CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

July 16, 2018July 16, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Orange Pi 3G/4G Cellular IoT Development Kits with Touchscreen Display Launched for $35 and Up

Earlier this year, Shenzhen Xunlong introduced two new Orange Pi cellular IoT boards running Android – but no Linux distribution just yet – with Orange Pi 3G-IoT and Orange Pi 4G-IoT boards, with LTE bands suitable for Asia and most part of Europe, but not the US. But boards are quite cheap, the 4G-IoT model recently got Android 8.1 Oreo support, if you’d like a display with the board, you can now buy various kits with touchscreen display and in some sets a power supply as well for $34.80 and up plus shipping, or the displays only for $14.80 and up. Four kits have been launched so far: $34.80 Orange Pi 3G-IoT-A Set1 with Orange Pi 3G-IOT-A board powered by Mediatek MT6572 dual core Cortex A7 processor + 256MB RAM/512MB eMMC combo chip, and a 4.98″ TFT LCD touchscreen display (854 x 480) $39.80 Orange Pi 3G-IoT-B Set1 with Orange […]

July 16, 2018July 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Extend VGA or HDMI Signals over “Ethernet” with VGA / HDMI Extender over Cat5/Cat6 Cables

A host computer or media player may not always be in the same room as its display(s), for example for digital signage where you may want to have several displays controlled by one computer in different rooms, or if you want to add a display to one of your room without necessarily adding another TV box or set-top box. We’ve already seen solution to extend the video signals over a few hundred meters using a HDMI powerline extender or wireless AV transmitted / receiver kit. The former is rather expensive (~$250) and the latter only works with composite. Today, I’ve come across other video extender solutions relying on Cat5/Cat6 “Ethernet” cables, first with an Ethernet to VGA extender kit that sells for $12.99 shipped on Banggood, but there are also Ethernet to HDMI solutions for around $25 to $40 offering a range of up to 120 meters over Ethernet. Both […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

July 16, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

KidBright32 Board is Thailand’s BBC Micro:Bit Equivalent

BBC Micro:Bit board was first announced in July 2015. Designed for STEM education, the board was then offered to UK schools in March 2016, and a few months later UK store would start selling it worldwide. It’s now available pretty much anywhere, and you can likely find it in a local store or online. The Thai government must have seen this, and thought to themselves “If the British can do it, we can do it too!”, as the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) part of Thailand’s Ministry of Science and Technology designed KidBright32 board and courses to teach STEM to Thai students. The board is based on Espressif Systems ESP32-WROOM-32 WiFI and Bluetooth module, and comes with large holes for power (5V/GND) and 6 digital inputs/outputs, smaller through holes for I2C and more I/Os, as well as an I2C header. We’ll also find some LEDs, two dot matrix […]

July 15, 2018November 14, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

MatchX MatchBox LoRa Gateway Setup (for AS923) and Installation

At the end of last year, I received MatchX Matchbox LoRaWAN gateway, but only quickly checked out the hardware, as I was still unclear about regulations in South East Asia, and did not have any nodes to play with. Understanding Regulations and LoRaWAN Frequency Plans Since then, the government published some notifications about the 920-925 MHz band we are supposed to follow here. It’s in Thai language, and I can’t still read/understand it, but I got some translation help, and some key points include: paragraph 5 : for 920-925MHz non-RFID radio equipment (1) max EIRP not more than 4 watts (2) if EIRP < 50mW, no need for any license (3) if EIRP < 500mW, a license is required for importing, selling, and making your own equipment (4), and you must be in accordance with NBTC technical standard. (5) must not interfere with any licensed application. Interfering equipment must be […]

July 14, 2018September 28, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments

ROC-RK3328-CC Board Review, or the Case for Fast Storage and Adequate Power Supply

Firefly team from T-chip company has send me some of their Rockchip development boards, and we’ve already checked the provided boards and accessories, so today I’ll report my experience with one of the board: ROC-RK3328-CC also known as Renegade. I won’t test it with Android, since I have already reviewed RK3328 Android TV boxes such as Zidoo X7, and I’ve been told the team is hard at work with Android 8.1 SDK, so an Oreo image should be released in a few weeks/months. So I had initially planned to report my experience with one of the Linux images, then show how to install mainline Linux (currently 4.17) to the board, and reports what works. However, I encountered many issues, although likely not directly related to the board or its software support, so instead I’ll write about my experience getting started with the board, and list all the issues I had […]

July 13, 2018July 14, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 42 Comments

Pine64 Launches a $45 Dual SATA NAS Enclosure for ROCKPro64 Board

ROCKPro64 is one of the most affordable Rockchip RK3399 boards, as you can purchase it for as low as $60 with 2GB RAM, and $80 with 4GB RAM. Pine64 – the company behind the board – also offers add-on boards such as a PCIe card to connect up to two SATA drives. The company has now leveraged the latter in their ROCKPro64 metal desktop/NAS casing specifically designed for ROCKPro64 boards, and capable of holding two 2.5″/3.5″ SATA drives.Key features of ROCKPro64 Desktop/NAS case: Compatible with ROCKPro64 boards only SATA – Accommodates either 2x 2.5″ SATA drives or 2x 3.5″ SATA drives or a mix of 2x 2.5″/3.5″ SATA drives Power Supply – 12V DC Dimensions – 232.4mm (Width) x 105.0mm (Height) x 145.2mm (Depth) The case also ships with 2 SATA data cables, and a custom designed power supply cable as shown below. However, the company also notes that ROCKPro64 […]

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

July 13, 2018July 13, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

Renegade Elite (ROC-RK3399-PC) RK3399 Single Board Computer Launched for $99 on Indiegogo

Libre Computer and Firefly Team previously collaborated on Renegade (ROC-RK3328-CC) board powered by a Rockchip RK3328 quad core Cortex A53 processor and mostly following Raspberry Pi 3 form factor. We already knew both companies worked again on another Rockchip RK3399 single board computer, and were expected to launch it in July via a crowdfunding campaign. The good news is that Libre Computer has just launched Renegade Elite (aka ROC-RK3399-PC) SBC on Indiegogo. Renegade Elite board specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa core processor with 2x Arm Cortex-A72 @ up to 2.0 GHz + 4 Arm Cortex-A53, Arm Mali-T860MP4 with OpenGL ES 1.1 / 1.2 / 2.0 / 3.1 / 3.2 and OpenCL 1.2 support System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 SDRAM Storage – eMMC 5.x interface for storage modules up to 128GB, micro SD card slot, and 128Mbit SPI NOR flash Video Output / Display I/F HDMI 2.0 connector Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) […]

July 12, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

LEORY 3G USB Dongle Sells for Just $9.99

When Orange Pi 3G-IoT SBC was launched, I looked at 3G USB dongles to make a comparison with a similar setup based on a Raspberry Pi Zero W board and an inexpensive 3G USB stick, and the cheapest I could find was a refurbished HUAWEI E3533 model now selling for around $16 shipped. But I’ve just found one fairly cheaper with LEORY 3G USB dongle offered for only $9.99 including shipping on Banggood. Specifications listed on Banggood: Cellular Connectivity 3G UMTS/ HSDPA + 2G GSM/EDGE Frequency bands 2G – 850/900/1800/1900MHz 3G – 2100 MHz (Band 1) Transfer rate -7.2Mbps downlink SIM card slot Storage – micro SD card storage up to 16GB USB – 1x USB 2.0 port Dimensions – 9 x 3 x 1 cm Temperature Range – Operating: -20°C ~ +55°C; storage: -30°C ~ +65°C Relative Humidity – Up to 93% The dongle is said to be supported […]

Boardcon LGA3576 Rockchip RK3576 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications