LeMaker Cello 96Boards EE Board Powered by AMD Opteron A1120 Processor Targets Server Applications

There are two versions of Linaro’s 96Boards specifications the Consumer Edition (CE) and the Enterprise Edition (EE) with higher hardware requirements, and while several boards mostly compliant with 96Boards CE are available such as DragonBoard 410c and Hikey boards, the only board announced to be compliant with 96Boards EE specifications was AMD Huskyboard based on Opteron A1100 series processor and is yet to be available for sale. LeMaker has now designed a similar EE boards called Cello. LeMaker Cello board specifications: Processor – AMD Opteron A1120 quad core Cortex A57 processor @ 1.7 GHz with 2MB L2 cache, 8MB L3 cache System Memory – 2x DDR3 SO-DIMM sockets Storage – 2x SATA 3.0 ports, micro SD slot Connectivity – 1x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port USB – 2x USB 3.0 ports Expansions x16 PCIe G3 slot 40-pin Low Speed (LE) expansion header Debugging – micro USB port for console access, 10-pin […]

AMD Launches Embedded G-Series J Family of Low Power Low Cost Processors with HDMI 2.0 and 4K HEVC Decode

If you want 4K multimedia features like HDMI 2.0 and 4K H.265 video decoding @ 60 fps at a reasonable price point, ARM is basically the only game in town with Rockchip RK3229 and Amlogic S905 TV boxes in the low end segment ($30 to $40) and on the other side of the spectrum SoCs such as Nvidia Tegra X1 used in the Shield Android TV box for around $200. But AMD has now added the J family to its G-series embedded processor with two x86 cores, AMD Radeon GCN core, and multimedia capabilities including HDMI 2.0 and 4K HEVC decoding, with the processors targeting  thin clients, IP set-top boxes and TVs, casino gaming, industrial control and automation, digital signage, and communications networks. Key features of AMD G-Series J family processors: 2x “Excavator” x86 cores with 1MB shared L2 cache AMD Radeon R5E graphics (up to 3CUs) with support for […]

AMD Launches 3 ARM based Opteron A1100 Server SoCs: A1120, A1150 and A1170

AMD Roadmap showed “Seattle” Cortex A57 server SoC were expected in H2 2014, which later became known as Opteron A1100, and the company unveiled their Optron A1100 development board in summer 2014, but since then there has been a few delays, the announcement of Huskyboard 96Boards EE development board, and finally they announced availability of three Opteron A1100 processors yesterday. So there’s one quad core Cortex A57 with Opteron A1120, and two octa-core with Opteron A1150 and A1170 clocked at respectively 1.7 and 2.0 GHz. I was surprised by the rather high TDP at 25W and 32W since one of ARM advantage is low power consumption. But since it is a server SoC it needs to be compared to Intel server SoC, and AnandTech did that against Intel Atom C2750 with eight Silvermont cores @ 2.4 GHz. On the three important metrics, i.e. price, performance and power consumption, AMD A1170 […]

Remix OS 2.0 for PC Will Run on Most Intel and AMD Computers

Remix OS is a fork of Android developed by Jide and optimized for desktop use, in a similar way to what Rockchip is doing with Light Biz OS, except the developers do not limit themselves to one specific SoC vendor with the operating system found in Remix Mini (Allwinner A64), and Remix Ultra-tablet (Nvidia Tegra 4), as well as several firmware images for popular Android devices such as Nexus 9 & 10. Now the company is planning to release Remix OS 2.0 for Intel and AMD based computer including PCs and Macs. How do they achieved that? Technically same way as Console OS by forking Android-x86 project, except they did it with less contention, and instead Jide partnered with Android-x86 developers. Remix OS for PCs alpha is a version of Remix OS 2.0 based on Android 5.0 with the taskbar, multiple windows, better memory management (it will try not to […]

Is Console OS just a Scam Based on a Fork of Android-x86 with Little Modifications?

Console OS is supposed to be a version of Android Lollipop running on various Intel platforms, and optimized for desktop use with new features like DVR support for digital TV tuners, a desktop friendly file manager, and so on. The project launched on Kickstarter and was successful enough to raise $78,497 from 5,695 backers. But according to Chih-Wei Huang, Android-x86 project leader, and Console OS users, the Console OS developer simply forked Console OS, with some minor modifications like changing the project name, and under-delivering on the promised features. The first part is fine, as that’s the beauty of open source code, you can fork somebody else work, and add your own improvement, and long as you keep the license and credits, that’s what open source is all about. Now the project raised funds specifically for development, and as promised the source code is available on github. Here what has been […]

MOI Pro AMD IPTV Streaming Server Supports Up to 16 Tuners

TBS Technologies is a company specializing in digital TV tuners, with their catalog includes various DVB-T2, DVB-C, DVB-S2 and ATSC tuner cards. They also happen to be the designer of Matrix board and Matrix 2 Android set-top box, both of which run Android or Linux and support some of the company’s tuners. But they also have higher end products such as MOI Pro AMD IPTV streamer based on an AMD Embedded G-Series processor, and supporting up to 4 tuner cards with up to 4 tuners each. TBS MOI Pro AMD specifications: SoC – AMD GX-412HC quad core processor @ 1.2GHz with AMD Radeon HD GPU @ 300MHz (7W TDP) System Memory – 4GB DDR3-1333 Storage – 30GB mSATA SSD, 1x SATA @ 6.0Gb/s, Video Output – 1x HDMI, 1x VGA (reserved connection?) Connectivity – 2x Gigabit Ethernet Tuners – Up to 4 PCIe TV tuner cards (DVB-S2 or DVB-T2/T/C) for […]

Fitlet H mini PC is Powered by AMD A10 Micro-6700T SoC

At the beginning of the year, Compulab announced several Fitlet mini PCs powered by AMD Mullins processors. Missing from the original offering was the top of the line A10 Micro-6700T quad core processor, but the company’s latest Fitlet H integrates the more powerful, yet still low power, processor. Fitlet H specifications: SoC – AMD A10 Micro-6700T 64 bit quad-core processor @ up to 2.2 GHz with AMD Radeon R6 Graphics (4.5W TDP). System Memory – 2x SODIMM slots for up to 16 GB DDR3L-1333 Storage – Internal 2.5” HDD/SSD (SATA 3.0) + mSATA 3.0 + micro-SD Video Output – 2x HDMI 1.4a up to 1920 x 1200 @ 60Hz Audio – Realtek ALC888-VC2 HD audio codec; S/PDIF 7.1 input/output + stereo line-out / MIC in Connectivity 2x Gigabit Ethernet (Intel i211 Ethernet controllers) WLAN 802.11ac (2.4/5GHz dual band Intel 7260HMW) + Bluetooth 4.0 with two external antennas Cellular – mini-PCIe for […]

Intel Skylake-U Processors Run as Low as 7.5W TDP. A Closer Look at Configurable TDP

I try to mostly cover low power systems on this blog, so when it comes to x86 processors I have a cut off TDP of 10 Watts. The next generation of Intel Skylake processors have a TDP of 15 Watts, but when I read Skylake-U lineup post on FanlessTech, I discovered Intel processors also have a configurable TDP option, and in the case of Skylake-U processor their configurable TDP (cTDP) can be as low as 7.5W or 10W depending on models. U-Processor family has Pentium and Celeron processors, but also Core i3, Core i5 and even Core i7 processors such as i7-6600U and i7-6500U clocked up to 3.4 GHz and all with a 15W TDP, but you’ll also notice a column called “cTDP Down” showing 7.5W and 10W values, which shows the great progress made by Intel with regards to low power design. So I decided to look into configurable […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case