CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

March 28, 2017March 30, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

MAXOAK K2 is a 50,000 mAh Power Bank Designed for Laptops, Cameras and Mobile Devices

Most of the time I receive samples by courier 3 or 4 days after the company sends it, but sometimes I’m being sent devices over airmail which may take 2 to 3 weeks, or even more. Today, I received such a parcel with no clear description on the package, and a relatively heavy blank carton box. But I remembered somebody told me they’d send a large power bank for laptops. Could it be it? Sure enough. The power bank is called MAXOAK K2, and claims to offer a 50,000 mAh capacity using a Polymer Li-on battery. All connectors and buttons can be found on one side with the DC jack, four charging/capacity LEDs, the power button, 20V/3A and 12/2.5A barrel outputs, and four USB ports with 5V/2.1A or 5V.1.0A output. Most of the laptops I’ve used were powered by 19V or 19.5V adapters, so I’m not sure it’s safe to […]

March 28, 2017March 28, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Intel to Launch Optane Memory M.2 Cards for Desktop PCs Next Month for $44 and Up

Intel launched their first Optane SSD based on 3D Xpoint technology for the enterprise/datacenter market last week, and now the company has announced 16GB and 32GB consumer grade Optane memory will start selling in April starting at $44. The cards will follow M.2 card (80mm) form factor, use a dual PCIe NVMe 3.0 interface, and currently only works with Optane compatible motherboards with 7th generation Intel Core processors. Intel promises boot times that are twice as fast, 28% better overall performance, and 65% faster game level loads thanks to vastly improved random I/O performance. We can see some of the specs for both cards on Intel website. I reproduced some of the performance reliability data in the table below. 32GB Optane Memory 16GB Optane Memory Sequential Read (up to) Up to 1350 MB/s Up to 900 MB/s Sequential Write (up to) Up to 290 MB/s Up to 145 MB/s Random […]

March 28, 2017March 28, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

ArcherMind Mediatek X20 Pro Development Board Adds 3G, 4G LTE and More I/Os

Archermind launched Mediatek X20 board powered by Mediatek Helio X20 deca-core processor, and compliant with 96Boards CE hardware specifications last year for $199. The company has now been working on a “professional” version, dubbed Mediatek X20 Pro that adds supports for 3G and 4G / LTE, as well as extra I/O connectors for cameras, LCD modules, and an RF baseboard. Alpha Star Mediatek X20 Pro board specifications: SoC – Mediatek Helio X20 (MT6797) deca-core processor with two ARM Cortex A72 cores @ 2.1~2.3 GHz, four Cortex A53 @ 1.85 GHz, four Cortex A53 @ 1.4 GHz, and ARM Mali-T880 GPU @ 700 MHz System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 2-ch @ 933 MHz Storage – 8GB eMMC 5.1 flash + micro SD 3.0 card slot Video Output – HDMI up to 1080p @ 30 fps Video Support – 25MP @ 24fps / 25MP @ 30 fps; WQXGA 2560×1600 60fps; FHD 1920×1080 […]

March 28, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

Orange Pi Zero Plus 2 H5 Board Replaces Allwinner H3 by Allwinner H5 for $1 More

It’s hard to keep up, but Shenzhen Xunlong has launched another Orange Pi board, as two weeks after introducing Orange Pi Zero Plus 2 development board, the company has now introduced “Orange Pi Zero Plus 2 H5” board, with the exact same specification, except Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 32-bit processor has been replaced by Allwinner H5 quad core Cortex A53 64-bit processor. Orange Pi Zero Plus 2 H5 board specifications: SoC – Allwinner H5 quad core Cortex A53 processor with 2+4 core Mali-450MP4 GPU System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 SDRAM Storage – 8GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI port Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0 LE (Ampak AP6212) with u.FL antenna connector and external antenna USB – 1x micro USB OTG port Camera – MIPI CSI port Expansion headers – Unpopulated 26-pin “Raspberry Pi B+” header + 13-pin header […]

March 27, 2017August 11, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Rikomagic R1 Android Projector Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Teardown

Rikomagic R1 Android mini projector runs Android 4.4 on Rockchip RK3128 quad core processor, and the company sent me a sample for review, so today I’ll first do an unboxing, and partial teardown, before testing the projector in more details in the second part of the review. Rikomagic R1 Projector Unboxing The projector comes with a white package marked RKM R1. The bottom of the package indicated its unsurprisingly based on Texas Instruments DLP technology with a LED light, and is equipped with a touch panel and a battery. More importantly, there’s a QR code that links to R1 Setup Guide, which for once will be useful, as this device has some unique features. The projector ships with a 5V/2.5A power supply, an IR remote control, a HDMI cable, a tripod, and an adapter to make the interface between the projector box and the tripod. The top of the device […]

March 27, 2017July 2, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Linux based iWave Systems OBD-II Dongle Comes with 4G LTE and GPS

OBD-II dongles that you connect to your car’s OBD-II port have been around for several years, but they were initially simple devices with USB or Bluetooth connectivity that you control with your smartphone or computer. More recently we’ve seen more complex OBD-II head-up-diplays, and boards such as Macchina M2 open-source hardware OBD-II board that takes various XBee modules for 4G, Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and so on. iWave Systems, a company better known for their system-on-modules, has now unveiled their own OBD-II dongle with NXP i.MX 6UL processor running Linux, and integrating 4G LTE and GPS by default. iWave Systems OBD-II dongle specifications: Processor – NXP i.MX 6UL ARM Cortex-A7 processor @ 528/696MHz Memory – 256 MB DDR3 (Optionally upgradeable to higher capacity) Storage – 256 MB NAND Flash (optionally upgradeable to higher capacity). Connectivity – Built-in 4G Modem with antenna, optional WiFi & Bluetooth 4.0 LE module Positioning – […]

March 27, 2017April 22, 2017 by Karl Johnson - No Comments

Karl’s Home Automation Project – Part 3: Adding Light Detection to a Motion Sensor

This is the 3rd part of my Home Automation light project. In the first part, I wrote about basic setup with basic Sonoff Wifi MQTT switches and setting them up. In the second one, we added some 433 MHz motion sensors and a 433 MHz to MQTT bridge. And finally in part 3, we are going to modify the 433 MHz motion sensors to only work when it is dark in the room. Motion Sensor The motion sensor I linked in part 2 is run by a common chip called a BISS0001. We are interested in pin 9. If voltage is below .2v it will not trigger a motion. This solves the problem discussed in part 2, when we have a gloomy day or if blinds are closed etc. By adding an GL5537 LDR (Light Dependent Resistor) shown as R3 in the diagram above, you will achieve the desired effect. […]

March 26, 2017September 5, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 28 Comments

NanoPi NEO2 Board, NanoHats, and BakeBit Starter Kit Review – Part 1: Hardware Overview & Assembly

NanoPi NEO 2 development board is an update of NanoPi NEO with a quad core 64-bit Allwinner H5 processor + 512 MB RAM, Gigabit Ethernet, and an extra audio header, which can be a great little board for headless application since there’s no video output. FriendlyELEC ask me whether I wanted to review to board with some of their NanoHATs add-on boards, and while I asked for NanoHat PCM5102A audio board and NEO Hub which I intended to use with Grove modules from my Wio Link Started Kit, I get a bit more than expected, as the company included sets of NEO 2 boards and accessories, NanoHATs, two serial debug board, and their BakeBit Starter Kit with several Grove modules to play with. Since I have so many things to look at in this first post, I’ll just describe the hardware, assemble it, quickly check the paper documentation, and give […]