Jetson AGX Orin

NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 12-core Cortex-A78AE module delivers up to 200 TOPS

The upcoming NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin module packs some serious processing power with a 12-core Cortex-A78AE processor, 2048 CUDA cores, and 64 Tensor cores delivering up to 200 TOPS of AI performance, or 6 times more than its predecessor, the Jetson AGX Xavier module. Designed for robotics, autonomous machines, medical devices, the Jetson AGX Orin delivers the same performance as a GPU-enabled server, but in a much more compact 100 x 87mm form factor. The module can be operated in three power modes, namely 15W, 30W, or 50W depending on performance and power requirements, and a compact developer kit will also be made available. Jetson AGX Orin specifications: CPU – 12-core Arm Cortex-A78AE v8.2 64-bit processor with 3MB L2 + 6MB L3 cache GPU / AI accelerators NVIDIA Ampere architecture with 2048 NVIDIA CUDA cores and 64 Tensor Cores @ 1 GHz DL Accelerator – 2x NVDLA v2.0 Vision Accelerator […]

Geniatech XPI-X905X3

XPI-S905X3/S905X2 4K SBC with 2GB RAM sold for $35 and up

Geniatech has added two more single board computers to its XPI family with Raspberry Pi form factor. The Geniatech XPI-S905X2 and XPI-S905X3 boards are powered by respectively Amlogic S905X2 and S905X3/S905X4 quad-core processors, ship with 2GB RAM, and sell for $35 and up depending on the choice of processor and the presence of a wireless module. The company promotes each Raspberry Pi 3 lookalike as a “4K Single Board ARM PC” because of the 4K video playback capabilities or the Amlogic processors. Those boards provide an update to the earlier Amlogic S905X based XPI-S905X, and join Rockchip and NXP models. Geniatech XPI-S905X3/S905X2: SoC (one or the other) Amlogic S905X2 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor with Mali-G31 MP2 GPU Amlogic S905X3/S905X4 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor with Mali-G31 MP2 GPU System Memory – 2GB 1GB Optional) Storage – 8GB eMMC flash (option for 16GB or 32GB), MicroSD card slot Video & audio output – HDMI […]

Graperain Samsung, Rockchip RK3588, and Qualcomm CPU modules, SBCs, and carrier boards
Raspberry Pi OS Debian 11 BullsEye

Raspberry Pi OS upgraded to Debian 11 “Bullseye”

Debian 11 “Bullseye” was released in August 2021, and I was expecting Raspberry Pi OS to soon get upgraded to the latest version, especially the last time around, in 2019, Raspian Buster was released even before the official Debian 10 “Buster” release, although the reason was Raspberry Pi 4 launch. This time around it took longer, but the good news is that Raspberry Pi OS has just been upgraded to Debian 11, meaning it benefits from the new features such as driverless printing, in-kernel exFAT module, “yescrypt” password hashing, and packages upgraded to more recent versions. The Raspberry Pi Foundation goes into more details about what changed in the new Raspberry Pi OS release with GTK+3 user interface toolkit, Mutter window manager replacing OpenBox in boards with 2GB RAM or more, new KMS video and camera drivers, and more. Raspberry Pi OS “BullsEye” can be downloaded from the usual place, […]

W806 MCU development board

WinnerMicro W806 240 MHz MCU finds it way into a $2 development board

I’ve just been notified about an inexpensive board (HLK-W806) based on WinnerMicro W806 32-bit XT804 (XuanTie E804) microcontroller clocked at up to 240 MHz and equipped with 1MB flash and 288KB RAM. XuanTie is the microcontroller family from Alibaba’s subsidiary T-Head Semiconductor, notably XuanTie RISC-V cores, but I’ve just learned not all XuanTie cores are based on the RISC-V architecture, and as we’ll see below, Xuantie E804 core appears to be based on the C-Sky architecture. It may still be interesting, as it’s in the STM32 board price range (pre-2020), but with a much higher frequency, so let’s have a look. HLK-W806 development board specifications: MCU – WinnerMicro W806 32-bit XT804 microcontroller @ 240 MHz with 1MB Flash, 288KB RAM, FPU, DSP, crtypto engine Expansion – 2x 24-pin headers with (based on MCU specs) 1x SDIO host with support for SDIO 2.0, SDHC, MMC 4.2 1x SDIO device up to […]

