CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

June 7, 2018June 7, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 27 Comments

FriendlyELEC Core4418 is a Low Profile Samsung S5P4418 Board

Samsung (Nexell) S5P4418 & S5P6818 quad/octa core Cortex A9 processors used to have dismal Linux support with a very old & unsecure Linux 3.4 kernel, but in the last year or so software support has greatly improved, likely because those processors are used in some Samsung Artik IoT modules. FriendlyELEC has been manufacturing several S5P boards starting from their NanoPi2 board launched in 2015, and more recently they introduced NanoPi Fire2A & Fire3 boards based on S5P4418 & S5P6818 processor respectively. But this month, they’ve launched two more S5P platforms, and today I’ll look at Core4418 board, which has a lower profile than any of their previous board since the RJ45 Ethernet jack and USB type A ports are not included. FriendlyELEC Core4418 specifications: SoC – Samsung S5P4418 quad core Cortex A9 processor @ up to 1.4GHz, Arm Mali-400MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, […]

June 7, 2018June 7, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Vorke V5 Plus mini PC Sold for $199.99 (Promo)

Vorke V5 Plus is a mini PC powered by an Intel Celeron 3865U dual core Kaby Lake processor coupled with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. Ian Morrison (Linuxium) reviewed the computer in “Vorke V5 Plus Kaby Lake Mini PC Review with Windows 10 and Ubuntu 18.04” post, and concluded that “overall the device performs extremely well. It is competitively priced and represents good value for money given the performance and flexibility”. The price at the time of the review (May) was $229.99 with coupon, but GeekBuying is now offering an even better deal as Vorke V5 Plus goes for $199.99 shipped with coupons VORKEV5P or VORKEPC7. Note that the promotion is limited to 50 units. Here’s quick reminder of the technical specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron 3865U Kaby Lake processor @ 1.80 GHz with Intel HD Graphics 610; 15W TDP System Memory – 4GB DDR4, upgradeable to 32GB (SO-DIMM slot) […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

June 7, 2018June 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Unihertz Atom is an Android 8.1 Phone with a Tiny 2.4″ Display (Crowdfunding)

What we used to call phablet – smartphones with 5″ to 6″ display – are now simply called smartphones, as most companies now offer smartphones with larger displays since they are better suited for tasks like web browsing. Unihertz has gone the other way by launching Atom, an Android 8.1 smartphone with a tiny 2.4″ display. Demand does exist for such Phone, as while the Kickstarter campaign started a couple of days ago, the company has already raised close to $700,000 from around 3,000 backers. The “Atom” name clearly infringes on Intel’s trademark, so the model name is likely to change in a few days as has happened for “Atomwear” and “Nerdonic Atom X1“, but this did not affect the campaigns after they changed the names. Unihertz Atom smartphone specifications: SoC- Unnamed octa-core processor clocked at up to 2.0 GHz System Memory – 4GB RAM Storage – 64GB internal storage […]

June 6, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

How to Migrate from Github to Gitlab

Github is by far the most popular web-based hosting service for version control using Git, but it’s not the only option as Gitlab and Bitbucket offer alternatives. If for whatever reasons, you feel the need to migrate from Github to another service, it’s actually quite easy, and I’ve tried it with Gitlab, which offers a very easy solution to import your code repositories from Github. First, you’ll need to sign-in to Gitlab. That part does not need explanation. The next step is to go to Settings->Account, and in the Social Sign-in section, connect Gitlab to your Github account. After logging in to your Github account, youl should be set. Now click on the + icon on the op of the web page, and select New Project. Click on the Import project tab, and import project from Github. You’ll be asked to input your Github password again, and be brouhgt to […]

June 6, 2018June 6, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

ASUS VivoWatch BP is a Fitness Tracker that Measures Blood Pressure

If you need to monitor your blood pressure regularly, you may have used one of those blood pressure monitors that you wraps around your upper arm, and display results on an LCD display, and in some cases, synchronize the data with your smartphone Bluetooth. Those devices do the job, but they may be inconvenient to use daily, and some people just forgo measurements. Omron first introduced a more user-friendly solution with their Project Zero BP6000 blood pressure monitor-in-a-watch in 2016, further refined with Project Zero 2.0 watch in 2017. That’s all good, except for the same details that neither versions of the watch – to be called Heartvue – are for sale, as the company is still working on FDA approval… ASUS has filled the void with VivoWatch BP watch, and IMHO has taken a more clever approach to launching their product, since the watch will be available in Asia […]

June 6, 2018June 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Linux 4.17 Release – Main Changes, Arm & MIPS Architectures

Linus Torvalds released Linux 4.17 last Sunday: So this last week was pretty calm, even if the pattern of most of the stuff coming in on a Friday made it feel less so as the weekend approached. And while I would have liked even less changes, I really didn’t get the feeling that another week would help the release in any way, so here we are, with 4.17 released. No, I didn’t call it 5.0, even though all the git object count numerology was in place for that. It will happen in the not _too_distant future, and I’m told all the release scripts on kernel.org are ready for it, but I didn’t feel there was any real reason for it. I suspect that around 4.20 – which is I run out of fingers and toes to keep track of minor releases, and thus start getting mightily confused – I’ll switch […]

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

June 5, 2018June 5, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

RAK831 Lite is a $200 LoRa / LoRaWAN Gateway based on Raspberry Pi 3 Board

RAK831 is a Semtech SX1301 based LoRa gateway module that was released by RakWireless in 2017. The board has since then be sold as part of the company’s LoRa gateway developer kit with a Raspberry Pi and a MAX-7Q GPS Module. But now RakWireless offers a nicely packaged solution with Raspberry Pi 3 board, RAK831 module, a GPS board, an enclosure, antenna, and power supply which they call RAK831 Lite, and sells for just $199 + shipping ($6.45 extra here).RAK831 Lite gateway main components and specifications: Main board – Raspberry Pi 3 development board with Broadom BCM2837 processor, 1GB RAM, micro SD card slot, Fast Ethernet, 4x USB ports, HDMI output, audio jack Connectivity RAK831 LoRa Concentrator board based on SX1301 chipset RF frequencies – 433, 470, EU868, AS923, AU915, and US 915 Rx Sensitivity – -140 dBm Tx Power – Up to 25.5 dBm at settings 27 dBm SMA […]

June 5, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

ASUS Announces 802.11ax WiFi Routers at Computex 2018

802.11ax is a new WiFi standard offering better performance, especially in high-density scenario, where average per usage bandwidth may be improved by up to 4 times, so city dwellers should benefit the most. Last year, we started to see 802.11ax compliant chips from Broadcom, Marvell, Qualcomm, and others, so it should come as no surprise that some of first 802.11ax WiFi routers are launched this year. ASUS introduced two 802.11ax WiFi routers at Computex 2018 with ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 tri-band 802.11ax router, RT-AX88U dual band 802.11ax router , and the AX6100 WiFi System for mesh networking. ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 The ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 is a high-end router with a peak aggregate throughput of about 11000 Mbps. Specifications: Processor – Quad core processor @ 1.8 GHz System Memory – 1 GB RAM Storage – 256 MB flash Connectivity WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax, IPv4, IPv6 Tx/Rx – 2.4 GHz 4×4, 5 GHz-1 4×4, 5 […]

Boardcon CM3588 Rockchip RK3588 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications