Hardware Category - Page 35 of 1136 - CNX Software

August 15, 2024August 15, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Firefly EC-R3576PC FD is an Embedded Large-Model Computer based on Rockchip RK3576 processor

Firefly RK3576 Embedded Large Model Computer

Firefly EC-R3576PC FD is described as an “Embedded Large-Model Computer” powered by a Rockchip RK3576 octa-core Cortex-A72/A53 processor with a 6 TOPS NPU and supporting large language models (LLMs) such as Gemma-2B, LlaMa2-7B, ChatGLM3-6B, or Qwen1.5-1.8B. It looks to be based on the ROC-RK3576-PC SBC we covered a few weeks ago, and also designed for LLM. But the EC-R3576PC FD is a turnkey solution that will work out of the box and should deliver decent performance now that the RKLLM toolkit has been released with NPU acceleration. However, note there are some caveats doing that on RK3576 instead of RK3588 that we’ll discuss below. Firefly EC-R3576PC FD specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3576 CPU 4x Cortex-A72 cores at 2.2GHz, four Cortex-A53 cores at 1.8GHz Arm Cortex-M0 MCU at 400MHz GPU – ARM Mali-G52 MC3 GPU clocked at 1GHz with support for OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0, and 3.2, OpenCL up to 2.0, and […]

August 15, 2024August 19, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

A closer look at Raspberry Pi RP2350’s HSTX high-speed serial transmit interface

The Raspberry Pi RP2350 microcontroller adds an HSTX (High-Speed Serial Transmit) interface adding the PIOs (Programmable IOs) introduced on the Raspberry Pi RP2040 three years ago. The RP2350 MCU now has three PIOs and one HSTX interface going over 8x GPIOs. So let’s try to better understand what HSTX is exactly, what it is used for, and how it differs from PIOs. We’ll also check out some programming examples in C and MicroPython. The high-speed serial transmit (HSTX) interface is detailed in the RP2350 datasheet starting on page 1118 where it reads “The high-speed serial transmit (HSTX) interface streams data from the system clock domain to up to 8 GPIOs at a rate independent of the system clock”. Reading further, we also learn that it runs at 150 MHz enabling up to 300 Mbps per pin with DDR output operation, or a combined 2,400 Mbps over 8 pins if I […]

August 15, 2024August 15, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Akeana unveils 10 RISC-V cores suitable for microcontrollers up to data center chips

Founded about three years ago, Akeana has just officially launched and announced three 32-bit and 64-bit RISC-V processor lines and SoC IP with the Akeana 100 series for 32-bit microcontrollers, the Akeana 1000 series for 64-bit processors with MMU, and the Akeana 5000 series with much higher single-thread performance and designed for laptops, data centers, and cloud infrastructure. The company also introduced Scalable Coherent Interconnect, Interrupt Controller, and IOMMU IP for building out compute subsystems based on the aforementioned RISC-V cores, as well as AI-targeted Vector RISC-V Cores and Matrix Computation IP. The design team is said to have previously worked on Marvell’s ThunderX2 server chips. Akeana 100 Series The Akeana 100 Series is a line of highly configurable processors with 32-bit RISC-V cores that support applications from embedded microcontrollers to edge gateways, to personal computing devices. Four Akeana 100 RISC-V cores are available Akeana 110 for area- and power-constrained […]

August 14, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Twotrees SK1 3D printer review – Part 2: Enclosure kit and AI camera

Twotrees SK1 Enclosure Kit AI camera review

We reviewed the Twotrees SK1 CoreXY 3D printer capable of delivering high printing speeds last March, but here’s a second part of the review as the company sent us additional accessories namely the enclosure kit For SK1 and the AI camera for SK1 which we will report on today. The main structure of the enclosure is made of metal sheets plus a door that opens from the front and a top plate made of tempered glass. The SK1 3D printer enclosure makes the 3D printer more beautiful, protects it from dust, is easy to install, and features a fan and air filter system. It’s also designed to mount the AI Camera for SK1 to help users monitor the SK1 while printing is in progress. TwoTrees Enclosure Case Kit For SK1 The interior of the Twotrees SK1 3D printer enclosure is mostly made of metal and includes a tempered glass door […]

August 14, 2024August 14, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

The first Realtek RTL8157 5Gbps Ethernet to USB 3.2 adapters are now available for $35

