CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

February 12, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

GIGABYTE MZGLKAI is an Industrial Mini-ITX Motherboard Powered by an Intel Gemini Lake Processor

Last month, we got news of Gemini Lake motherboards by ASRock, and GIGABYTE. The former provided decent technical details about their boards, but the latter basically published a more-or-less useless press release about their upcoming J/N motherboards (e.g. J4005N D2P) with very few technical details. The company has now introduced MZGLKAI industrial mini-ITX motherboard featuring an Intel Celeron J4105 core Gemini Lake processor, dual Gigabit Ethernet, five SATA ports, plenty of COM ports, and more. GIGABYTE MZGLKAI (9MZGLKAINR-S) specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J4105 quad core processor @ 1.50/2.5 GHz with 12EU Intel UHD Graphics 600 up to 750 MHz; 10W TDP System Memory – 2x DDR4 1.2V SO-DIMM slots up to 2400Mhz, 8GB max. Storage – 5x SATA III 6Gbps including 4x via Marvell 88SE9230, 1x from J4105 with SATA DOM support; 3x SATA power connectors Video Output / Display I/F HDMI 2.0a port up to 3840×2160 @ 60 Hz […]

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

Monitor Network Traffic per Process with Nethogs

Yesterday I wrote about using 3G on Raspberry Pi board, and one of the commenter mentioned higher traffic than expected when connecting to 3G to just send a few bytes before disconnecting. One of the reasons are the extra data needed if you transmit data over a secure connection, for example establishing a PPP connection, connect to the board over SSH, and disconnect, results in the transmission & reception of a few kilobytes on my board:

Connect time 1.9 minutes. 
Sent 5815 bytes, received 6972 bytes.

1 2	Connect time 1.9 minutes. Sent 5815 bytes, received 6972 bytes.

But if you get much more traffic than that, you may want to investigate if another package may transfer data when it detects the connection is up. To analyze traffic, tcpdump and Wireshark are good options, especially if you want to look into the packets data, however such tools do not tell you which process is sending or receiving the data. So I searched whether I could find a program that would do […]

February 11, 2018October 22, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

How to Use 3G and GPS on Raspberry Pi with ThaiEasyElec 3G HAT Expansion Board

Venus Supply is an embedded systems company based in Bangkok, Thailand that sells products through their ThaiEasyElec website/brand, as well as a act as a local distributor for popular DIY electronics items. I previously tested their ESPino32 ESP32 board, and the company has now send me another of their new product called “3G HAT Expansion for Raspberry Pi” and based on Quectel UC20-G that support 3G and GPS/GLONASS connectivity globally, meaning it should work in any country with 2G or 3G coverage. After listing the specifications, going through unboxing and assembly with a Raspberry Pi 2/3 board, I’ll write some quick start guide to show what I had to do to use GPS and connect to 3G with a Hologram SIM card. 3G HAT Expansion for Raspberry Pi Specifications Quectel UC20-G wireless module supporting Cellular 3G – UMTS @ 800/850/900/1900/2100 MHz 2G – GSM @ 850/900/1800/1900 MHz Data – HSPA+ […]

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

Open Source Software Releases – VLC 3.0 and Android-x86 7.1-r1

Two completely unrelated open source projects have released a stable version of their software this week, but instead of writing a post for each I’ll write about them in a single post. VLC 3.0 Vetinari VLC developers have just released version 3.0 – codenamed Vetinari – of the popular media player with new features such as ChromeCast support, and 8K video playback. Other highlights from the release include: Hardware decoding enabled by default to get 4K and 8K playback 10-bit and HDR support (only on Windows 10 Fall Creators Update for now) 360 video and 3D audio, up to Ambisoncics 3rd order Allows audio passthrough for HD audio codecs Can play Blu-Ray Java menus: BD-J Browsing of local network drives and NAS VLC 3.0 is also the first major version to be released for all platforms at the same time, and you can download VLC 3.0 for Windows, Mac OS […]

February 9, 2018July 4, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Raspberry Pi 3 Sold for $29.95 on DFRobot (Promo)

As I browsed various sites checking out new arrivals and potential promotion, I found out DFRobot has now a promotion for the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B board for $29.95 apparently taking place between the 8th and 10th of each month (not only February). I added it to my cart to check out shipping to my address, and unless you can pick it up to their office, shipping adds $6, for a total of $35.95 shipped. Whether that is worth it depends where on your locale price and custom regulations. DFRobot does offer free (DHL) shipping for order over $150, but you can’t just buy 5 Raspberry Pi 3 boards at the discounted price, since the special offer apply to “one only one piece of Pi 3”, so you’d have to purchase something else from their website if you don’t want to pay for shipping. Nevertheless, even if you have […]

February 9, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

SocioNext MN87900 is a Really Tiny 24 GHz Radio Wave Radar Module for the Internet of Things

In the past, we covered tiny microwave radar modules operating at 5.8 GHz and measuring just 32 x 23 mm. Those modules are normally used to detect motion, distance, and/or direction of movement. Socionext has now introduced MN87900, a single low-power single-chip 24 GHz radio wave IoT sensor solution that even smaller at just 12x7mm with the chip, Tx and Rx antennas, crystal, and 40-pin to solder the module to your board. The solution targets IoT equipments, security systems, smart home appliances, autonomous vehicles and drones, medical devices, and more. SocioNext MN87900 key specifications: Sensor Type – CW, FSKCW, FMCW (moving or stationary) Detection Motion direction – approaching or leaving Motion speed – up to 200 km/h Range – 0.15 to 8 meters 80°@-3dB, expandable to 30 meters with a radome horn, a metal shield that narrows the field of view. Variable frequency width – 24.15±0.1 GHz Transmission Power – […]

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

Ticwatch S / E Android Wear Smartwatches are Powered by Mediatek MT2601 SoC

Android Wear is normally used in products from larger companies such as Huawei, LG, or ASUS. In the past, some smaller companies claimed to have designed their own Android Wear smastrwatch with approval from Google, but eventually their products went nowhere, even though one was listed on some sellers as a pre-order. But last summer, Mobvoi launched a Kickstarter campaign for their Ticwatch S & E smartwatches powered by Android Wear, and they managed to raise over $3 millions dollars from close to 20,000 backers with pledges starting at $99. The watches can now be purchased online for $127.99 and up from sites like Amazon, GeekBuying, GearBest, or directly from Mobvoi store. Ticwatch S (Sport) and E (Express) share many of the same features, but Ticwatch E is a bit lighter and more elegant, while Ticwatch S comes with a breathable band design with an integrated GPS antenna. Specifications: SoC […]

February 8, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

T-bao Tbook X8S Pro Apollo Lake Laptop is Equipped with an NVIDIA Geforce GPU

Most products based on Intel Apollo Lake processor do so to leverage the low cost and low power of the chip that also embeds Intel HD graphics removing the need for an external graphics card. But T-bao Tbook X8S Pro laptop powered by Intel Celeron J3455 Apollo Lake “Desktop” processor also comes with an NVIDIA GeForce 920M GPU which should boost graphics performance. Tbook X8S Pro specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J3455 quad core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.50 / 2.30 GHz with (unused) 12EU Intel HD Graphics 500; 10W TDP GPU – NVIDIA GeForce 920M @ 954 MHz with 2GB RAM System Memory – 6GB DDR3 Storage – 128GB eMMC flash or M.2 SSD (unclear), micro SD card slot up to 128 GB Display – 15.6″ IPS screen with 1920×1080 resolution Video Output – HDMI output Audio – Built-in microphone, and stereo speakers; 3.5mm audio jack Connectivity – Gigabit […]