Author: 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.
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Intel floats Modular PC design proposal for repairable laptops and mini PCs

Intel floats Modular PC design proposal for repairable laptops and mini PCs

Intel modular PC design

Intel has published an article proposing a modular PC design that would improve the repairability/right-to-repair of laptops and mini PCs and reduce e-waste through the replacement of motherboard, display, and M.2 or FPC add-on modules for the user-facing ports. Making repairable, modular electronic devices is not a new idea, and the Framework laptops are probably the best-known option now, but they do come at a premium. But most projects are limited success, for instance, Project Ara modular smartphone from Google eventually died off. We’ve also covered modular or open-source hardware solutions from smaller companies over the years such as Firefly Station P3D modular Arm mini PC with swappable cards, or Olimex Teres-I DIY and open-source hardware laptop. It’s good news that a large company like Intel is taking the repairable, modular PC topic seriously, but as we’ll see below it’s currently a high-level proposal with few technical details. Most laptops […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on WL-AC1000 AP controller can manage large fleets of wireless routers and access points

WL-AC1000 AP controller can manage large fleets of wireless routers and access points

WL-AC1000 AP controller

Wallys Tech WL-AC1000 is an access point (AP) controller designed to manage and optimize the operation of multiple access points (APs) within large-scale wireless networks that you may find in factories, airports, hotels, train stations, etc… The WL-AC1000 is powered by a quad-core Arm processor coupled with 1GB RAM, 8MB NOR flash, and 256MB NAND flash. It is equipped with four GbE ports and one 2.5GbE port to connect the access points through switches. It’s available as a desktop version and a 1U enclosure to mount in a rack. Wallys Tech WL-AC1000 specifications: SoC – Quad-core ARM 64-bit A53 @ 1 .8 GHz processor (likely some Qualcomm QCS part) System Memory – 1GB (2x 512MB) DDR3L Storage 8MB NOR flash 256MB NAND Flash Networking Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port with PoE 3x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 ports 2.5Gbps Ethernet RJ45 port Power Supply – 24V DC Dimensions WL-AC1000-E – 192 x 122 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Cincoze DC-1300 is a stackable embedded computer powered by Intel Processor N97 or Core i3-N305 Alder Lake-N SoC

Cincoze DC-1300 is a stackable embedded computer powered by Intel Processor N97 or Core i3-N305 Alder Lake-N SoC

Cincoze DC-1300 stackable embedded computer

Cincoze DC-1300 is an Intel Processor N97 or Core i3-N305 Alder Lake-N embedded computer designed for smart manufacturing that supports stackable expansion boxes (SEBs) that leverage the built-in dual M.2 B Key slots of the system to support various I/O, CAN Bus, and Fieldbus modules. The fanless rugged PC supports up to 16GB DDR5 and M.2 and 2.5-inch SATA storage (no NVMe SSD). It features DisplayPort video output, two 2.5GbE ports, four USB Type-A ports, 3.5mm microphone and line-out audio jacks, and two RS232/RS485 DB9 connectors, and additional display, networking, USB, or DIO interfaces can be added through three CMI module on the main unit and four MEC M.2 card through the optional SEB. Designed for industrial applications, the system supports a wide 9 to 48V DC input and up to -40°C to 70°C temperature range without throttling under load. Cincoze DC-1300 specifications: Alder Lake N-series SoC (one or the […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on MAIWO K2024 USB4 M.2 enclosure takes up to four M.2 NVMe SSD, serves as a 1-to-3 SSD duplicator

MAIWO K2024 USB4 M.2 enclosure takes up to four M.2 NVMe SSD, serves as a 1-to-3 SSD duplicator

MAIWO K2024 four bay M.2 enclosure

There are many M.2 USB4 or Thunderbolt enclosures on the market, but the MAIWO K2024 USB4 enclosure is a little different as it takes up to four M.2 NVMe 2230 to 2280 SSDs and features a button to use the device as 1-to-3 SSD duplicator. Based on the ASMedia ASM2464PDX USB4 controller, the MAIWO K2024 is suitable for people needing lots of NVMe SSD storage with high-performance random I/Os, for instance for video editing, and users needing to duplicate SSDs quickly and easily, e.g. to duplicate a Raspberry Pi OS installation on several SSDs. MAIWO K2024 key features: Chipset – ASMedia ASM2464PDX USB4/Thunderbolt 3 to PCIe/NVMe controller with USB 3.2 and USB 2.0 backward compatibility Storage Up to 4x M.2 NVMe M-Key SSDs 2230/2242/2260/2280 sizes supported Up to 32TB storage when using 4x 8TB SSDs Transfer rate of 16 Gbps with one SSD (PCIe Gen4 x1), 10 Gbps each with […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Queclink WR310 – A compact 5G and WiFi 6 industrial cellular router with four GbE ports, GNSS, and RS232 and RS485 interfaces

Queclink WR310 – A compact 5G and WiFi 6 industrial cellular router with four GbE ports, GNSS, and RS232 and RS485 interfaces

