Operating Systems Category - CNX Software

March 30, 2025March 30, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Radxa Orion O6 Preview – Part 2: Debian 12 – What works, what doesn’t

I went through an unboxing and Debian 12 installation on the Radxa Orion O6 at the end of January, but decided to work on other reviews since software support still needed to be worked on. Since then, there’s been some work done, but no new image released. After waiting for almost two months, I’ve decided to carry on with the review by testing the Debian 12 image in a way similar to the Rock 5B SBC preview I did with Debian 11 in 2022 to check what works and what doesn’t on the Orion O6 at the time of the review. That will involve testing all ports, including 5GbE networking and the PCIe slot with an (old) NVIDIA graphics card, running some benchmarks, and also trying the Debian 12 image with a self-built Linux 6.13 kernel using ACPI instead of UEFI for the default image. Orion O6 SBC benchmarks on […]

March 27, 2025March 27, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

FourThirdsEye is an open-source hardware 10.7MP IMX294 camera module for the Raspberry Pi 5/CM4

FourThirdEyes IMX294 camera module Raspberry Pi 5

Will Whang’s FourThirdsEye project is an open-source hardware camera module designed for Raspberry Pi 5 SBC and Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 SoM using a Sony IMX294 Type 4/3 CMOS image sensor. The camera module can capture 10.7 MP images and 4K (4096 x 2160) videos with improved low-light performance and dynamic range (4.63 μm pixel size) compared to existing Raspberry Pi camera modules. Will claims it’s perfect for photography enthusiasts, developers, and makers who want a more powerful camera for their Raspberry Pi projects. FourThirdsEye camera module specifications: Sony IMX294 sensor Output image size – Diagonal 21.63 mm (Type 4/3) aspect ratio 17:9 & 4:3 Number of effective pixels 4168 (H) × 2176 (V) approx. 8.93M pixels (aspect ratio 17:9) 3792 (H) × 2824 (V) approx. 10.71M pixels (aspect ratio 4:3) Unit cell size – 4.63 μm (H) × 4.63 μm (V) Optical blacks Horizontal – Front: 0 pixels, […]

March 27, 2025March 28, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

emCraft SOM-NRF9151 – A Nordic Semi nRF9151 System-on-Module with LTE-M, NB-IoT, DECT NR+, and GNSS

Better known for its Linux and uCLinux-powered system-on-modules, emCraft has just launched the SOM-NRF9151 system-on-module powered by a Nordic Semi nRF9151 Arm Cortex-M33 SiP (System-in-Package) with LTE-M, NB-IoT, and DECT NR+ connectivity, and GNSS functionality. The SoM also features a 16MB SPI flash, an nPMIC1300 for power management, a Nano SIM card slot, and a footprint for an eSIM. I/Os and power signals are exposed through two 50-pin board-to-board connectors, and the company provides a starter kit with a baseboard for evaluation. emCraft SOM-NRF9151 specifications: SiP – Nordic Semi nRF9151 CPU – Arm Cortex-M33 @ 64 MHz Memory – 256 KB SRAM Storage – 1 MB flash Wireless – LTE-M, NB-IoT, and DECT NR+ modem with GNSS 700-2200 MHz LTE bands: B1-B5, B8, B12, B13, B17-B20, B25, B26, B28, B65, B66, B85 Power Class 5 20 dBm Power Class 3 23 dBm 1.9GHz NR+ band support Certified for global operation […]

March 27, 2025March 26, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Radxa CM3J industrial-grade Rockchip RK3568J SoM is compatible with Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4

Radxa CM3J is a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 compatible SoM powered by a Rockchip RK3568J industrial-grade quad-core Cortex-A55 SoC and equipped with up to 8GB LPDDR4x and up to 256GB eMMC flash. It’s an update to the Radxa CM3 based on the Rockchip RK3566 SoC with an industrial temperature range and only two board-to-board connectors, and can also be viewed as a cost-down version of the Radxa CM3i with RK3568 and four B2B connectors. It competes directly against the industrial-grade Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 introduced at the beginning of this month. Radxa CM3J specifications compared to the Radxa CM3 and Raspberry Pi CM4: The Radxa CM3J has been tested with the official Raspberry Pi CM4 IO Board, WaveShare CM4‑POE‑UPS‑BASE, WaveShare CM4‑IO‑BASE‑B, and WaveShare CM4‑NANO‑B, but other carrier boards for the Compute Module 4 may also be supported. Like with other such modules, there’s no 100% pin compatibility with […]

March 26, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Sterolabs ZED Box Mini is a compact NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano/NX Vision AI PC with two GMSL2 camera inputs

Stereolabs ZED Box Mini “Super” is a compact mini PC based on NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano or NX system-on-module and equipped with two GMSL2 camera inputs with synchronization trigger input/output, enabling AI Vision processing for robotics and smart infrastructure. The AI vision mini PC / embedded computer unit (ECU) also features a 256GB SSD, HDMI 1.4/2.1 video output, a gigabit Ethernet port, an optional Intel AX201 wireless module with two external antennas, a USB 3.0 port, a micro USB port for flashing the OS, and a 10-pin GPIO header with CAN Bus and UART for expansion. ZED Box mini specifications: System-on-Module (one or the other) NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano 4GB | 34 TOPS NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano 8GB | 67 TOPS NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX 8GB | 117 TOPS NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX 16GB | 157 TOPS Storage – 256GB SSD inserted in M.2 Key-M 2242 socket Video Output – […]

March 26, 2025March 26, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

$23 ArmSoM Forge1 industrial SBC is powered by Rockchip RK3506J SoC

ArmSoM Forge1 is an industrial SBC (single board computer) powered by the Rockchip RK3506J triple-core Cortex-A7 processor designed for Smart Audio, HMI, and factory automation applications. The Forge1 is equipped with 512MB RAM, 512MB NAND flash, two Fast Ethernet ports, a MIPI DSI display connector, USB Type-A and Type-C ports, an audio jack, a 40-pin GPIO header partially compatible with Raspberry Pi HATs, and a 16-pin header with speaker output, microphone input, RS-485, and CAN Bus. ArmSoM Forge1 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3506J CPU 3x Arm Cortex-A7 core up to 1.5 GHz Arm Cortex-M0 real-time core GPU – 2D GPU only No VPU, no NPU System Memory – 512MB DDR3L Storage 512MB SPI NAND flash MicroSD card Video Output – 2-lane MIPI DSI connector up to 1280 x 1280@ 60FPS Audio 3.5mm audio jack Speaker and Mic via expansion header Networking – 2x 100Mbps Ethernet RJ45 ports USB 1x USB […]

March 25, 2025March 25, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

SOMDEVICES µSMARC RZ/V2N system-on-module packs Renesas RZ/V2N MPU in a 82x30mm “micro SMARC” form factor

SOMDEVICES µSMARC RZ/V2N is a system-on-module powered by the Renesas RZ/V2N AI MPU and offered in a micro SMARC (µSMARC) form factor that’s quite smaller at 82x30mm than standard 82x50mm SMARC modules. The company told CNX Software it’s still 100% compatible with SMARC 2.1 with a 314-pin MXM 3.0 edge connector. It’s also cost-effective with a compact PCB and can be used in space-constrained applications. The µSMARC features up to 8GB LPDDR4, up to 128GB eMMC flash, two gigabit Ethernet PHY, and an optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1 wireless module. µSMARC RZ/V2N specifications: SoC – Renesas RZ/V2N CPU Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.8 GHz Arm Cortex-M33 @ 200 MHz GPU – Arm Mali-G31 3D graphics engine (GE3D) with OpenGL ES 3.2 and Open CL 2.0 FP VPU – Encode & decode H.264 – Up to 1920×1080 @ 60 fps (Renesas specs, but SOMDEVICES also mentions up to 4K @ 30 […]

March 25, 2025March 25, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Linux 6.14 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architecture

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 6.14 on LKML: So it’s early Monday morning (well – early for me, I’m not really a morning person), and I’d love to have some good excuse for why I didn’t do the 6.14 release yesterday on my regular Sunday afternoon release schedule. I’d like to say that some important last-minute thing came up and delayed things. But no. It’s just pure incompetence. Because absolutely nothing last-minute happened yesterday, and I was just clearing up some unrelated things in order to be ready for the merge window. And in the process just entirely forgot to actually ever cut the release. D’oh. So yes, a little delayed for no good reason at all, and obviously that means that the merge window has opened. No rest for the wicked (or the incompetent). Below is the shortlog for the last week. It’s nice and […]