Hey Karl here with a quick write up on how I adopted a Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway (USG) into my existing home network. I ran into a few issues so I wanted to share and hopefully help someone else. I have had 2 Unifi access points cover my home for several years now and I recently upgraded my internet to 100 Mbps. I was maxing out at about 95 Mbps with downloads on my existing 100 Mbps Linksys router and I knew I was leaving some bandwidth on the table. Spectrum is my internet provider and I have always got more than what I paid for. I placed an order on Amazon and 24 hours later it was delivered. I have a couple of things that made this challenging. First I run my network on a 10.0.0.1/24 subnet with devices that have static IP address and I host my own […]
Intrinsyc Unveils Open-Q 845 µSOM and Snapdragon 845 Mini-ITX Development Kit
Intrinsyc introduced the first Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 hardware development platform last year with its Open-Q 845 HDK designed for OEMs and device makers. But the company has now just announced a solution for embedded systems and Internet of Things (IoT) products with Open-Q 845 micro system-on-module (µSOM) powered by the Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor, as well as a complete development kit featuring the module and a Mini-ITX baseboard. Open-Q845 µSOM Specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon SDA845 octa-core processor with 4x Kryo 385 Gold cores @ 2.649GHz + 4x Kryo 385 Silver low-power cores @ 1.766GHz cores, Hexagon 685 DSP, Adreno 630 GPU with OpenGL ES 3.2 + AEP (Android Extension Pack), DX next, Vulkan 2, OpenCL 2.0 full profile System Memory – 4GB or 6GB dual-channel high-speed LPDDR4X SDRAM at 1866MHz Storage – 32GB or 64GB UFS Flash Storage Connectivity Wi-Fi 5 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2.4/5Ghz 2×2 MU-MIMO (WCN3990) with 5 GHz […]
System76 Introduces two Intel Comet Lake Linux Laptops with Coreboot Firmware
Intel officially launched Comet Lake processors last August with Y-series (4.5-5.5W TDP) and U-Series (15W TDP) targeting 2-in-1 hybrid laptops and tablets. Since several Windows 10 Comet Lake laptops launched such as OneMix 3Pro 8.4″ mini laptop with an Intel Core i5-10210Y Comet Lake-Y processor. If you’d rather get a Comet Lake laptop running Linux, System76 got you covered with two models, namely Galago Pro and Darter Pro laptops running a choice of Pop!_OS 19.10 (64-bit), Pop!_OS 18.04 LTS (64-bit), or Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (64-bit) operating systems, as well as System76 open firmware based on Coreboot, EDK2, and System76 firmware apps. Galago Pro & Darter Pro share many of the same specifications, except for the display, battery, and other items highlighted in bold: SoC (one of the other) Intel Core i5-10210U quad-core/eight-thread processor @ 1.6 GHz / 3.9 GHz (turbo all cores) / 4.2 GHz (turbo one core), 24EU Intel […]
Arduino MKR WAN 1310 LoRa Board Gets HW Security, Longer Battery Life and a 2MB SPI flash
Two year ago Arduino launched MKR WAN 1300 board powered by Arduino Zero compatible Microchip Atmel SAMD21 32-bit ARM Cortex M0+ MCU and a Murata CMWZ1ZZABZ LoRa module based on Semtech SX1276 and STMicro STM32L microcontroller. The company has now announced a new improved LoRa board – MKR WAN 1310 – with lower power consumption thanks to a new battery charger , a 2MB SPI flash which enables data logging and other OTA (Over-the-Air) functions, and a crypto chip that can securely store credentials and certificates. Specifications: MCU – Microchip Atmel SAMD21 32-bit ARM Cortex M0+ MCU @ 48 MHz with 32 KB SRAM, 256 KB flash (8KB for bootloader) External Storage – 2MB SPI flash Digital I/O Pins – 8x digital I/Os, 12x PWM, UART, SPI, and I2C, 8x external interrupts Analog Pins – 7x analog inputs (8/10/12-bit ADC), and 1x analog output (10-bit DAC) DC Current per I/O […]
