Posted on

Beelink MINI S Review – A Low-cost mini PC tested with Ubuntu 22.04 and Windows 11

Whilst the first mini PCs were relatively simplistic using low-powered Intel Atom processors with minimal memory, storage, and ports, more recent mini PCs have become so advanced they can challenge SFF builds for both performance and functionality. However, such mini PCs come with prices to match. Beelink has now released the MINI S which is a mini PC that goes back to the basics and is based on a cut-down version of their earlier Beelink U59 mini PC and priced to match. Beelink kindly sent one for review and I’ve looked at performance running both Windows and Ubuntu and compared it directly against the U59. Beelink MINI S hardware overview The Beelink MINI S physically consists of a 115 x 102 x 41mm (4.53 x 4.02 x 1.61 inches) square plastic case. As an actively cooled mini PC, it uses Intel’s new 10 nm Jasper Lake N5095 processor which is […]

Posted on

MNT Pocket Reform 7-inch modular mini laptop takes a range of Arm (and FPGA) modules

MNT Pocket Reform is an open-source hardware mini laptop with a 7-inch Full HD display, an ortholinear mechanical keyboard, and trackball, that follows the path of its older and bigger sibling:  the MNT Reform 2 laptop initially launched with an NXP i.MX 8M quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 module. The new laptop will not only support a similar “NXP i.MX 8M Plus” module but also a range of other Arm modules namely an NXP Layerscape LS1028A module with up to 16GB RAM, the Raspberry Pi CM4 module via an adapter, Pine64 SOQuartz (RK3566, up to 8GB RAM), as well as based on AMD Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA for industrial use. MNT Pocket Reform specifications: Available system-on-modules Standard: NXP i.MX 8M Plus quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.8GHz with 4 or 8 GB DDR4, Vivante GC7000UL GPU, 2.3 TOPS NPU NXP Layerscape LS1028A dual-core Arm Cortex-A72 with 8 or 16GB DDR4, Vivante GC7000UL GPU Raspberry […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC
Posted on

ICE-V Wireless FPGA board combines Lattice Semi iCE40 UltraPlus with WiFi & BLE module

Lattice Semi ICE40 boards are pretty popular notably thanks to the availability of open-source tools. ICE-V Wireless is another ICE40 UltraPlus FPGA board that also adds wireless support through an ESP32-C3-MINI-1 module with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE connectivity. Designed by QWERTY Embedded Design, the board also comes with 8MB PSRAM, offers three PMOD expansion connectors, plus a header for GPIOs, and supports power from USB or a LiPo battery (charging circuit included). ICE-V Wireless specifications: FPGA – Lattice Semi ICE40UP5K-SG48 FPGA with 5280 LUTs, 120 Kbits EBR RAM, 1024 Kbits PSRAM External RAM – 8MB PSRAM Wireless – ESP32-C3-MINI-1 module with 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE through ESP32-C3 RISC-V processor, 4MB flash. USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power, programming, and JTAG debugging of the ESP32-C3 module Expansions 3x PMOD connectors connected to the FPGA I/O connector with 7x ESP32-C3 GPIO lines (serial, ADC, I2C) and […]

Posted on

DevTerm portable Linux terminal now supports Raspberry Pi CM4 via a $19 adapter

DevTerm modular, portable Linux terminal initially designed for modules based on Raspberry Pi CM3 form factor, can now work with Raspberry Pi CM4 for extra performance and memory thanks to a $19  adapter. The Devterm was initially launched in 2020 with a 6.8-inch IPS screen, a keyboard with 67 keys, and a battery module, all connected through the ClockworkPi v3.14 carrier board taking a choice of core modules based on Allwinner H6 or Rockchip RK3399 (now supported in Armbian), besides the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 mentioned above. More recently, it also got an Allwinner D1 RISC-V module. The Raspberry Pi CM4 module should bring performance similar to the Rockchip RK3399 module for most tasks, although it may vary a lot depending on workloads, and for regular Raspberry Pi users, software that will be more familiar, and may be better supported. I’ve just a bit surprised it took so long, […]

Posted on

Arm Linux IoT gateway ships with up to 8GB RAM, offers dual GbE, 4G LTE, WiFi 6, BLE 5.3, GNSS connectivity

