Compact Renesas RZ/G1C based ARM Linux Single Board Computer Exposes 100 Expansion Pins

iWave Systems has released a new business card sized single board computer (SBC) with iW-RainboW-G23S, which looks somewhat similar to a Raspberry Pi 3 board, but is equipped with Renesas RZ/G1C single or dual core ARM Cortex A7 processor, up to 2GB RAM, Gigabit Ethernet, and provides plenty of I/Os through 3 headers for a total of 100 pins. Target applications include HMI & access control, industrial control, healthcare devices, point of sale, IoT, home & office automation, and white goods & appliances. iW-RainboW-G23S board specifications: SoC – Renesas RZ/G1C Dual/Solo ARM Cortex-A7 processor @ 1.0 GHz with PowerVR SGX531 3D GPU System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 (expandable up to 2GB) Storage – 2MB SPI Flash  (expandable), 8GB eMMC Flash (expandable), and micro SD connector Video Output/Input – 1x HDMI output port,  1x CVBS input RCA jack, optional 1x CVBS output RCA jack/header Video – HD encode/decode Connectivity – 100/1000Mbps […]

VoltaStream AMP1 Linux Audio Board Includes a Stereo Audio Amplifier, Adds WiFi and Bluetooth

Last summer I wrote about VoltaStream ZERO an audio board powered by NXP i.MX6ULL processor, with up to 1GB RAM, a Texas Instruments DAC, and leveraging Raspberry Pi Zero form factor. The board runs a custom Linux distribution called PolyOS built with the Yocto Project, and including shairport-sync, librespot, SqueezeLite, a DLNA renderer, and more. Polyvection, the company behind the project is now back with VoltaStream AMP1 audio development board, with half the board very similar to VoltStream ZERO, and the other half featuring an audio amplifier, and a wireless module for WiFi and Bluetooth. VoltaStream AMP1 board specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX6ULL ARM Cortex-A7 processor @ 996 MHz System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot Audio 1x I2S for integrated DAC and AMP, 1x I2S for GPIO access, 1x TOSLINK-IN jack Analog DAC – Texas Instruments PCM1862 (SNR 103 dB) Amplifier – ISSI IS31AP2121 […]

Bolt IoT Platform Combines ESP8266, Mobile Apps, Cloud, and Machine Learning (Crowdfunding)

There are plenty of hardware to implemented IoT projects now, but in many cases a full integration to get data from sensors to the cloud requires going though a long list of instructions. Bolt IoT, an Indian and US based startup, has taken up the task to simplify IoT projects with their IoT platform comprised of ESP8266 Bolt WiFi module, a cloud service with machine learning capabilities, and mobile apps for Android and iOS. Bolt IoT module hardware specifications: Wireless Module – A.I Thinker ESP12 module based on ESP8266 WiSoC Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi secured by WPA2 USB – 1x micro USB for power and programming Expansion – 4-pin female header and 7-pin female header with 5 digital I/Os, 1x analog I/O, and UART Misc – Cloud connection LED The hardware is not the most interesting part of Bolt IoT, since it offers similar functionalities as other ESP8266 boards. […]

International Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals in 2017

Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2017 deals have started to show up on some Chinese e-retailers website, so as every year, I’ll go through a non-exhaustive list with the most popular websites. GearBest’s 2017 Black Friday event offers discount from 8% up to 15% for mobile phone, tablets & computers, and appliances. One example if Alfawise S95 TV Box with S905W/2GB RAM/16GB flash going for $29.99 shipped. They also offer coupons up to 20% or a just amount in dollars. You can purchase lucky bags with a surprise product, some flash sales will be organized, as well as a lucky draw to win Xiaomi Mi 6 smartphone. Aliexpress is ready for both Black Friday and Cyber Monday with some games to win coupons, and deals per category. I have not found any specific yet, but while the games are on, the actual Black Friday sale will only take place between […]

