One Mix 2 Yoga Intel Core m3-7Y30 mini Laptop is up for Pre-order for $650

Intel Core m3 mini laptop

GPD Pocket 2 Kaby lake mini laptop is getting some competition with One Mix 2 Yoga pocket laptop featuring the same Intel Core M3-7Y30 processor, but coupled with 8GB RAM, and a 256 SSD, and equipped with the usual 7″ touchscreen display and QWERTY keyboard. The product is an upgrade to the company’s One Mix Yoga powered by an Intel Atom x5 processor, and contrary top GPD Pocket 2 and the upcoming Topjoy Falcon which relied/will rely on Crowdfunding for their launch, One Mix 2 Yoga can be pre-ordered directly  for $649.99 on GeekBuying with shipping planned for next month. [Update: GearBest has it too for the same price] One Mix 2 Yoga specifications: SoC – Intel Core M3-7Y30 dual core / quad thread Kaby Lake processor @ 1.00 GHz / 2.60 GHz (Turbo boost) with 4MB cache, 24EU Intel HD graphics 615 @ 300 MHz / 900 MHz (Turbo […]

TopJoy Falcon Review – A Windows 10 Mini Laptop (Prototype)

The Topjoy Falcon is a mini laptop reminiscent of netbooks and similar to the recent GPD Pocket 2 or One Mix Yoga devices. Marketed as an 8 inch (203mm) pocket-sized computer with the following specification: Intel Pentium Silver N5000 CPU 8G RAM 256G SSD disk 1920*1200 FHD IPS touch screen 6000 mAh battery for up to 8 hours working time 1 x USB A 3.0, 1 x USB Type-C 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack 1 x Mini HDMI port Active cooling 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 Backlit keyboard Windows 10 Home Weight 550g (1lb 3oz) Fits easily in your pocket Although you would need a large pocket as whilst It is physically small consisting of an approximately 8″ by 5.2” and about 0.7” thick (203mm x 132mm x 18mm) when closed it is in reality too big for the average pocket. It will soon be available on Kickstarter with an early bird price of $399 and an expected retail price of […]

Rockchip PX30 Processor Powers Android 8.1 Car Infotainment Systems

Rockchip PX30 Android 8.1 Car System

Rockchip RK3326 and RK3308 are the first Arm Cortex A35 processors from the company, and are designed for smart AI solutions such as smart speakers and smart displays. It turns out RK3326 processor has a sibling called Rockchip PX30 with most of the same features, but with dual VOP (Video Output Processor) support to handle up to two independent displays, as well as an Ethernet MAC and a USB host block. Rockchip RK30 key features and specifications: CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 GPU – Mali-G31 MP2 GPU Memory I/F – DDR4/DDR3/DDR3L/LPDDR3/LPDDR2 Storage I/F – MLC NAND, eMMC 4.51, Serial Nor FLASH Video 1080p H.265/H.264/VC-1/MPEG/VP8 video decoder 1080p H.264/VP8 video encoder Display Interfaces – MIPI-DSI/LVDS/RGB interface, dual VOP Audio I/F – 1x8ch I2S/TDM, 1x8ch PDM, 2x2ch I2S Camera I/F – MIPI CSI and DVP; built-in 8MP ISP Networking – 10/100M Ethernet Other Peripherals – SDIO3.0, USB2.0 HOST & OTG, 4x I2C, […]

STLink-V3 Modular Debugger & Programmer for STM32/STM8 Adds I2C, SPI, CAN Interfaces

STLink V3

STLink is the in-circuit debugger and programmer for STMicro STM32 and STM8 micro-control working with SWIM and JTAG/SWD interfaces. ST Microelectronics has now introduced STLink-V3 which also provides a Virtual COM port interface allowing the host PC to communicate with the target microcontroller through one UART, as well as bridge interfaces (SPI, I2C, CAN, GPIOs) which can be used for programming of the target through the bootloader for example. Key features of STLink V3 debugger: Stand-alone probe with modular extensions Self-powered through a USB connector (Micro-B) USB 2.0 high-speed compatible interface Direct firmware update support (DFU) JTAG / serial wire debugging (SWD) specific features:3 V to 3.6 V application voltage support and 5 V tolerant inputs Flat cables STDC14 to MIPI10 / STDC14 / MIPI20 (connectors with 1.27 mm pitch) JTAG communication support SWD and serial wire viewer (SWV) communication support SWIM specific features (only available with adapter board MB1440):1.65 […]

CH330N is a New USB to Serial Chip in an SOP8 Package

CH330N

Earlier this month we covered Air602 low cost Arm WiFi module, and while it’s not clear whether it will ever compete with ESP8266 due to software support, some readers noticed an interesting new chip on the corresponding development board: WCH CH330N USB to serial chip with features similar to CH340, but less pins (e.g. DTS, and  CTS are missing), and available in a tiny SOP8 package. CH330N comes with built-in crystal oscillator, and supports baud rate from 50 bps to 2 Mbps. You’ll find more hardware technical details in the datasheet in Chinese. CH330(N) works with CH340/CH341 driver as pointed out by Icenowy Zheng who made a small USB to TTL debug board based on the chip to practice PCB drawing with KiCAD. She also mentioned the USB ID and behavior of CH330 is the same with CH340. CH330 / CH330N chip is still nowhere to be found on Aliexpress, […]

Particle Unveils Mesh SoMs and IoT Developer Tools

Earlier this year, Particle unveiled three IoT development boards based on nRF52840 Bluetooth 5/802.15.4 WiSoC and supporting Particle Mesh, which interestingly is not based on Bluetooth Mesh or even Bluetooth, and instead relies on Thread specification/OpenThread implementation, and the 802.15.4 radio of the chip with Bluetooth only used for the initial setup stage. Particle announced the shipping date (October 2018 or… this month) for their Mesh boards pre-ordered in February, as well as three new products in a recent blog post. One of the products is a family of system-on-modules compatible with Particle Mesh, while the other two are related IoT developer tools. Particle Mesh SOMs The Particle Mesh SOMs will have similar names and features as corresponding Particle mesh developers kits such as Boron (NB-IoT / eMTC + BLE + Mesh) and Argon (ESP32 WiFi, BLE + Mesh), but with an edge connector and designed as enterprise-grade, production-scale version […]

La Frite Amlogic S805X Board Runs Mainline Linux, Goes for $5 and Up (Crowdfunding)

AML-S805X-AC Board

Libre Computer first started with their AML-S905X-CC (aka Le Potato) board powered by Amlogic S905X processor last year, and they’ve since then launched several other boards based on Allwinner or Rockchip processor. But their latest “La Frite” board – also known as AML-S805X-AC – is an even lower cost version of the “Le Potato” board, with an Amlogic S805X processor limited to 1080p60 output and video decoding, a smaller footprint based on the one for Raspberry Pi Model A+, and price starting at just $5 on Kickstarter. AML-S805X-AC “La Frite” board specifications: SoC – Amlogic S805X quad core ARM Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.2 GHz with penta core ARM Mali-450MP GPU @ 650 MHz, and Amlogic Video Engine 10 System Memory – 512 MB or 1GB DDR4 @ 2400 MHz Storage –   eMMC module connector, 128 Mb SPI NOR flash Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0 port Video Codecs Decoding […]

Pi Supply IoT LoRa Boards are made for Raspberry Pi & BBC Micro:bit Boards (Crowdfunding)

Pi Supply LoRa Gateway HAT

We’ve already covered plenty of LoRa boards or solutions designed for nodes or gateways such as TTGO T-Beam ESP32 + LoRa board, RAK Wireless RAK811 GPS Lora tracker board, MatchX Matchbox LoRa gateway, and many others,, but Pi Supply offers yet more options with LoRa node and gateway add-on boards designed to work with Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and BBC Micro:bit boards. Pi Supply LoRa Gateway HAT for Raspberry Pi The IoT LoRa Gateway HAT is based on RAK Wireless RAK833 mPCIe LoRa gateway concentrator module and connects to Raspberry Pi 3 B/B+ board via the 40-pin header. There are two hardware version using 868 MHz or 915 MHz frequencies, but as we’ve seen in previous reviews those are configurable for other frequencies such as AS923 or IN865. Pi Supply IoT LoRa Node pHAT for Raspberry Pi LoRa Node pHAT is designed for node specifically, and with a smaller form factor […]

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