CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

June 4, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Rikomagic DS02 Android Digital Signage Player Supports 4G LTE or WiFi Connectivity

Rikomagic is mostly known for its Android mini PCs and TV boxes, but in recent years they’ve started offering solutions for digital signage, and their latest product is Rikomagic D02 digital signage player running Android 7.1 on a Rockchip RK3288 processor and offering either WiFi or 4G LTE cellular connectivity. Rikomagic DS02 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3288 quad-core Arm Cortex-A17 processor @ up to 1.8GHz GPU with Mali-T760 MP GPU System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 16GB flash, MicroSD card socket Video Output HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60 Hz (Note 60Hz support may depend on your TV supporting CbCr 4:4:4 or RGB 4:4:4 modes) Internal reserved pins for LVDS, and backlight Touch panel support via USB only Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack, digital audio via HDMI; optional MIC Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet with WoL support Dual-band 802.11b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 4G LTE with Micro SIM card slot Note 4G […]

June 3, 2020June 3, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Make PCB’s with a Modified Lexmark Laser Printer

PCB manufacturing services are pretty cheap and fast nowadays. But imagine some kind of highly transmissible virus hits the globe, somehow the whole global economy shuts down, and you are stuck alone at home with nothing but a Lexmark laser printer. What can you do? Well, you can make your own PCBs! No paper involved. That’s exactly what Vítor Barbosa did by converting a Lexmark E460(DN) laser printer into a PCB making machine, not because of COVID-19, but instead, because of the price and delays of ordering PCBs in Brazil. Using a laser printing to make your own PCB like take some work, notably to strip the printer of unused parts such as the fuser and fit it with Arduino Nano or Pro Mini board, an aluminum guide, some resistors and more. The modifications are all explained on Hackaday.io, and this is not a new idea as the project was […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

June 3, 2020June 3, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

TTGO T-Watch K210 / K210 AIOT Watches Perform Face Detection with Kendryte K210 RISC-V Processor, ESP32 WiSoC

After covering ESP32 based TTGO T-Watch-2020 programmable watch last month, I noticed LilyGO launched “TTGO T-Watch K210 AIOT” watch with Kendryte K210 RISC-V AI SoC and a camera for face detection and recognition, and while searching for information, I discovered another apparently similar “TTGO T-Watch K210“. But let’s look into the specifications to find out what the differences are. I first came across TTGO T-Watch K210 AIOT, so let’s have a look at some preliminary specifications for this model: AI Processor – Kendryte K210 RISC-V Dualcore 64bit with FPU with 8MB SRAM Storage – 16MB QSPI flash, MicroSD card socket Display I/F – FPC connect for external display (not included) Camera – 2MP OV2640 sensor Audio – MAX98357A Audio codec; CVSD & SBC audio encoding Connectivity – 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 up to 150 Mbps, Bluetooth 4.2 BR/EDR and BLE Debugging – USB-C port via CP2104 Expansion UART, SPI, […]

June 2, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Sonoff SNZB Zigbee Sensors and Switches Launched for under $10

ITEAD had started to expand from WiFi and RF433 capable Sonoff home automation devices into Zigbee smart home solutions in recent months with the launch of products such as Sonoff ZBBridge WiFi to Zigbee gateway and a TI CC2531 based Zigbee USB dongle preloaded with firmware compatible with Zigbee2MQTT. But so far, they had only one Zigbee node, namely Sonoff BASICZBR3 Zigbee power switch. More options are now available with the launch of four Sonoff SNZB Zigbee sensors and switches working with the company’s ZBBridge. Key features of the four new Zigbee sensors & switches: SNZB-01 Zigbee wireless switch Touch button with single, double press and long press support Battery – 3V (CR2450) Dimension – 43x43x16mm SNZB-02 Zigbee temperature & humidity sensor Unnamed temperature and humidity sensor Battery – 3V (CR2450) Dimension – 43x43x14mm SNZB-03 Zigbee motion sensor Built-in PIR sensor with 6m range and 110°viewing angle. Battery – 3V […]

June 2, 2020June 2, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Intel Launches Atom Denverton “Refresh” and “Low Power” Server Processors

