CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

July 22, 2017July 22, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Sonoff G1 AC Powered Smart Power Switch Works Over 2G GSM/GPRS

Today, I’ve searched for AC powered wireless switched similar to Sonoff devices, but with ESP32 instead in order to get WiFi and Bluetooth, since the latter is better to use with a battery powered buttons. I did find a DC powered board, but no AC powered ones yet. However, as I visited ITEAD website to check if they had anything of the sort, I discovered they had a new model called Sonoff G1, similar to Sonoff TH16, but instead of using WiFi, you can use 2G GSM/GPRS to control the switch remotely. Sonoff G1 specifications: Wireless Module – ST86 quad band GSM/GPRS module GSM/GPRS connectivity GSM850, EGSM900, DCS1800 and PCS1900 MHz support GPRS multi-slot class 10, GPRS mobile station class B 1.8V, 3V SIM card slot Transmit power: Class 4 (2W): GSM850, EGSM900; Class 1 (1W): DCS1800, PCS1900 Relay – Up to 16A (3000 Watts max) Terminals – 6 terminals […]

July 21, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Phoenix OS 2.1 Android 7.1 based Desktop OS Released for 32-bit and 64-bit x86 Platforms

With Jide’s announcement that they’d stop working on Remix OS for the consumer market, focusing on the enterprise market instead, people who like to use Android as a desktop OS lost an option. Luckily, others have not given up on the concept yet, and Phoenix OS 2.1 based on Android 7.1 with desktop improvements has just been released for computers based on Intel/AMD 32-bit and 64-bit x86 processors. Phoemix OS user interface is a mix between Windows desktop with a desktop, a taskbar, and a start menu, and Android with notifications, and Back/Home/Recent buttons. The OS also supports Android apps, multi-window, window resizing, better multi-tasking, and so on. Changelog for Phoenix OS 2.1: Keyboard mapping updates to version 2.5 with smart casting for Strike of Kings. The bug that window size won’t be saved after restart has been fixed. Enhance the hardware compatibility, including: sound card, network adapter, etc. “Start […]

July 21, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

GIGABYTE GA-SBCAP3350 Celeron N3350 Single Computer Computer Offers Upgradeable Memory and Storage

The other day I wrote about MeLE PCG35 Apo mini PC which comes with soldered RAM and eMMC flash, and one person commented about having a model with more than 4GB RAM, but I explained it would not be cost-effective to add more RAM for low cost Windows 10 mini PCs since they would not qualify for Microsoft discount, and it would significantly add to the price. So Microsoft has a big impact on this market segment, and even if you’re going to run Ubuntu or other Linux distributions, those requirements indirectly affect your choice of hardware. One solution is to buy barebone mini PC, or at least with upgradeable RAM and storage, but there aren’t that many with an Apollo Lake processor. Intel NUC6CAYS NUC or GIGABYTE GB-BPCE-3350 are options, and on the Chinese side, you could consider Voyo V1 VMac Mini. AFAIK, none of those options are fanless, […]

July 21, 2017July 21, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Intel’s Movidius Neural Compute Stick Brings Low Power Deep Learning & Artificial Intelligence Offline

Intel has released several Compute Stick over the years which can be used as tiny Windows or Linux computer connected to the HDMI port of your TV or monitor, but Movidius Neural Computer Stick is a complete different beast, as it’s a deep learning inference kit and self-contained artificial intelligence (A.I.) accelerator that connects to the USB port of computers or laptops. Intel did not provide the full hardware specifications for the kit, but we do know the following specifications: Vision Processing Unit – Intel Movidius Myriad 2 VPU with 12 VLIW 128-bit vector SHAVE processors @ 600 MHz optimized for machine vision, Configurable hardware accelerators for image and vision processing; 28nm HPC process node; up to 100 gigaflops USB 3.0 type A port Power Consumption – Low power, the SoC has a 1W power profile Dimensions – 72.5mm x 27mm x 14mm You can enter a trained Caffe, feed-forward […]

July 21, 2017July 21, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Onion Omega2S and Omega2S+ Linux WiFi Modules Launched for OEMs

Onion Omega2 and Omega2+ are tiny WiFi IoT development boards powered by Mediatek MT7688 MIPS processor running LEDE – OpenWrt fork – that sold for just $5 and up in Kickstarter, but are now selling for $7.50 and $9 respectively. The board also support various add-on boards, and a great for evaluation and various projects. But they may not be ideal for people who want to integrate the technology into their products, and that’s why the company have just launched Omega2S and Omega2S+ with about the same specifications, but in a package more suitable to be integrated into products for mass production. Onion Omega2S/2S+ specifications: WiSoC – Mediatek MT7688 MIPS processor @ 580 MHz System Memory / Storage Omega2S – 64MB DDR2 / 16MB flash Omega2S+ – 128MB DDR2 / 32 MB flash Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi with u.FL antenna connector Baseboard Interface – Half holes (aka castellated holes) […]

July 20, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Renesas S5D9 IoT Fast Prototyping Board Combines Cortex M4F MCU, Sensors, and Ethernet

Renesas S5D9 IoT Fast Prototyping board is a board designed – as its name implies – for the Internet of Things, with the company’s Synergy S5D9 ARM Cortex-M4F micro-controller, various sensors, various I/Os including protected digital inputs and outputs, and Ethernet for network connectivity instead of a Bluetooth or/and WiFi module. Renesas S5D9 board specifications: MCU – Renesas Synergy S5D9 ARM Cortex M4F MCU @120MHz with 2MB flash and 640KB SDRAM Storage – 256Mbits (32MB) QSPI NOR flash Connectivity – 1x 10/100Mbps Ethernet (RJ45) USB – 1x micro USB Full Speed port Sensors Bosch BMC150 6-Axis sensor (digital compass) AMS ENS210 environmental sensor for temperature and humidity data TE Connectivity MS5637-02BA03 barometric pressure sensor Knowles SPU0414HR5H-SB amplified SiSonic microphone Expansion 1x PMOD connector (SPI) 2x Grove Connectors (UART, I2C, GPIO) 2x Protected Digital Input (5.1V to 24V) + 2x Buffered Digital Output (up to 1A) via Molex 12 position header […]

July 20, 2017July 20, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Manga Screen 2 is Smartphone Touchscreen Display with USB and HDMI Ports for Makers (Crowdfunding)

Most touchscreen displays aimed to be connected to a development board work through a display interface such as MIPI DSI or LCD RGB (and USB or I2C for touch support), and come with somewhat low resolution such as 800×480 which can be suitable for HMI applications. They also often don’t work with all boards due to the different interfaces used, and there’s no way to easily connect such small display to your computer. Taking those limitations into account, and since most boards and computers come with HDMI and USB ports, Elias Bakken and his team have added HDMI and USB ports to two smartphone displays, and Manga Screen 2 was born. The two displays – made by Sharp – have the following hardware specifications: Big (5.9”) Small (4.8”) Resolution 1920×1080 1280×720 FPS (max) 60 57 Color mode 24-bit PPI 376.2 307.9 Brightness 400 cd/m2 500 cd/m2 Contrast ratio 1000:1 800:1 […]

July 20, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

MYiR Introduces Z-Turn Lite Board Powered by Xilinx Zynq-7007S/Zynq-7010 SoC for $69 and Up

Xilinx launched a cost down version of their Zynq-7000 series with Zynq-7000S series SoC combining a single ARM Cortex A9 core with Artix FPGA fabric last year. We’ve already seen sub 100 Euros/Dollars board based on the new SoCs with ZynqBerry and MiniZed boards. MYiR Tech has now launched their own version, a cost-down version of their Z-Turn board, with Z-Turn Lite board featuring either the new cost-down Zynq-7007S or the “good old” Zynq-7010 SoC. Z-Turn Lite specifications: SoC Xilinx XC7Z007S-1CLG400C (Zynq-7007S) with a single ARM Cortex A9 core @ 667 MHz, Artix-7 FPGA fabric with with 23K logic cells, 14,400 LUTs, 66 DSP slices OR Xilinx XC7Z010-1CLG400C (Zynq-7010) with two ARM Cortex A9 cores @ 667 MHz, Artix-7 FPGA fabric with 28K logic cells, 17,600 LUTs, 80 DSP slices. System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 SDRAM (2 x 256MB, 32-bit) Storage – 4GB eMMC flash, 16MB QSPI flash, and […]