SoQuartz Raspberry-Pi CM4 compatible module

SOQuartz – Raspberry Pi CM4 compatible Rockchip RK3566 SoM launched for $35 and up

Radxa CM3 Raspberry Pi 4 alternative was just introduced yesterday, but today, Pine64 SOQuartz Compute Module has just become available for $34.99 and up. Pine64 announced the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 compatible Rockchip RK3566 system-on-module (SoM) last June, and today the company/community launched three SOQuartz models with a wireless module and equipped with either 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB RAM. SOQuartz system-on-module preliminary specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor up to 1.8 GHz with  32-bit RISC-V MCU, Arm Mali-G52 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.1, 0.8 TOPS NPU for AI acceleration System Memory – 2GB to 8GB LPDDR4 Storage Optional 128 Mbit SPI flash Optional eMMC module from 16GB up to 128GB capacity or soldered-on eMMC module  (see bottom of board) Wireless module – Azurewave AW-CM256SM WiFi 5 802.11ac & Bluetooth 5.0 wireless module plus an u.FL antenna connector. 2x 100-pin high-density board-to-board connectors with: […]

Bluetrum AB32VG1 RISC-V audio board

Giveaway Week – Bluetrum AB32VG1 RISC-V board

The next prize for our once-in-a-year giveaway week is Bluetrum AB32VG1 RISC-V development board based on Bluetrum AB5301A MCU. The board is designed for Bluetooth audio applications as well as general-purpose applications and comes with Arduino headers for expansion. A USB Type-C cable is also included for power and programming. I tested the RISC-V board with RT-Thread open-source operating systems, and let’s say it was quite challenging because development tools need to be improved, but RT-Thread developers are committed to providing a better experience to developers. What’s important is that in the end, after some efforts, I managed to blink an LED and play some music through a pair of speakers connected to the 3.5mm audio jack, and the USB port for power. At the time of review, there was no Bluetooth sample, and a quick look at the documentation shows it may not be available just yet. If you’d […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
Conexio Stratus Shield

Conexio Stratus – An nRF9160 board with solar energy harvesting capability (Crowdfunding)

Conexio Stratus board is equipped with Nordic Semi nRF9160 System in Package (SiP) with LTE-M (eMTC) & NB-IoT cellular IoT connectivity as well as GPS support through a pair of u.FL connectors for antennas, together with 500MB of mobile data valid for ten years. Designed for battery operation, the devkit comes with built-in battery charging, monitoring, and energy-harvesting circuitry, plus an accelerometer and a temperature and humidity sensor that makes it ideal for prototyping cellular IoT systems such as asset-tracking applications, environmental monitoring, and smart-meter monitoring, among others. Conexio Stratus board   Conexio Stratus specifications: SiP – Nordic Semi nRF9160 system-in-package with Arm Cortex M33 MCU, 1 MB Flash, 256 kB RAM, cellular IoT modem, and GPS. Cellular Connectivity 3GPP LTE release 13 Category M1 and NB1 compliant 3GPP release 14 NB2 compliant RF Transceiver for global coverage supporting bands: Cat-M1: B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B8, B12, B13, B14, […]

Maker Pi Pico First Boot

Giveaway Week – Maker Pi Pico board

If you have not played with Raspberry Pi Pico board, here’s an opportunity, as the third prize of our giveaway week is the Maker Pi Pico board fitted with the Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU board, and providing easy access to I/Os with headers and Grove connector, plus a buzzer, an audio jack, and a MicroSD card socket for people needing storage. I reviewed the Maker Pi Pico board with CircuitPython, and it was more convenient than the bare Raspberry Pi Pico thanks to the reset button and an LED is assigned for each I/O. You could also add an ESP-01 module for WiFi connectivity since there’s an 8-pin header for that purpose. The CNXSoft signature on the back of the board clearly brings infinite value to the board. It’s just like an NFT, except it’s real ;). If you don’t think so, you could always use some alcohol to wipe […]

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