Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft), Author at CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

November 27, 2024November 27, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

Raspberry Pi CM5 launched with Broadcom BCM2712 SoC, up to 16GB LPDDR4 ECC memory

The Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5, or Raspberry Pi CM5 for shorts, is now available with up to 16GB LPPDR4 ECC memory, up to 64GB eMMC flash, and an optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE wireless module. It has the same form factor as the Raspberry Pi CM4 and CM4 Lite launched in 2020 but delivers a significant performance boost. The Raspberry Pi CM5 is basically a tiny version of the Raspberry Pi 5 SBC designed for embedded applications with a Broadcom BCM2712 quad-core Cortex-A76 SoC, and offered with 2GB to 16GB RAM, optional 16GB to 64GB eMMC flash, and optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 module. As usual, there are also Raspberry Pi CM5 Lite versions without any eMMC flash meant to be booted from a microSD card or an SSD on the carrier board. Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 Raspberry Pi CM5 specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2712 […]

November 26, 2024November 27, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

GEEKOM Mini Air12 Lite Review – Part 3: Ubuntu 24.04 on a low-cost mini PC

GEEKOM Mini Air12 Lite Ubuntu 24.04 review

We have already checked the hardware of the GEEKOM Mini Air12 Lite mini PC in the first part of the review, before testing the low-cost Intel Processor N100 mini PC with its 8GB RAM and 256GB SATA SSD running Windows 11 Pro in detail in the second part. We’ve now had time to test the GEEKOM Mini Air12 Lite with Ubuntu 24.04 in the third and final part of the review. We’ll test the features in Linux, run some benchmarks, evaluate storage and network performance, play some 4K and 8K videos in YouTube playback, perform a stress test to check its thermal design, and finally measure the mini PC’s fan noise and power consumption. We’ll also compare the results in Linux to the earlier GEEKOM Mini Air12 mini PC with the same CPU, but better specs and a higher price. A challenging Windows 11 / Ubuntu 24.04.1 dual boot installation […]

November 26, 2024December 18, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Getting Started with Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ (26 TOPS) and Raspberry Pi AI camera

Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ and AI camera review

Raspberry Pi recently launched several AI products including the Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ for the Pi 5 with 13 TOPS or 26 TOPS of performance and the less powerful Raspberry Pi AI camera suitable for all Raspberry Pi SBC with a MIPI CSI connector. The company sent me samples of the AI HAT+ (26 TOPS) and the AI camera for review, as well as other accessories such as the Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 and Raspberry Pi Bumper, so I’ll report my experience getting started mostly following the documentation for the AI HAT+ and AI camera. Hardware used for testing In this tutorial/review, I’ll use a Raspberry Pi 5 with the AI HAT+ and a Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3, while I’ll connect the AI camera to a Raspberry Pi 4. I also plan to use one of the boards with the new Touch Display 2. Let’s go through a […]

November 25, 2024December 1, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Beelink EQ14 mini PC features Intel N150 quad-core “Twin Lake” processor, built-in power supply

Last month we noted the Intel Processor N150, Processor N250, and Core i3-N355 Alder Lake-N Refresh CPUs were found in the upcoming ASUS NUC 14 Essential mini PC family, but availability was unclear. The Beelink EQ14 is the first Intel N150 mini PC which can be purchased today on either AliExpress (with EU plug) or Amazon for $182 and up for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024. Beelink calls the CPU family “Twin Lake” instead of “Alder Lake-N Refresh”, but we can’t confirm that since the N150 has not been officially launched yet and it’s not listed on Intel Ark. The computer is equipped with 16GB DDR4 memory, a 512GB NVMe SSD, two HDMI ports, two gigabit Ethernet ports, WiFi 6, etc… It also comes with a more unusual feature: a built-in AC power supply, something we previously saw in the Beelink EQ13 with an Intel N200/N100 CPU. Beelink EQ14 […]

November 25, 2024November 25, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

$7 Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W board launched with 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless module

As expected, the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W – the wireless version of the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 – is now available with an extra 2.4GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless module at an official price of $7. We’ll go through the specs and perform a mini review in this post trying out both WiFi and Bluetooth code samples. It’s not the first Raspberry Pi RP2350 with WiFi and Bluetooth we’ve seen, as Pimoroni introduced the Pico Plus 2 W board with an RP2350B MCU and Raspberry Pi RM2 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module, and iLabs launched the Challenger+ RP2350 WiFi6/BLE5 board relying on ESP32-C6 wireless module. However, the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W is the official board, is cheaper, and will certainly be the most popular/widely used. Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W specifications Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W specifications: SoC – Raspberry Pi RP2350 CPU Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 @ […]

November 24, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Mitigating a DoS attack with GoAccess and Cloudflare

In this off-topic post, I’m going to discuss some behind-the-scenes “fun” that may happen when managing the web server used to host the CNX Software website. From time to time, the server becomes unreachable, but I can still access its console, and notice a very high CPU load (over 100) on a VPS with four cores, while the CPU load is typically 0.5 to 2 under normal circumstances. That’s usually due to a DoS (denial of service), DDoS (distributed denial of service), or some bug I can’t identify. An easy way to solve this issue is to log in to Cloudflare and set the “Under Attack Mode” to on. It will show all visitors a JavaScript challenge the first time they visit the website, and the CPU usage typically drops back to normal level within a minute or so. That means I can access my website and so do regular […]

November 22, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Mercury X1 wheeled humanoid robot combines NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX AI controller and ESP32 motor control boards

Elephant Robotics Mercury X1 is a 1.2-meter high wheeled humanoid robot with two robotic arms using an NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX as its main controller and ESP32 microcontrollers for motor control and suitable for research, education, service, entertainment, and remote operation. The robot offers 19 degrees of freedom, can lift payloads of up to 1kg, work up to 8 hours on a charge, and travel at up to 1.2m/s or about 4.3km/h. It’s based on the company’s Mercury B1 dual-arm robot and a high-performance mobile base. Mercury X1 specifications: Main controller – NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX CPU – 6-core NVIDIA Carmel ARM v8.2 64-bit CPU with 6MB L2 + 4MB L3 caches GPU – 384-core NVIDIA Volta GPU with 48 Tensor Cores AI accelerators – 2x NVDLA deep learning accelerators delivering up to 21 TOPS at 15 Watts System Memory – 8 GB 128-bit LPDDR4x @ 51.2GB/s Storage – 16 […]

November 22, 2024November 22, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

ASUSTOR Flashstor Gen2 NAS features AMD Ryzen Embedded V3C14, 10GbE networking, up to 12x NVMe SSD sockets

ASUSTOR Flashstor 6 Gen2 and Flashtor 6 Pro Gen2 are NAS systems based on AMD Ryzen Embedded V3C14 quad-core processor with up to two 10GbE RJ45 ports and taking up to 6 or 12 M.2 NVMe SSDs respectively. The Flashstor Gen2 models are updated to the ASUSTOR Flashtor NAS launched last year with similar specifications including 10GbE and up to 12 M.2 SSDs, but based on a relatively low-end Intel Celeron N5105 quad-core Jasper Lake processor. The new Gen2 NAS family features a more powerful AMD Ryzen Embedded V3C14 SoC, support for up to 64GB RAM with ECC, and USB4 ports. The downside is that it lacks video output, so it can’t be used for 4K/8K video consumption like its predecessor. Flashstor Gen2 NAS specifications: SoC – AMD Ryzen Embedded V3C14 quad-core/8-thread processor @ 2.3/3.8GHz; TDP: 15W System Memory Flashstor 6 Gen2 (FS6806X) – 8 GB DDR5-4800 Flashstor 12 Pro […]