Nexell NXC100 Voice Recognition Chip, NXP4330Q Processor, and ALTO Development Board

I wrote about NanoPi Fire2 & Fire3A boards based on Nexell S5P processors a few days ago, and at the time, as I checked out Nexell website, I found out about the company’s NXC100 Voice Recognition SoC that can be used in 4-mic array board. The chip can then be connected through SPI to a host processor, and Nexell appears to have a NXP4330Q Smart Voice kit based on their quad Cortex A9 processor of the same name. But since documentation is really limited, I looked for more details, and came across NXP4330Q based ALTO board design by InSignal, which sold the Exynos powered Arndale boards a few years back. Nexell NXC100 Voice Recognition SoC The chip is the only product from the “A.I related” section of therir website, but more are likely to come out as the company is working on GP-GPU (General Purpose GPU), machine learning, and even registered […]

Pi/104 Carrier Board for Raspberry Pi Compute Modules (Partially) Complies with PC/104 OneBank Specs (Crowdfunding)

The PC/104 consortium maintains various standards for embedded computer defining both the buses to use and form factors. PC/104 SBCs/boards are mainly used in rugged industrial computers, and stackable through ISA and PCIe buses. The standards were mostly designed for x86 processors, but in Q1 2015, the consortium added the OneBank option to PCI/104-Express & PCIe/104 Specification, Revision 3.0 in order to enable lower cost solutions and processors with PCIe and USB interfaces. This brought some lower powered Intel and ARM+FPGA based PC/104 compliant boards to the market such as Winsystems PX1-C415 based on Intel Apollo Lake E3900 SoC, or Sundance EMC²-Z7030 powered by Xilinx Zynq-7030 ARM+FPGA SoC. Adam Parker (Parker Microsystems) has decided to bring the PC/104 OneBank industrial standard to the Raspberry Pi world, by creating Pi/104 a carrier board for the RPi compute modules that (mostly) complies with PC/104 OneBank for factor, and exposes the required USB […]

Rockchip RK3399 Sapphire Board is Sold for $75 (Promo)

Black Friday is coming soon, so we’ll start to see more an more interesting deals in the day ahead. Last summer, I wrote about what should be the cheapest RK3399 development board: Sapphire, Rockchip’s own evaluation board that sold for $75… on Taobao with limited availability. So not exactly the easiest board to get. But today, I’ve learned that Varms, the company behind ROCK960 board, was selling Sapphire board for the same $75, plus shipping ($20 when I tried) with “many boards in stock”. Just a quick reminder about the specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with two ARM Cortex A72 cores, four Cortex A53 cores, and an ARM Mali-T860 MP4 GPU System Memory – 4 GB LPDDR3, dual channel Storage – 8 GB eMMC flash, micro SD card Video Output / Display Interfaces – 1x HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60 Hz; MIPI DSI, eDP, LVDS via MXM […]

HackaBLE Board is a Tiny, Breadboard-Friendly Bluetooth LE Development Board

Earlier this year, I wrote about Electronut Labs’ Bluey development board powered by Nordic Semi nRF52832 development board with BLE, NFC, and a few sensors, and partially open source hardware with the KiCAD schematics and PCB layout available on Github. The company is now back with another open source hardware nRF52832 BLE board, namely hackaBLE, that’s much smaller (28x18mm), and with 2.54mm pitch castellated pin headers making suitable for use for breadboard, or as a module on a custom designed board. hackaBLE board specifications: SoC – Nordic Semi nRF52832 ANT + BLE ARM Cortex-M4 @ 64 MHz processor with 512kB flash, 64kB RAM Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.2/5 LE and other proprietary 2.4 GHz wireless standards via chip antenna Expansion 2x 9-pin castellated headers with GPIO, 5V, 3.3V, and GND 2x 5-pin solder pads for more I/Os Debugging – 4-pin SWD header Misc – RGB LED, and user button Power Supply […]