Fujitsu Launches F-Cue 96Boards Compliant Board Powered by SocioNext MB86S71 Processor

While 96Boards platforms may not be selling like Raspberry Pi boards, the form factor is quite popular with vendors, as there are now around 10 development board either directly supported by 96Boards, or at least compliant for the form factor. Fujitsu has also made their own 96Boards compliant F-Cue board powered by SocioNext MB86S71 quad core Cortex A15/A7 processor, as well as F-Cue extension board with Ethernet & PCIe interfaces. F-Cue board specifications: SoC – Socionext MB86S71 big.LITTLE quad core processor with 2x Cortex-A15 cores @ 1.2GHz, 2x Cortex-A7 cores @ 800MHz, and Mali-T624 GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 1333MHz Storage – 16GB eMMC 4.51 flash, micro SD 3.0 UHS-I slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4b Multimedia Capabilities – 1080p@30fps encode/decode, 4 stream H.264 decode; 32k x 32k JPEG codec Connectivity – 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac WiFi , Bluetooth 4.2 USB –  1x USB 3.0 host port, 1x USB […]

Realtek RTL8710AF (PADI IoT Stamp) vs Espressif ESP8266 (ESP-07) WiFi RF Performance Comparison

After I posted about PADI IoT Stamp IoT kit based on RTL8710AF ARM Cortex M3 WiSoC yesterday, I was soon asked whether I could compare the RF performance against ESP8266 modules like ESP-12. I don’t have any equipment to do this kind of test, except for some simple test like testing range with WiFi Analyzer app, but I remember Pine64 told me they had some comparison data a little while, and accepted to share their results. The test setup is comprised of Litepint IQ2010 multi-communication connectivity test system and PC software, as well as the device under test (DUT) with PADI IoT Stamp (version with u.FL antenna connector) and ESP-07 ESP8266 module as a u.FL connector is required to connect the test system. They’ve tested 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n, but for IoT projects 802.11b is the most important as usually long range is more important than data rate. Test results […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC

Samsung Introduces $5 ARTIK 0 and $50 ARTIK 7 Smart IoT Module Families

Samsung unveiled ARTIK 1, 3 and 5 boards for the Internet of Things in 2015, and started to sell them, together with development with WiFi, BLE and Zigbee connectivity earlier this year. The Korean company has now announced two new family with ARTIK 0 modules powered by an ARM Cortex-M MCU and destined to be used in HVAC, lighting, industrial sensors, personal health monitoring and more, as well as ARTIK 7 family powered by an Octa-core Cortex A53 processor, and targeting IoT gateways. ARTIK 0 Family ARTIK 0 family is now comprised for ARTIK 020 with Bluetooth, and ARTIK 030 for applications requiring Thread and/or Zigbee. Beside the different radios, both modules share the same key features: MCU – ARM Cortex-M4 up to 40 MHz with Floating Point Unit, 256KB flash, 32 KB SRAM, advanced hardware cryptographic engine with support for AES-128/-256, ECC, SHA-1, SHA-256, and a Random Number Generator […]

Quirky Linux 8.1 Lightweight Linux Desktop Distribution Released for Raspberry Pi 2 and Pi 3

Barry Kauler, the creator of Puppy Linux, may have retired from maintaining Puppy Linux a few years ago, but he appears to be still active, as he’s just released Quirky Linux 8.1 for Raspberry Pi 2 and Pi 3 boards, a lightweight Linux desktop distribution based on Ubuntu Xenial Xerus 16.04, and including LibreOffice & Inkscape to have the same out of the box experience as Raspbian, but with a 360 MB download size instead of 1.3 GB for Raspbian. A build for ODROID-XU4 development board should also be coming soon. The image has been designed for 8GB micro SD card, and needs to extracted and dumped onto the card with the usual Win32DiskImager or dd tools. There are three mirrors for quirky-pi2-sd-8gb-xerus-8.1.img.xz firmware: iBiblio.org, nluug.nl, and archive.org. You can read the full release notes if you want more details. In case you don’t have a spare micro SD card, […]

$28 MK809V 4K Android TV Stick is Powered by Rockchip RK3229 Processor

Rockchip RK3229 is found is some ultra-cheap 4K Android TV boxes such as SCISHION V88 are selling for as low as $20. If you prefer HDMI TV stick form factor, there’s now MK809V 4K TV stick based on the processor, which I’ve first noticed on DealExtreme for $30.71, but it can also be found on other sites such as GeekBuying for $27.99, or eBay for $33. MK809V-4K HDMI TV dongle specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3229 quad core ARM Cortex A7 processor @ 1.5 GHz with ARM Mali-400MP2 System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot up to 32GB Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K2K @ 60 fps with CEC support Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi up to 150 Mbps + Bluetooth 4.0 LE (Realtek RTL8723) USB – 1x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB OTG port, 1x micro […]

Pine64 PADI IoT Stamp WiFi IoT Kit Review – Part 1: Hardware, Debuggers, and Soldering

Back in September, Pine64 unveiled their $2 PADI IoT Stamp based on Realtek RTL8710 ARM Cortex M3 WiFi SoC aiming to compete with Expressif ESP8266 solutions.  The company has now sent me their complete kit for review, which beside the module itself includes a breakout board kit, and some hardware debug tools. In the first part of the review, I’ll check out the hardware, and solder the kit. I received a package with four antistatic bags. From top left to bottom right, we have PADI IoT Stamp, JLINK-OB debugger based on an STM32 MCU with some jumper wires (aka Dupont cables) for SWD signals, and a USB cable to your computer in order to flash the firmware or do some bare metal programming, a breakout board kit including two headers, a RED LED, and a resistor, and finally a USB to Serial board based on CH340G with 4 jumper wires […]

UP 7000 SBC

Intel Introduces 3 Atom E3900 Apollo Lake Processors for IoT, Industrials and Automotive Applications: x5-E3930, x5-E3940, x7-E3950

Intel previously introduced Celeron and Pentium Apollo Lake processors for laptops and mini PCs, and it seemed Atom was gone for good from that processor family, but the vendor has now introduced Atom E3900 “Apollo Lake” processor family for IoT, industrial and automotive applications with three models: x5-E3930, x5-E3940, and x7-E3950. All three new processors will support up to 8 GB of LPDDR4/DDR3L memory, come in a FCBGA1296 package, be manufactured using 14 nm process, support 4K UHD video output up to 60 Hz on three independent displays, up to 15 simultaneous 1080p30 video stream, as well as 13MP cameras for photos and 1080p60 video capture. Peripherals interfaces include SATA 3.0,  PCIe lane, HDMI, DisplayPort, embedded DisplayPort, USB 3.0 & 2.0 ports and more. The new processors also integrate Intel Time Coordinated Computing (TCC) Technology that “coordinates and synchronizes peripherals and networks of connected devices, achieving improved determinism. It can […]

Congatec Unveils conga-SA5 SMARC 2.0 Modules based on Intel “Apollo Lake” Atom x5/x7, Celeron and Pentium Processors

congatec, a company specialized in embedded computer modules, single board computers and embedded design and manufacturing services, has just introduced their conga-SA5 system-on-module family compliant with SMARC 2.0 specifications, and powered by the latest Intel Apollo Lake processors. conga-SA5 SoM’s specifications: SoC (one of the list) Intel Atom x7-E3950 quad core processor @ 1.6 / 2.0 GHz with 2MB L2 cache, 18 EU Intel Gen 9 HD Graphics (12W TDP) Intel Atom x5-E3940 quad core processor @ 1.6 / 1.8 GHz with 2MB L2 cache, 12 EU Intel Gen 9 HD Graphics (9W TDP) Intel Atom x5-E3930 dual core processor @ 1.3 / 1.8 GHz with 2MB L2 cache 1MB, 12 EU Intel Gen 9 HD Graphics (6.5W TDP) Intel Celeron N3350 dual core processor @ 1.1 / 2.4 GHz with 1MB L2 cache, 12 EU Intel Gen 9 HD Graphics (6W TDP) Intel Pentium N4200 quad core processor @ […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC