smartphones

We’ve known MediaTek P-series for mid-range “premium” smartphones, and MediaTek X-Series for higher-performance mobile devices for a few years, but the company is now introducing G-series processors specifically designed for mobile gaming starting with MediaTek Helio G90 and G90T processors. Both feature eight Arm Cortex-A76/Cortex-A55 cores clocked at up to 2.05GHz coupled with an Arm Mali-G76 3EEMC4 with speeds up to 800MHz, as well as “HyperEngine Game Technology”, an umbrella name covering multiple features we’ll cover further below. MediaTek Helio G90T specifications: CPU – Arm Cortex-A76 plus Cortex-A55 octa-core up to 2.05GHz “with a large L3 cache” GPU – Arm Mali-G76 3EEMC4 with speeds up to 800MHz AI Acceleration – Up to 1TMACs AI Performance Memory – LPDDR3, LPDDR4x up to 2133MHz, 10GB RAM max Storage – eMMC 5.1, UFS 2.1 Display – Up to 2520 x 1080 Video Encoding – H.264, H.265 / HEVC @ 4K 30fps, FHD 120fps, HD 240fps […]

July 30, 2019July 30, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Librem 5 Linux Smartphone Specifications Finalized

If you were interested in purchasing, or more exactly pre-ordering, a privacy-focused, open source Linux smartphone with clearly defined hardware specifications, Purism Librem 5 was not quite for you. Until today that is, as while the company did not commit to exact specifications at the beginning of the project, Purism has now revealed the full specifications of Librem 5 Linux smartphone. Librem 5 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX8M quad-core Cortex A53 @ up to 1.5GHz, Cortex-M4 real-time core, 3G GPU with OpenGL/ES 3.1, Vulkan, OpenCL 1.2 support System Memory – 3GB RAM Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, MicroSD slot up to 2 TB Display- 5.7″ IPS TFT touchscreen with 1440×720 resolution Connectivity Cellular Option 1 – Gemalto PLS8 3G/4G modem w/ single sim on replaceable M.2 card Option 2 – Broadmobi BM818 (made in China) nanoSIM tray Dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi 4, Bluetooth 4.0 GPS – Teseo LIV3F GNSS Cameras – […]

July 30, 2019July 30, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

“New” Allwinner H603 Processor Shows Up in X96H Low-cost TV Box

A little while ago, we started to see Rockchip RK3318 TV boxes that appeared to have the same specifications as Rockchip RK3328 based devices. We later learned RK3318 was a cost-down version of RK3328 but failed to get any details about the lower-cost as we were informed Rockchip did not really want to advertise the cheaper model. It appears Allwinner may have done something similar with Allwinner H6 processor, as we’ve started to see an Allwinner H603 processor shows up in X96H TV box on Aliexpress and GearBest with price starting at around $26.99 shipped in 2GB RAM + 16GB storage configuration, and going up to $40.99 with 4GB RAM, 64GB flash, and dual-band WiFi & Bluetooth connectivity. X96H TV box specifications: SoC – Allwinner H603 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.5 GHz with Arm Mali-T720 GPU System Memory / Storage Configurations 2GB DDR3 + 16GB eMMC flash + microSD slot […]

July 29, 2019August 2, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 28 Comments

Amlogic A311D vs Rockchip RK3399 Benchmarks Comparison

I’ve run some benchmarks on Khadas VIM3 SBC earlier this morning. The board is powered by the latest Amlogic A311D hexa-core Cortex-A73/A53 processor, and I’ve found results to be impressive. But let’s see how it compares to another hexa-core processor, namely the popular Rockchip RK3399 Cortex-A72/A53 processor released in 2016 and found in several Chromebooks, TV boxes, and development boards. To do so, I’ve compared Antutu 7.x, PCMark 10 Work 2.0, and 3Dmark benchmark results in Khadas VIM3 board running Android 9, against an actively-cooled Rockchip RK3399 SBC running Android 8.1. The results for A311D should be the same as for Amlogic S922X-B processor, so this post could also serve as an Amlogic S922X-B vs RK3399 comparison. Amlogic A311D vs Rockchip RK3399 – Key features Amlogic A311D Rockchip RK3399 CPU Quad-core Cortex-A73 @ 2.21 GHz Dual-core Cortex-A53 @ 1.8 GHz Dual-core Cortex-A72 @ 1.8 GHz Quad-core Cortex A53 @ 1.416 […]