Intel Atom C3000 “Denverton” processors were first unveiled in 2016 for low power servers, and are now found in fanless network appliances and server motherboards. Intel has now quietly launched three new Atom Denverton “Refresh” and one “Low Power” processors, namely Intel Atom C3436L, C3338R, C3758R, and C3558R. Highlights for the “refreshed” and current processors: Intel Atom C3436L quad-core processor @ 1.3 GHz with 8MB cache, 10.75W TDP Intel Atom C3338R dual-core processor @ 1.8 GHz / 2.2 GHz (Turbo) with 4MB cache, 10.5W TDP Intel Atom C3558R quad-core processor @ 2.4 GHz with 8MB cache, 17W TDP Intel Atom C3758R octa-core processor @ 2.4 GHz with 16MB cache, 26W TDP Intel Atom C3338 dual-core processor @ 1.5 GHz . 2.2 GHz (Turbo) with 4MB cache, 8.5W TDP Intel Atom C3558 quad-core processor @ 2.2 GHz with 8MB cache, 16W TDP Intel Atom C3758 octa-core processor @ 2.2 GHz with […]

June 1, 2020July 23, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

AMD Ryzen C7, an Arm Cortex-X1/A78/A55 Processor with MediaTek 5G Modem? (Leak)

Arm just announced Cortex-A78 and Cortex-X1 CPU cores last week, and we should expect several silicon vendors to announce new SoCs based on the new cores by the end of the year. But AMD? Yes, according to a now-deleted leak from Slashleaks that lives on Twitter. AMD Ryzen C7 mobile processor would come with two Cortex-X1 based Gaugin_Pro mobile cores, two Cortex-A78 based Gaugin_Mobile cores, and four Cortex-A55 cores, AMD Radeon RDNA 2 mobile GPU, and somehow a MediaTek 5G UltraSave modem joined the party… AMD Ryzen C7 specifications: CPU 2x Gaugin_Pro Mobile Core @ 3.0 GHz (Cortex-X1 based) 2x Gaugin_Mobile Core @ 2.6 GHz (Cortex-A78 based) 4x Arm Cortex-A55 clocked @ 2.0 GHz GPU – AMD Radeon RDNA 2 Mobile with 4x compute units @ 700 Mhz that claims to be 45% faster than Adreno 650 GPU found in Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC, and supports real-time hardware ray-tracing and […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025

June 1, 2020June 1, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Bye Raspbian! Long Live Raspberry Pi OS!

Last week, we reported a “new” Raspberry Pi 4 SBC with 8GB RAM launched last week, together with a beta version of “Raspbian” 64-bit needed to make full use of the extra RAM, although the 32-bit version can also address the full 8GB thanks to LPAE, but with a limitation of 3GB per process. It turns out the launch of the new board, effectively killed Raspbian. But by name only, as the recommended Raspberry Pi operating system is now called Raspberry Pi OS with three 32-bit images namely Desktop with recommended apps such as Wolfgram and Mathematica, Desktop, and Lite for headless applications, as well as the Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit beta that’s yet to be officially released, but can be downloaded from the forums and works on Raspberry Pi 3 and 4 boards. Apart from the name change, and support for 64-bit kernel and rootfs, the Raspberry Pi Foundation […]

May 31, 2020March 23, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Cucumber ESP32-S2 Development Board Comes with USB OTG Port, Optional Sensors

Cucumber ESP32-S2 USB OTG Development Board

Yesterday, I wrote about LilyGO TTGO ESP32-S2 WiFi IoT board, but one commenter mentioned it missed one of the key features of ESP32-S2 chip: a USB OTG port. While USB OTG is accessible through the header pins, it’s not the most convenient to use. I also quickly mentioned Cucumber ESP32-S2 development board in that post, but I did not expand too much since I thought it should only ship within Thailand. But the board does include two USB Type-C ports, one for the usual USB UART connector, and the other for USB OTG, and I found out the board is available worldwide. The board is available in multiple variants with or without sensors and PSRAM, and with external IPEX antenna or PCB antenna using ESP32-S2-WROVER(-I) or ESP32-S2-WROOM(-I) module. Cucumber specifications: Wireless Module (one of the other): ESP32-S2-WROVER with ESP32-S2, 4MB flash, 2MB PSRAM, on-board PCB antenna ESP32-S2-WROVER-I with ESP32-S2, 4MB […]