CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

December 6, 2016December 6, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

First Intel Apollo Lake J3455/J4205 Processor Benchmarks & Video Tests

Many products powered by Intel Apollo Lake processors have already been announced, but few are actually shipping, and I have yet to get one here. However, AndroidPC.es got hold of ASRock J4205-ITX and J3455-ITX motherboards powered by respectively a Pentium J4205 quad core processor and a Celeron J3455 quad core processor, run a few benchmarks, and tested videos in Windows 10 on the motherboards with Kodi 17 and MPC-HC. Let’s have a look at some of the benchmarks to better understand of what we can expect from Apollo Lake desktop processors. First there’s not that much of a difference between Celeron J3455 (1,771 points) and Pentium 4205 (1,830 points) in PCMark Home Convetional benchmark, however you should clearly feel a boost in performance compared to systems with Intel Cherry Trail x5-Z8300 processor (1,141), and the score is getting fairly close to a mini PC with an Intel Core i3-5005U […]

December 6, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Hardkernel ODROID-VU8C is 8″ LCD Display and Case Kit for ODROID C1+ and C2 Boards

While it’s quite easy to find displays for development boards, they do not always come with a case, so you’d have to make your own. One easier option for the Raspberry Pi boards is the official Raspberry Pi 7″ LCD touch screen Display, plus RS Premium touchscreen case that selling for $132 in total including Raspberry Pi 3 board. But Hardkernel has now launched their own ODROID-VU8C 8″ Touch Display Shell Kit compatible with ODROID-C1+ and ODROID-C2 boards. Specifications and Kit Contents: 8-inch TFT-LCD with 1024×768 resolution (4:3 ratio) 10 finger capacitive touch input Back-light brightness control with ODROID GPIO PWM Viewing angle : Left 75, Right 75, Up 75, Down 75 degree Screen Dimensions : 189 x 149 x 29 mm Viewable screen size : 162 x121.5 mm (active area) Power Supply – 5V/4A DC to power barrel (powering both the LCD and ODROID ARM Linux board) Power consumption […]

December 5, 2016December 6, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

$46 TS100 Digital Programmable Soldering Iron is Controlled by STMicro STM32 MCU

I’m now using a $4 soldering iron which works most of the time for what I’m doing, but sometimes it does not seem to heat quite fast enough which may cause problems. I’m not soldering that often, so I did not think about getting a better one, but I’ve just come across an TS100 digital & programmable soldering iron with a OLED display showing the current temperature, and controlled by an STMicro STM32F103T8U6 micro-controller. The soldering iron also includes an accelerometer which allow the soldering iron to know when you are using it, so the temperature drops if it is inactive for over 5 minutes (sleep mode), and after 10 minutes of inactivity, the soldering iron automatically turns off. TS100 soldering iron key specifications: OLED Display USB – 1x micro USB port for configuration Temperature Range – 100 to 400 °C; 15 seconds to heat to 300 °C @ 19V; […]

December 5, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Full Specifications for Intel Apollo Lake NUC Mini PC’s NUC6CAYB Board Released

Intel unveiled Intel NUC6CAYS & NUC6CAYH NUCs to be powered by Intel Celeron “Apollo Lake” Jxxx processors, but at the time we did not have the full technical specifications. The company has now published a 66-page technical product specification for NUC6CAYB board used in both mini PCs. Intel NUC Board NUC6CAYB specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J3455 quad core processor @ 1.5 GHz to 2.3 GHz (burst) with 12EU Intel HD graphics 500 @ 250 to 700 MHz supporting DirectX 9.3/10/11.1/12, OpenCL 1.2, OGLES 3.0, OpenGL 4.3 (10W TDP) System Memory – 2x DDR3L-1600/1833 SO-DIMM supporting up to 8GB DDR3L-1866 in total Storage – 32GB eMMC flash (Sandisk, Hynix or Samsung depending on your luck), 2.5″ SATA3 bay for hard drives up to 9.5mm thick, SDXC slot with UHS-I support Video Output – HDMI 2.0 (4K @ 60 Hz) with HDMI CEC via MegaChips MCDP2800-BCT DisplayPort 1.2a to HDMI 2.0 […]

December 5, 2016December 20, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 35 Comments

Firefly-RK3399 Rockchip RK3399 Development Board Launched on Kickstarter for $139 and Up

Firefly-RK3399 is the first, and for now the only one, development board equipped with the latest Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core Cortex A72 & A53 processor. It’s just not available yet, but the board has now been launched on Kickstarter where it is offered for $139 to $199 depending on options. Firefly-RK3399 board specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with dual core ARM Cortex A72 up to 2.0 GHz and quad core Cortex A53 processor with ARM Mali-T860 MP4 GPU with OpenGL 1.1 to 3.1 support, OpenVG1.1, OpenCL and DX 11 support System Memory Standard – 2 GB DDR3 Plus devkit – 4 GB DDR3 Storage Standard – 16 GB eMMC flash, micro SD card, M.2 socket Plus devkit – 32 GB eMMC flash, micro SD card, M.2 socket Video Output & Display Interfaces 1x HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60 Hz 1x DisplayPort (DP) 1.2 interface up to […]

December 4, 2016December 4, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Hisense A2 Android Smartphone Coming Soon with AMOLED and E-Ink displays

Yotaphone popularized dual display smartphones with your standard color display on the front panel complemented with an always-on E-Ink display on the rear panel that consumes less power, and even shows the latest screen update (e.g. your plane ticket) when the battery is depleted. The latest model – Yotaphone 2 – was launched in 2014, but for whatever there has not been an update since, and companies appear to be clearing their stock with for example GearBest selling it for $119.99 shipped. However, even if the company never produces a Yotaphone 3, other have reproduced the design with the latest being Hisense A2 samrtphone whose specs have recently been published on TENAA (China equivalent of the FCC). Preliminary specifications for Hisense A2 smartphone: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 octa-core processor @ 1.4 GHz with Adreno 505 GPU System Memory – 4GB LPDDR3 Storage – 64GB internal storage + micro SD […]

December 3, 2016December 3, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 43 Comments

How to Build and Flash ESPurna Open Source Firmware to Sonoff POW Wireless Switch

ITEAD Studio Sonoff family is comprised of various inexpensive ESP8266 WiFi power switch, and the company sent me two of their latest CE certified models with Sonoff TH16 + external temperature & humidity probe, and Sonoff POW to measure power consumption. I checked the hardware is the first part of the review, and used Sonoff TH16 to control a water pump with the stock firmware and Ewelink Android app in the second part. It works reasonably well, but it relies on the cloud, so if you lose your Internet connection or the service closed, you can’t control the relay manually anymore. Luckily, the UART pins are exposed on Sonoff switches so you can solder a 4-pin header and connect a USB to TTL to flash your own firmware. Please don’t connect Sonoff devices to the mains when programming them, it’s very dangerous, instead the USB to TTL board will power […]

December 2, 2016December 2, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

CHUWI LapBook 14.1″ Full HD Laptop is Powered by Intel Celeron N3450 Apollo Lake Processor

We’ve already seen Voyo Vbook A1 Apollo Lake laptop based on Intel Celeron N3450 SoC going for pre-order a couple of weeks ago, but its has a 11.6″ display only, and I prefer to use larger screens when I need a laptop as it’s less of a shock when switching from my 39″ TV screen connected to my desktop computer. CHUWI LapBook offers just that with many of the same specifications as Voyo laptop, but with a 14.1″ display instead, and a little less storage & battery capacity. CHUWI LapBook laptop specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N3450 quad core “Apollo Lake” processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.2 GHz (Burst frequency) and 12 EU Intel HD graphics 500 @ 200 MHz / 700 MHz (Burst freq.); 6W TDP System Memory – 4GB DDR3L Storage – 64 GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot up to 128 GB Display – 14.1″ IPS […]