CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

May 12, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Visualizing Electronics Manufacturing Price Variation with Volume and Lead Time

Google Android Things developers announced a production hardware sample based on Intel Edison module: Android Things is focused on helping developers build production ready devices that they can bring to market. This means building custom hardware in addition to the app software running on the Android Things system-on-module (SoM). As a part of this effort we have released Edison Candle, the first in a series of production samples designed to showcase hardware and software designed to work together. The code is hosted on GitHub and the hardware design files are on CircuitHub. That’s what the Edison Candle looks like. It’s just demo hardware to show how to build a product with a system-on-module (Intel Edison) for Android Things with everything released in Github. You can also purchase the board on CircuitHub, but then I saw the price was around $356 for such a simple board (without Edison). That’s quite a […]

May 12, 2017May 12, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 39 Comments

NAS Kit v1.2 Gets Support for NanoPi NEO 2, an UAS Capable USB to SATA Bridge, and an RTC Battery

Last month, FriendlyELEC launched a NAS Dock kit for NanoPi NEO board, but they’ll already removed it from their store. That’s because they have a new version NAS Dock v1.2 that also supports NanoPi NEO 2 with Gigabit Ethernet, replaces JMicron JM20329 by UAS capable JMicron JMS567 USB 3.0 to SATA bridge, and adds an RTC battery. The rest of NAS Dock Kit v1.2 specifications remain the same: 1-bay NAS Dock expansion board with JMicron JMS567 USB 3.0 to SATA bridge SATA connector for 2.5″ HDD drive Extra USB host port On/off switch, and dual color status LED Header to connect NanoPi NEO / NEO 2 board 12V DC power input Dimensions – 151 x 89.7 mm NS-120 aluminum enclosure (154 x 100 x 47.5 mm, 414 grams) Heatsink set for NanoPi NEO / NEO 2 4x M3 6mm screws, 8x M2.5 6 mm screws Four rubber pads Front and back covers […]

May 11, 2017May 14, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

$8.80 RAK CREATOR Pro Ameba RTL8711AM WiFi IoT Board Comes with 2MB SDRAM, Up to 64MB SPI Flash

Realtek Ameba is a family of WiFi ARM Cortex M3 micro-controllers for IoT applications, and RTL8710AF got some buzz last year, as modules would sell as low as $2, hereby competing with ESP8266 in terms of price. While the solution was interesting, the community activity around the solution has been slow as ESP8266 already have the community and software support. Other Realtek RTL8195AM and RTL8711AM processors offer much more memory, but at the time, price was not as attractive with Ameba Arduino board based on RTL8195AM selling for $25. But there’s now a new Arduino compatible board made by ShenzhenRAK Wireless Technology (RAK) that comes with RTL8711AM processor with 1MB ROM, 2MB SDRAM, 512KB SRAM, and up to 64MB SPI flash, and sells for just $8.80 + shipping on Aliexpress. CREATOR Pro (Wiskey) board specifications: WiFi Module – RAK473 with Realtek RTL8711AM ARM Cortex M3 MCU @ 166 MHz, 1MB […]

May 11, 2017May 11, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 38 Comments

Helios4 Personal Cloud DIY NAS Supports 3.5″ Hard Drives, RAID, and More (Crowdfunding)

A few months ago, we covered GnuBee Personal Cloud 1, a NAS that runs on open source software, and that supports up to six 2.5″ SATA drives. The crowdfunding has been successful – after lowering the funding target -, and backers should hopefully get the NAS right after summer. But at the time, some people complained about the memory capacity (512MB), the lack of support for 3.5″ drives, and a few other items. A new project called “Helios4 Personal Cloud” addresses many of those concerns. It comes with 1 to 2GB RAM, enclosure supporting four 3.5″ drives, supports RAID, and is powered by Marvell ARMADA 388 processor that has been specifically designed for this type of application. Helios4 NAS specifications: SoC – Marvell ARMADA 388 dual core Cortex A9 processor @ up to 1.866 GHz with RAID5/6 acceleration engines, security acceleration engines, etc… System Memory – 1 or 2 GB […]

May 11, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Imagination PowerVR “Furian” Series8XT GT8525 GPU Targets High-end Smartphones, Virtual Reality and Automotive Products

Imagination Technologies has unveiled their first GPU based on PowerVR Furian architecture with Series8XT GT8525 GPU equipped with two clusters and designed for SoCs going to into products such as high-end smartphones and tablets, mid-range dedicated VR and AR devices, and mid- to high-end automotive infotainment and ADAS systems. The Furian architecture is said to allow for improvements in performance density, GPU efficiency, and system efficiency, features a new 32-wide ALU cluster design, and can be manufactured using sub-14nm (e.g. 7nm process once available). PowerVR GT8525 GPU supports compute APIs such as OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.0 and OpenVX 1.1. Compared to the previous Series7XT GPU family, Series8XT GT8525 GPU delivers 80% higher fps in Trex benchmark, an extra 50% fps in GFXbench Manhattan benchmark, 50% higher fps in Antutu, doubles the fillrate throughput for GUI, and increases GFLOPs for compute applications by over 50%. GT8525 GPU is available for licensing […]

May 10, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Meet Zynqberry, a Xilinx Zynq FPGA Board with Raspberry Pi 2/3 Form Factor

Earlier this year, I wrote about Trenz Electronic’s Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale+ system-on-module, but I’ve just found out I missed another interesting product from the company. The ZynqBerry is a board powered by Zilinx Zync Z-7007S or Z-7010 ARM + FPGA SoC with Raspberry Pi 2/3 form factor. ZynqBerry specifications: SoC Xilinx Zynq XC7Z007S-1CLG225C (Z-7007S) single core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore up to 766MHz + FPGA with 23K logic cells Xilinx Zynq XC7Z010-1CLG225C (Z-7010) dual core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore up to 866 MHz + FPGA with 28K logic cells System Memory – 128 or 512 MB DDR3L Storage – 16 MB Flash SPI flash + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI, MIPI DSI interface Audio Output – HDMI, 3.5mm audio jack (PWM audio only) Connectivity – 100 MBit Ethernet via (LAN9514 USB Hub with Ethernet USB – 4x USB 2.0 host ports Camera – MIPI CSI-2 interface Expansion – 40-pin Raspberry […]

May 10, 2017June 8, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Rockchip RK3328 Powered T98 4K Ultra HD TV Box Comes with 2GB RAM

We’ve already seen one of the first Rockchip RK3328 4K UHD TV boxes with A5X Plus Mini model now selling for $34.60, but with only 1GB RAM. There’s now another model called T98 with 2GB RAM, and mostly the same other specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3328 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 8 GB eMMC flash + micro SD card up to 32 GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDR10 and HLG support, 3.5mm AV port (composite video + stereo audio) Audio Output – HDMI, AV, and optical S/PDIF Video Codec – 4K VP9, H.265 and H.264. 1080p VC-1, MPEG-1/2/4, VP6/8 Connectivity – Fast Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (No Bluetooth) USB – 1x USB 2.0 port, 1x USB 3.0 port Misc – IR receiver, power LED Power Supply – 5V/2A Dimensions […]

May 10, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Christmann RECS|Box Atlas Quad Apalis Microserver Evaluation Kit Supports Four Toradex Apalis SoM

System-on-modules are normally used in low volume embedded systems, but they can also be used in microservers, for example to upgrade capacity as needed. Christmann informationstechnik + medien GmbH has developed a microserver evaluation kit taking up to 4 Toradex Apalis SoMs for example based on Nvidia Tegra K1 processor, and also offers full rack systems with up to 72 modules. Christmann RECS|Box Atlas Quad Apalis specifications: Modules – 4x Slots for Apalis SoM Connectivity – 1 GBit/s Compute Ethernet, 1 GBit/s Management Ethernet Video Output – 1x HDMI USB – 3x USB host ports, 1x micro USB port Misc – 5 Status LEDs for USB, communication, and serial console, 4x fan connectors, KWM switch, 5x temperature sensors, 6x current sensors, 1x voltage monitor, fan speed monitoring Power Supply – 12V via a 4-pin jack Dimensions – 300 x 145 x 68 mm The evaluation kit includes an Atlas board […]