CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

June 18, 2019October 4, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Launching Embedded Systems Jobs Board and Company Database

CNX Software writes news, reviews and tutorials about embedded systems, open source, or other topics useful to makers and companies, so we thought it might be useful to get a place where embedded systems companies can be listed and publish related jobs. For that reason, we’ve now designed and launched an embedded systems jobs board in order to help companies find employees or freelancers that can help them achieve their goals. Even if companies have no open positions right now, they are invited to add themselves to the list of companies as they may also be contacted by prospective customers if they wish too. Please, only relevant companies, as we reserve the right to delete entry’s for your spouse’s hair salon or bakery ;). Once a company is registered they can post jobs in one of five categories: Hardware, Software, Support & Documentation, Manufacturing, and Sales & Marketing. Let me […]

June 18, 2019 by Karl Johnson - 11 Comments

Review of SainSmart Genmitsu CNC Router 3018-MX3

Hey Karl here. Back in September of 2018 I reviewed the Sainsmart Genmitsu 3018 Pro. Sainsmart has now further upgraded the 3018 and asked for a review of it. Let’s take a look at the changes and the evolution of the 3018 and see if the increase in price is worth it. You can find the original 3018 on sale for about $200. The pro version can be found for about $250, and the CNC Router 3018-MX3 for $350. I won’t go into too much detail like I did in the previous review. I suggest reading the pro version after reading this one. Most of the experiences and solutions apply to this version. Build Building the CNC Router 3018-MX3 was a breeze. The instructions are fantastic. I struggled a little bit to read the small booklet that came with the kit and afterwards I found a PDF on the Sainsmart […]

June 17, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Dakota DR40X9 Wave-2 AC Router Board is Based on Qualcomm QCA4019/QCA4029 WiSoC

Dakota DR40X9 QCA4019/QCA-4029 Wave-2 AC Router Board

Qualcomm is mostly known for its Snapdragon processors for mobile devices and wearables, but the company is also making WiFi chipsets via their (previously) “Atheros” family. Some of their latest WiFi SoCs are IPQ4019 and IPQ4029 (aka QCA4019/QCA4029) Wave-2 802.11ac “Dakota” SoCs for routers, gateways, and access points. We recently covered the official Qualcomm mesh networking devkit powered by IPQ4019 processor, but there are now third parties also offering solutions based on QCA40x9 processor such as Dakota DR40X9 Wave-2 AC router board. Dakota DR40X9 board specifications: SoC (one of the other) Dakota DR4019 -Qualcomm IPQ4019 quad-core Arm Cortex A7 processor @ 717 MHz with 802.11ac Wave 2 WiFi Dakota DR4029 – Qualcomm IPQ4029 quad-core Arm Cortex A7 processor @ 717 MHz with 802.11ac Wave 2 WiFi System Memory- 256MB~512MB DDR Storage – 2MB~32MB NOR Flash, 128MB NAND Flash, microSD card slot Connectivity Wired Dual 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45) 1x optional […]

June 17, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Perf-V is another FPGA based RISC-V Development Board

There are already some RISC-V development boards with silicon featuring RISC-V instruction set such as SiFive’s HiFive1 or Kendryte KD233 board. But beauty of RISC-V is that you can customize the instructions set, and if that’s your goal, an FPGA board provides the flexibility you need. While in theory you could use pretty much any FPGA board with enough logic elements, it may help to get started with boards that are designed for this purpose since the company already ported a RISC-V core to their platform and you can start from there. We’ve already covered a few of those including LicheeTang and Fomu boards, as well as ARIES M100PF PolarFire FPGA system-on-module. Today, I’ve come across another of those RISC-V FPGA board. Meet Perf-V board with the following specifications: FPGA – Xilinx Artix-7 XC7A35T-1FTG256C with 33280 Logic Cells, 90 DSP, 41600 CLBs, 1800 Kbit Block RAM, and 5 CMTs; Optional […]

June 17, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

KB-IDE Open Source IDE Supports ESP-IDF, Arduino, and Visual Programming for ESP32 Boards

We’ve previously written about MakerAsia when covering their KBX Extension case for Kidbright ESP32 educational board. The company has now launched a new product, but it’s not an hardware platform, and instead KB-IDE is an open IDE (Integrated Development Environment) ESP32 boards. The IDE is suitable whatever your level from kids getting started with supports visual programming, to Arduino programming, and even the official Espressif ESP-IDF framework for more experienced makers. The IDE comes with with a Board Manager, a Plugins System and works with any Arduino Library out of the box. Made with Vue.js framework, KB-IDE is open source with the code available on Github. You can install a binary release, or build it from source for Windows, Linux, or Mac OS. Since it’s open source, it’s also expandable so makers can customize it, for instance by adding new architectures (AVR and ARM are already planned), new boards, creating […]

June 16, 2019June 16, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

Reolink Argus Eco Review – A Sub-$100 Solar Powered Security Camera

Reolink Argus Eco IP Camera Wall Mounted

I’ve been thinking about installing one or more IP camera in my home for a while, and for ease of installation and considering I’m renting, my preference was to go with one of those battery IP cameras similar to Amazon (Immedia) Blink IP camera or Eufy EverCam security camera that last six months to one year on a single charge. But earlier this year I came across Reolink Argus 2 battery powered security camera that looks like good value at $100, and also came with an optional solar panel so you don’t have to ever charge the camera. The company latter contacted me to know whether I’d be willing to try out their latest Reolink Argus Eco camera with similar features but an even lower $89.99 price tag. I got my sample a few weeks ago, and I had time to install it, and play around with the camera during […]

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

June 15, 2019June 22, 2019 by Stephen Vicinanza - 10 Comments

TH3D EZBoard Lite Board Upgrades Ender and Creality CR-10 3D Printers

The basic setup of Creality 3D’s very popular Ender and CR-10 series 3D printers now have a drop-in board upgrade that is poised to rival printers that cost many times more than the Creality models. The original board only utilizes the ATmega2560 microcontroller, the A4988 stepper motor drives, with those cheap Chinese capacitors. The board runs Marlin 1.x open source firmware. This setup is very close to the Arduino Mega 2560 and the RepRap RAMPS 1.4 board which are some of the most common and simplest board combinations in the world. The upgrade from TH3D, is the EZBoard Lite, makes some very important changes to the overall board ability, scalability and functionality. The physical process of upgrade is simple and easy. The outcome is an increase in speed and functionality that is comparable to 3D printers costing 5 to 10 times as much. Features Easy Drop-In Installation No Soldering No […]

June 14, 2019June 14, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

DM&P Vortex86EX2 Dual Core Processor Targets Dual OS Systems, Support ISA & PCI Interfaces

Most people will probably think about Intel and AMD when asked about x86 processors, at least those who understand the question… But there are also other companies such as Zhaoxin (based on VIA Technologies designs) and DM&P. Last time I wrote about the latter was in 2015 with the introduction of DM&P Vortex86DX3 dual-core x86 SoC for embedded systems and the corresponding evaluation board. The company is still making new x86 processors, and I’ve just been information the company unveiled Vortex86EX2 dual-core processor last year with master and slave cores suitable for running two operating systems at the same time without the need for virtualization, nor hypervisor. The new processor still supports ISA & PCI interfaces for legacy expansion cards and targets real-time industrial or automation applications. DM&P Vortex86EX2 specifications: Processor Cores Master @ 600MHz max with Build-in FPU L1/L2 Cache for user interface Slave @ 400MHz max with Build-in […]