Linux Category - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

March 12, 2025March 13, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

5th Gen AMD EPYC Embedded 9005 Series Zen 5 processors supports up to 6TB DDR5 memory, up to 160 PCIe Gen 5 lanes

AMD has just introduced the 5th Gen AMD EPYC Embedded 9005 Series “Zen 5” processors designed for embedded systems with a focus on longevity (7 years), reliability, and system resiliency, and targeting networking, storage, and industrial edge systems with support for up to 6TB of DDR5 memory, up to 160 PCIe Gen5 lanes with CXL 2.0. The EPYC Embedded 9005 Series processors are offered with 8 to 192 cores in a single socket and deliver up to a 1.3x faster networking process and 1.6x faster storage. The company also claims a 1.3x increase in socket throughput and 1.3x better performance/Watts compared to the competition thanks to the new Zen 5c architecture. AMD EPYC Embedded 9005 highlights: CPU sub-system AMD EPYC Embedded 9745 to 9965 – Zen 5c architecture up to 12x core complex dies (CCDs), 192x cores, 384x threads AMD EPYC Embedded 9015 to 9655 – Zen5 architecture up to […]

March 11, 2025March 12, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Sapphire Edge+ VPR-5050 “AMD Embedded+” mini-ITX motherboard combines AMD Ryzen V2748 CPU and Versal AI Edge VE2302 SoC FPGA

Right in time for Embedded World 2025, Sapphire Technology has introduced the Edge+ VPR-5050 “AMD Embedded+” mini-ITX motherboard with AMD Ryzen V2748 octa-core CPU, and AMD Versal AI Edge VE2302 adaptive SoC that combines Cortex-A72 hard core with FPGA fabric. It’s an update to last year’s VPR-4616-MB mini-ITX motherboard with the same Versal VE2302 adaptive SoC, but a lower end AMD Ryzen R2314 quad-core processor. Two versions of the Edge+ VPR-5050 are available: the VPR-5050-MB and VPR-5050A-MB with the only obvious difference from the specifications being a 64GB eMMC flash on the “A” model, and the different RAM capacities (2x 4GB LPDDR4 vs 2x 8GB LPDDR4). Sapphire Edge+ VPR-5050 specifications: AMD Embedded+ Architecture Adaptive SoC Subsystem Main IC – AMD Versal AI Edge VE2302 with dual Arm Cortex-A72 core processor @ up to 1.6 GHz, dual-core Arm Cortex-R5F, 23 TOPS AI engine, FPGA fabric, etc… System Memory VPR-5050-MB – 2x […]

March 11, 2025March 12, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Review of SunFounder 10.1-inch touchscreen display for SBCs using Raspberry Pi 5 and Radxa ROCK 5B

SunFounder 10.1-inch RPI Touchscreen Display Review

SunFounder has just sent us one of their 10.1-inch touchscreen display designed for single board computers (SBCs) for review. It supports the Raspberry Pi family, but not only, thanks to a flexible design that allows mounting all sorts of boards with mounting holes that fit within an 85x70mm area. All you need is a board with HDMI output, a spare USB port for the touchscreen, and 5V USB-C input (up to 5A). So I’ll first test the SunFounder 10.1-inch touchscreen display with a Raspberry Pi 5 (85x56mm), then a larger Radxa ROCK 5 Model B Pico-ITX SBC (100 x 72mm). Since the display can also be used as an external touchscreen monitor, I’ll also try it with my laptop in Ubuntu 24.04 and Windows 11. SunFounder 10.1-inch touchscreen display specifications Key features and specifications: Display Type – IPS LCD Resolution – 1280×800 (16:10 aspect ratio) Touchscreen – 10-point capacitive Viewing […]

March 10, 2025March 10, 2025 by Debashis Das - No Comments

ASRock iEP-7040E fanless industrial IoT controllers feature Intel Core Ultra Arrow Lake-H CPU, 36V DI/DO

ASRock has recently released the iEP-7040E series which are Arrow Lake-H industrial IoT controllers powered by Intel Core Ultra “Arrow Lake-H” SoCs with Intel Arc graphics and Intel AI Boost. They feature a fanless design, 9V to 36V or 19V to 36V DC input, three Gigabit Ethernet ports, and two optional Intel GbE ports with PoE. Depending on the variant, the iEP-7040E supports 4x DI/4x DO or 8x DI/8x DO (with 36V isolation), up to 96GB DDR5 5600MHz with In-Band ECC (IBECC), and Intel In-Band Manageability with TPM 2.0. Expansion options include an M.2 B-Key socket and Nano SIM card slot for cellular, an M.2 E-Key socket for WiFi/BT, and an M.2 2280 M-key socket for storage. I/O options include HDMI 2.0b, VGA, three USB 3.2 Gen2 ports, one USB 2.0 port, three RS232/422/485, audio I/O, and multiple power options with OVP, UVP, OCP, and 80V surge protection. Certified for […]

March 9, 2025March 9, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

UP Squared 7100 Review – Part 2: An Intel N100 fanless SBC preloaded with Ubuntu Pro 24.04

I’ve already checked out the hardware of the UP Squared 7100 fanless SBC in the first part of the review with an unboxing and first boot to Ubuntu Pro 24.04. I’ve now had time to test the features of the Intel N100 SBC with Ubuntu Pro, so I’ll report my experience with the system in this second part of the review.

I’ll report my experience with Ubuntu Pro features, test hardware features of the board including GPIOs, check out BIOS options, run a few benchmarks, and measurement power consumption.

March 8, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments

Orange Pi RV2 – A $30+ RISC-V SBC powered by Ky X1 octa-core SoC with a 2 TOPS AI accelerator

While the Orange Pi RV RISC-V SBC introduced at the Orange Pi Developer Conference 2024 last year is yet to be launched (should be up in a few days), the company has just launched the Orange Pi RV2 powered by the Ky X1 octa-core RISC-V SoC with a 2 TOPS AI accelerator, up to 8GB LPDD4X, optional eMMC flash moduyle, two M.2 sockets for storeage, dual gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 5, and more. While RISC-V has made a lot of progress over the years, Linux RISC-V SBCs were often synonymous with relatively expensive hardware for developers, since software is often unsuitable for production, at least for applications using graphics. The Orange Pi RV2 addresses the cost issue since the octa-core RISC-V SBC sells for just $30 to $49.90 depending on the configuration. Orange Pi RV2 specifications: SoC – Ky X1 CPU – 8-core 64-bit RISC-V processor GPU – Not mentioned VPU […]

March 7, 2025March 6, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Home Assistant 2025.3 released with dashboard view headers, tile card improvements, better SmartThings integration

The popular Home Assistant has gotten an update with version 2025.3 that brings dashboard view headers, several tile card improvements, better map clustering, streamed responses from LLMs, and improved SmartThings integrations. Let’s have a look at some of the improvements starting with dashboard view headers which allow users to add a title and welcoming text to dashboards using Markdown and templates. You can also add badges next to the headers. Home Assistant 2025.3 also brings plenty of improvements to tile cards: Adding a circular background around tiles that perform actions, and leaving the ones that just show extra information without a circle Features of a tile card can now be positioned inline in the tile card (e.g. on/off button) New features: switch toggle, counter toggle (to increase, decrease, or reset a counter entity), animations when hovering over atile card Editor improvements for ease of use The new version of Home […]

March 6, 2025March 6, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

LincStation N2 and S1 6-bay HDD/SSD NAS systems ship with Intel N100/N97 CPU, UnRaid OS (Crowdfunding)

LincPlus LincStation N2 and S1 are two 6-bay NAS systems taking SATA or SSD drives based on Intel Processor N100 or N97 CPU, and running UnRaid OS Linux distribution by default. The LincStation N2 features an Intel N100 CPU coupled with 16GB LPDDR5 and 128GB eMMC flash, two SATA bays for 2.5-inch drives, four M.2 2280 NVMe SSD slots, and 10GbE networking. The LinStation S1 has a larger design with an Intel N97 CPU, 8GB DDR5 (SO-DIMM, upgradeable), 64GB flash, four SATA bays for 3.5-inch drives, two M.2 2280 NVMe SSD slots, and two 2.5GbE ports. Both models also come with USB ports for expansion. LincStation N2 NAS Specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N100 quad-core processor up to 3.4 GHz with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD Graphics Gen 12 @ 750 MHz; TDP: 6W System Memory – 16GB LPDDR5 (soldered on mainboard) Storage 128GB eMMC flash 2-bay SATA3.0 slots for […]