MinnowBoard Turbot SBC Gets an Intel Atom E3826 Dual Core Processor, FCC & CE Certification

MinnowBoard MAX launched las year as a low cost board based on Intel Bay Trail-I single or dual core processor, and was mostly targeting developers of embedded systems and hobbyists, but could not be used by OEMs as it lacked FCC & CE certifications. ADI Engineering designed a MinnowBoard compatible board named MinnowBoard Turbot with a faster Intel Atom E3826 dual core processor, FCC & CE certifications, and various other hardware modifications bringing improved HDMI, a better voltage regulator, and populating several connectors. MinnowBoard Turbot specifications: SoC – Intel Atom E3826 dual-core processor @ 1.46 GHz (7W TDP) System Memory – 2GB DDR3L 1333 MT/s (Soldered) – Options: 1GB, or 4GB DDR3L Storage – 1x Micro SD card slot, 1x SATA2 3Gb/sec, 8 MB SPI Flash for firmware (Tianocore UEFI, Coreboot / SeaBIOS) Video & Audio Output – micro HDMI connector Connectivity – 10/100/1000M Ethernet RJ-45 connector USB – 1x […]

Intel Announces Optane Brand for 3D XPoint SSD and DIMM Modules

Last month, Intel and Micron unveiled 3D XPoint technology – pronounced 3D Crosspoint – promising over 1,000 times the performance and durability of NAND flash, and 10 times the density of DRAM for non-volatile memory. Intel has now showcased some of the first products to use that technology with an Optane SSD. At IDF 2015, Intel compared the performance of their high-end P3700 SSD delivering 10,600 IOPS against an early 3D Xpoint “Optane” SSD prototype that could deliver 76,600 IOPS or 7.23 times more I/O per seconds, while according to Anandtech some other tests still ran 5 times faster on 3D Xpoint compared the NAND based SSD. Intel plans to release 3D XPoint SSD in 2016, as well as 3D Xpoint DIMM modules for the datacenters. These are exciting developments, but it will probably take a few more years before it comes affordable for consumer devices, as a 400GB P3700 […]

Ubuntu 14.04.3 Desktop Image for Intel Atom Z3735F mini PCs and Sticks

If you’ve been trying to run Ubuntu on Intel Atom Z3735F, chances are that you’ve come across Ian Morrison (Linuxium) work, even MeegoPad T02 is using one of its older Ubuntu image (without his direct knowledge / authorization), and the developer has now released an Ubuntu 14.04.3 Desktop image for Intel Atom Z3735F based devices around five days after the official Canonical release. The official Ubuntu 14.04.3 includes the newer 3.19 Linux kernel from Ubuntu 15.04, and a matching X.org stack, and has been upgraded that way for hardware enablement, i.e. to support more hardware platforms. Unfortunately, the image for Z3735F is still using a 3.16 kernel because some dynamic kernel modules only work with 3.16. The image supports 32-bit and a 64-bit bootloaders and includes WiFi, Bluetooth, and Audio support. If you’d like to update Ubuntu on your device, download and flash ubuntu-14.04.3-desktop-linuxium.iso to a USB drive with ‘Rufus’ […]

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 […]

Intel and Micron Promise 1000x Faster Storage with 3D XPoint Memory

Non-volatile memory is usually the bottleneck in electronics systems and computers, as it takes much longer to move data from storage than in RAM or cache, so any improvement may yield great benefits, especially when your application requires lots of I/Os. Micron and Intel claim to have developed a new category of memory, and announced 3D XPoint (Read “3D cross-point”) memory as the first break through since the launch of NAND Flash in 1989. There’s great variability between different NAND flash chips, but the companies announced that 3D XPoint is 1,000 times faster and endurant (write cycles) than NAND flash, and 10 times denser than conventional DRAM. The technology would mainly benefit most applications, but especially more demanding ones such as high resolution gaming (4K/8K), real-time pattern recognition, and genomics. Based on the presentation video below, it even seems 3D XPoint memory can be used to replace RAM and NAND […]

Tronsmart Ara BJ19 is an NUC-like Mini PC Powered by Intel Celeron J1900 Processor

Tronsmart has launched several ARM based TV boxes in the last couple of years, but now they’ve now unveiled an Intel based mini PC with Tronsmart Ara BJ19. The barebone PC looks very much like an Intel NUC, and features an Intel Celeron J1900 Bay Trail-D quad core processor. Tronsmart Ara BJ19 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J1900 Quad core processor  @ 2.0 GHz (base) / 2.41 GHz (burst) with Intel HD graphics (10W TDP) System Memory –  DDR3L 1333/1666 MHz SO-DIMM slot Storage – 2.5″ SATA hard drive or SSD Video Output – mini HDMI + mini DisplayPort Audio – mini HDMI, 3.5 mm jack for headphone and MIC-in Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, mPCIe Wi-Fi (2.4GHz) and Bluetooth 4.0 module USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x USB 3.0 port. Misc – Power button, power LED Power Supply – 19V/2.1A Dimensions –  116.6 x 112 x 5.1 mm […]

Intel Introduces Braswell NUCs with Celeron N3050 and Pentium N3700 Processors

Intel has already announced several Braswell processors as successors for Bay Trail-M processor with 4 to 6W TDP and 14nm manufacturing process. Two of these, namely Intel Celeron N3050 (dual core) and Pentium 3700 (quad core), have fund their way into the latest Intel NUCs that are currently listed for $140 and $180 in the US with the official release date fixed on June 8. The dual core version is called NUC5CPYH, while the quad core is NUC5PPYH. Both share the following specs: Processor Intel Celeron N3050 dual core processor @ up to 2.16 GHz with 2MB cache, Intel HD Graphics @ 600 MHz max, 6W TDP Intel Pentium N3700 quad core processor @ up to 2.4 GHz with 2MB cache, Intel HD Graphics @ 700 MHZ max, 6W TDP Memory – 1x DDR3L SODIMM 1.35V, 1333/1600 MHz up to 8GB maximum Storage – 1x SATA @ 6.0 Gbps for […]

Teclast X70 Might be the First Low Cost 3G Tablet with an Intel Atom x3 Processor

Intel announced three Atom x3 processors combining x86 cores with ARM Mali GPU a couple of months ago, and Intel Atom x3-C3130, the lower end processor with two x86 cores up to 1.0 GHz, an ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU and a 2G/3G modem, can already be found in Teclast X70 7″ Android tablet selling for just $70 on GeekBuying, Tinydeal, and probably others Chinese online retailers. Teclast X70 specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x3-C3130 dual x86 core processor @ up to 1GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU @ 533 MHz System Memory – 512MB LPDDR2 Storage – 4GB eMMC + micro SD slot up to 32GB Display – 7″ touchscreen (5-point) with 1024×600 resolution Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS Cellular Connectivity – Built-in 3G modem (WCDMA 2100MHz l 2G: 850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, 1900MHz); two standard SIM slots Camera – 2MP rear camera, 0.3MP front-facing camera Audio – Stereo speakers, built-in microphone, […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case