We’ve already reviewed GEEKOM Mini IT11 (Core i7-11390H) mini PC with Windows 11 Pro, so in the final part of the review, we’ve switched to Ubuntu 22.04 Linux operating system installed alongside Windows 11 on the Intel Core i7-11390H Tiger Lake mini PC. We’ll go through the software overview and test hardware features, run some benchmarks to evaluate the performance of the system, and report our findings with regard to power consumption and thermal performance. We’ve resized the partition in Windows 11 in the Disk Management program in order to install Ubuntu 22.04 from a USB flash drive on the Mini IT11 computer, and the installation went smoothly, and surprisingly fast according to the reviewer. Ubuntu 22.04 system information The About section in Ubuntu 22.04 Settings shows the Mini IT11 mini PC comes with an 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11390H CPU with eight threads clocked at 3.4 GHz and Intel […]
Review of SunFounder Raspberry Pi UPS Power Supply
SunFounder’s Raspberry Pi UPS Power Supply is a complete UPS kit for the Raspberry Pi 3/4 Model B/B+ with a PiPower board, a 2,000 mAh battery, and all accessories requires for the assembly. It also works with other Raspberry Pi-sized boards that support 5V DC input such as Banana Pi BPI-M5, Libre Computer ROC-RK3328-CC, and other similar SBCs. Many years ago, I bought a Raspberry Pi battery pack for review hoping that it would also work as a UPS, but it was not perfect as the board would sometime reboot during power failure simulations. Since then, there have been many UPS kits launched to the market, but I didn’t try any so far, so when SunFounder contacted CNX Software to review their “Raspberry Pi UPS Power Supply”, I took the opportunity, and I will report my finding in this review. Raspberry Pi UPS Power Supply key features UPS module output […]
Star Labs Byte Mk II Processor N200 mini PC is offered with a choice of Linux distributions
Star Labs Byte Mk II is another Intel Alder Lake-N mini PC with an Intel Processor N200 CPU whose main differentiating factor is to ship with Linux pre-installed from a choice between Ubuntu 22.04, Linux Mint, Manjaro, Zorin OS, and many others. The hardware features are quite standard with up to 16GB RAM, an NVMe SSD with up to 2TB capacity, HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs, an audio jack two Gigabit Ethernet ports, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1, and a few USB ports. Star Labs Byte Mk II specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N200 quad-core processor @ up to 1.0 GHz / 3.7 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel HD graphics @ 750 MHz; TDP: 6W (PL2 set to 25W) System Memory – 8GB or 16GB single-channel DDR4 3200MHz memory via one SO-DIMM socket Storage 480GB “over-provisioned” M.2 2280 PCIe SSD (option for 960GB or 1920GB) Detachable 2.5-inch HDD/SSD […]
Affordable RTK GNSS receiver supports USB or/and Ethernet interfaces (Crowdfunding)
HYFIX’s RTK Rover is an affordable, centimeter-accurate RTK (Real-time Kinematic) GNSS receiver with either a USB interface or/and Ethernet connectivity with the latter relying on a Raspberry Pi 4 SBC. As a reminder, RTK relies on traditional GNSS networks like GPS and works with a Base station at a fixed location and a Rover station that can be fitted to a drone or mobile robot in order to determine the position with up to one-centimeter accuracy. The RTK Rover from HYFIX is equipped with a dual-band LC29H GNSS module from Quectel and an onboard IMU sensor that tracks position through dead reckoning when GNSS connectivity is lost. RTK Rover specifications: MiniPCIe card with Dual-Band L1/L5 RTK Receiver (Quectel LC29H) Antenna – External antenna (6x5x2 cm) connected to SMA connector Sensor – IMU Interfaces USB Type-C port for power and serial Interface Ethernet Rover Kit only – Gigabit Ethernet and USB ports […]
BeagleV-Ahead quad-core RISC-V SBC offers BeagleBone Capes compatibility
