CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

December 17, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Kontron pITX-iMX8M Industrial Pico-ITX Motherboard is Powered by NXP i.MX8M Processor

We’ve had a fair amount of boards and modules based on NXP i.MX 8M dual or quad core Cortex A53 processor this year, including one pico-ITX motherboard with F&S Elektronik ArmStone MXM8 supporting up to 8GB RAM. Another i.MX 8M pico-ITX board will soon be launch courtesy of Kontron. pITX-iMX8M will also features the dual or quad core version of the processor, but will differ thanks to the presence of dual Gigabit Ethernet, mini DP and HDMI video outputs, an M.2 PCIe/USB 3.0 socket, and built-in TPM 2.0 security. Kontron pITX-iMX8M preliminary specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Dual or QuadLite Arm Cortex A53 processor @ up to 1.5 GHz, Arm Cortex-M4 real-time core, and Vivante GC7000Lite GPU with support for OpenGL/Es 3.1, OpenGL 3.0, Vulkan System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 64GB eMMC 5.1 flash, micro SD card / SIM slot combo Video Output – mini DisplayPort, HDMI […]

December 17, 2018December 21, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

HOMTOM C1 Android Go Smartphone Sells for $65

Android Go is a lightweight version of Android operating system launched by Google targeting low end smartphones with the OS & apps optimized for low memory and storage. Smartphones with the latest Android 9 Go Edition were expected around Q4 2018 with further storage optimization, better security, and faster boot time. It’s unclear whether the just launched HOMTOM C1 Android Go edition features the Android 9 version, as all screenshots appear to show Android 8 Go Edition. But eventually it might get a firmware update, and it’s now sold for around $65 shipped on Aliexpress. HOMTOM C1 specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT6580A quad core Cortex A7 processor @ up to 1.3 GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot up to 128GB Display – 5.5″ touchscreen display with 1280×640 resolution Cellular Connectivity Dual SIM dual standby SIM card socket for […]

Graperain Samsung, Rockchip RK3588, and Qualcomm CPU modules, SBCs, and carrier boards

December 17, 2018December 17, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

MIPI I3C Basic v1.0 Specification Released Publicly

The MIPI Alliance announced MIPI I3C sensor interface around 2 years ago, as a backward compatible update to the popular I2C interface with with lower power consumption, and much higher bitrate (up to 33.3 Mbps) allowing it to compete with SPI for many applications. The organization also released a technical paper giving us some insights into I3C, but the full specification was, and still is, only available to the MIPI alliance members with dues starting at $4,000 per year. It’s not ideal if you have to work on standard, and are not a member, so the MIPI Alliance has recently published MIPI I3C Basic, a subset of the main I3C specification that is available under royalty-free terms and without the need for a MIPI membership. MIPI I3C Basic v1.0 includes 20 of MIPI I3C’s most commonly needed capabilities, and provides developers with documentation allowing then to upgrade from I2C and […]

December 16, 2018December 16, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

GPD Pocket 2 Amber Black is a Cheaper Mini laptop with Celeron 3965Y Processor

GPD introduced their latest Pocket 2 mini laptop via a crowdfunding campaign last summer. The device packs a Intel Core m3-7y30 Kaby Lake processor coupled with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, as well as 7″ 1920×1200 display. It’s great if you need an ultra-mobile computer with decent performance, especially it also comes with an HDMI port to connect to a larger display when you sit at a desk, but you’d have to pay around $700 to get one on Amazon, GeekBuying, or other websites. The company has now launched a cheaper version called “GPD Pocket 2 Amber Black” that goes for $435 and up on Indiegogo. The design is pretty much the same, but price for this version is quite cheaper thanks to the switch to a Celeron 3965Y processor, and 4GB RAM. Performance will be somewhat lower, but according to the company you’ll also gain 2 hours of battery life […]

December 15, 2018December 15, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 31 Comments

Intel Unveils Foveros “big.SMALL” Hybrid x86 Processor, Roadmap for Atom Processors

Intel Foveros Hybrid Processor-Development-Board

Once upon a time Intel manufactured mobile processors for smartphones and tablets, but they eventually gave up as their solutions failed to gain traction. However, it looks like they may be back, as one customers required them to developer a chip with higher performance than Atom processors combined with a 2 mW standby power state. The chip was developed using “Foveros” 3D stacking technology was showcased at Intel’s Architecture Day 2018, but before going into further details, let’s have a look at Atom and Core processors roadmap to 2023 unveiled at the event. First, Intel will have developed three new Atom micro-architectures going into 2023. As we’ve seen previously, Tremont will succeed Goldmont Plus microarchitecture found in Gemini Lake and Denverton processors, and improve single-threaded performance, network server performance, and battery life starting in 2019. Around 2021, Gracemont will be launched with again higher single-thread performance and frequency, as well […]

December 14, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

MediaTek Helio P90’s APU 2.0 Quadruples AI Performance

Mediatek has launched another of their Helio P-series processor. We’ve gotten used to getting incremental improvements when it comes with CPU and GPU performance, but now companies are able to deliver massive improvement for neural network accelerators, and MediaTek Helio P90 can deliver four times (4.6x) the A.I. performance over Helio P60/P70 thanks to its APU 2.0. MediaTek Helio P90 key features & specifications: CPU – 2x Arm Cortex-A75 processors @ 2.2GHz and 6x Arm Cortex-A55 processors @ 2.0GHz using DynamIQ technology GPU – Imagination PowerVR GM 9446 GPU @ 970 MHz NPU – MediaTek APU 2.0 fusion AI architecture with 1127 GMACs (2.25TOPs) MediaTek CorePilot for sustainable peak performance, longer battery life and lower operating temperature System Memory – Up to 8GB of LPDDR4x memory @ 1866MHz Storage – UFS 2.1 Display – Full HD+ (2520×1080) resolution, 21:9 aspect ratio Camera Up to 48MP single camera or 24+16MP dual […]

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

December 13, 2018December 12, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

BOOM Open Source RISC-V Core Runs on Amazon EC2 F1 Instances

The Berkeley Out-of-Order Machine (BOOM) is an open source RV64G RISC-V core written in the Chisel hardware construction language, and mainly ASIC optimized. However, it is also usable on FPGAs, and developers support the FireSim flow to run BOOM at over 90 MHz on Xilinx Ultrascale+ FPGAs found in Amazon EC2 F1 instances. The BOOM core was created at the University of California, Berkeley in the Berkeley Architecture Research group, in order to create a high performance, synthesizable, and parameterizable core for architecture research. Key features of BOOM core: ISA – RISC-V (RV64G) Synthesizable FPGA support Parameterized Floating Point (IEEE 754-2008) Atomic Memory Op Support Caches & Virtual Memory Boots Linux Privileged Arch v1.11 External Debug BOOM is said to be inspired by the MIPS R10k and the Alpha 21264 out–of–order processors, based on a unified physical register file design (aka as “explicit register renaming”). The source code for the […]

December 12, 2018December 12, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

TP-Link Archer 802.11ax WiFi 6 Routers Sell for $350 and Up

After NETGEAR and ASUS 802.11.ax WiFi routers introduction earlier this year, TP-Link has now launched their own WiFi 6 routers with Archer AX6000 and Archer AX11000 models. The latter will only be available at the end of January 2019, and full details have not been disclosed yet, but Archer AX6000 has already launched (pre-orders only) and specifications, pricing, and other details are known. TP-Link Archer AX6000 specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM49408 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ up to 1.8 GHz with network packet co-processor WiFi co-processors – 2x Broadcom BCM43684 802.11ax radios System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 128MB Flash Networking Wired 8x 1000/100/10Mbps LAN Ports 1x 2500/2000/1000/100Mbps WAN Port WiFi IEEE 802.11ax/ac/n/a 5GHz up to 4804Mbps IEEE 802.11ax/n/b/g 2.4GHz up to 1148 Mbps Wireless Functions – Enable/Disable Wireless Radio, Guest network, DFS, MU-MIMIO, OFDMA Wireless security – 64/128-bit WEP, WPA/WPA2, WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK encryptions 8x High-Performance External Antennas USB […]