MSC Q7-MB-EP4 Is a QSeven Starter Kit Powered by Freescale i.MX6

MSC Embedded, a company specialized in the design and manufacturing of embedded boards, has recently announced MSC Q7-MB-EP4, a complete Starterkit for the company’s Qseven modules based on Freescale i.MX6 Solo, Dual or Quad processors.

The starter kit comes with a suitcase comprise of a heatspreader with heatsink, a 12V power supply, a cable kit (SATA data and power cable),  a DVD, a getting started guide, and more importantly a 3.5″ Qseven carrier board (Q7-MB-EP4) with socket for Qseven modules Rev. 1.20 with the following specifications:

• CPU Module Interface –  Socket for Qseven Rev. 1.20 compatible modules based on the Freescale i.MX6
• Storage – 1x SATA connector + mSATA Socket with support for mSATA and mSATAmini cards, MMC/SD Card, and serial EEPROM for EPI/DP extensions
• Standard Interfaces:
  • 7x USB 2.0: 4x USB (Series-A Jack), 1x USB internal pin header, USB on mini USB connector, USB at Mini PCI Express socket
  • RS-232C on pin header driven by the on-board USB-to-RS232 converter (FT232RL)
  • ARM RS232 debug port routed to the Qseven module
  • CAN Bus signals on on-board pin header
  • Socket for one Mini PCI Express module with USB
• Audio Interface – AC’97 Audio with all Audio signals on pin header
• Flat Panel / CRT Interface
  • Graphics – DVI connector, max. resolution depending on module
  • LCD Interface – LVDS interface on Jili30 connector, EEPROM to store display data, Backlight connector (3.3/5/12V power and DIM signal)
• Miscellaneous – Power Button, Reset, Beeper
• LAN Interface
  • One RJ45 connector with LEDs from Qseven module
  • One RJ45 connector with LEDs for PCIe-connected GbE LAN
  • Controller on board of the Q7-MB-EP4
• Touch Controller – Resistive touch controller for 4/5-wire touch screens; three different touch connectors for 4- and 5-wire touch screens
• Heatrail mounted on Q7-MB-EP4 and Heatspreader
• Power Supply – 110-230V AC to 12V DC with cable kit connecting to 4 pin ATX style power connector on Q7-MB-EP4 baseboard; features an additional disk drive power connector usable for the SATA cable supplied.
• Temperature range – 0º to +60º C operating, -25º to 85º C storage
• Humidity – 20 to 80% operating, 5 to 95% storage (non condensing)
• Dimensions – 148 mm x 102mm

An 8 GB SD card pre-installed with Linux (Yocto0based) is also provided. An optional 12.1″ XGA (1024×768) TFT kit is also available.

One important thing is however missing in the Starter Kit: the CPU module. You’ll have to order separately it because the company offers 8 variations of their Q7-IMX6 SoM with Freescale i.MX6 Solo, Dual or Quad, different temperature ranges (commercial and extended), and SoM with 4GB flash or no flash.

MSC Q7-IMX6 system-on-modules share the following key features:

• SoC – Freescale i.MX6 ARM Cortex-A9 quad-core, dual-core or single-core CPU
• System Memory – up to 4GB DDR3 DRAM
• Storage – up to 32GB eMMC Flash Memory
• Video Output – HDMI graphics 1920 x 1080 x 30fps, Dual-channel LVDS 1920 x 1080 x 30fps (also usable as two sep. LVDS channels)
• Video – MPEG-4 Video Encoding/Decoding 1080p
• Interfaces:
  • 10/100/1000 GbE LAN Interface
  • 1x PCI-Express x1
  • 1x SATA-II (3Gbps, quad-/dual-core only)
  • 1x USB Device/Host + up to 7x USB 2.0
  • MMC / SD / SDIO Interface
  • 1x CAN Interface
  • AC’97 and I2S Audio Interface
  • UART, SPI, BT.656 Camera, MIPI_CSI-2
• Power Supply Voltage – +5V +/-5%, 5V Standby
• Power Consumption – 4-6 W typ. (depending on CPU and optional features)
• Operating Temperature range – 0º to +70º C commercial, -40º to 85º C extended

The company can provides BSPs (board support packages) for Linux, Android (Work in progress), and Windows Embedded Compact 7.

The MSC Q7-SK-IMX6-IP4 starter kit is available now for $275, Qseven module are also available, but price has not been disclosed. You can find more information on MSC Embedded’s Q7-SK-IMX6-EP4 Starter Kit and Q7-IMX6 SoM pages, although most of the documentation including user’s manuals, mechanical drawings, and the BSPs require a free registration (to be approved by an administrator).

Via LinuxGizmos and Embedded.com

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