Beagleboard.org Foundation’s BeagleV-Ahead is a single board computer powered by the T-Head TH1520 quad-core RISC-V processor and following the form factor of the popular BeagleBone Black board based on a Texas Instruments Sitara AM3359 single-core Arm Cortex-A8 processor. The new board looks better in almost every way with a much faster processor, 4GB RAM, 16GB eMMC flash, Gigabit Ethernet, built-in WiFI and Bluetooth, a micro USB 3.0 port, micro HDMI video output up to 4Kp60, etc… and the same 80-pin headers as found on other BeagleBone boards. The main downside is that it comes at a significantly higher price as we’ll see further below. BeagleV-Ahead specifications: SoC – Alibaba T-Head TH1520 CPU – quad-core RISC-V Xuantie C910 (RV64GCV) processor @ up to 2.0 GHz, low power Xuantie E902 core GPU – Imagination BXM-4-64 GPU with OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.2, 50.7GFLOPS DSP – Xuantie C906 audio DSP @ […]
VOIPAC iMX8M Industrial Development Kit Review – Part 1: Specs, Unboxing, and first boot
VOIPAC iMX8M Industrial Development Kit comes with an NXP i.MX 8M module with up to 4GB LPDDR4 and 32GB eMMC flash, and an optional wireless module, as well as a features-rich carrier board. The company sent us the “iMX8M Industrial Pro” version for review with 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC flash, and a WiFi and Bluetooth module. In the first part of the review, we’ll go through the specifications, do an unboxing, and give the board a quick try, before looking more into the software in the second part. VOIPAC iMX8M Industrial Development Kit specifications System-on-module iMX8M Industrial Max SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Quad @ 1.5 GHz System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4-3733 DRAM (1.866GHz) Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, 1 Mbit EEPROM Networking – Gigabit Ethernet PHY, wireless module with WiFi & Bluetooth PCIe (on module) Display – 2x LVDS Analog Audio iMX8M Industrial Pro SoC – NXP i.MX 8M […]
bitswrt NHX53X2 WiFi 7 system-on-module features Qualcomm IPQ5332 SoC
bitswrt NHX53X2 is a WiFi 7 system-on-module (SoC) powered by a Qualcomm IPQ5332 quad-core Cortex-A53 SoC and equipped with the QCN6274 commercial grade WiFi 7 chipset. The IPQ5332 processor looks to be the little brother of the IPQ9574 quad-core Arm Cortex-A73 processor found in the AL02 WiFi 7 reference router board from Qualcomm. The module comes with up to 3GB RAM, 1GB NAND flash, and exposes plenty of I/Os with multiple 2.5GbE interfaces, 10GbE, PCIe Gen 3.0, USB 3.0, GPIOs, and more. bitswrt NHX53X2-V01 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm IPQ5332 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 at 1.5 GHz WiFi 7 chipset – Qualcomm QCN6274 NPU – 12-threaded network processing unit (NPU) Ubi32 @ 1.5 GHz (likely part of Qualcomm IPQ5332, but public info is sparse) System Memory – 1GB (option up to 3GB) 16/32-bit DDR4 at 2133 MT/s Storage – 8MB NOR flash, 128MB (option up to 1GB) NAND flash, 128Kbit EEPROM WLAN […]
UniHiker review – A Linux-based STEM education platform with IoT and AI support, Micro:bit edge connector
DFRobot’s UniHiker is a STEM educational platform that was originally launched in China, but now UniHiker is now available worldwide through the DFRobot shop. The company has sent us a UniHiker sample for review, so let’s unpack the kit and learn how to use the UniHiker platform. The main component of the kit is the Linux-powered UniHiker board which features a 2.8-inch resistive touchscreen display and a BBC Micro:bit edge connector, so we can use expansion boards for the Micro:bit board. Let’s start unboxing it together. UniHiker unboxing DFRobot sent us the UniHiker platform by DHL. The package is a familiar-looking DFRobot box in orange color and comes with a plastic box to safely store the UniHiker board and accessories after use. The plastic box contains another plastic box with the board, some 3-pin and 4-pin cables for Gravity ports, and a USB Type-C cable. The UniHiker is like a […]