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) - 1 Comment on Seeed Studio’s XIAO MG24 and XIAO MG24 Sense boards target battery-powered Matter and BLE applications

Seeed Studio’s XIAO MG24 and XIAO MG24 Sense boards target battery-powered Matter and BLE applications

Seeed Studio XIAO MG24

Seeed Studio has added two members to its XIAO family of tiny MCU boards with the XIAO MG24 and XIAO MG24 Sense boards based on Silicon Labs EFR32MG24 multi-protocol wireless SoC and designed for battery-powered Matter over Thread and Bluetooth LE 5.3 applications. Both 21×17.8 mm USB-C boards feature a 78MHz Silabs MG24 Cortex-M33 microcontroller with 256kB SRAM and 1536KB flash, an additional 4MB SPI flash on-board, and 22 pins and pads for GPIO pins, analog inputs, and power signals, plus a reset button and two LEDs. The “Sense” model adds an analog microphone and a 6-axis IMU sensor. XIAO MG24/MG24 Sense specifications: SoC – Silicon Labs EFR32MG24 (EFR32MG24B220F1536IM48-B) MCU cores Arm Cortex-M33 @ 78.0 MHz with DSP instruction and floating-point unit for user application Arm Cortex-M0+ core for wireless Memory – 256 KB RAM Storage – 1536 KB flash Wireless protocols – Matter, OpenThread, Zigbee, Bluetooth Low Energy 5.3, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on MicroPython v1.24 release adds support for RP2350 and ESP32-C6 microcontrollers, various RISC-V improvements

MicroPython v1.24 release adds support for RP2350 and ESP32-C6 microcontrollers, various RISC-V improvements

Micropython v1.24 with ESP32-C6 and RP2350 support

MicroPython has become one of the most popular ways of programming microcontrollers, and the just-released MicroPython v1.24 adds support for the widely-used Raspberry Pi RP2350 and Espresif ESP32-C6 microcontrollers and a range of other changes. Those include improved RISC-V support with native code generation, an updated Zephyr v3.7.0 RTOS with threading support, unified TinyUSB bindings across ports, a portable UART IRQ API, and enhanced mpremote recursive copy. Damien George goes into more detail about the RISC-V improvements: … include an RV32IMC native code emitter, native NLR and GC register scanning implementations for 32- and 64-bit RISC-V, support for placing RV32IMC native code in .mpy files and also freezing it, and RISC-V semihosting support. Testing for RISC-V is done with the qemu and unix ports, and the support is utilised in the esp32 and rp2 ports. The Raspberry Pi RP2350 comes with both Arm Cortex-M33 and RISC-V cores, and the good […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on UP Squared Pro 710H SBC combines Alder Lake-N CPU with Hailo-8 AI accelerator for the machine vision market

UP Squared Pro 710H SBC combines Alder Lake-N CPU with Hailo-8 AI accelerator for the machine vision market

UP Squared Pro 710H

AAEON UP Squared Pro 710H is a 4×4-inch SBC and developer board designed for machine vision applications with an Intel Processor N97 or Core i3-N305 Alder Lake-N CPU and a 26 TOPS Hailo-8 Edge AI processor. The single board computer supports up to two MIPI CSI cameras via a 61-pin connector and offers expansion capabilities through a 40-pin Raspberry Pi-compatible header and three M.2 sockets for 5G, Wi-Fi, and NVMe storage support. While it’s only designed to operate in the 0 to 60°C temperature range, it does have industrial features such as 12V to 36V DC input and two RS-232/422/485 connectors. UP Squared Pro 710H specifications: Alder Lake N-series SoC (one or the other) Intel Processor N97 quad-core processor up to 3.6 GHz with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD Graphics Gen 12 @ 1.2 GHz; TDP: 12W Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core processor up to 3.8 GHz with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on GEEKOM GT1 Mega AI mini PC Review – Part 1: Specifications, unboxing, teardown, and first boot

GEEKOM GT1 Mega AI mini PC Review – Part 1: Specifications, unboxing, teardown, and first boot

GEEKOM GT1 Mega Review Windows 11 Pro

GEEKOM GT1 Mega is an AI mini PC based on the latest Intel Core Ultra 5/7/9 Meteor Lake processor. We received a review sample from the company with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H SoC, 32GB DDR5 memory, and a 2TB NVMe SSD as well as an Intel BE200 WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 module. As usual, we’ll do a three-part review starting with an article with the specifications, an unboxing, and a teardown followed by a thorough review with the pre-installed Windows 11 Pro operating system, and finally with the latest Ubuntu 24.04.1 OS. GEEKOM GT1 Mega specifications GEEKOM provides the following specifications for the GT1 Mega mini PC and motherboard: Meteor Lake SoC (one or the other) Intel Core Ultra 9 185H 16-core (6P+8E+2LPE) processor @ 2.5 / 3.8 / 5.1 GHz (Turbo) with 24MB cache, 8x Xe-cores Intel Arc graphics @ 2.35 GHz, Intel AI Boost NPU; […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments on Intel Processor N150 and N250, Core i3-N355 Alder Lake-N Refresh SoCs show up in ASUS NUC 14 Essential mini PCs

Intel Processor N150 and N250, Core i3-N355 Alder Lake-N Refresh SoCs show up in ASUS NUC 14 Essential mini PCs

ASUS NUC 14 Essential

Intel Processor N150, Processor N250, and Core i3-N355 new Alder Lake-N processors have recently shown up in the upcoming ASUS NUC 14 Essential mini PCs and offer a small performance boost compared to existing variants such as the N100, N200, and Core i3-N305. The upcoming NUC 14 Essential family also includes one model with the existing Processor N97 CPU, supports up to three 4K displays via HDMI, DP, and USB-C connectors, offers 2.5 GbE networking, six USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, and a single USB 2.0 port. ASUS NUC 14 Essential (NUC14MNK) specifications: Alder Lake-N SoC Intel Processor N97 quad-core processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD graphics; TDP: 6W Intel Processor N150 quad-core processor @ up to 3.6 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, Intel graphics; TDP: 6W Intel Processor N250 quad-core processor @ up to 3.8 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, Intel graphics; […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on RP2040 FlexiBoard is a bendable Raspberry Pi Pico clone made of flexible PCB (Crowdfunding)

RP2040 FlexiBoard is a bendable Raspberry Pi Pico clone made of flexible PCB (Crowdfunding)

Flexible Raspberry Pi Pico

[Update December 22: The project was previously called FlexiPi, but Raspberry Pi considered it infringed on its trademarks, so the name was changed to RP2040 FlexiBoard instead]. RP2040 FlexiBoard is a bendable Raspberry Pi RP2040 board made of flexible PCB with the same layout as the original Raspberry Pi Pico, but featuring a USB-C port instead of a micro USB port on the official board. This follows the Flexduino flex PCB clone of the Arduino UNO made by “EDISON SCIENCE CORNER”, but the smaller design of “TOP Gadgets” RP2040 FlexiBoard may make it potentially more useful since it could be inserted into tight or round enclosures. RP2040 FlexiBoard specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 48 MHz (overclockable to 133 MHz) with 264KB SRAM Storage – 2MB QSPI flash USB – 1x USB Type-C 1.1 port used for power and programming Expansion 2x 20-pin 2.54mm pitch header […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ features Hailo-8L or Hailo-8 AI accelerator with up to 26 TOPS of performance

Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ features Hailo-8L or Hailo-8 AI accelerator with up to 26 TOPS of performance

Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ 26 TOPS

The Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ is a PCIe expansion board for the Raspberry Pi 5 with either a 13 TOPS Hailo-8L or 26 TOPS Hailo-8 AI accelerator. You may remember the Raspberry Pi AI Kit was introduced last June with an official M.2 Key M HAT+ and a 13 TOPS Hailo-8L M.2 AI accelerator module, The new Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ is quite similar except the chip is soldered on the expansion board and offered with either Hailo-8L or the more powerful Hailo-8 variant. Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ specifications: Supported SBC – Raspberry Pi 5 AI accelerator Hailo-8L AI accelerator with up to 13 TOPS of performance Hailo-8 AI accelerator with up to 26 TOPS of performance Host Interface – PCIe Gen3 interface 16mm stacking GPIO header PCIe FPC cable Spacers and screws enabling fitting on Raspberry Pi 5 with Raspberry Pi Active Cooler Dimensions – 65 x 56.5 mm […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Banana Pi BPI-M1S RK3528 SBC features HDMI 2.0, 2.5GbE, WiFi 6, and more

Banana Pi BPI-M1S RK3528 SBC features HDMI 2.0, 2.5GbE, WiFi 6, and more

Banana Pi BPI-M1S

The Banana Pi BPI-M1S, also known as the ArmSoM-Sige1, is a low-profile single board computer (SBC) based on the Rockchip RK3528 quad-core Cortex-A53 SoC initially designed for entry-level 4K TV boxes. Contrary to the two other RK3528(A) SBCs we’ve covered, namely the Radxa Rock E20C and FriendlyELEC NanoPi Zero2 focusing on low-cost and small footprint for headless networked applications, the Banana Pi BPI-M1S integrates more features such as HDMI 2.0 for 4K video output and audio, 2.5GbE and WiFi 6 networking, and a 40-pin GPIO header for expansion. Banana Pi BPI-M1S specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3528 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 2.0 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G450 GPU with support for OpenGL ES1.1, ES2.0, and OpenVG 1.1 APIs VPU H.264, H.265, and AVS2 decoder up to 4Kp60 H.264 and H.265 encoder up to 1080p60 Memory – 4GB LPDDR4x Storage 32GB eMMC flash (by default) MicroSD card slot Video Output – […]

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