Compulab IOT-GATE-IMX8PLUS is a new Arm Linux IoT gateway powered by NXP i.MX 8M Plus SoC with up to 8GB RAM, 128GB storage, and plenty of connectivity options with dual Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.3 LE, and 4G LTE connectivity, as well as GNNS support and RS485/RS232 interfaces. The new IoT gateway builds upon theArm SystemReady IR certified IOT-GATE-IMX8 industrial gateway, but offers more RAM and storage, a 2.8 TOPS AI accelerator (in the NXP processor), improved connectivity, as well as a DVI-D port for video output. Compulab IOT-GATE-IMX8PLUS specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX8M Plus Quad or Quad-lite quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.8 GHz with Arm Cortex-M7 real-time core @ 800 MHz, Vivante GC7000UL 3D GPU, Vivante GC520L 2D GPU,  1080p H.265/H.264 video decoder & encoder, HiFi 4 DSP,  2.3 TOPS Neural Processing Unit (NPU) System Memory – 1GB to 8GB LPDDR4 Storage – 16GB to […]

Posted on

Ingenic T31-based WiFi AI camera development kit promises over a year of battery life

We’ve previously seen WiFi security cameras promising a year of battery life with products like the Eufy EverCam, but the Ingenic T31-based Smart Video Application Development Kit by Innophase may allow for the development of even more power-efficient WiFi AI security cameras with AI processing last can last over one year. The development kit combines Ingenic T31 MIPS & RISC-V camera SoC with Innophase Talaria TWO INP101x ultra-low-power (57µA @ DTIM10) Wi-Fi & BLE wireless module, that is estimated to last 14.4 months on a 3,000 mAh battery while operating at a 99.3% idle, 0.7% video capture ratio. Development kit content: Board with Ingenic T31 MIPS processor @ 1.5 GHz and RISC-V low-power core, H.265 encoder, 512Mbit or 1Gbit on-chip memory fitted with 2M pixel Full-HD camera @ 30fps USB Debug board Microphone and speaker InnoPhase Talaria TWO SDIO Adapter Board Fitted with INP1014 LGA module with 2.4GHz WiFi 4, […]

AAEON Intel Arc
Posted on

Forlinx introduces Renesas RZ/G2L system-on-module and development board

Renesas RZ/G2L or RZ/V2L Cortex-A55/M33 processors have found their way into several system-on-modules and single board computers recently with the likes of Geniatech AHAURA board, Avnet RZBoard, or ARIES Embedded MSRZG2UL OSM module among others. Forlinx Embedded has joined the fray with the Renesas RZ/G2L-based FET-G2LD-C system-on-module, and a corresponding OK-G2LD-C development board with plenty of I/Os including dual Gigabit Ethernet, RS485 and CAN Bus interfaces, built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, plus an optional EC20 4G mini PCIe module. FET-G2LD-C system-on-module Specifications: SoC –  Renesas RZ/G2L (R9A07G044Lxx) dual or single-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor @1.2GHz, with real-tme Arm Cortex-M33 core @ 200MHz, Arm Mali-G31 GPU with OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.1/3.2,Vulkan 1.1, OpenCL 2.0, 1080p30 VPU with H.264 AVC/MVC video encoding/decoding System Memory – 1GB / 2GB DDR4 Storage – 8GB or 16GB eMMC flash, 16MB QSPI NOR flash 3x 80-pin B2B connectors with MIPI-DSI and RGB interfaces up to 1920×1080, 2x 1000Mbps Ethernet […]

Posted on

4K USB AI camera is powered by Rockchip RV1126 SoC with 2.0 TOPS NPU

ThinkCore TC-RV1126 is a USB AI camera powered by Rockchip RV1126 quad-core Cortex-A7 processor with a 2.0 TOPS NPU and equipped with a Sony Starvis IMX415 CMOS image sensor with 4K resolution (3840 x 2160). The Linux-powered camera module features a USB Type-C port compatible with UVC & UAC protocols so that it can work without drivers on Windows, Android, Linux, Mac OS, and most other operating systems with a USB stack. TC-RV1126 camera specifications: SoC – Rockchip RV1126 quad-core Arm Cortex-A7 @ 1.5 GHz + RISC-V MCU @ 400 MHz, 2D graphics engine, 2.0 TOPS NPU with support for INT8/ INT16, 14M ISP System Memory – 2x DDR3 chip (128M x 16), so that should be 512MB RAM (TBC) Storage – 1 Gbit (128MB) SPI NAND flash Camera Image sensor – Sony Starvis IMX415 1/2.8-inch 8MP CMOS sensor with night vision Capture up to 3840×2160 @ 30 fps Supported […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC