CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

November 14, 2016November 15, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 38 Comments

Voyo VMac (V1) Apollo Lake Mini PC is up for Pre-order for $195 and Up

Voyo VMac (aka Voyo V1) is the first Apollo Lake mini PC from mainland China manufacturers, and will come with either Celeron N3450 or Pentium N4200 quad core processor combined with 4GB RAM and 32GB eMMC flash, as well as an 128GB SSD. Voyo VMac/V1 specifications: SoC Celeron N3450 quad core processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.2 GHz (Burst frequency) and 12 EU Intel HD graphics 500 @ 200 MHz / 700 MHz (Burst freq.); 6W TDP Pentium N4200 quad core processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.5 GHz (Burst frequency) and 18 EU Intel HD graphics 505 @ 200 MHz / 750 MHz (Burst freq.); 6W TDP System Memory – 4GB DDR3L (upgradeable to 8GB) Storage – 32GB eMMC flash + 128GB M.2 SSD + micro SD slot Video Output – Mini HDMI 1.4 port limited to 4K @ 30 Hz Audio – HDMI + 3.5mm audio jack Connectivity – […]

November 14, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

$2 Wisol SFM10R1 & SFM10R2 Sigfox Modules and Evaluation Board

LoRa appears to be one of the most popular long range lower power WAN standards, at least based on the number of hobbyist boards coming to market, but hardware is not exactly cheap with modules such as Microchip RN2483 & RN2903 LoRa modules selling a little over $10, and development board such as LoPy normally going for at least $35. If large scale IoT is ever going to take off, prices will have to go lower, and AFAIK we are still waiting for the promised sub $2 Weightless chips. But if Elettronica In tweet is to be believed some Sigfox modules made by Korean company Wisol are selling for just $2, likely in larger quantities. WiSOL SFM10R1 is made with RCZ1 (Radio Configuration Zone 1 – ETSI – Europe), while SFM10R2 module is made for RCZ2 ((Radio Configuration Zone 2 – FCC – North America). SFM10R1 key features and specifications: […]

November 14, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

iv-Robotics Brings SMT Resistors, Capacitors, LEDs to Breadboards (Crowdfunding)

Most people will prototype electronics projects using a breadboard and typical axial resistors and “legged” capacitors & LEDs. This works reasonably well but can be messy, and you need to learn resistor codes to choose the right value. To reduce the number of legs and make it easier for beginner, iv-Robotics has decided to create small boards with SMT resistors, capacitors and LEDs instead with markings to solve those small issues. The company calls those iResistor, iCapacitor and iLed components, and offers them in boxes of 50 pieces with various values. Experienced users might also like the fact this it’s easier to store compare to traditional components, but I feel this is really a good idea for education, and kids getting started with electronics. The project is now on Kickstarter, where you can get 50 pieces for $10, 4 boxes of 50 pieces for $35, 8 boxes with iResistors and […]

November 13, 2016January 21, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Geniatech Developer Board IV Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 Features Ethernet, RTC, and More

Geniatech is better known for their set-top boxes, and the company also offer developer board as well as custom designs for system-on-modules based on Amlogic and Qualcomm processor. Their latest board dubbed Developer Board IV looks fairly similar to 96boards compliant Dragonboard 410c board with its Snapdragon 410 processor but adds an Ethernet port, and an RTC battery. Developer Board 4 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (APQ8016) quad-core ARM Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2 GHz with Adreno 306 GPU System Memory – 1 or 2 GB LPDDR3 @ 533MHz Storage – 8 or 16 GB eMMC 5.0 flash + micro SD 3.0 (UHS-I) slot Video Output – HDMI 1.3 up to 1080p @ 30 Hz, 4-lane MIPI-DSI up to 720p60 or 1080p30 for optional (touchscreen) display Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, Integrated 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS with on-board antenna USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB […]

November 12, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

V-Bridge Muses DTV Modulator and Video Encoder Review – Part 2: Muses-β Turnkey Solution Demo

