DevTerm Raspberry Pi CM4
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DevTerm portable Linux terminal now supports Raspberry Pi CM4 via a $19 adapter

DevTerm modular, portable Linux terminal initially designed for modules based on Raspberry Pi CM3 form factor, can now work with Raspberry Pi CM4 for extra performance and memory thanks to a $19  adapter. The Devterm was initially launched in 2020 with a 6.8-inch IPS screen, a keyboard with 67 keys, and a battery module, all connected through the ClockworkPi v3.14 carrier board taking a choice of core modules based on Allwinner H6 or Rockchip RK3399 (now supported in Armbian), besides the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 mentioned above. More recently, it also got an Allwinner D1 RISC-V module. The Raspberry Pi CM4 module should bring performance similar to the Rockchip RK3399 module for most tasks, although it may vary a lot depending on workloads, and for regular Raspberry Pi users, software that will be more familiar, and may be better supported. I’ve just a bit surprised it took so long, […]

Light sensors with digital signage lift and learn
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Light sensors add “lift and learn” feature to digital signage player

Light sensors are used to turn on/off lights, adjust the brightness of displays, and more. But I’ve come across a use case I never thought of: object presence detection. In the digital signage work, such features if called “lift and learn”, and light sensors are used to detect when an object is present and play a video or display information about the product. That concept came to my attention when I saw a photo of Mekotronics R29 digital signage player with several cables coming out of the device and attached to what looked like white hockey pucks and turned out to be light sensors. Apart from the light sensors, Mekotronics R29 specifications are pretty standard: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core processor with 2x Cortex-A72 cores, 4x Cortex-A53 cores, Arm Mali-T860MP4 GPU, 4K VP9, H.264, H.265, and 1080p60 VC-1, MPEG-1/2/4, VP6/8 video decoder System Memory – 4GB DDR Storage – 64GB […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
Armbian 22.05
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Armbian 22.05 release adds support for Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS, Radxa Zero & Rock 3A, DevTerm A06

The latest release of Armbian, version 22.05, is now out with hundreds of Linux kernel and user space-related bug fixes, a focus on stabilizing existing platforms, while still adding four new boards with Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS (RK3328), Radxa Zero (Amlogic S905Y2), Radxa Rock 3A (RK3568), and DevTerm A06 (RK3399). The community also added two new maintainers for ESPRESSObin and Radxa Rock Pi 4 (Model A) SBCs which should mean the images for those boards will be tested more regularly and potential issues fixed more quickly. You may want to read the more detailed changelog to see if any changes may impact the board(s) you are using. The new Armbian 22.05 release succeeds Armbian 22.02 outed on February 28, 2022. If you’d like to upgrade simply run those two commands on your existing installation:

For new installation, browse the list of supported boards, select the Debian/Ubuntu image you’d […]

NanoPi R5S Rockchip RK3568 mini router
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NanoPi R5S Rockchip RK3568 mini router launched for $59 and up

The Rockchip RK3568-powered NanoPi R5S SBC with two 2.5GbE ports, one Gigabit Ethernet port, and M.2 NVMe storage is now available for $59, or $75 with a metal enclosure. As previously mentioned, the mini router board is equipped with 2GB RAM, 8GB eMMC flash, two USB 3.0 ports, as well as an HDMI output for people wanting to make use of the Rockchip RK3568 processor’s multimedia capabilities, or simply have a user interface on a monitor. NanoPi R5S specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 MP2 GPU, 0.8 TOPS AI accelerator, 4Kp60 H.265/H.264/VP9 video decoder, 1080p60 H.264/H.265 video encoder System Memory – 2GB LPDDR4X Storage 8GB eMMC flash for OS Key M socket for M.2 2280 (PCIe 2.0 x1) NVMe SSD support Optional SPI flash for network boot MicroSD card socket Video Output – 1x HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60, […]

Khadas VIM4 Android 11 Review
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Khadas VIM4 Review – Part 2: Android 11 preview and benchmarks

In the first part of Khadas VIM4 review, I showed off the Amlogic A311D2 SBC and some accessories such as the DIY case and M2X expansion board to add M.2 SSD and modem and tried out OOWOW cloud services to install Ubuntu 20.04 server. I’ve now just gotten Fiber Internet at home, so it’s much more practical to test the system, and in the second part of the review, I’ve installed Android 11 on the VIM4 board, checked out settings and system info, and ran some benchmarks.  It will be more like a preview since Android 11 is not a consumer-friendly system at this time, and is more designed for people wanting to build their own applications. Installing Android 11 on Khadas VIM4 with OOWOW system Last time around, I used OOWOW system install in the SPI flash on the board to download and install Ubuntu 20.04 server to the […]

Orbbec Persee+ 3D AI camera
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Orbbec Persee+ 3D AI camera runs Ubuntu or Android on Amlogic A311D processor

Orbbec Persee+ is a 3D depth camera running Linux with AI capabilities thanks to Amlogic A311D hexa-core processor equipped with a 5 TOPS NPU (Neural-network Processing Unit). The Persee+ is designed to help researchers, engineers, and hobbyists implement advanced uses for 3D imaging. Orbbec has been around for several years with the first product we covered here being the Orbbec Persee 3D depth camera running Ubuntu or Android on Rockchip RK3288 processor and unveiled in 2015. Last year, the company introduced the Zora P1 Amlogic A311D development board for Orbbec 3D cameras, so in a way, the Orbbec Persee+ is born from the work done on the Persee camera and Zora P1 over the years. Orbbec Persee+ 3D AI camera specifications: SoC – Amlogic A311D hexa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A73 cores, 2x Cortex-A53 cores, Arm Mali-G52MP4 GPU, 5 TOPS NPU System Memory – 4GB RAM Storage – 8GB (specs) / […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
Rugged RK3568 mini PC
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EC-R3568PC is a compact rugged mini PC based on Rockchip RK3568 SoC

Firefly EC-R3568PC is a compact rugged mini PC powered by Rockchip RK3568 SoC with a built-in 1 TOPS AI accelerator, up to 8GB RAM, 128GB flash, M.2 NVMe and SATA 3.0 storage, dual Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 2.0 output, RS232 and RS485 interfaces through an RJ45 socket, and more. The fanless embedded computer is designed to be wall-mounted, and operates in a wide -20°C – 60°C temperature range making it suitable for smart NVR, cloud terminal, IoT gateway, and industrial control applications. EC-R3568PC specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 2.0GHz with Arm Mali-G52 2EE GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.1. 1 TOPS NPU, VPU with 4Kp60 H.265/H.264/VP9 video decoding, 1080p60 H.265/H.264 video encoding System Memory – 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB LPDDR4 Storage 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB eMMC flash 16MB SPI Flash M.2 PCIe 3.0 socket for 2242 / 2280 NVMe […]

Raspberry Pi Shortage
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Eben Upton expands on Raspberry Pi shortage

As you may have noticed, Raspberry Pi boards may get hard to get and/or be sold at excessive prices by some resellers. Eben Upton explains the reasons behind the Raspberry Pi Shortage and provides some recommendations to work around the shortage and high prices. Raspberry Pi Trading is still manufacturing around 500,000 Raspberry Pi boards or modules per month despite the global semiconductors shortage, and the issue they face is more of a demand shock than a supply shock with demand for Raspberry Pi products having increased sharply from the start of 2021 and remains unabated as the supply chain can not handle that extra demand at this time. That means distributors have backlogs in almost all products, and it takes time for customers to get their orders. Bots are also involved in making automatic purchases as soon as stock becomes available often in order to resell those boards at […]

Boardcon LGA3576 Rockchip RK3576 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications