CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

June 20, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Obsidian ESP32 Board Follows Raspberry Pi Model A Form Factor (Crowdfunding)

When Thomas McKahan‏ had been playing with ESP32 for a while, he found the need to use Raspberry Pi HAT boards and enclosure with his new hardware, so he went ahead and designed his own ESP32 board compatible with Raspberry Pi accessories, and following the smaller Raspberry Pi Model A / 3 Model A+ form factor. Obsidian ESP32 specifications: Wireless module – Espressif Systems ESP32-WROVER-B 802.11 b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth 4.2 / BLE module with 16 MB flash, 8 MB PSRAM USB – 1x micro USB port for power and programming Audio – 3.5mm TRS audio jack connected to ESP32 DACs Expansion 40-pin GPIO header compatible with popular HAT expansion boards with 3.3 V signalling, I²S for audio DAC, I²C and SPI, Serial UART available on header or via microUSB, I²C GPIO expander with interrupts & address selection 8-pim unpopulated header from remaining I/Os accessible through GPIO expander 5-pin unpopulated […]

June 20, 2019June 20, 2019 by Javier Longares - 5 Comments

$99 MikroTik RB450Gx4 Router is based on Qualcomm IPQ4019 SoC

A few days ago, we covered Dakota DR40X9 Wave-2 AC router board powered by Qualcomm QCA4019/QCA4029 SoC, but we were informed about MikroTik RB450Gx4, an Ethernet router with five Gigabit Ethernet ports, a serial port, two power jacks, and a microSD card slot that is also based on the 4-core Qualcomm IPQ4019 SoC. Mikrotik has used this SoC as the heart of its RB450Gx4 Router Board. It has 5 Ethernet ports, one of them able to power the board by means of Power-On-Ethernet (PoE), and another port can be used as PoE output. In addition, it may be powered from 2 DC Jacks. Router price is 99$, making it a great choice for 5 ports, PoE enabled router with a great SoC which allows to use Mikrotik Router OS firmware or to install a Linux distribution, like OpenWrt. Additionally, it provides PCB temperature and voltage monitoring. MikroTik RB450Gx4 Router specifications: […]

June 19, 2019June 21, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

MINIX NEO S1 & S2 Combine SSD and USB-C Hub into a Single Device

MINIX has sold accessories for mini PCs for a little while, and last year I wrote a short review for MINIX NEO C Plus USB-C adapter with dual HDMI output, Ethernet, USB ports, and microSD and SD card slots. The company is apparently about to launch two new USB-C hubs that come with built-in SSD storage. MINIX NEO S1 & S2 USB-C hub include respectively a 120GB and 240GB SSD, and while they are not yet listed on MINIX website, GearBest is offering the two new accessories for $84.99 and $97.99 with shipping scheduled for early July. MINIX NEO S1/S2 specifications: Storage – Built-in 120GB or 240GB SSD storage up to 415MB/s read speed and 400MB/s write speed Video Output – HDMI up to 4K @ 30Hz USB – 2x USB 3.0 ports, USB-C port for power delivery only, USB-C cable to connect to laptop, computer or board. Misc – […]

June 19, 2019October 29, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Winston Privacy Filter Lets You Browse the Web Anonymously, Ad-free & Tracking-free (Crowdfunding)

More and more people are worried about their privacy online, so products and solutions aiming to protect people against tracking, targeted ads, cookies, and various other threat have been popping up. Fingbox and Firewalla are such devices, but their hardware may be limited, and software solutions like PiHole are also an option, but may not be suitable for everyone. Winston privacy filter is another plug-and-play solution, but based on an actual network processor, namely a Marvell ARMADA dual core Arm Cortex-A53 SoC, that should make sure your network performance is not impacted, and even provides a boost of performance for most visited websites due to the resources that are being blocked out. Winston “privacy filter” hardware specifications: SoC – Marvell ARMADA dual core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.0 GHz with security and data acceleration engines System Memory – 1GB DDR4 @ 800 MHz Storage – TBD Networking – Dual Gigabit […]

June 19, 2019June 19, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 60 Comments

$9.9 ROCK Pi S is a Tiny SBC Powered by Rockchip RK3308 Processor

Radxa launched their low cost ($40) Rock Pi 4 SBC powered by Rockchip RK3399 processor a little over 18 months ago. If you are subscribed to their mailing list, the company has now sent an email entitled “ROCK Pi Summer Updates 2019” (no link available) that reports about v1.4 of the board with 4MB SPI flash onboard, an external WiFi antenna connector, and various other small changes, as well as the announcement of RockPi PoE HAT to power the board from an Ethernet cable, and an USB 3.0 eMMC card reader. But what particularly caught my attention in the email was a new tiny single board computer powered by Rockchip RK3308 Cortex-A35 processor: Rock Pi S selling for as low as $9.9 with 256MB RAM, and targetting headless IoT & smart voice applications. Rock Pi S board specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3308 quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 processor with built-in VAD (Voice […]

June 19, 2019June 19, 2019 by Stephen Vicinanza - No Comments

Snapmaker 2.0 is a 3-in-1 3D Printer, CNC and Laser Engraver (Crowdfunding)

The Snapmaker 2.0 is going to hit the market very soon, and it comes with a modular design and functionality to rival the high-priced all-in-one 3D printers, but comes at a very reduced price point. The company was featured on KickStarter and was fully funded within just a few days. Snapmaker 2.0 has many features and upgrades from the earlier model. The Snapmaker 2.0 comes in 3 models, the A150, A250 and the A350 and the main differences are in the build scalability. Respectively the build volumes range from 164x160x160mm which at the smallest range, it is already larger than the original Snapmaker, up to 320x350x330mm. These 3D printer models will carry a different pricing structure, but still in the modest range for a 3-in-1 3D printer with the A150 at $719, the A250 at $899 and the A350 at $1079, for preorder on Kickstarter. The Kickstarter price is […]

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

June 19, 2019 by Tiwalade Joanna Okedara - 2 Comments

DJI Launches RoboMaster S1 Education Robot

DJI is one of the world’s leading technology companies. They specialize in the manufacturing of high-end drones and other innovative and creative techs. Recently they announced the launch of their new product, Robomaster S1 education robot. The game-changing educational robot uses innovative hands-on learning, this makes it fun and smart. Furthermore, the new S1, which is a lot different from what DJI makes, is packed with a lot of features. This educational robot allows users to learn and understand science, math, physics, programming, and more. Although the official selling price of the S1 is $499, most resellers are expecting to sell it at a higher price. Resellers will sell it at about $699, which is a big difference from the official price. When CNX Software spoke to one of the resellers, they mentioned the reason for the high price, stating that “suppliers did not provide the RoboMaster S1’s cost” so […]

June 18, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

M.4 SSD with PCIe 3.0 x8 Interface Showcased at Computex 2019

M.2 SSD’s are now pretty common and rely on either SATA or PCIe interface, but apparently there’s a new form factor with an M.4 SSD showcased at the recent Computex 2019 exhibition, and with Silicon Motion SM2270 controller leveraging a PCIe 3.0 x8 interface for up to 3,200 MB/s sustained sequential reads, 2,800 MB/s sustained sequential writes, as well as up to 800K/200K IOPS for respectively 4K read/write random operations. Spotted by Anandtech at the event, Agylstor’s M.4 NVMe SSD come with the following specifications: Silicon Motion SM2270 controller with a three dual-core Arm Cortex-R5 processors with 2KB LDPC error correction and 16 NAND channels with 8 CE per channel (128 CE in total) Host Interface – PCIe Gen3 x8 Command Protocol – NVMe 1.3 Max Capacity – 16TB Anandtech explains the M.4 SSD is essentially two M.2 SSDs glued together with (8) NAND packages on each side of the […]

Boardcon LGA3576 Rockchip RK3576 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications