CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

September 11, 2018September 11, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Snapdragon Wear 3100 Smartwatch Platform to Deliver Longer Battery Life

Qualcomm introduced Snapdragon Wear 2100 in 2016 for wearables, and the processor ended up in several products such as LG Watch Style / Sport smartwatch. Since then the company released other Wear platform for specific applications such as 4G kid watches with Snapdragon Wear 2500, or wearable IoT applications with Snapdragon Wear 1250 offering NB-IoT and eMTC connectivity. The company has now announced Snapdragon Wear 3100 “smartwatch platform” still based on four Arm Cortex A7 cores, but also including a new ultra-low power co-processor to further extend battery life. Snapdragon Wear 3100 “MSM8909w” or “APQ8009w” specifications: CPU – Quad core Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ up to 1.2 GHz GPU – Qualcomm Adreno 304 GPU Co-processor – QCC1110 Display – Up to 640×480 at 60fps via MIPI and/or SPI interfaces Cellular Qualcomm Snapdragon X5 LTE modem with peak download speed of 1 Gbps, and peak upload speed of 150 Mbps RF […]

September 10, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Make Your Phone Readable under the Sun with Anti-glare Covers, Sunshades, etc…

So I rented a bicycle to have a small cycling trip, and since I like to take smaller roads, and did not know the way, decided to use my phone as GPS. This works normally well while walking, but I realized this “solution” is rather a disaster while cycling. I don’t have a phone holder for bicycle, so instead I used a armband on my forearm, until somehow my phone fell and I broke the glass screen, and moved it up to my upper arm. The reason I first moved it to my forearm was because it’s easier to read, but in any cases, I really struggled to look at the GPS map due to the brightness of the phone – set to the maximum – as sunlight and resulting glare, especially when looking at an angle made it impossible to use. So I had to wait for the rare […]

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

September 9, 2018September 9, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Khadas is Working on more RK3399 / RK3399Pro Boards, Projector Development Kit, AR Kit

Shenzhen Wesion had already unveiled their Khadas Edge board that works both as a system-on-module and a standalone SBC thanks to an MXM3 connector on one side, and traditional HDMI and USB ports on the other. The Rockchip RK3399 board will be launched on Indiegogo a little later. But the company is working on a few more boards and development kits all based on Rockchip RK3399 or the upcoming RK3399Pro processor with neural processing unit (NPU) for AI workloads acceleration. First we have Khadas Edge-V, very similar to Khadas Edge but with a 40-pin IO header replacing the MXM3 connector, and following Khadas VIM form factor and ports, so for example we get an Ethernet port as well as an extra USB 3.0 port instead of USB 2.0 on Edge. As mentioned in Khadas Edge announcement, the company is also working on Khadas Captain carrier board with MXM3 socket. So we […]

September 8, 2018September 8, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

How to Make a Low Cost DIY SD Card Duplicator

If you have to duplicate many SD cards for example to boot Raspbian on multiple Raspberry Pi board, one option is buy one of those SD card duplicators, but the problem is that they are not really cheap, for example the Systor 1-to-7 cards model sells for $540. Bob Brown, a retired senior lecturer, is now teaching K-12 students how to get started with Raspberry Pi boards, and must prepare bootable SD cards for his class. In order to save time, a duplicator would have been nice, but the price is too high, so instead he went with a DIY solution. You’ll first need some hardware, including a powered USB hub with the number of cards you want to duplicate, and corresponding SD card reader, and a larger micro SD card to hold Raspbian and/or other operating systems (optional, only for Raspberry Pi based duplicator). Mr. Brown made a 10-port […]

September 7, 2018June 29, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

STMicro STM32F7x0 & H7x0 Value Line Microcontrollers Deliver Cortex-M7 Performance at Lower Cost

STMicro introduces their first Arm Cortex-M7 microcontrollers in 2014 with STM32F7 series clocked up to 200 MHz. The next year, Atmel – now Microchip – announced SAM S70 & SAM E70 Cortex-M7 MCU families clocked at up to 300 MHz, STMicro up the ante to 400 MHz with their STM32H7 family in 2016, and more recently NXP launched their i.MX RT series “crossover” processor with the Cortex-M7 reaching up to 600 MHz. AFAIK, nobody has tried to push the clock speeds higher, but STMicroelectronics most recently unveiled STM32F7x0 & H7x0 Value Line microcontrollers with the same performance level as their earlier STM32F7 and STM32H7 MCUs, but with a lower price by reducing the amount of internal flash. Three Cortex-M7 value line families have been introduced: STM32F730 entry-level MCU @ 216MHz with 64KB flash, 8KB data / instructions cache, 256KB RAM and 16KB+64KB TCM (Tightly Coupled Memory). The microcontroller also includes […]

September 6, 2018September 6, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

MUSTOOL MT8206 Multimeter & Oscilloscope Goes for $42 (Promo)

MUSTOOL MT8206 looks like a standard digital multimeter, but the device is actually a 2-in-1 device that also serves as a oscilloscope. Banggood have the digital multimeter scope on sale now for $47.99 shipped – going down to $42.23 with 12MT8206 coupon – as part of their 12th anniversary promotion running until September 7th. MUSTOOL MT8206 specifications: Sampling – 200 ksps (max), 3999 counts Bandwidth – 20 kHz Screen – 128×64 dot matrix LCD display Function Ranges DC voltage – 400mV, 4V/40V/400V/1000V AC voltage – 400mV/4V/40V/400V/750V DC & AC current – 40mA/400mA, 4A/10A Resistance – 400.0 Ohm to 40.00 MOhm Capacitance – 0.1μF-100μF/10mF Frequency – 5Hz to 5MHz Measuring Range – Manual/auto range Storage Capacity – 100 data sets, 10 wave forms Input Resistance – 10MΩ Misc – Auto power off function, relative value, Power Supply – 3x AA batteries Dimensions – 160 x 83 x 32 mm Weight – 190 grams Switching between multimeter […]

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

September 6, 2018September 6, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Nubia–α Wearable Smartphone is a Smartwatch with a Long Curved Display

We have smartphones, we have smartwatches. and we have… Nubia-α that is something in between, and which the company (Nubia) promotes as a “wearable smartphone”. The device comes with a long curved display, and you’d wear it around your wrist just like a watch with access to fitness apps, and music, but just like in a phone, you could make phone calls and send SMS thanks to 4G connectivity, as well as taking selfies or making video calls with its built-in camera. We don’t have the specifications yet, but the thing is real as it was showcased at IFA 2018, although for the eyes only, i.e. no hands-on or even touching the Nubia-α. Engadget reported about the device, and while the reporter clearly did not like the largish camera on the side, she seems impressed by the brightness and colors coming out of the Flex OLED display. The watch / […]

September 5, 2018September 5, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Creality Ender 3 3D Printer Sells for $169.99 (Promo)

From time to time I come across good deals for 3D printers, and a recent promotion for Creality Ender 3 3D printer appears to be one of them. Creality Ender 3 has gotten some pretty good reviews – see video embedded below – in the sub $200 market, and GearBest is now offering the 3D printer for $169.99 including shipping from their Los Angeles warehouse. That deal is only available to the US however, and if you purchase it from the China warehouse (CN-099) price is $179.99 + shipping. That’s still a pretty good price though, as the official Aliexpress store offers the printer for $208 with Fedex shipping. Creality Ender 3 specifications: Modeling Technology – FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling） Printing Speed – 180mm/s Filament – 1.75mm PLA, TPU, ABS Layer Thickness – 0.1-0.4mm Nozzle Diameter – 0.4mm Printing Accuracy – ±0.1mm Working Mode – Online or SD offline Nozzle […]