CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

September 11, 2019September 11, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 51 Comments

Rock Pi X Intel Cherry Trail Board to Sell for as low as $39

Most low cost (sub $100) single board computers are based on Arm processors because Intel processors are normally more expensive, but there are some exceptions with AAEON Up Board and Atomic Pi both powered by an Intel Atom x5-Z8350 processor and selling for $99 and $35 respectively. The former follows Raspberry Pi form factor and is easy to use, but the latter requires some more work to wire power supply unless you buy an extra baseboard. There should however soon be a third option for low-cost Intel SBCs with Radxa Rock Pi X board powered by an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 Cherry Trail processor and is expected to sell for as little as $39. Rock Pi X just showed up in Hackerboards database, and there will be two models, namely Rock Pi X model A and Rock Pi X model B with the following specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8300 “Cherry […]

September 11, 2019September 11, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

SKA100 Power Bank Supports 220/110V AC, 12V, and USB PD 3.0 / QC Outputs

Power banks are normally comprised of a battery that you can charge from the mains, and then delivers power over USB when you connect it to your smartphone, tablet or camera while on the go. Some devices like laptops, TVs, or fans are usually powered directly by the mains, or a power brick connected to the mains, and if you’d like to charge your devices on the go, you could do so with a portable AC power station. Those are often fairly bulky, but recently I’ve seen Arun showcase an AC 100 watt portable power station at IFA 2019 that looks fairly compact. It’s not available yet through, and there are few technical details. There are however several such power banks on Aliexpress including Sungzu SKA100 power bank that offers DC outputs and one 220V/110V AC output delivering up to 100 watts. SKA100 power bank specifications: Input Voltage Range – […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

September 11, 2019December 9, 2021 by Stephen Vicinanza - 8 Comments

Signet High-Capacity Thumbdrive Supports 2FA, Password & Secure Data Storage (Crowdfunding)

Signet HC Crowdfunding Started The latest version of the Signet thumbdrive is the Signet HC. The HC has a number of enhanced features and a lower price point, making it an attractive alternative to other high-security flash drives. The drive is high capacity storage, with secure storage technology, 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) token and encryption. It also has a password manager and enhanced database features. The company has started its crowdfunding campaign and there are several device quantity options and peripherals. Features of the Signet HC The Nth Dimension has announced the Signet HC recently, bringing to the forefront of its latest device, the all-in-one aspects of the drive’s capabilities. The Signet HC is certainly positioned to be one of the top featured, encrypted password protected, and 2FA storage devices of its size. The data on the drive is encrypted, and password protected and can be accessed through cross-platform […]

September 10, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Librem 5 & Pinephone Linux Smartphones to Launch This Fall

There are too highly anticipated Linux smartphones currently in development namely Purism Librem 5 and Pine64 Pinephone. The first one, based on NXP i.MX 8M processor is fairly pricey ($699) partly because of better specifications, but mostly because the company handles software development internally, while Allwinner A64 Pinephone has somewhat lower specifications, but a much lower $150 price tag as software development is done by the community. Neither phones are available, and until a few days ago there were no clear launch dates. This has now changed as Purism announced Librem 5 would start shipping on September 24, while Pinephone first batch is scheduled for mid-October, which should also be the date for the launch of pre-orders, and shipment will start in November. This sounds great, but be warned the first phones will be for enthusiasts who do not mind having a few defects and missing hardware/software features, and the […]

September 10, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

$70 NanoPi M4V2 SBC Gets 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, Power & Recovery Buttons

FriendlyELEC NanoPi M4 is a Rockchip RK3399 single board computer that follows Raspberry Pi 3 form factor, and was launched in a year ago for $65 with 2GB RAM, and $95 with 4GB RAM. Raspberry Pi 4 introduction brought some more competition, and helped the prices drop to $50 and $75 respectively. But now the company has launched a revision 2 of the board, NanoPi M4V2 that replaces LPDDR3 memory with faster LPDDR4 memory, adds power & recovery buttons, and the audio jack now also support microphone input. It’s only available with 4GB LPDDR4 memory, and the price is lower at $70. The rest of the specifications are mostly identical: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 big.LITTLE hexa-core processor with 2x Arm Cortex-A72 @ up to 2.0GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5GHz, a Mali-T864 GPU with support OpenGL ES1.1/2.0/3.0/3.1, OpenVG1.1, OpenCL, DX11, and AFBC, and a VPU with 4K VP9 and […]

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

Up2Stream Pro HiFi Audio Receiver Board Streams Audio over WiFi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, or USB

Last December, we wrote about Up2Stream WiFi audio module designed for people wanting to build their own DIY wireless speakers. The module is based on MediaTek MT7688AN MIPS processor with 64MB DDR2 and 16MB flash storage The module also comes with a small baseboard allowing for an easier connection to speakers. The company has now introduced Up2Stream Pro model based on the same module, but with a baseboard adding more features including Bluetooth, Ethernet, USB, and audio jacks. Up2Stream Pro key features and specifications: Audio Output – 3.5mm AUX jack and I2S header Input – 3.5mm AUX-in SNR: 91db THD: 0.03% Sample rate – 24bit up to 192kHz FLAC, Wav, and APE codec supported, but NOT SBC, APT-X, APT-X HD, or LDAC. Multiroom & Multizone support EQ control Connectivity – Ethernet, WiFi, and Bluetooth 5.0 Streaming Protocols – Airplay, DLNA, UPnP, Spotify Connect Compatible Services – Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, Qobuz, […]

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

September 10, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Intel NUC 8 Rugged Fanless NUC is Powered by an Intel Celeron N3350 Processor

Most Intel NUCs are cooled with a fan, and so far if you wanted a fanless NUC you had to purchase a third party enclosure. But Intel has been working on a new model named either “Chaco Canyon” NUC or Intel NUC 8 Rugged that’s both fanless and rugged. The fanless NUC is powered by a dual-core Intel Celeron N3350 Apolo Lake processor coupled with 4GB of RAM and a 64GB eMMC flash both of which are soldered to the board. You can add to storage thanks to an M.2 2280 slot with support for NVMe or SATA SSD’s. Intel NUC 8 Rugged specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N3350 dual-core processor clocked at 1.1 GHz / 2.4 GHz with Intel HD Graphics 500; 6W TDP System Memory – Dual-channel 4GB RAM soldered-down Storage – 64GB eMMC flash soldered-down, M.2 2280 key M slot for PCIe x4 NVME or SATA SSD […]

September 9, 2019 by Ayo Ayibiowu - 3 Comments

Daytripper Uses Laser Time-of-Flight Sensor to Hide Your Slacking Off From Your Boss

Have you ever run into that awkward situation where you were actively busy doing something totally off company’s duties on the computer and got caught red-handed, or an unknown intruder ventured into your privacy, and you got in this awkward unexplained situation. If yes, then you are not alone. Work could be boring sometimes, and some of us do like to take some steam off probably by playing some video games, watch funny videos, or do something outside the blues. It is nice until a superior or a colleague catches us doing that. One way to avoid this is by closely observing our surrounding while getting ourselves immersed but doesn’t always work well because it is super easy to slack off. Well, you don’t have to worry anymore thanks to an innovative project designed by dekuNukem called Daytripper. Daytripper is a laser tripwire that will help you automatically hide your […]