V-Bridge Muses-α and Muses-β boards can be used to respectively broadcast video to DTV standard from your PC, and as a turnkey solution taking any HDMI, CVBS, or USB inputs. The VATek SoC used in those board support various DTV standards including DVB-T, DVB-C, ATSC/QAM, DTMB, ISDB-T/TB up to full HD resolution. I’ve received an early prototype for each, and I’ve already taken pictures and show how to assemble both Muses-α and Muses-β kits in the first part of the review. Today, I’ll show a demo with Muses-β turnkey solution taking HDMI input from an Android TV box (R-Box Pro), encoding and modulating the video to DVB-T, before broadcast it to an Android STB with a DVB-T/T2 tuner (U4 Quad Hybrid). This tool could be useful to test STB featuring ATSC or ISDB-T too, as those two standards are not supported in my country, and I could instead generate signals […]

November 11, 2016November 11, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Microchip Atmel ATtiny417/814/816/817 tinyAVR MCUs Include Core Independent Peripherals (CIPs)

Microchip’s latest Atmel tinyAVR MCUs combine Atmel 8-bit AVR core with CIPS (Core Independent Peripherals) normally found in the company’s PIC MCUs. Since Atmel’s purchase by Microchip, I believe this is the first time the company leverages features from both MCU families. The four new ATtiny MCUs come with 4 to 8 KB flash, and up to 24 pins: ATtiny417 – 8-bit Atmel AVR MCU with 4KB Flash, 256 bytes SRAM, 128 bytes EEPROM, 20MHz/20 MIPS, two 16-bit timer/counters, one 12-bit timer/counter, RTC, USART, SPI, Two-wire Interface (I2C), 10-bit ADC, 8-bit DAC, analog comparator, accurate internal oscillators and multiple calibrated voltage references, Custom Logic, 10-bytes unique ID, and 24 pins ATtiny814 – Same as above but with 8KB flash, 512 bytes SRAM, Peripheral Touch Controll (PTC), and 14 pins ATtiny816 – Same key features as ATtiny814 but with a 20-pin package with more I/Os ATtiny817 – Same key features as […]

November 11, 2016November 11, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Marvin is a Plug and Play, Arduino Compatible, LoRa USB IoT Development Board (Crowdfunding)

LoRa appears to be one of the most popular LPWAN standards so far, with hobbyist development boards such as LoPy or LoRaONE, and we’ll soon have at least one more choice thanks to Marvin, a LoRa development board with a full size USB port. Marvin board specifications: MCU – Atmel/Microchip ATmega32u AVR MCU (same as Arduino Leonardo board) Connectivity – LoRa via Microchip RN2483; Supports both 868 MHz and 433 MHz frequency bands, on-board antenna USB – 1x USB, 1x micro USB port for power and programming Debugging – USB, and ISP header Expansion – 5x Grove connectors Power Supply – 5V via USB port Dimensions – N/A, but similar to USB flash drive The board can be programmed with the Arduino IDE, and they mention IBM Bluemix platform, and Node-RED, but overall details about documentation and software are scarce right now. One of the advantage of this form factor is […]

November 10, 2016November 15, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments

Allwinner H2 Linux & Android SDK, and Allwinner XR819 WiFi Driver Released

Orange Pi Zero is an interesting little ARM Linux board thanks to its low price, but also because it features a new Allwinner H2 / H2+ quad core Cortex A7 processor very similar to Allwinner H3 minus the 4K video decoding part, as well as Allwinner XR819 WiFi module, which I have not seen on any other boards so far. But hardware without software is pretty much useless, so developers will be happy to find out that Allwinner H2 SDK with Linux (lichee) and Android has been released or leaked, and it also includes the Allwinner XR819 WiFi driver. You’ll find the SDK on Zoobab server with three main directory / files: Android folder – Android 4.4.2 SDK lichee folder – Linux 3.4.39 source code. However you’d probably better use Linux 3.4.113 currently released by sunxi-linux, or Linux mainline. The latter does have some limitations, and may or may not […]