CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

May 11, 2018May 12, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Newport GW6400/GW6404 Arm SBC Comes with 5 Gigabit Ethernet Ports, 2 SFP Fiber Ports, and 4 mPCIe Sockets

Gateworks introduced their Newport SBC family based on Cavium Octeon TX Dual/Quad Core Arm processors at the end of last year, and the company has now announced the availability of the higher end models of their networking single board computers with Newport GW6400 & GW6404, which provide four mPCIe sockets for expansion, five Gigabit Ethernet ports, and in the case of GW6404, two optional SFP cages for fiber connections. GW6400 / GW6404 specifications: SoC GW6400 – Cavium OcteonTX CN8120 dual core processor up to 800MHz GW6404 – Cavium OcteonTX CN8130 quad core processor up to 1.5 GHz System Memory GW6400 – 1 GB DDR4 DRAM GW6404 – 2 GB DDR4 DRAM Storage – 8 GB eMMC Flash , micro SD card slot, serial configuration EEPROM Connectivity 5x GbE Ethernet ports GW6404 – Up to 2x optional SFP fiber ports (redirect of one or two of the RJ45 ports to SFP […]

May 10, 2018May 10, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

CrowPi is a Portable Learning Kit for Raspberry Pi 3 B+ / Zero Boards (Crowdfunding)

We have an embarrassment of choices for Raspberry Pi accessories from touchscreen displays, HAT add-ons boards, sensors, breadboard, and so on, as well as good software and support from Raspberry Pi forums. This is all good, but it can be messy with all those jumper cables, and not really portable. Elecrow has a neat solution with the CrowPi learning kit for Raspberry Pi 3 and Raspberry Pi Zero that come with a 7″ display, several sensors, buttons, a breadboard, and more all packed in a small suitcase. Main parts of the kit: 7″ touchscreen display Breadboard with GPIOs status LEDs Input modules – Light sensor, IR receiver, PIR motion sensor, sound sensor, temperature & humidity sensor, touch sensor, ultrasonic sensor, NFC reader, and tilt sensor Output modules – 8×8 LED matrix, 4-digit LED display, I2C LCD1602 display, buzzer, vibration motor, relay module, 9G servo, and stepper motor. Control modules – […]

May 10, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Wear OS by Google Developer Preview 2 Adds Actions on Google (AoG) Support and Power-related Enhancements

Google has released the second developer preview of Wear OS by Google – previously known as Android Wear – that adds support for Actions on Google (AoG) and power-related enhancements among other features. The release can be run in the Android Emulator, and firmware images have also been made available for Huawei Watch 2 Bluetooth / Classic Bluetooth. Google Assistant can now support visual cards, follow-on suggestion chips, and text-to-speech on Wear OS, and developers can make use of Actions on Google. The feature does not depend on Android P, and all Wear 2.0 watch will support it. The Android P developer preview, also includes an enhanced battery saver mode during which the watch shows a power-efficient face, and turns off radios, the touch screen, and tilt to wake. Users can check the time by pressing the side button, and get back to normal mode with a long press. In […]

May 10, 2018May 10, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Toradex Launches Apalis iMX8 Computer-on-Module based on NXP i.MX 8QuadMax SoC

Toradex Apalis iMX8 is another system-on-module powered by NXP i.MX 8QuadMax hexa core Arm Cortex A72 + 53 processor, which comes with 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, up to 16GB flash, and an on-board dual-band 802.11ac 2×2 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5 ready module. The company has just opened early access for selected customers, so it has become possible to start developing products with the MXM3 computer-on-module. Apalix i.MX8 module specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 8QuadMax hexa core processor with 2x Arm Cortex-A72 cores @ 1.6 GHz, 4x Arm Cortex-A53 cores @ 1.26 GHz, 2x Cortex-M4 real-time core @ 266 MHz, and dual Vivante GC7000XSVX GPU System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 (64 Bit) Storage – Up to 16GB eMMC flash On-module Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet via Microchip KSZ9031 transceiver with low power features Dual-band 802.11ac 2×2 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5 via Azurewave AW-CM276NF M.2 1216 LGA module Audio – NXP SGTL5000 low […]

May 10, 2018May 10, 2018 by Karl Johnson - 1 Comment

Two Interesting Projects on Github: Zigbee to MQTT bridge & “Deep Painterly Harmonization”

Hey Karl here. I thought I would try and showcase some GitHub projects that I run into that seem interesting or fun. This week I will start out with 2 projects. Zigbee to MQTT bridge The first one today is a Zigbee to MQTT bridge. Previously we did a couple articles with 433MHz bridges for home automation, a diy RF bridge and one by Sonoff. This bridge is similar but with Zigbee. Unfortunately 433MHz typically have one way communications, and when a message is sent there is no response and the system has to assume the message is received. Zigbee is a 2 way protocol and an acknowledgement can be sent back. The code is moving fast right now and blowing up my GitHub notices. It is a little bit of a mystery on how this works right now with the parts list, but seems to be working for some […]

May 9, 2018May 12, 2018 by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 13 Comments

Vorke V5 Plus Kaby Lake Mini PC Review with Windows 10 and Ubuntu 18.04

The Vorke V5 Plus mini PC just goes to show how initial impressions can be very misleading. Arriving in a plain manila-coloured box with the protection film on the top of the device starting to peal-off the minimalist contents only included a round-pin (European?) power supply and a small B&W ‘user’ manual. The mini PC has an Intel Celeron Processor 3865U from the Kaby Lake mobile range which is a dual-core (dual-thread) non-turbo 1.8GHz processor. However this SoC also includes an Intel HD Graphics 610 processor capable of 4K support at 60Hz through DisplayPort, although only 4K@24Hz on HDMI (1.4). Additionally the SoC supports DDR4 RAM in dual-channel configuration. The V5 Plus model which comes with both memory and storage although it is sold without them as a barebones V5 model. Physically the V5 looks similar to a NUC and the pre-populated V5 Plus included a single SODIMM stick of […]

May 9, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Microsoft Introduces Project Kinect for Azure

Kinect started as as motion sensing input device for Xbox 360 & One game consoles with an integrated webcam, infrared projector, and a microphone array, which enabled it to detect depth, motion, and voice from gamers. But it also become popular with maker projects due to price and capabilities, and was even found to be a worthy microphone array for voice commands. The third generation of Kinect went into Hololense mixed reality headset, and Microsoft has just unveiled the fourth generation Kinect with Project Kinect for Azure. AFAIK, the company did not provide the full technical details about the new Kinect, but we know it comes with an RGB camera, a 360-degree mic array, an accelerometer, and a time-of-flight (ToF) depth-sensor, and the company did offer some details about the latter : Number of pixels: 1024×1024 resolution Highest Figure of Merit (highest modulation frequency and modulation contrast resulting in low […]

May 9, 2018May 9, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Google ADT-2 is an Android TV Dongle for Developers

You may remember we covered a “4K ATV Stick” last month, as a mostly unknown manufacturer (Shenzhen SEI Robotics) applied for FCC certification, with the device featuring a large G marking, leading some to speculate it may be an upcoming Google device. At the time, I dismissed it, and believed if was just another Chinese “Android TV” or “Android” TV device, but Google has now released a similar looking Android device which probably means I was wrong… It’s not a consumer device however, and after Google ADT-1 Android TV developer kit launched in 2014, Google has now unveiled ADT-2 developer device that runs Android P developer preview with Google Assistant. ADT-2 OTT HDMI stick specifications: SoC- Amlogic S905X quad core Cortex A53 processor with Arm Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 8GB eMMC flash Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0a with HDCP 2.2 support Video Decoding […]