SBC News

We’ve previously written about several system-on-modules and SBCs based on Renesas RZ/G2L or RZ/V2L Cortex-A55/M33 processors such as Geniatech “AHAURA” RS-G2L100 and “AKITIO” RS-V2L100 single board computers, Forlinx FET-G2LD-C system-on-module, and SolidRun RZ/G2LC SOM and devkit. But most of those are hard to buy, and you need to contact the company, discuss your project, etc… before purchase, except for the SolidRun Renesas RZ/G2LC Evaluation Kit going for $249. Another option is the MistyWest MistySOM module offered for $112 and up on GroupGets with either Renesas RZ/G2L or RZ/V2L processor, as well as an optional carrier board. MistySOM system-on-module MistySOM-G…

Mixtile Core 3588E is a system-on-module powered by a Rockchip RK3588 SoC and equipped with the 260-pin SO-DIMM connector found in the NVIDIA Jetson TX2 NX (and Jetson Nano, Xavier NX, Orin Nano modules). We’ve seen several companies make Raspberry Pi CM4 alternatives such as Radxa CM3 or Pine64 SoQuartz, and Mixtile even has its own Core 3568M SoM that can be used as a drop-in replacement for the Raspberry Pi CM4. But I had not seen companies try to make system-on-modules based on NVIDIA Jetson’s 260-pin SO-DIMM edge connector, and that’s exactly what the Mixtile Core 3588E has to offer. Mixtile Core 3588E specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588 CPU – Octa-core processor w…

Mixtile Edge 2 Kit is a mini PC/IoT edge computer powered by a Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor coupled with up to 4GB RAM and 32GB flash that features a 12V SATA + SMBUS port that allows the insertion of a 20Ah battery pack lasting up to 12 hours for locations where power may be intermittent. The 3.5-inch industrial mini PC also offers Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi 6 connectivity, three USB 3.0 ports, plus expansion with M.2 and mPCIe sockets, as well as a similar U.2 connector found in the company’s Mixtile Blade 3 SBC powered by Rockchip RK3588 processor, but routed to different interfaces. Mixtile Edge 2 Kit specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568 quad-core A…

Mixtile Blade 3 is a Rockchip RK3588 SBC with up to 32GB RAM designed for server applications, notably to build clusters through a U.2 edge connector with 4-lane PCIe Gen3, SATA 3.0 to interconnect multiple boards. What was not clear so far is how multiple boards would be connected, as we were just shown two boards connected by a U.2 cable, which does not scale, and does not provide power as the 12V input also comes with the U.2 connector. The company has now provided more details showing how it’s done, namely through a breakout board that connects to the U.2 edge connector, and allows cluster design as shown below. The U.2 breakout board comes with a 6-pin connector 12V …

MNT Pocket Reform is an open-source hardware mini laptop with a 7-inch Full HD display, an ortholinear mechanical keyboard, and trackball, that follows the path of its older and bigger sibling: the MNT Reform 2 laptop initially launched with an NXP i.MX 8M quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 module. The new laptop will not only support a similar “NXP i.MX 8M Plus” module but also a range of other Arm modules namely an NXP Layerscape LS1028A module with up to 16GB RAM, the Raspberry Pi CM4 module via an adapter, Pine64 SOQuartz (RK3566, up to 8GB RAM), as well as based on AMD Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA for industrial use. MNT Pocket Reform specifications: Available system-on-modules Stand…

The MNT Pocket Reform, a smaller version of the MNT Reform laptop, with a 7-inch display has just launched on Crowd Supply with an NXP i.MX8M Plus system-on-module, but also compatible with an NXP Layerscape LS1028A module, Raspberry Pi CM4, Pine64 SOQuartz, and an AMD Kintex-7 FGPA module. The open-source modular laptop also comes with a 128GB eMMC flash, 8GB RAM, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity on-module, an optional 1TB NVMe SSD, a backlit 60-key mechanical keyboard with an optical trackball and four buttons, a micro HDMI port to connect an external display, a few USB ports, and Ethernet through an ix industrial connector. MNT Pocket Reform specifications: SoM – …

The ModBerry 500 R1 industrial computer features a Radxa CM3 system-on-module that follows the Raspberry Pi CM4 form factor, but is powered by a Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor instead. The ModBerry 500 CM4 DIN-rail industrial computer with a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 was launched in 2020, but the Raspberry Pi shortage got in the way, even for commercial customers, and Poland-based TECHBASE had to find an alternative to Raspberry Pi CM4 to offer shorter lead times to its customers, and so the ModBerry 500 R1 based on Radxa CM3 system-on-module was born. ModBerry 500 R1 specifications: SoM – Radxa CM3 module with Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 proc…

4K HDMI to USB 3.0 dongles based on Macrosilicon MS2130 video and audio acquisition chip are starting to show up on Aliexpress for around $19 with free shipping. We first discovered the MS2130 chip in the YuzukiLOHCC PRO open-source hardware board that claims to have a bills-of-material cost of about $10. But you have to build it and source the components yourself, so it’s not for everyone. Now USB 3.0 adapters capable of recording or streaming up to 1080p60 uncompressed video from an HDMI input up to 4Kp30 are available to anyone with around $20. “Mini U3” HDMI to USB 3.0 video capture dongle specfications: Main chip – MacroSilicon/UltraSemi MS2130 USB 3.2 Gen 1 high-def…

MSI Cubi N ADL is one of the first mini PCs based on the Alder Lake-N processor family. The mini PC will be offered with Intel Processor N100 or N200 quad-core processor and up to 16GB RAM, as well as M.2 SSD and 2.5-inch SATA storage support. The low-power mini PC also offers 4Kp60 capable HDMI and DisplayPort video output ports, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth connectivity, and a range of USB ports. MSI Cubi N ADL specifications: SoC Intel Processor N100 quad-core processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel HD graphics; TDP: 6W Intel Processor N200 quad-core processor @ up to 3.7 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel HD graphics; TDP: …

MSI is better known for its consumer-grade motherboard and mini PCs, but they also have a division called MSI IPC (industrial PC) that makes embedded hardware such as the MS-98M3 3.5-inch single board computer (SBC) powered by an Intel Tiger Lake UP3 processor and designed for autonomous mobile robots (AMR). The SBC supports up to 64GB DDR4 RAM, SATA and NVMe storage, offers two 2.5 Gbps Ethernet ports, up to four display interfaces with HDMI, DisplayPort, LVDS and/or eDP, four USB 3.2 ports, M.2 expansion sockets for storage and wireless connectivity, as well as various other internal headers. MSI MS-98M3 specifications: Tiger Lake UP3 “IoTG” SoC (one or the other) …

Elephants Robotics myBuddy 280, aka myBuddy 280 Pi, is a dual-arm collaborative robot for education with a 7-inch display powered by Raspberry Pi 4 SBC, and also features three ESP32-based M5Stack core modules that help with the internal communication between the motors and the Raspberry Pi board. It builds upon the earlier myCobot 280 Pi robot with a single arm, with the same 280mm working range, but the new robot offers two arms, and a total of 13 degrees of freedom (DoF). The robot is also equipped with two 2MP HD cameras for computer vision, a standard 3.3V expansion I/O interface, a LEGO expansion interface, and can be fitted with a variety of adapters such as sucti…

MYIR has introduced the MYC-J1028X CPU module based on NXP LS1028A dual Cortex-A72 processor with time-sensitive networking (TSN) support, as well as the MYD-J1028X development board with five Gigabit Ethernet ports, and other interfaces to evaluate the solution. The MYC-J1028X is equipped with 2GB DDR4, 8GB eMMC flash, a 32Kbit EEPROM, and a temperature sensor by default, and exposes all I/Os through a 314-pin MXM 3.0 edge connector. The module also comes with footprints to solder a QSPI NAND Flash, XSPI NOR Flash, and/or ECC memory. Typical applications include industrial routers, industrial control, edge computing, automotive electronics, industrial IoT, and more. MYC-…

Alder Lake processors were first formally announced at the end of 2021 with the most powerful H-Series, followed by a range of Alder Lake Edge IoT processors, and in February, Intel officially launched Alder Lake P-Series and U-Series mobile hybrid processors which I had expected to find in several mini PCs by now. But apart from ASRock iBOX 1200 Series announcement, and leaks of the NUC 12 Studio Pro, I had not really seen any. But today, I found what looks like a mini PC with the Polywell Nano-U12P, but it’s instead marketed as an 8K digital signage player with a choice of Alder Lake P-series and U-series processors. Nano-U12P specifications: SoC (one of the other) Inte…

FriendlyELEC NanoPC-T6 is a feature-rich Rockchip RK3588 SBC with up to 16GB LPDDR4X RAM, 256GB eMMC flash, two HDMI 2.1 output ports, one HDMI 1.4 input port, dual GbE, two M.2 PCIe socket for storage or wireless, a mini PCIe socket and microSIM slot for 4G LTE connectivity, and more. The new NanoPC-T6 single board computer offered many more interfaces than the recent NanoPi R6S or R6C board based on the Rockchip RK3588S with fewer I/Os. As such, it would be suitable for a wider range of applications and FriendlyELEC says it is well suited to enterprise consumers who want to develop mini machine vision systems, and embedded systems hobbyists who want to explore and imple…

NanoPi R4SE is a variant of the Rockchip RK3399-powered NanoPi R4S dual Gigabit Ethernet router that adds a 32GB eMMC flash instead of only relying on a microSD card for the operating system. Most of the specifications remain the same with dual GbE, two USB 3.0 ports, but the router is now only offered with 4GB LPDDR4 and there’s no option for only 1GB RAM, and the GPIO and USB 2.0 headers are gone. The listed temperature range also changed from -20°C to 70°C to 0°C to 80°C. NanoPi R4SE specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core processor with dual-Core Cortex-A72 up to 2.0 GHz, quad-core Cortex-A53 up to 1.5 GHz, Mali-T864 GPU with OpenGL ES1.1/2.0/3.0/3.1, OpenCL,…

FriendlyElec NanoPi R5C is a smaller version of the NanoPi R5S router with the same Rockchip RK3568 processor, but only two 2.5GbE ports and support for an internal M.2 WiFi and Bluetooth module, instead of just USB dongles for the earlier NanoPi R-series routers. The mini router can also be used as a mini PC thanks to a built-in HDMI 2.0 video output port and two USB 3.2 ports and is offered in two versions with either 1GB RAM and 8GB eMMC flash, or 4GB RAM and 32GB storage for just $10 more. NanoPi R5C specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568B2 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 dec…

I started the NanoPi R5S review with an unboxing, a teardown, a quick try of the pre-installed OpenWrt-based FriendlyWrt, and some iperf3 benchmarks on the 2.5GbE interfaces that were rather disappointing. I test further I switched to the Ubuntu 20.04-based FriendlyCore image since I’m more familiar with Debian-based operating systems, and some tools will not run on OpenWrt. Note the performance is still not quite optimal, and that’s why I call this a preview since numbers should improve in the next few months as more people tweak the software. OpenWrt optimizations? But feature jumping to Ubuntu, I gave an updated version of FriendlyWrt a give as FriendElec told me they …

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…

FriendlyElec has just launched the NanoPi R5S mini router powered by a Rockchip RK3568 processor, and the company kindly sent me two samples for review. In the first part of the review, I’ll check out the device itself, the internal design, the preinstalled OpenWrt, and run some networking benchmarks with iperf3. NanoPi R5S unboxing The router comes fully assembled together with a 3M sheet with 6 rubber feet, which, as we’ll see below, are not really necessary. A microSD card socket can be found on one of the sides, while the rear panel comes with a USB-C port for power, a WiFi antenna hole (which can also be used to run cables for GPIO. UART console, etc…), two 2.5GbE …

FriendlyELEC’s family of NanoPi router SBCs and gateways will soon be extended with the NanoPi R5S board equipped with a Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor, and providing three Ethernet ports (2x 2.5Gbps, 1x 1 Gbps), plus support for M.2 NVMe SSD storage. The company has not published any information publicly, but a post on Weibo social network reveals additional details with the single board computer being equipped with 2GB LPDDR4X, 8GB eMMC flash, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI video output, and more. NanoPi R5S preliminary specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568B2 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 MP2 GPU, 0.8 TOPS AI accelerator (RK35…

FriendlyElec has recently announced the NanoPi R6C mini PC that a variant of the Rockchip RK3588S powered NanoPi R6S mini PC and 2.5GbE router that we reviewed with FriendlyWrt/OpenWrt and Ubuntu 22.04 earlier this year, but with just one 2.5GbE and one GbE interface, a built-in M.2 NVMe SSD socket and USB-C Debug UART port for easy external access to the serial console. The company sent me a NanoPi R6C sample for review, but since we’ve already tested the similar NanoPi R6S extensively, I’ll write a single-post mini review this time around, checking out the hardware, and focusing on testing the new features such as the NVMe SSD and the USB debug port when running Ubuntu …

FriendlyELEC has launched its sixth generation router with the NanoPi R6S equipped with a Rockchip RK3588S processor, two 2.5GbE ports, one Gigabit Ethernet port, and two USB interfaces. But the device will not exactly be limited to router functions as it comes with 8GB RAM, a 32GB eMMC flash, and an HDMI 2.1 port that support up to 8Kp60 video output, not to mention 8K video decoding capability and the integrated 6 TOPS NPU for AI workloads. NanoPi R6S specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588S octa-core processor with: CPU – 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, four Cortex-A55 cores @ 1.8 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G610 MP4 quad-core GPU with OpenGL ES3.2 / OpenCL 2.2 / Vulkan1.1 s…

NanoPi R6S is a Rockchip RK3588S powered device that can not only work as a router with two 2.5GbE ports, but also as a mini PC with HDMI and USB ports, and an Edge AI computer thanks to the 6 TOPS NPU found in the processor. FriendlyElec has just sent me two samples of the NanoPi R6S for review. Today, I’ll start with an unboxing, a teardown, and install OpenWrt 22.03 to run some iperf3 benchmarks. I’ll try other features with either Debian or Ubuntu Desktop in a few weeks. NanoPi R6S unboxing The router/mini PC ships with 6 rubber feet (3M), and nothing else. The front panel comes with four LEDs for the system and Ethernet ports, a USB 2.0 port and a USB 3.0 port, as we…

NanoPi R6S is both a mini PC and a router based on Rockchip RK3588S processor. I received some samples in November and started the NanoPi R6S review with OpenWrt/FriendlyWrt quickly testing the 2.5GbE interfaces and routing with iperf3, and it worked pretty well. But using a system with an octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor and 8GB RAM as an OpenWrt router only feels like a waste of resources, so I wanted to install a more versatile operating system – Ubuntu 22.04 – for further testing. My struggles installing Ubuntu 22.04 on NanoPi R6S FriendlyELEC provides various images on the Wiki either booting from an SD card, installing from a MicroSD to the eMMC flash (aka eFlashe…

Reimu NotMoe has designed the “Notkia” PCB based on Ingenic X1000E MIPS processor with 64MB built-in RAM and following the exact same dimensions as the PCB found in Nokia 168x phones (1680, 1681, 1682), and allowing the phone to run mainline Linux. The board also comes with 32MB NOR flash, a 4GB SLC NAND flash, and supports LoRa, 2.4 GHz WiFi, Bluetooth, and GNSS connectivity, but no cellular modem. The initial design was Combining Nokia 168x phone with Notkia PCBA creates a phone with the following specifications: SoC – Ingenic X1000E single-core XBurst MIPS processor @ 1.0 GHz (2200+ CoreMark) with 64MB RAM Storage – 32MB NOR flash + 4GB SLC NAND flash Display – 2.0-i…

Nordic Semiconductor nRF5340 Audio DK is a Bluetooth LE audio development kit that enables better audio quality with LC3 codec, longer playtime, and new features such as Multi-Stream Audio and and Broadcast Audio. Equipped with the nRF5340 dual-core Cortex-M33 SoC, nPM1100 PMIC, and Cirrus Logic’s CS47L63 Audio DSP, the kit can be configured as a True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbud, an LE Audio USB dongle, an enterprise headset, or a broadcast receiver. nRF5340 Audio DK specifications: WiSoC – Nordic Semi nRF5340 dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 multi-protocol microcontroller with support for Bluetooth 5.1 LE, Bluetooth mesh, NFC, Thread, Zigbee, 802.15.4, ANT, and 2.4 GHz propriet…

Nordic Semi nRF54H20 is a 320 MHz multiprotocol wireless SoC with several Arm Cortex-M33 and RISC-V cores, support for Bluetooth 5.4 and greater with features like LE Audio and Bluetooth mesh, as well as Thread, Matter, and so on. It is the first part of the fourth generation nRF54 family manufactured with a 22nm process, and its application processor doubles the processing power (2x CoreMark) of the Arm Cortex-M33 application core in the nRF5340 SoC and embeds up to 2MB flash, 1MB SRAM. nRF54H20 preliminary specifications and highlights: CPU Application core – Arm Cortex-M33 @ up to 320 MHz with 2 MB Flash + 1MB SRAM Network core – Arm Cortex-M33 Several RISC-V cores (…

Nordic Semi nRF7002 DK is an IoT development kit based on the nRF5340 dual-core Cortex-M33 multi-protocol wireless SoC and nRF7002 companion chip adding low-power dual-band (2.4GHz and 5.0 GHz) WiFi 6 connectivity. When Nordic Semi introduced the nRF7200 dual-band WiFi 6 companion chip for nRF52840 and nRF5340 wireless SoCs and nRF9160 cellular IoT SiP last summer, the “nRF7002-PDK” development kit was only mentioned in passing with a 3D render and not much else. The company has now announced the availability of the nRF7002 DK to help developers create low-power Wi-Fi 6 IoT applications. nRF7002 DK specifications: Wireless MCU – Nordic Semi nRF5340 dual-core Arm Cortex-M3…

Nordic Semiconductor nRF7002 dual-band WiFi 6 companion chip is the first WiFi chip from the company and is designed to add Wi-Fi connectivity to solutions based on nRF52840 and nRF5340 wireless SoCs, and nRF9160 cellular IoT SiP, as well as non-Nordic host microcontrollers. The nRF7002 also adds Wi-Fi-based locationing (SSID sniffing of local Wi-Fi hubs) when used alongside Nordic’s existing products, and the launch means Nordic is now one of the rare companies offering chips for Bluetooth, 802.15.4 (Matter/Thread), Wi-Fi, and cellular IoT (NB-IoT, LTE Cat M). This was made possible with the acquisition of the development team, core Wi-Fi expertise, and Wi-Fi IP assets o…

Nordic Semi has just announced the nRF71 Series of ultra-low-power SoCs with ultra-low-power Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth Low Energy (LE), and Thread connectivity, as well as an Axon NPU for edge AI workloads. The company claims the new chips, starting with the dual-band nRF7120 and tri-band nRF7120E, deliver up to 20 times lower standby power usage than current-generation nRF70 Series Wi-Fi products. This should allow nRF71 devices to run for years on battery, whether they use BLE, Thread, or Wi-Fi, for Smart Home, wearables, and industrial IoT applications. Nordic Semi nRF7120/nRF7120E specifications: MCU cores Arm Cortex-M33 @ up to 256 MHz RISC-V coprocessor @ up to 256 MHz wit…

As one should have expected after Nordic Thingy:52 and Thingy:91 IoT devkits were introduced in 2017 and 2019 respectively, the Norwegian company has now launched the Thingy:53 platform based on Nordic Semi nRF5340 dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 SoC for IoT prototyping with Bluetooth Low Energy, Thread, Matter, Zigbee, IEEE 802.15.4, NFC, and Bluetooth mesh RF protocols. The development kit also incorporates the nPM1100 PMIC and nRF21540 Front End Module (FEM), a power amplifier/low noise amplifier (PA/LNA) range extender, as well as multiple motion and environmental sensors, as well as a rechargeable 1350 mAh Li-Po battery for power. Nordic Thingy:53 specifications: SoC – Nord…

We’ve already seen ESP32 WiFI & Bluetooth SoC combined with a cellular modem several times already, and a couple of days ago, I wrote about LILYGO T-A7068X ESP23 board with a 4G LTE modem. Iconic Devices team has made another cellular ESP32 product with the NORVI GSM industrial controller. The DIN-Rail mountable USB programmable controller is offered with a choice of SIMCOM SIM800L 2G-only modem or QUECTEL EC21-G modem adding 3G UMTS/HSPDA+ and 4G LTE cellular connectivity. It also offers Ethernet connectivity, digital and analog inputs, relay outputs, and a small 0.96-inch OLED information display with options varying depending on the exact model. NORVI GSM specifica…

Novoton NuMicro MA35D1 microprocessor features two Arm Cortex-A35 cores, one Arm Cortex-M4 real-time core, and two Ethernet interfaces for Linux-based edge IIoT gateway. The SoC also is offered in variants supporting external DDR memory or integrated up to 512MB RAM, 154 or 208 GPIOs, and an optional “Enhanced ADC”. The MA35D1 also comes with a TFT interface for up to 1920×1080 displays, several hardware security features, and the company says the microprocessor facilitates Tiny AI/ML for edge computing despite not integrating an AI accelerator. Nuvoton NuMicro MA35D1 key features and specifications: CPU sub-system 2x Cortex-A35 cores running at up to 800 MHz Cortex-M4 re…

The NVIDIA Jetpack 5.0.2 production release is out with Ubuntu 20.04, the Jetson Linux 35.1 BSP 1 with Linux Kernel 5.10, an UEFI-based bootloader, support for Jetson AGX Orin module and developer kit, as new as updated packages such as CUDA 11.4, TensorRT 8.4.1, cuDNN 8.4.1. NVIDIA Jetson modules and developer kits are nice little pieces of hardware for AI workloads, but the associated NVIDIA Jetpack SDK was based on the older Ubuntu 18.04 which was not suitable for some projects. But the good news is that Ubuntu 20.04 was being worked on and initially available through the Jetpack 5.0.0/5.0.1 developer previews, and NVIDIA Jetpack 5.0.2 SDK is the first production relea…

NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 32GB production module is now in mass production and available, after the 12-core Cortex-A78E system-on-module was first announced in November 2021, and the Jetson AGX Orin developer kit was launched last March for close to $2,000. Capable of up to 200 TOPS of AI inference performance, or up to 6 times faster than the Jetson AGX, the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 32GB can be used for AI, IoT, embedded, and robotics deployments, and NVIDIA says nearly three dozen partners are offering commercially available products based on the new module. Here’s a reminder of NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 32GB specifications: CPU – 12-core Arm Cortex-A78AE v8.2 64-bit processor …

ADLINK “AI Camera Dev Kit” is a pocket-sized NVIDIA Jetson Nano devkit with an 8MP image sensor, industrial digital inputs & outputs, and designed for rapid AI vision prototyping. The kit also features a Gigabit Ethernet port, a USB-C port for power, data, and video output up to 1080p30, a microSD card with Linux (Ubuntu 18.04), and a micro USB port to flash the firmware. As we’ll see further below it also comes with drivers and software to quickly get started with AI-accelerated computer vision applications. AI Camera Dev Kit specifications: System-on-Module – NVIDIA Jetson Nano with CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A57 processor GPU – NVIDIA Maxwell architecture with 128…

SmartCow, an AI engineering company specializing in video analytics, AIoT devices, and smart city solutions, and an NVIDIA Metropolis partner, has released a new version of the Ultron controller. Smartcow Ultron is an AI-enabled controller with sensor fusion capabilities that empowers industrial applications of vision AI at the edge. Powered by the NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX system-on-module and compatible with Jetson Orin NX, Ultron is suitable for smart traffic and manufacturing that can leverage its high computing power and low latency for vision AI applications in various configurations. It is also applicable in smart factories, smart cities, smart buildings, and smart a…

AAEON BOXER-8256AI is a fanless embedded box PC equipped with an NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX system-on-module, offering four HDMI input ports – two Full HD, two 4K capable -, as well as two HDMI outputs for smart healthcare equipment, digital signage, and entertainment. The embedded computer comes with 8GB RAM and a 16GB flash provided by the NVIDIA module, supports M.2 NVMe and SATA storage, Gigabit Ethernet, plus optional WiFI, 4G, and 5G cellular connectivity through M.2 sockets. BOXER-8256AI specifications: SoM – NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX with CPU – 6-core NVIDIA Carmel Armv8.2 64-bit CPU GPU – 384-core NVIDIA Volta GPU with 48 Tensor Cores AI accelerator – 2x NVDLA deep …

NVISEN FU01 fanless mini PC is offered with a choice of Intel Core i3/i5/i7 Tiger Lake processors, fitted with up to 16GB RAM (upgradeable to 64GB), a 256GB or 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD, and the highlight of the computer is its 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 port with 8K video output support. The Tiger Lake system can drive up to three 4K displays with HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2 connectors adding to the Thunderbolt 4 port, offers Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi 5 connectivity, plus six USB 3.0/2.0 Type-A ports for expansion. NVISEN FU01 specifications: SoC (one or the other) Intel Core i3-1115G4 dual-core processor @ 3.0GHz, up to 4.1GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD graphics; 28W TDP Intel Core i5-…

NXP i.MX 95 is an upcoming Arm processor family for automotive, industrial, and IoT applications with up to six Cortex-A55 application cores, a Cortex-M33 safety core, a Cortex-M7 real-time core, and NXP eIQ Neutron Neural Network Accelerator (NPU). We’re just only starting to see NXP i.MX 93 modules from companies like iWave Systems and Forlinx, but NXP is already working on its second i.MX 9 processor family with the i.MX 95 application processor family equipped with a higher number of Cortex-A55 cores, an Arm Mali 3D GPU, NXP SafeAssure functional safety, 10GbE, support for TSN, and the company’s eIQ Neutron Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to enable machine learning appli…

NXP i.MX RT1180 is the latest member of the company’s i.MX RT Series crossover MCUss with application processor-like performance. The 800 MHz dual-core Arm Cortex-M7/M33 microcontroller is specifically designed for industrial IoT communication with a Gigabit Ethernet port supporting time-sensitive networking (TSN). NXP also highlights that it is the first crossover MCU to include an EdgeLock secure enclave that “eases the complexity of implementing robust, system-wide security intelligence for industrial IoT applications”, and the new processor aims to bridge the gap between existing industrial systems and Industry 4.0 system. NXP i.MX RT1180 key features and specificatio…

NXP MCX W70 and KW43 wireless MCU families support Bluetooth 6.x Channel Sounding for secure distance measurement in industrial IoT and automotive applications. The MCX W70 supports Bluetooth LE, Zigbee, Thread, and Matter for Smart Home and industrial devices, while the KW43 is designed for automotive applications such as digital keys and secure vehicle access. Both families feature a 96 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 application core, a separate Cortex-M33 core for wireless connectivity, up to 1.5MB flash, 256KB SRAM, a dedicated Localization Compute Engine (LCE), and NXP’s EdgeLock security features. Bluetooth Channel Sounding support combines phase-based ranging (PBR) and round-t…

NXP has announced a new MCX general-purpose Arm Cortex-M MCU family designed for advanced industrial and IoT edge computing and integrating an NXP neural processing unit (NPU) capable of delivering over 30 times higher performance than running the AI inference tasks on an Arm Cortex-M33 core alone. The new MCX portfolio builds upon the earlier NXP LPC and Kinetis microcontroller families, but does not replace these, and aims to improve machine learning performance and security for a variety of applications including machine learning, wireless, voice, motor control, analog, and more. The new MCX family will be available in four series: MCX N Advanced series Designed for se…

There are plenty of carrier boards for Raspberry Pi CM4, but the Ochin looks a bit different, as it is specifically designed for drones and robots, and the compact carrier board exposes most interfaces through low-profile GHS connectors instead of standard ports or headers. About the size of the Raspberry Pi CM4 itself, the board also comes with a USB Type-C port to flash the eMMC flash, two MIPI CSI connectors and four USB 2.0 GHS connectors to add cameras to your robotics projects, and supports LiPo batteries. Ochin specifications: Supported modules – Raspberry Pi CM4 with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor, up to 8GB RAM, up to 32GB eMMC flash (the CM4 Lit…

Hardkernel is working on the ODROID-Go Ultra (OGU), their latest portable gaming console and devkit, powered by the same Amlogic S922X hexa-core Cortex-A73/A53 processor found in the company’s ODROID-N2+ SBC. The new model also adds a 16GB eMMC flash for faster storage and increase the RAM to 2GB. The Korean company’s adventure with portable gaming consoles started with the ESP32-based ODROID-Go to celebrate its 10th birthday in 2018. At the time it looked like a side project, but the console was popular enough that they released their first Linux handheld game console with the ODROID-Go Advance (OGA) in 2019, and then the ODROID-Go Super (OGS) in 2020 with a larger 5-inc…

There are now not one but two alternatives to the discontinued ODROID-H2+ SBC with the ODROID-H3 and ODROID-H3+ single board computers powered respectively by an Intel Celeron N5105 and Pentium N6005 Jasper Lake processor. Both new SBCs support up to 64GB RAM, significantly faster Intel UHD graphics, an M.1 PCIe Gen 3 socket, and keep the same port assignment with two 2.5GbE ports, two SATA ports, as well as two USB 3.0 and two US 2.0 ports. ODROID-H3/H3+ specifications: SoC ODROID-H3 – Intel Celeron N5105 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 2.0GHz / 2.9GHz (Turbo) with 24EU Intel UHD graphics @ 450 / 800 MHz (Turbo); 10W TDP ODROID-H3+ – Intel Pentium N6005 quad-core Jaspe…

Hardkernel have added Intel Alder Lake mini PCs to their ODROID-H series and they are known as the ODROID-H3 and ODROID-H3+. Like the discontinued ODROID-H2/H2+, this new series also supports the Net Card which will add four extra 2.5 gigabit Ethernet ports. Hardkernel kindly sent an ODROID-H3+ together with a selection of accessories for review and I’m going to look at the effect on performance when changing the Power Limit values in the UEFI (BIOS) together with the network performance of the Net Card. ODROID-H3+ hardware overview The ODROID-H3+ physically consists of a 110 x 110 mm (4.33 x 4.33-inch) motherboard complete with an Intel Pentium Silver Jasper Lake mobile …

ODROID-N2L SBC is a smaller and cheaper version of the ODROID-N2+ single board computer powered by an Amlogic S922X hexa-core Cortex-A73/A53 processor and offered with 2GB or 4GB single-chip LPDDR4X memory. While the ODROID-N2+ is the most popular board from Hardkernel, it’s also fairly larger than most hobbyist SBCs on the market, and following requests from customers, the company designed the ODROID-N2L with a compact form factor that is smaller than Raspberry Pi Model B SBCs and sold at a lower price at the cost of missing some of the features of its big brother. ODROID-N2L specifications: SoC – Amlogic S922X hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 4x Arm Cortex A73 cores …

Odyssey Blue mini PC based on the ODYSSEY-X86J4125 SBC is now offered as part of a bundle with Frigate open-source NVR platform with support for real-time local object detection, and an Coral USB AI accelerator. The Odyssey Blue mini PC is equipped with an Intel Celeron J4125 quad-core Gemini Lake Refresh processor, 8GB RAM, and a 128GB SSD preloaded with an unnamed Linux OS (probably Debian 11) and Frigate Docker container. The solution can run over object detection at 100+ FPS when equipped with a Coral USB accelerator. Since the hardware is not exactly new, and we’ve covered it in detail in the past, even reviewing the earlier generation SBC with Celeron J4105 processo…

We’ve already covered inexpensive offline voice recognition modules based on US516P6 or TW-ASR ONE microcontrollers that allow people to add smarts to their projects without a network connection for improved privacy and lower latency. Those are great in theory, but at the time (April 2022) documentation was lacking or only in Chinese, and they were fairly hard to use based on some of the comments in my earlier posts. But today, I’ve noticed DFRobot is now selling the “Gravity: Offline Voice Recognition Sensor – I2C & UART” module with support for Arduino programming, and it looks fairly easy to customize as we’ll see further below. Gravity Voice Recognition DF2301QG m…

Olimex has started to take pre-orders for the AgonLight2, a customized version of the Agon Light 8-bit open-source hardware computer based on the Z80 family and running BBC Basic. Bernardo Kastrup and Dean Belfield created the Agon light 8-bit retro computer with VGA and PS2 keyboard port and programmable with BASIC earlier this year and released all hardware design files, the firmware, and documentation on GitHub, and Dean uploaded a one-hour-long video on YouTube. It was designed with EasyEDA, but Olimex re-captured the design in KiCad after getting customer requests, and the new cost-optimized board named AgonLight2 will start shipping by the end of January 2023. AgonL…

Olimex has just launched the ESP32-C3-DevKit-Lipo board based on ESP32-C3 RISC-V wireless microcontroller offering WiFI 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, some I/Os, as well as USB and JTAG. As its name implies, the board can be powered by a LiPo battery and charged through a USB Type-C port. It offers up to 15 GPIO for expansion and comes with an ICSP connector in case you need to reflash or debug the bootloader through a JTAG interface. ESP32-C3-DevKit-Lipo specifications: Wireless module – Espressif Systems ESP32-C3-MINI-1-N4 module with: ESP32-C3 (ESP32-C3FN4) 32-bit RISC-V single-core processor up to 160 MHz with 4 MB embedded flash, 384 KB ROM, 400 KB SRAM (16 KB for…

Olimex UEXT-CH390 is a small open-source hardware module that adds 10/100 Mbps wired Ethernet connectivity to microcontroller boards through an SPI interface. It is designed for Raspberry Pi Pico and Pico 2 boards, as well as ESP32-S3, C3, C5, C6, and other microcontrollers without built-in Ethernet connectivity. The module is based on the WCH CH390 Ethernet controller and features an RJ45 connector, a standard UEXT connector, and a smaller 1.0mm-pitch pUEXT connector. It measures 50 x 21 mm and is supported in the Arduino IDE and ESPHome firmware, making it suitable for wired IoT sensors, Home Assistant devices, and other applications where WiFi is unreliable or unwanted…

OnLogic Helix 401 is a fanless industrial computer with a compact design powered by a choice of Alder Lake Embedded processors from Celeron 7305E to Core i7-1270PE designed for edge computing, Industry 4.0, Internet of Things (IoT), and more. The computer supports up to 64GB DDR5 memory, SATA or NVMe storage via two M.2 sockets, and offers up to four video outputs via DisplayPort and USB4 ports, dual Gigabit Ethernet, optional WiFi and/or 4G or 5G cellular connectivity, COM and CAN bus ports, and Digital Input/Output (DIO) connector. OnLogic Helix 401 (HX401) specifications: Alder Lake SoC Intel Celeron 7305E penta-core processor @ 3.10GHz / 4.20GHz (Turbo) with 48EU Inte…

OnLogic IGN800 is an industrial edge gateway based on the Raspberry Pi CM4 module pre-loaded with the Ignition Edge HMI, SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition), MES, and IIoT software platform from Inductive Automation. The hardware is not exactly new, as the Onlogic IGN800 is simply the OnLogic Factor 201 industrial PC introduced earlier this year, but that ships with Ignition Edge in order to provide a cost-effective solution for automation projects. OnLogic IGN800 specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi CM4 with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Arm Cortex-A72 processor @ up to 1.5 GHz, up to 8GB LPDDR4 RAM, up to 32GB eMMC flash Additional storage – Optional M.2 SATA SS…

Onyx BOOX Tab Ultra C is an Android 11 tablet with a 10.3-inch E-Ink Kaileo 3 color display with 2480 x 1860 black & white resolution, 1240 x 930 color resolution, a capacitive touchscreen and support for a stylus with 4096 levels of pressure. The tablet is an evolution of the BOOX Tab Ultra black-and-white tablet with a 4096-color E-Ink display using the latest Kaleido 3 screen that increases color saturation by 30 percent and reduces blue light reflections compared to earlier Kaleido Plus displays. BOOX Tab Ultra C specifications: SoC – Unnamed “Qualcomm Advanced” octa-core processor (likely the 2.0 GHz Snapdragon 662 octa-core Cortex-A73/A53 processor like in its b…

Open AI Lab EAIDK-610 is an embedded AI development kit powered by a Rockchip RK3399 processor, recently added to Linux 6.1 and described as “popularly used by university students” in the kernel changelog. But I had never heard about it, and it turns out it’s because it’s popular with students in China, and most documentation is written in Chinese. The development board is equipped with 4GB LPDDR3, a 16GB eMMC flash, HDMI video output, Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi 5, a few USB ports, a 40-pin GPIO header, and more. EAIDK-610 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 System Memory – 4GB LPDDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash and MicroSD card slot Video Output HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60 MIPI …

Gaurav Singh, acting as Circuit Valley, has designed an open-source hardware USB 3.0 Type-C industrial camera with three boards: one to capture data through a CMOS sensor, another based on a Lattice Crosslink NX FPGA to handle image processing, and finally, a board equipped with an Infineon FX3 USB 3.0 controller for sending the video data to the host. This design allows the DIY camera to be extremely flexible, as for instance, you could keep the FPGA and USB board, and simply change the sensor board for a better/different camera. A 3D printable enclosure is also provided, and the camera supports C-mount lenses, so the lens can also be easily changed as required. Here’s …

OpenEarable is an open-source hardware earable, sometimes also called hearable, that fits around your ear and is based on the same u-blox NINA-B306 module found in the Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense board. Besides the Nordic Semi nRF52840 Arm Cortex-M4-based Bluetooth LE module, the design also features a speaker and ultrasonic microphone, a 6-axis IMU and a pressure sensor, as well as the circuitry for the battery, two LEDs, and a push button. OpenEarable specifications: Wireless module – U-blox NINA-B306 module powered by a Nordic Semi nRF52840 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ 64MHz with 1MB Flash, 256KB RAM, Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity Audio – Built-in speaker and ultraso…

HopeRun’s HiHope development board features a HiSilicon Hi3861V100 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller compatible with OpenHarmony OS and looks very much like the BBC Micro:bit educational board notably with its edge connector. The board is also designed for youth education (in China) and comes with similar sensors, but there are some differences such as a 0.96-inch OLED instead of an LED matrix and support for offline voice recognition. There’s no wireless connectivity apart from NFC support. HiHope board specifications: MCU – HiSilicon Hi3861 32-bit microcontroller @ up to 160 MHz with 352 KB SRAM and 288 KB ROM, 2 MB flash memory Display – 0.96-inch OLED display with 128×64 …

OpenPLC is an open-source, free-to-use Programmable Logic Controller Suite, compliant with the IEC 61131-3 standard, and working with a range of hardware platforms such as Arduino, ESP8266/ESP32, Raspberry Pi SBCs, as well as Windows and Linux machines. When Arduino unveiled the Arduino PLC IDE, we noted the languages defined by the IEC 61131-3 standard were licensed, and the PLC key for the Portenta Machine Control unit sold for $17.60. One reader complained about the high license cost per device, but Massimo Banzi, the co-founder of the Arduino project, replied it was cost-effective for smaller deployments: Actually it’s not that much money compared to the cost of other…

OpenWrt 22.03 open-source Linux operating system for routers and entry-level embedded devices has just been released with over 3800 commits since the release of OpenWrt 21.02 nearly exactly one year ago. The new version features Firewall4 based on nftables, switching from the earlier iptables-based Firewall3, and adds support for over 180 new devices for a total of more than 1,580 embedded devices, including 15 devices capable of WiFi 6 connectivity using the MediaTek MT7915 wifi chip. OpenWrt developers explain that Firewall4 keeps the same the UCI firewall configuration syntax and should work as a drop-in replacement with most common setups, just generating nftables rul…

code_saturne is a free, open-source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software developed primarily by EDF that can be useful to check and optimize the thermal design of your projects. From time to time, we come across hardware platforms that do not perform to their best due to overheating leading to CPU throttling, and over time it may also impact the lifetime of the device. I’ve heard about computational fluid dynamics (CFD) before, but I always assumed the software was prohibitively expensive and Formula 1 even has a cost cap for CFD testing. But it turns out there’s an open-source program to do just that: code_saturne. As a utility company, EDF designed the software t…

Shenzhen Xunlong Software has released a 10.1-inch LCD touchscreen for the company’s Orange Pi 4 single board computer powered by a Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core Cortex-A72/A53 processor. The MIPI DSI display is based on Ilitek ILI9881c panel controller supported in mainline Linux, offers 1280×800 resolution, and besides working with the original Orange Pi 4, it’s also compatible with Orange Pi 4B (with AI accelerator) and the more recent Orange Pi 4 LTS SBC launched earlier this year. 10.1-inch LCD touchscreen specifications: Display Controller – Ilitek ILI9881C (See PDF datasheet) 10.1-inch panel size 1280×800 resolution @ up to 60Hz, with 16.7 million colors Luminance – 25…

Orange Pi 5 (LTS) is an upcoming single board computer powered by Rockchip RK3588S cost-down octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor that should offer one of the best cost/performance ratios on the market once it is launched. The SBC is said to come with up to 32GB RAM, 32GB eMMC flash, offers HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 8K video outputs, up to two MIPI DSI display interfaces, three camera interfaces, Gigabit Ethernet, and WiFi 6 connectivity, and a few USB ports plus a GPIO header. Orange Pi 5 LTS specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588S octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz, Arm Mali-G610 MP4 GPU, 6 TOPS AI accelerat…

Orange Pi 5 Plus is the first Rockchip RK3588 SBC from the company and succeeds the cheaper Rockchip RK3588S-based Orange Pi 5 and Orange Pi 5B single board computers that had a more limited number of high-end interfaces. Switching to the I/O rich RK3588 processor allowed Orange Pi to add two 2.5GbE networking interfaces, support for NVMe SSD storage up to 2,000 MB/s, up to four display interfaces with two HDMI 2.1 ports, MIPI DSI and USB-C with DisplayPort Alt. mode, as well as an extra M.2 socket for optional WiFi 6 and Bluetooth connectivity. Orange Pi 5 Plus specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588 CPU – Octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Co…

A few years ago I reviewed the ICE Tower CPU cooling fan for Raspberry Pi 4 which is an oversized heatsink with a cooling fan and some RGB LEDs that obviously does its job at cooling the board, but the main benefit is really its aesthetics. 52Pi has now designed another ICE Tower cooling fan for the Orange Pi 5 SBC, and the new Orange Pi 5B, with the same concept except for its low-profile design. It’s probably not needed for the Orange Pi 5 which should do fine with a heatsink, but it may help for the Orange Pi 5B due to the extra heat from the WiFi 6 module. A company representative for 52Pi told us that: I have seen this Orange Pi 5B motherboard posted on your site, th…

Orange Pi 5B is a variant of the Rockchip RK3588S powered Orange Pi 5 SBC with up to 256GB eMMC flash and a soldered-on wireless module offering WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, at the cost of losing the M.2 2242 socket and 16MB QSPI NOR flash found in the original board. The board still comes with HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4 (USB-C), and MIPI DSI display connectors, three camera connectors, a Gigabit Ethernet interface, a few USB ports, and a 26-pin GPIO header for expansion. Orange Pi 5B specifications with the new features highlighted in bold, and the missing ones as strikethrough text: SoC – Rockchip RK3588S octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4…

There’s now a Raspberry Pi 400 alternative with the Orange Pi 800 Keyboard PC that offers a very similar design, but it is powered by a Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core Cortex-A72/A53 processor, Like the Raspberry Pi model, the Orange Pi 800 comes with 4GB RAM, Gigabit Ethernet, dual-band WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0, two USB 3.0 ports, and one USB 2.0 port, but it also adds 64GB on-board flash storage and features one full-size HDMI port capable for 4Kp60 resolution plus a VGA port, instead of two micro HDMI ports. Orange Pi 800 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 2x Arm Cortex-A72 cores up to 1.8GHz, 4x Arm Cortex-A53 cores up to 1.4GHz, and a…

Single board computer manufacturer Orange Pi Ltd is working on a portable gaming console that will come with either a Rockchip RK3588S processor for Android/Linux gaming, or AMD Ryzen 7 7800U/6800U for Windows gaming. The industrial design looks to be the same for all models with a 7-inch touchscreen display, a D-Pad, two joysticks, XBOX-styled ABXY buttons, two customisable buttons on the back, two microphones, stereo speakers, three USB ports including one only for charging, The Orange Pi portable gaming console will be offered in three variants when it launches in China in October during Golden Week: AMD Ryzen 7 7840U processor with 16GB RAM, 512GB storage running Wi…

Shenzhen Xunlong Software, better known under the Orange Pi brand, has launched a 14-inch Full HD portable monitor for $59 plus shipping on Aliexpress, or a little more on Amazon. The company is better known for its low-cost Arm-based single board computers with Rockchip or Allwinner processors, but this time, they launched an accessory with a 14-inch display taking HDMI or USB Type-C input with up to 1920×1080 resolution. Orange Pi portable monitor specifications: Display 14-inch a-Si TFT LCD Resolution – 1920×1080 Refresh rate – 60 Hz Color – 262K, 45% NTSC Contrast – 700:1 Viewing angles – 85°, 85°, 85°, 85° typical Video inputs 1x HDMI port for video and audio 2x USB …

Orange Pi O1 is a new single board computer (SBC) based on the somewhat older SOPHGO BM1688 octa-core Cortex-A53 SoC with a built-in 16 TOPS AI accelerator/TPU, and support for decoding up to sixteen 1080p30 video streams, or encoding ten. The board comes with 8GB or 16GB memory, supports M.2 NVMe, eMMC module, SPI flash, SATA III, or microSD card storage, and offers HDMI and MIPI DSI display interfaces, two MIPI CSI camera connectors, dual GbE, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and optional 4G/5G cellular connectivity, as well as a few USB ports, audio interfaces, and a 26-pin GPIO header for expansion. Orange Pi O1 specifications: SoC – SOPHGO BM1688 CPU 8-core Arm Cortex-A53 pr…

The manufacturer of Orange Pi boards, Shenzhen Xunlong Software, has formally announced the release of Orange Pi OS based on Android with a Windows 11-styled desktop that we are told can also be switched to macOS look and feel, and offering features typically found in desktop operating systems such as multi-window support. I understand the current release of the operating system works on Orange Pi 800 keyboard PC and the Orange Pi 5 SBC should also be supported once soon. We’re told Orange Pi OS is based on Android 12, but that may be an error since I’m not aware of an Android 12 SDK for the Rockchip RK3399 processor. The company plans to release an Arch Linux Arm version…

Orbbec Femto Mega is a programmable multi-mode 3D depth and RGB camera based on NVIDIA Jetson Nano system-on-module and based on Microsoft ToF technology found in Hololens and Azure Kinect DevKit. As an upgrade of the earlier Orbbec Femto, the camera is equipped with a 1MP depth camera with a 120 degrees field of view and a range of 0.25m to 5.5m as well as a 4K RGB camera, and enables real-time streaming of processed images over Ethernet or USB. Orbbec Femto Mega specifications: SoM – NVIDIA Jetson Nano system-on-module Cameras 1MP depth camera Precision: ≤17mm Accuracy: < 11 mm + 0.1% distance NFoV unbinned & binned：H 75°V 65° WFoV unbinned & binned：H 120°V 1…

We’ve written a couple of articles about Time-of-Flight (ToF) technology in recent weeks notably about ranging sensors such as VL53L8 dToF sensor and Toppan hybrid ToF sensor, but Orbbec has used the technology in their Femto camera line designed to capture 3D objects and scenes. The Femto 3D cameras support a depth-of-field (DoF) from 0.2 to 5 meters, multi-camera synchronization, can be used in complete darkness, and are equipped with a 6-Axis IMU tracking sensor for motion tracking. The ToF cameras should find their way into applications for healthcare, warehousing/shipping, autonomous robotics, augmented reality, and other sectors. Three models are available with the …

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…

Karl here and I will keep this short for you. First I will share my experience installing an upgrade module for the Lasermaster 2 Pro, the Ortur LU2-10A. The LM2Pro came with a 5.5w laser module and this upgrade brings the power up to approximately 10w optical power. Spoiler, I am not happy with the kit. The Ortur LU2-10A kit comes with a very simple adapter board that appears to do two tasks. 1 is to adapt wiring, and 2, inject additional power for the higher power laser module. It looks like the board will adapt to a lot of different connection types. I followed the instructions and the first time I plugged everything in the laser came on full power for about a second. …

Octavo Systems OSD62x is a system-in-package (SiP) combining the Texas Instruments AM62x processor with LPDDR4 RAM, EEPROM, power management, oscillators, and passive components, plus optional features such as an RTC and an 8-channel ADC. At least that’s true for the OSD62x Max Integration SiP (22×22 mm BGA), but Octavo Systems also have a smaller 14x9mm package called the OSD62x Size Optimized with “just’ the AM62x processor, LPDDR4 memory, and passive components. OSD62x “Max Integration” specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments AM62x (AM623/AM625) CPU – Up to 4x Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.4GHz MCU – Arm Cortex-M4F GPU – 3D graphics up to 2048×1080 @ 60 fps (AM625 only) Storage I…

ARIES Embedded MSMP1 OSM-compatible system-in-package (SiP) based on STM32MP1 CortexA7/M4 microcontroller for Industrial and IoT applications follows the company’s MSRZG2UL and MSRZFive OSM-compatible SiPs with Renesas Arm or RISC-V microprocessor introduced a few months ago. But instead of coming in the ultra-compact 30×30 mm OSM Size S form factor, the new MSMP1 complies with the larger 45x30mm OSM Size L form factor with a total of 476 contacts to allow for more I/Os. The SiP also integrates 512 MB to 4 GB DDR3L RAM, and 4 to 64 GB eMMC flash. MSMP1 SIP specifications: SoC – STMicro STM32MP1 single or dual-core Arm Cortex-A7 processor up to 800MHz, with Arm Cortex-M4 r…

German embedded systems company iesy’s ESP32 OSM-0F is an ESP32-based solder-on LGA system-on-module that complies with SGET OSM Size-0 (30x15mm) form factor, offers WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, and more. The SGET Open Standard Module (OSM) standard defines four module sizes, namely Size-0 (30x15mm), Size-S (30x30mm), Size-M (45x30mm), and Size-L (45x45mm), and all the modules we’ve covered so far were powered by a Linux-capable processor. But it’s more challenging, albeit not impossible, to design a Linux-capable OSM Size-0 module, and that form factor is better suited to microcontroller-class chips like ESP32. (Technically, ESP32 can run Linux, but it’s more for sho…

Gil Tal has developed the P4 Launcher, an open-source application platform designed to bring a PC-like experience to ESP32-P4 boards with an attached touchscreen display. The launcher boots directly into its interface, while applications (.papp files) are stored on a microSD card and loaded into PSRAM when launched. You can add, remove, and run applications without reflashing the firmware or rebooting the device by simply copying files to the microSD card.Gil says 21 PAPP (PSRAM APP) applications are available now, mostly emulators and games, including Neo Geo and Atari 2600 emulators, Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D and OpenTyrian, plus Clock and Files. Like ESPBrookesia, the…

The Mali-G57 GPU part of the Valhall family, and found in several Arm processors such as MediaTek MT8192 and MT8195 SoC powering some Chromebooks, is now supported by the Panfrost open-source driver with a fully-conformant OpenGL ES 3.1 implementation. Last year, Collabora updated Panfrost with support for OpenGL ES 3.1 on Midgard (Mali T760 and newer) and Bifrost (Mali G31, G52, G76) GPUs, and also announced having started working on Valhall GPUs. One part of the work was done in the summer of 2021 with some reverse-engineering work on Mali-G78 GPU’s instruction set, and this has culminated with a fully-conformant OpenGL3.1 for Mali-G57 GPU. Interestingly, it’s not been …

Panthronics PTX30W is an NFC wireless charging listener chip that can receive up to 1W as per the NFC Wireless Charging (WLC) specification unveiled in 2020 and integrates a power management unit and a Li-Ion battery charger. Offered in a compact 3.2mm2 (1.78 x 1.78 mm) WL-CSP package, the PTX30W will enable small battery-powered products, such as smartwatches and other wearables, to be charged over NFC. The chip can operate in standalone mode or connected to a host microcontroller, and the company claims it is around four times smaller than existing designs based on multiple discrete components. PTX30W features and specifications: Integrated NFC Wireless Charging Listene…

We wrote about the low-cost T8-Pro Celeron N5095 mini PC with three HDMI outputs and two Gigabit Ethernet ports last week, but if you’d prefer a model with 2.5GbE networking instead, the Partaker J6412 might be a better, albeit costlier option, with still three displays support (2xDP, 1xHDMI), and three 2.5GbE ports. As its name implies, the fanless mini PC/network appliance is powered by an Intel Celeron J6412 Elkhart Lake processor, coupled with up to 16GB DDR4 memory and a 512GB SSD, and it features six USB ports, plus an RS232 COM port. Partaker J6412 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J6412 quad-core Elkhart Lake processor @ 2.0 GHz / 2.6GHz (Burst frequency) with 1…

Raspberry Pi Trading released a new version of Raspberry Pi OS last week with the highlight being the Picamera2 Python library for Raspberry Pi cameras, along with small changes such as the ability to search menu items, a new audio input control, The new Picamera2 library was first announced in mid February 2022 with a preview release, and it’s the first time the Python library is included by default in Raspberry Pi OS. It is now based on the libcamera open-source framework instead of the proprietary and closed camera APIs from Broadcom found in the original Picamera library. Some of the key features of the Picamera2 library include: The preview windows use OpenGL acceler…

iWave Sytems iW-RainboW-G50M is an NXP i.MX 93 OSM-L compliant LGA module with up to 2GB RAM, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.2 module that is found in the company’s iW-RainboW-G50S Pico-ITX SBC designed for industrial applications. The NXP i.MX 93 single and dual-core Cortex-A55 processor with an Ethos U65 microNPU was announced in November 2021, but we had yet to see any hardware based on the new NXP i.MX 9 processor family. The iW-RainboW-G50M and iW-RainboW-G50S change that with a system-on-module and single board computer. iW-RainboW-G50M NXP i.MX 93 system-on-module Specifications: SoC (one or the other) NXP i.MX 9352 dual-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 1.7 GHz with Arm C…

AAEON PICO-V2K4 is a Pico-ITX board powered by an AMD Ryzen Embedded V2000 processor with up to 8 cores, AMD Radeon graphics, which should make it the world’s smallest Ryzen V2000 SBC on the market. The board comes with up to 32GB soldered-on memory and a 64GB NVMe flash, supports for SATA and M.2 NVMe storage, dual Gigabit Ethernet, up to four 4K display interfaces, four serial ports, and more. Use cases range from medical imaging (x-ray and MRI scan analysis) to casino gaming machines, and industrial automation. AAEON PICO-V2K4 specifications: AMD Ryzen Embedded V2000 processor (one or the other) Ryzen V2718 octa-core/16-thread processor @ up to 1.7-4.15 GHz (Turbo) wit…

PicoMQTT is a lightweight MQTT library for Arduino/PlatformIO optimized for ESP8266 and ESP32. It not only supports the MQTT Client mode like most existing solutions but also the MQTT Broker mode which transforms an ESP8266 or ESP32 board into an MQTT gateway replacing a Raspberry Pi board or an IoT gateway typically used for this task. The library follows MQTT 3.1.1 specification, supports the publishing and consuming of arbitrary-sized messages, can deliver thousands of messages per second, and supports easy integration with the ArduinoJson library to publish and consume JSON messages. MQTT Broker code example: [crayon-643e4a00948d8570550725/] There are some limitations…

Picotronix is a modular oscilloscope, logic analyzer, and frequency meter from Sydney-based Thort Werx Pty Ltd, based on two Raspberry Pi Pico 2 units, more exactly a Pico 2 used as a signal processor and a Pico 2 W used to drive the display and for wireless connectivity. The solution is comprised of the Picotronix Main Module with an integrated LCD and three expansion ports, used to connect picoPods plug-in expansion modules to add high-speed ADCs, mixed-logic family logic state analysis, a waveform generator, analog conditioning, and more. Picotronix key features and specifications: Main Module Two-channel digital storage oscilloscope 8-channel logic analyzer, expandabl…

Pico Technology has released PicoVNA 5 control software for their vector network analyzers for Windows x86 64-bit, Mac, Linux x86 64-bit, and Raspberry Pi 3 and greater single board computers, superseding the Windows-only PicoVNA 3 software. As a Ubuntu user, I hate it when some hardware tool forces me to install software on Windows when there’s no Linux alternative, so any company that provides cross-platform tools is making the right move. I’m also not quite sure what a “vector network analyzer” (VNA) is, so I’ll first look into the PicoVNA 106 and PicoVNA 108 6/8.5 GHz VNAs from the company. PicoVNA 106/108 vector network analyzers highlights and specifications: Freque…

PiEEG is an open-source hardware Raspberry Pi shield that measures electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), and electrocardiography (ECG) bio-signals and provides a brain-computer interface to applications or robots for gaming, entertainment, sports, health, etc… Ildar Rakhmatulin, a Research Associate at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, is passionate about open-source brain-computer interfaces and first created the IronBCI project based on ADS1299 and STM32 and published a research paper entitled “Low-cost brain computer interface for everyday use” about his work. But cost increases related to the semiconductors shortage of recent years meant the price f…

PikaScript is an ultra-lightweight Python engine that can run on microcontrollers with as little as 4KB of RAM and 32KB of Flash, while the more popular MicroPython requires at least 256kB of code space and 16kB of RAM. PikaScript was initially developed to run on STM32G030C8 and STM32F103C8 MCUs, meaning, for example, it works on the BluePill board, but it has also been ported to other platforms like WCH CH582 RISC-V MCU, WinnerMicro W806 C-Sky microcontroller, as well as other like Raspberry Pi RP2040, ESP32-C3, etc… but those are not quite as well supported with some features missing. PikaScript also permits the binding C function to a Python module through Pika Pre-co…

Pine64 Ox64 is an upcoming single board computer powered by Bouffalo Lab BL808 dual-core 64-bit/32-bit RISC-V processor with up to 64MB embedded RAM, multiple radios for WiFi 4, Bluetooth 5.0, and 802.15.4 (Zigbee), as well as an AI accelerator. The board also features up to 16MB XSPI NOR flash, a MicroSD card socket, a USB 2.0 OTG port, a 2-lane MIPI CSI connector, and a 26-pin GPIO header for expansion. It measures just 51 x 21mm, or in other words if even small than a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. Pine64 Ox64 specifications: SoC – Bouffalo Lab BL808 with: CPU Alibaba T-head C906 64-bit RISC-V core @ 480MHz Alibaba T-head E907 32-bit RISC-V core @ 320MHz Memory – 64MB embedded…

Pine64 Star64 is an upcoming single board computer (SBC) powered by StarFive JH7110 quad-core 64-bit RISC-V processor equipped with an Imagination BXE-2-32 GPU, and in a form factor similar to the earlier Pin64 model B boards such as the Quartz64 Model A. The Star64 SBC will be offered with either 4GB or 8GB of RAM, an HDMI 2.0 video output connector, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, a WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 module, USB 3.0 ports, a PCIe slot, and a GPIO header for expansion. Star64 preliminary specifications: SoC – StarFive JH7110 quad-core 64-bit RISC-V (SiFive U74 – RV64GC) processor @ up to 1.5 GHz with Imagination BXE-2-32 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 1.2, Vulka…

Pine64 has just started taking orders for the PineBuds Pro ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) & TWS (True Wireless Sound) earbuds based on the Bestechnic BES2300-YP dual-core Arm Cortex-M4F Bluetooth audio microcontroller found in the PineSound development board. There are plenty of TWS earbuds on the market, but the PineBuds Pro earbuds are hackable thanks to an open-source firmware that could pave the way to interesting features, and potentially the development of open-source firmware transforming the earbuds into hearing aids. PineBuds Pro specifications: WiSoC – Bestechnic BES 2300YP dual-core Arm Cortex-M4F @ up to 300 MHz with HW DSP instruction, 992KB SRAM, 4MB fl…

It’s now possible to make use of the Pinecil V2 soldering iron‘s Bluetooth LE connectivity through a web-based interface used to monitor and/or set the temperature and power of the RISC-V soldering iron. When the Pinecil V2 soldering iron was launched with a Bouffalo Lab BL706 RISC-V Bluetooth microcontroller last summer, we were told there were main potential cases to make use of the Bluetooth LE features: OTA firmware upgrade and remote telemetry and control. The latter is now being taken care of by Joric who has written a web application to visualize telemetry data and even control the temperature of the soldering iron. To be able to use the Bluetooth features, you’ll…

PINE64 is about to launch the second generation Pinecil RISC-V soldering iron with the Pinecil V2 featuring a new Bouffalo Lab BL706 RISC-V microcontroller with Bluetooth LE connectivity, optimizations for higher power levels, as well as tentative support for the new USB PD EPR standard (Extended Power Range) working at up to 28V. I don’t solder every day, but when I do, I use my Pinecil soldering iron, as it’s heating super fast and does the job, and in my case, works quite better than the TS100 soldering iron. So it should come as no surprise that the Pincel is the most popular consumer hardware from the PINE64 community (after SOPine modules), and the new Pinecil V2 is…

The PineTab-V is a RISC-V tablet, or rather a tablet development kit, based on StarFive JH7110 quad-core RISC-V SoC, and with the same design as the upcoming Arm-based PineTab2 tablet that’s scheduled to launch on April 11. Pine64 just launched the Star64 single board computer to help with software development on Linux-capable RISC-V hardware, and they took the opportunity to lay out a tablet board based on the same JH7110 to replace the Rockchip RK3566 board found in the PineTab2, so eventually, a working sample should look like that… PineTab-V preliminary specifications: SoC – StarFive JH7110 with CPU – Quad-core 64-bit RISC-V (SiFive U74 – RV64GC) processor @ up to 1.5…

The PineTab2 is an upcoming 10.1-inch Linux tablet based on the 1.8 GHz Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor and equipped with up to 8GB RAM and 128GB eMMC flash. The new model is a clear step-up compared to the Allwinner A64-based PineTab which did not survive the supply shortage and has also gone through a complete physical redesign with a modular metal chassis that is easy to disassemble for upgrades and change parts such as the eMMC module, camera module, battery, or even the display. PineTab2 preliminary specifications: SoC – SoC – Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ up to 1.8 GHz with ARM Mali-G52 2EE GPU supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.2. OpenCL 2.…

SunFounder Pironman is a Raspberry Pi 4 enclosure inspired by Michael Klement’s DIY Raspberry Pi 4 mini server with an OLED display and ICE Tower cooling solution, as well as some improvements such as an aluminum alloy and acrylic enclosure, support for an M.2 SATA SSD, a power button for safe shutdown, an IR receiver, and an RGB LED strip. The company sent me a Pironman kit without Raspberry Pi 4 for review. I’ll check the package content, go through the assembly, software installation, and testing of the unique features listed above. Pironman unboxing Some of the main specifications are listed on the side of the package. The enclosure comes fully disassembled with the …