Queclink WR310 5G industrial cellular gateway

Queclink WR310 5G and WiFi 6 industrial cellular router features four gigabit Ethernet ports, a USB Type-A port, a terminal block with RS232 and RS485, and a wide 8 to 32V DC input suitable for smart manufacturing, industrial IoT (IIoT), and edge computing applications. It looks to be a more compact and cost-optimized version of the Queclink WR300 5G industrial router introduced in 2023 with global 5G coverage. The WR310 has many of the same features, but comes with less memory and storage, one less gigabit Ethernet port, and is available in three models depending on the region of operation: WR310FEU for EMEA, AP, and Brazil regions WR310FAU for LATAM markets WR310FNA for North America Queclink WR310 specifications: SoC – Unspecified Qualcomm dual-core Arm 64-bit Cortex-A53 @ 1.0GHz; likely the Qualcomm IPQ5018 or similar (Note the Qualcomm IPQ8072 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 2.2 GHz was used in the WR300 5G […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Toradex launches its first SMARC modules with NXP SoCs for improved compatibility and supply chain

Toradex launches its first SMARC modules with NXP SoCs for improved compatibility and supply chain

Toradex SMARC modules with NXP i.MX 8MPlus and i.MX 95

Toradex has introduced its first SMARC-compliant system-on-modules (SoMs) with the SMARC iMX8M Plus and SMARC iMX95 SoMs based on NXP i.MX 8M Plus and NXP i.MX 95 SoC respectively. The company has made proprietary system-on-modules for years with the Colibri, Apalis, Aquila, and Verdin families. Those typically are cost-optimized and use most or all I/Os from the selected SoC, but customers are tied to one supplier: Toradex. To offer more flexibility, the company decided to introduce its first standardized system-on-modules by selecting the SMARC 2.2 standard for compatibility with existing SMARC-compliant carrier boards and adding the Swiss company as an alternative supplier. Highlights of the SMARC iMX8M Plus module: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Plus CPU Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 application processor @ 1.6 GHz Arm Cortex-M7 real-time core @ 800 MHz GPU – Vivante GC380 2D GPU and GC7000UL 3D GPU VPU – 1080p60 video decoder & encoder AI accelerator […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on PCIe3.0 to Dual M.2 HAT+ for Raspberry Pi 5 features ASMedia ASM2806 PCIe 3.0 switch

PCIe3.0 to Dual M.2 HAT+ for Raspberry Pi 5 features ASMedia ASM2806 PCIe 3.0 switch

PCIe 3.0 to dual M.2 HAT for Raspberry Pi 5

We’ve already covered Raspberry Pi HAT+ boards with multiple M.2 sockets with various keyings including the Geekworm X1004 HAT+, Pineboards HatDrive! AI, and  HatDrive! Dual with two sockets, and the Geekworm X1011 with four M.2 Key-M sockets. So when I saw Seeed Studio introduced a dual M.2 HAT+ board I initially thought it was uninteresting being a very similar board. However, all aforementioned PCIe to M.2 HAT+ boards are based on either the ASMedia ASM1182e or ASM1184e PCIe Gen2 x1 packet switches with 5GT/s shared bandwidth, and Seeed Studio’s PCIe3.0 to Dual M.2 HAT+ for Raspberry Pi 5 features instead an ASMedia ASM2806 PCIe 3.0 switch supporting up to 8GT/s shared bandwidth through the Raspberry Pi 5’s PCIe Gen3 x1 interface. Seeed Studio PCIe 3.0 to Dual M.2 HAT+ key features and specifications: Supported SBC – Raspberry Pi 5 and potentially other SBCs with a PCIe FFC connector like the […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on M5Stack LLM630 Compute Kit features Axera AX630C Edge AI SoC for on-device LLM and computer vision processing

M5Stack LLM630 Compute Kit features Axera AX630C Edge AI SoC for on-device LLM and computer vision processing

M5Stack LLM630 Compute Kit

M5Stack LLM630 Compute Kit is an Edge AI development platform powered by Axera Tech AX630C AI SoC with a 3.2 TOPS NPU designed to run computer vision (CV) and large language model (LLM) tasks at the edge, in other words, on the device itself without access to the cloud. The LLM630 Compute Kit is also equipped with 4GB LPDDR4 and 32GB eMMC flash and supports both wired and wireless connectivity thanks to a JL2101-N040C Gigabit Ethernet chip and an ESP32-C6 module for 2.4GHz WiFi 6 connectivity. You can also connect a display and a camera through MIPI DSI and CSI connectors. M5Stack LLM630 Compute Kit specifications: SoC – Axera Tech (Aixin in China) AX630C CPU – Dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.2 GHz; 32KB I-Cache, 32KB D-Cache, 256KB L2 Cache NPU – 12.8 TOPS @ INT4 (max), 3.2 TOPS @ INT8 ISP – 4K @ 30fps Video – Encoding: 4K; Decoding:1080p […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC