F&S Elektronik ArmStone MXM8 Pico-ITX Board is Equipped with Up to 8GB RAM, NXP i.MX8M Processor

F&S Elektronik Systeme has been working on a new SBC part of their ArmStone family with ArmStone MXM8 single board computer, featuring NXP i.MX 8M quad core Cortex A53 processor, and supporting up to 8GB LPDDR4 RAM.

The Pico-ITX board also comes with up to 32GB eMMC flash, integrate Gigabit Ethernet and wireless connectivity, DVI and dual-channel LVDS outputs, USB 3.0, PCIe and more interfaces. The layout is very similar to the company’s ArmStone A53SD pico-ITX board launched last year with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410E processor.

ArmStone MXM8 preliminary specifications:

SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Dual or Quad Arm Cortex A53 processor @ up to 1.5 GHz, Arm Cortex-M4 real-time core, and Vivante GC7000Lite GPU with support for OpenGL/Es 3.1, OpenGL 3.0, Vulkan
System Memory – Up to 8GB LPDDR4
Storage – Up to 32GB eMMC flash, up to 1GB SLC NAND flash, optional micro SD slot
Video Output – Dual channel LVDS connector, analog resistive and PCAP touch via I2C, optional DVI
Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, optional Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 4.1 LE
USB – 4x USB host interfaces (including 2x USB 3.0 type A connectors, 1x USB type C port), 1x USB OTG device
Camera – Optional MIPI CSI interface
Expansion Header
- 1x CAN bus
- 3x UART port (1x RS-232, 2x TTL)
- 4x I2C, 2x SPI
- Audio – Line In/Out/Mic
- Up to 32x digital I/Os
- PCIe slot with SIM card slot
Misc – RTC
Power Supply – 5V DC via terminal block?
Dimensions – 100 x 72 x 15 mm (Pico-ITX form factor)
Weight – ~60 grams
Temperature Range – 0 to 70°C; optional: -20 to 85°C

The company will provide software support via Buildroot or the Yocto Project 2.2 with the Linux BSP containing Linux Kernel 4.9.x, U-Boot 2017.03, drivers, examples, and software & hardware documentation. A starter kit will also be offered, but not details have been posted at this stage.

F&S Elektronik Systeme expects to start selling the board in Q2 2018 at an undisclosed price. Most information is preliminary, and work-in-progress, but eventually more details should surface on the product page.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.