July 29, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Espressif to Launch ESP8285 WiSoC Variants with Extended Industrial Temperature Range

Espressif Systems first introduced ESP8285 WiFi SoC in 2016. The chip is similar to ESP8266 WiFi chip but includes 1MB flash making it more suitable for space-constrained applications since an external flash chip is not required. Since the launch, we’ve seen several modules and final products based on the solution including ESP-WROOM-5C and PSF-A85 modules, as well as Sonoff B1 WiFI RGB light bulb. The original chip (ESP8285N08) would work in -40°C to 85°C industrial temperature range, but in their recent newsletter, the company announced plans to launch two new variants in the ESP8285 series with an extended temperature range up to 105°C and different flash capacities: ESP8285H16 with 2 MB flash, -40°C to +105°C operating temperature range ESP8285H08 with a 1 MB flash, -40°C to +105°C operating temperature range ESP8285H16 is slated to launch at the end of August 2019, and the company plans to provide more details next month, […]

July 29, 2019July 29, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

Github Has Restricted Accounts of Users from US Sanctioned Countries

Countries such as North Korea, Iran, or Syria, as well as specific zones such as Crimea, are US sanctioned countries, meaning you are not supposed to do business with them. If you’ve recently opened a business bank account, you may have had to sign a document confirming you will not do any business with entities in those sanctioned areas at the risk of losing access to your bank account. For physical goods that’s pretty straightforward, but for online services, there’s more of a grey area, as people tend to move around. Nevertheless, there have been reports sanctions are now affecting users in Iran and Crimea, as Github has started to restrict the account of users who are registered in US sanctioned countries. Github is now owned by Microsoft, and large multinationals can’t just fly under the radar, and ignore rules and regulations. It all started from reports from users from […]

July 29, 2019October 16, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Khadas VIM3 (Amlogic A311D) Benchmarks & System Info in Android 9

I received Khadas VIM3 kit at the very beginning of this month, and showed the content of the kit, and how to assemble it. Now after clearing some other items for review, I’ve started to play with the Amlogic A311D board which ships with Android 9.0 by default. I’ll focus my efforts on Ubuntu as most people will run Linux distributions on the board, but before doing so I’ve upgraded Android to the latest version, and checked out system information and ran some benchmarks in Android. Installing the latest Android firmware on VIM3 Instructions to upgrade the firmware over USB-C are available for Windows and Ubuntu, but since my laptop runs Ubuntu 18.04 I’ll focus on the latter. We can install the burn-tool for Linux as follows:

sudo apt install libusb-dev git parted
git clone https://github.com/khadas/utils
cd utils
sudo ./INSTALL

sudo apt install libusb-dev git parted

git clone https://github.com/khadas/utils

cd utils

sudo ./INSTALL

We can now download and extract the latest Android image:

wget https://dl.khadas.com/Firmware/VIM3/Android/VIM3_Pie_V190704.7z
7z x VIM3_Pie_V190704.7z

1 2	wget https://dl.khadas.com/Firmware/VIM3/Android/VIM3_Pie_V190704.7z 7z x VIM3_Pie_V190704.7z

Once it’s done you can connect your VIM3 board to your […]

July 28, 2019July 27, 2019 by Ayo Ayibiowu - 6 Comments

Elk, An Allwinner H3 Development board Crafted For the Decentralized Internet (Crowdfunding)

Elk: The Dev Board for the Decentralized World

Back in 2017, Bitcoin peaked at almost $20,000; many were pretty shocked about how this supposed virtual currency suddenly become a scare resource. It also brought limelight to the technology behind it Blockchain and the idea of Decentralized internet. Although the success of the cryptocurrency didn’t last that long, as it lost about 80 percent in a year and still categorized as one of the biggest bubbles in financial history. After the crash of Bitcoin and some other similar cryptocurrencies, a lot of people predicted that’s the end of the whole Blockchain thing, and the idea of Decentralized internet will not happen. The recently announced Facebook Libra, a new cryptocurrency by the American giant Facebook, shows that Blockchain and the Decentralized web isn’t going anywhere and will probably start growing stronger. Arduino made it possible for Artist, Makers, Engineers, Students to bring ideas to life and quickly make things easier. Now, […]