CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

July 24, 2018September 9, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Khadas Edge is Both a Standalone Board and a System-on-Module powered by Rockchip RK3399

One of the two most common type of Arm boards are single board computers with everything from processor to memory/storage to ports is placed on a single PCB, and system-on-modules with processor, memory and storage, and sometimes some extra chips with for network connectivity, audio and power management that are supposed to be inserted into a baseboard exposing connectors and headers. The upcoming Khadas Edge board is a little different since it combines both categories into one board with USB receptacles and HDMI output as well as 314-pin MXM3 edge connector to connect to Khadas Captain baseboard, or any other custom compatible baseboard. Khadas Edge will come in three variants (Basic/Pro/Max) with the following specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa core processor with 2x Arm Cortex-A72 up to 1.8GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 up to 1.5GHz, Arm Mali T864 GPU with support for OpenGL ES1.1/2.0/3.0/3.1, OpenVG1.1, OpenCL, DX11, VPU with4K VP9 and 4K […]

July 24, 2018June 8, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

NVIDIA Jetson TX2i Module is Designed for Industrial Environments

NVIDIA Jetson TX2 “Artificial Intelligence Computer” module was announced in March 2017 with a Tegra X2 hexa-core processor, a 256-core Pascal GPU, 8GB RAM, 32GB storage, and support for 4K 60 fps encoding and decoding. But it turns out NVIDIA announced an rugged version of the module dubbed Jetson TX2i designed for reliable operation in harsh industrial environments in March of this year. NVIDIA Jetson TX2 and TX2i are pin-to-pin compatible, and can run the same software, but TX2i has been designed and tested for rougher conditions. Feature Jetson TX2 Jetson TX2i Shock 140G, 2ms 140G, 2ms Vibration 10Hz ~200Hz, 1g & 2g RMS Random: 5g RMS 10 to 500Hz Sinusoidal: 5g RMS 10 to 500Hz Temp Range -25°C – 80°C -40°C – 85°C Humidity 85°C / 85% RH, 168 hours -10°C to 65°C / 95% RH, 240 hours Operating Life 5 Years (GB at 35C: MTBF=1,747,520 hours GF at […]

July 23, 2018July 25, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

MINIX NEO C Plus is a 9-Port USB-C Adapter with Dual HDMI Output

Hong Kong based MINIX Technology Limited is better known for their Android TV boxes and WIndows mini PCs, but the company also makes accessories for computers, and their latest product is MINIX NEO C Plus, a multi-port USB-C adapter providing 9 interfaces including two HDMI output ports capable of 4K UHD resolution at 30 Hz. MINIX NEO C Plus specifications: Input – USB type C port Ports / Interfaces 2x HDMI up to 4K @ 30 Hz for triple mirror or dual extend mode. Gigabit Ethernet 3x USB 3.0 ports (5Gbps) 1x USB type C port for power delivery Micro SD card and SD card readers The downside is that – for some reasons – the dual 4K HDMI display support, and triple mirror / dual extend modes are only available for Mac OS. It should also be noted that the HDMI displays connected to the adapter can only display the […]

July 23, 2018July 23, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Rockchip RK3308 & RK3326 Datasheets Released

Rockchip unveiled their first Arm Cortex-A35 processors with RK3326 “Gemini” and RK3308 SoCs last March. Both are designed for Smart AI solutions, and the company showcased two development kits for smart speakers and smart displays based on the new processors. We’ve already known the basic details for the processors for some times, with for example RK3326 featuring a Mali-G31 Dvalin GPU, but I’ve now been informed more details have surfaced since Rockchip published documentations including datasheets. Rockchip RK3308 Key features and specifications: CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 64-bit Armv8-A CPU with NEON, ARMv8 Cryptography Extensions, 256KB unified system L2 cache, and VFPv4 FPU, System Memory – 256KB internal SRAM, support for DDR2, DDR3/DDR3L, LPDDR2 external memory up to 512MB Storage Internal BootROM OTP – Support 4K bit Size, 3.5K bit for secure application External I/F – 8-bits Asynchronism Nand Flash, eMMC 5.1, SPI Nor/Nand Flash, SD Card all bootable; System […]

July 23, 2018July 23, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 36 Comments

Bootlin Releases Open Source VPU Driver for Allwinner Processors with MPEG2 and H.264 Video Decoding

allwinner-open-source-vpu-drivers-mpeg2-h264

At the beginning of the year, Bootlin – formerly Free Electrons – launched a crowdfunding campaign to bring open source Allwinner VPU driver to mainline Linux. VPU (Video Processing Unit) drivers are used to encode and decode videos. They were successfully in raising enough money from small donors, as well as several companies manufacturing Allwinner development boards including Olimex, Pine64, Libre Computer, FriendlyELEC, and Xunlong Software (Orange Pi). The amount raised (€31,612) was enough to assign two engineers to work on the main goals, as well as some stretch goals namely support for newer Allwinner H3, H5, and A64 processors, and H.265 video decoding. The good news is the company has now delivery the first release for their work on the main goals. The photo above illustrated a demo of Kodi running with bootlin open source Cedrus VPU driver on top of Linux 4.18-rc kernel. Both MPEG2 and H264 are […]

July 22, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite Android One Phone Now Up for Pre-order for $181.99 and up

Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite is the successor of Xiaomi Mi A1 smartphone, which will also run the latest Android 8 Oreo firmware, and receive regular firmware updates for at least 18 months since it’s part of Android One program. Mi A2 Lite phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor coupled with 3 to 4GB RAM, and 32 to 64GB storage. It will officially be announced on July 24th together with its big brother Xiaomi Mi A2 powered by Snapdragon 660 processor and a larger 5.99″ display, but some companies are already taking pre-order with Banggood starting at $199.99, and GeekBuying offering it for $181.99 shipped and up.. Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 octa core Arm Cortex A53 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz with Adreno 506 GPU System Memory – 3GB or 4GB RAM Storage – 32GB or 64GB RAM, micro SD card […]

July 21, 2018July 21, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 34 Comments

Pi-Zero-UpTime is an UPS for Raspberry Pi Boards and Clones

Since for a headless Raspberry Pi it makes no sense to use a large UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) to keep it running in case of power failure, I bought and tested a Raspberry Pi battery kit a couple of years ago. The kit included an acrylic case, a battery charging board, and LiPo battery and it worked most of the time as a UPS. “Most of the time” means the switch from mains to battery would not occur fast enough maybe 10% of the time (it depends on the load), so the Raspberry Pi board would reboot. The kit also did not include a GPIO / I2C interface to report the charge level of the battery, so you would not be able to safely power the board when the battery is almost fully depleted. In recent years, it’s become more and more difficult to get batteries shipped from overseas, so […]

July 20, 2018July 20, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Xiaomi Mi Box International Sold for $49.99 Shipped (Promo)

Xiaomi Mi Box (International) is one of the recommended TV boxes as it runs the official Android TV OS with support for Netflix and Amazon Prime HD/4K, and normally sells around $60. But Banggood currently has a promotion until July 24, 2018, where it offers the TV box for just $49.99 shipped. Stocks are limited to around 100 units for this promotion however. The device was released in 2016, so a little reminder of the specifications is in order: SoC – Amlogic S905X-H quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5 GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDCP 2.2 and CEC support Audio Output – HDMI, optical S/PDIF and 3.5mm audio jack Video Codecs – VP9 Profile-2 & H.265 MP-10 up to 4K @ 60 fps, […]