CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

May 20, 2020May 20, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Ameba RTL8722DM Cortex-M33/M23 IoT Development Board Now Available for $23.90

Earlier this year, we noticed some RealTek RTK8720DN dual-band WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 IoT modules, and quickly mentioned Ameba RTL8722DM development board available for under $50. If you found the price of the board a bit expensive for what it had to offer, the good news is that Ameba RTL8722DM Cortex-M33/M23 IoT development board is now selling for $23.90 on Seeed Studio or Good Display. Ameba RTL8722DM specifications: MCU ARMv8M Real-M300 Cortex-M33 compatible MCU @ 200MHz ARMv8M Real-M200 Cortex-M23 compatible MCU @ 20MHz Memory – 4.5MB embedded SRAM in SoC Storage – 2MB external flash Connectivity Dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n 1×1 WiFi 4 (20/40MHz) Bluetooth 5 SIG Mesh networking Supports both central and peripheral modes Display – 8-bit LCD up to 645×645 resolution @ 30FPS or 6-bit LCD up to 527×527 resolution @ 60 FPS Audio Codec – ADC, DAC, I2S Security – Hardware cryptographic engine, Arm Trust-Zone, Secure boot, Wi-Fi […]

May 20, 2020May 20, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

SD 8.0 Specification Promises Dual-lane PCIe 4.0 SD Express Cards with up to 4GB/s Transfer Rate

SD 8.0 specification SD Express up to 4GB/s

The SD Association seems to be releasing new specifications faster than the industry and consumers can pick up. In June 2018, the SD 7.0 specification added SD Express cards with PCIe and NVMe interfaces for theoretical transfer rates up to 985 MB/s, followed by SD 7.1 specification in February 2019 adding SD Express to MicroSD card as well. The just-published SD 8.0 specification ups the ante further with SD Express now supporting dual-lane PCIe 4.0 with transfer rates up to 4GB/s. SD 8.0 is for full-sized SD Express cards that use the same NVMe upper-layer protocol, and remain backward compatible with earlier SD standards including UHS-III. The new higher bitrates will be used for data-intense wireless or wired communication, super-slow motion video, RAW continuous burst mode and 8K video capture and playback, 360-degree cameras/videos, gaming systems, multi-channel IoT devices, automotive devices etc… SD Express will be offered on SDHC, SDXC, […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

May 20, 2020May 20, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

$31 Honor Router 3 WiFi 6+ Router Supports 3000 Mbps Data Rates

I wrote about the “Most Affordable WiFi 6 Router Yet“, namely Xiaomi Mi Router AX1800, just two days ago, as it sells for around $60 on Aliexpress and 329 CNY ($46) in China. But the Xiaomi router did not hold the top spot for long, as Honor Router 3 WiFi 6 AX3000 router was just launched for 219 CNY (about $31 US) in China. Honor Router 3 (aka Honor XD20) specifications: SoC – Huawei Gigahome W650 dual-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.2GHz. Note: Huawei announcement about the processor shows a quad-core Cortex-A53 @ 1.4 GHz, so there may be a dual-core version too? System Memory – 128MB RAM Storage – 128MB flash Networking Wireless 802.11ax/ac/n/a 2×2 & 802.11ax/n/b/g 2×2 MU-MIMO WiFi 6 Transfer Rate – Up to 2976Mbps with 574 Mbps max @ 2.4GHz, 2402 Mbps max @ 5GHz Antennas – 4x 5dBi external antennas Wired – 4x Gigabit Ethernet ports […]

May 19, 2020October 28, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Olimex ESP32-S2-Devkit-LiPo WiFi Board Consumes as Little as 2uA in Sleep Mode

When we covered ESP32 powered TTGO T-Watch-2000 smartwatch this week-end, people noted that with a 350 mAh battery, the watch would last about 3.65 days considering a 4mA drain with the screen always off, WiFI and Bluetooth off, and around 65mA when the screen is on good for about 5 hours of continuous use without Bluetooth nor WiFi. But it’s possible to make a much more-efficient ESP32-S2 Wifi board, as demonstrated by Olimex with their upcoming ESP32-32-Devkit-LiPo based on ESP32-S2-Saola-1 with circuitry to support LiPo batteries. They designed the board with an ultra-low-power power supply circuit which makes current consumption during sleep only 6uA, 4 of which are due to the battery measurement resistor divider, meaning the board should consume only 2uA in sleep mode or about 10 times less than other ESP32 Olimex boards. When reviewed Qoitech Otii power measurement & DAQ tool, we also noted power consumption could […]

May 19, 2020May 19, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

2-Way Ethernet Splitters Sell for as low as One Dollar

When I need to connect more than one device over Ethernet I usually think Ethernet hub or Ethernet switch. I think the former is harder to find these days but was convenient to capture Ethernet packets with Wireshark. I had however never heard about Ethernet splitters until I saw a pair sold on Gearbest for $7.99, but soon found one on Aliexpress for just one dollar plus shipping. At first sight, it does not seem particularly useful especially when looking at the connection diagrams that show it used as some kind of Ethernet extender where you need to connect two Ethernet cables to the router, and again two cables to the targets since the same signal could be transmitted over a single cable with a $10 Ethernet switch at the other side. There’s a method to this (apparent) madness, as Cat 5E or grater cables come with 4 twisted pairs […]

May 19, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

GPD WIN Max Handheld Game Console Raises over One Million Dollars on First Day (Crowdfunding)

The first time we wrote about GPD product was for one of their portable game consoles, but since then the company has made many mini laptops that are fairly similar except for the lack of gaming controls. The company is now back with a portable game console powered by a 15W Intel i5-1035G7 Ice Lake processor designed for AAA games. GPD WIN Max has really made a splash, as the company raised close to 1.4 million dollars a little over a day after the launch on Indiegogo. GPD WIN Max specifications: SoC – Intel Core i5-1035G7 quad-core/octa-thread Ice Lake processor @1.20 GHz / 3.70 GHz (Turbo) with Intel Iris Plus 940 Graphics delivering performance similar to GeForce MX250; 15W configurable to 12W or 25W (But GPD offers 15, 20 and 25W configurable TDP). System Memory – Dual-channel 16GB LPDDR4X-3733 RAM Storage – Dual M.2 SSD sockets with support for single-sided […]

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

May 18, 2020May 20, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

Most Affordable WiFi 6 Router Yet: $60 Xiaomi Mi Router AX1800

Most Affordable WiFi 6 Router-Xiaomi Mi Router AX1800

[Update May 20, 2020: It did not last long, as Xiaomi Mi Router AX1800 is not the most affordable WiFi 6 router anymore with the launch of Honor Router 3 (XD20) AX3000 router for 219 RMB in China, or about $31 US] When Xiaomi AIoT router AX3600 launched in April for around $135, we noted that while it was the most affordable WiFi 6 router we’d seen so far, the other 802.11ax WiFi 6 routers had also come down in price significantly. But now the company has come up with a really inexpensive router: Xiaomi Mi Router AX1800 which I first discovered on Gearbest for just $67.50, but also available on Aliexpress for about $60 shipped. If you are in China, you should be able to get it for 329 RMB (around $46). Xiaomi Mi Router AX1800 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm IPQ6000 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.2GHz with single-core network […]

May 18, 2020May 18, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

PineTab Linux Tablet Coming Soon for $100. Watch an Ubuntu Touch Demo in the Meantime

PineTab Linux Tablet with Detachable Keyboard

People have been trying to launch Linux tablets for years from PenPod 700 to Jolla Tablet, or more recently NTablet. You may not know or remember about those, as Linux tablets that actually shipped never really gained traction. But in early 2019, Pine64 started to mention development work on PineTab, an Allwinner A64 powered BSD/Linux tablet, and the company/community is really good at developing low-cost hardware and providing decent firmware support, so hopes were high. After COVID-19 related delay, Pine64 has now announced the first PineTab tablets would go for pre-order at the end of the month for $99. PineTab specifications: SoC – Allwinner A64 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor with Arm Mali-400 MP2 GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 RAM Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot, M.2 slot for SATA SSD Display – 10″ MiPi 720p Capacitive LCD Video output – Mini HDMI up to 4K @ 30 Hz […]