WisdPi WP-UT5 is the first Realtek RTL8157 5Gbps Ethernet (5GbE) to USB 3.2 adapter to make it to market, following the launch of Realtek RTL8126 5Gbps Ethernet PCIe and M.2 adapters last June, and the announcement for both the RTL8126 and RTL8157 chips at Computer 2023 last year. While the RTL8126 dongles and cards are fairly cheap at around $16 on average and as low as $12, the WisdPi WP-UT5 is sold at a premium for about $35 on AliExpress, but we can expect the price to down come as more companies introduce 5GbE to USB 3.2 adapters. For reference, the 2.5GbE variants based on RTL8156(BG) can be had for about $20 on Amazon. WisdPi WP-UT5 specifications: Chip – Realtek RTL8157 USB USB 3.2 Type-C female port A-C and C-C cables to support hosts with USB Type-C or Type-A ports Ethernet 10/10/100/2500/5000 Mbps Ethernet Supports 5G Lite (2.5Gbps data rate) […]

August 14, 2024August 13, 2024 by Paisit Wongsongsarn - 7 Comments

Mixtile Edge 2 Kit review with Home Assistant, 2-in-1 Zigbee & Z-Wave mPCIe module

We received the Edge 2 Kit IoT gateway on the Rockchip RK3568-powered Edge2 single board computer (SBC) and a 2-in-1 Zigbee and Z-Wave mPCIe card from Mixtile which we will be reviewing from the perspective of smart home applications using Home Assistant open-source home automation framework. Let’s dive into the details. Unboxing Mixtile Edge 2 Kit CNX Software previously reported on the Mixtile Edge 2 Kit in 2022 and you can check the detailed specifications and block diagram in that earlier article. Since then, Mixtile has found a wider range of applications for the device and is also promoting it as an Edge AI Box that performs AI object detection using the Edge 2 Kit (or the more powerful Mixtile Blade 3) using the built-in NPU (Neural Processing Unit) with up to 1 TOPS of AI performance for tasks such as object detection. Let’s unbox it and take a closer […]

August 13, 2024August 13, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Efinix introduces the low-power Topaz RISC-V SoC FPGA family for “high-volume, mass-market applications”

Efinix Topaz is a new low-power RISC-V SoC FPGA family manufactured with the same 16nm TSMC process as the Efinix Titanium SoC FPGA, but optimized for high-performance in a low-power footprint, and targetting high-volume, mass-market applications. The Topaz SoC FPGAs provide fewer features than the Titanium family but still offer up to four RISC-V hard cores, PCIe Gen3, MIPI interfaces, LPDDR4, LVDS, and 12.5 Gbps transmitter with most features being optional and depending on the exact SKUs selected. Efinix Topaz key features and specifications: FPGA compute fabric Up to 326,080 logic elements (LEs) Up to 19.22 Mbits embedded memory Up to 1,877 10-Kbit SRAM blocks Up to 1,008 embedded DSP blocks Memory – 10-kbit high-speed, embedded SRAM, configurable as single-port RAM, simple dual-port RAM, true dual-port RAM, or ROM FPGA interface blocks Optional 32-bit quad-core hardened RISC-V block (RISCV32I with M, A, C, F, and D extensions and six pipeline […]

August 13, 2024August 19, 2024 by Sayantan Nandy - 3 Comments

SparkFun Pro Micro – RP2350 development board comes with 16MB flash, 8MB PSRAM

The SparkFun Pro Micro – RP2350 is a compact and powerful development board built around the RP2350 chip from Raspberry Pi and equipped with 16MB flash and 8MB PSRAM. It follows the updated Pro Micro design and includes a USB-C connector, Qwiic connector, WS2812B RGB LED, Boot and Reset buttons, resettable PTC fuse, and both PTH and castellated solder pads. Last week, besides the Raspberry Pi Pico 2, we wrote about more boards with the Raspberry Pi RP2350, like the XIAO RP2350, Solder Party’s RP2350 Stamp, and Cytron MOTION 2350 Pro. Feel free to check them out if you are interested in these boards. SparkFun Pro Micro – RP2350 specification Microcontroller – Raspberry Pi RP2350A MCU CPU Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 @150MHz with Arm Trustzone for secure boot Dual-core 32-bit Hazard3 RISC-V @ 150MHz Up to two cores can be used at the same time Memory – 520 KB on-chip SRAM […]