Novasom M7+ SBC Adds FFC HDMI Connector, USB & RS-485 Headers, Improves on Raspberry Pi 3 SW Compatibility
We previously wrote about Novasom M7 Rockchip RK3328 SBC being promoted as a drop-in replacement for Raspberry Pi 3 in industrial projects. That’s despite the different port arrangement, and instead, the company bases the claim on the availability of the 40-pin header, mounting holes matching RPI 3 board design, as well as software compatibility thanks to a library that allows customers to re-use the code written for Raspberry Pi boards. Based on feedback from customers, the company has made some changes to their design and launched Novasom M7+ SBC, and made several improvement to the software to be even more compatible with Raspberry Pi 3 board. Specifically there are five changes: Ability to power the board via the USB type-A port (5V) as an alternative to the 12V power barrel jack Stronger Backlight Driver for display up to 6A @5V) t FFC cable for HDMI output – The dimension of […]
Rock Pi S mini SBC Now Available for $15 with 512MB RAM, 512MB SD NAND Flash, WiFi & Bluetooth
Rock Pi S is a tiny single board computer powered by Rockchip RK3308 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor coupled with up to 512MB RAM, up to 1GB SD NAND flash, as well as a USB port, Fast Ethernet & optional WiFi & Bluetooth connectivity which was announced to sell for as low as $9.90 with 256MB RAM, 256MB flash and no wireless module. Seeed Studio has now started to take pre-orders for Rock Pi S with the board selling for $14.90 with 512 MB RAM, 512MB SD NAND flash, WiFi & Bluetooth. Shipping is scheduled to start on October 15th. [Update: Seeed Studio has also listed the 256MB RAM version of the board for $9.90] Rock Pi S specifications as currently sold on Seeed Studio: SoC – Rockchip RK3308 quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 processor @ up to 1.3 GHz with built-in VAD (Voice Activity Detector) System Memory – 512MB RAM Storage – MicroSD […]
Pixblasters MS1 Video LED Controller Outputs HDMI Input to 16K+ LED Video Walls (Crowdfunding)
Pixblaster Video LED Controller Pixblasters, a company focused on LED signage and video display, have started a Crowd Supply campaign for their MS1 Video Controller. The Pixblaster MS1 controller can be attached to any laptop or computer with HDMI output (think Raspberry Pi SBC) and control 16,384 LEDs without any programming, physical modifications or soldering. Extreme Scalability The market the MS1 video controller is aimed at is small business and makers, who hadn’t before had a controller with this much scalability. The company is saying that the MS1 can be daisy-chained together to control hundreds of thousands of LEDs and act as a full video monitor across hundreds of meters of LED strips. Programming The unit can easily and with little technical knowledge connect WS212B-Based addressable LED strips together for a complex output of digital displays, even mirroring a video display in some instances. Target Users The ability to use […]
Fujifilm LTO Ultrium8 Magnetic Tape Can Store up to 30TB of Compressed Data
What year is this? 2019. So I was a little surprised when I saw the news about Fujifilm recently releasing a 12TB magnetic tape, as I truly thought those were relics of the past. But apparently, magnetic tapes are still a thing in some countries such as the United States in applications where a large amount of data needs to be stored over an extended period of time. Fujifilm LTO-8 (Linear Tape-Open Ultrium8) data cartridge was unveiled last month with 12TB native capacity, up to 30TB compressed capacity, and data rates of 360 MB/s. Fujifilm is said to be the world’s largest manufacturer of magnetic tapes, and since there’s virtually no demand in Japan, most of the tapes are exported. Nikkei Xtech reports the maximum capacity of the new magnetic tape is double the one of Fujifilm’s LTO-7 previous generation magnetic tape. The LTO-8 cartridge includes a 960m-long, 1.265cm-wide magnetic […]