Yesterday, as I wrote about AAEON UP Xtreme SBC, I realized that while I had seen some other Intel Celeron 4305UE Whiskey Lake boards with 3.5-inch and Pico-ITX form factors, I’ve just found out an industrial mini-ITX motherboard from BCM Advanced Research equipped with the processor. Just like other similar industrial Whiskey Lake SBC’s, Intel Core i3/i5/i7 Whiskey Lake-U Embedded processors are offered as options/upgrades for BCM MX4305UE motherboard, and the company says the board is designed for power-sensitive IoT devices and embedded applications such as video wall control management system, point-of-sales systems (POS), kiosks, automated vending machines, panel PCs, digital signage, medical and gaming devices. BCM MX4305UE mini-ITX board specifications: SoC Default – Intel Celeron 4305UE dual-core Whiskey Lake processor @ 2.0 GHz (base, no turbo frequency) with Intel UHD Graphics 610; 15W TDP Options Intel Core i7-8665UE quad-core processor up to 4.40 GHz max – TDP: 15W Intel […]
CrowPi2 Raspberry Pi 4 Learning Kit Review – Part 1 – Unboxing and First Boot
Last month, we wrote about Elecrow introducing CrowPi2 Raspberry Pi 4 laptop and electronics learning kit for its launch on Kickstarter crowdfunding website. The company has now sent one of its kits to CNX Software for evaluation and review. I’ll start by checking out the content of the package, and boot it up, before publishing a more detailed review in a few weeks. The package is fairly big and highlights it’s made for kids over 8 years old with close to 100 course resources and over 20 electronics modules. The back of the package list the main features and package contents with for example a 11.6″ Full HD display, Raspberry Pi 4 4GB board running a customized (Linux) system or Retropie for game emulation, electronics components and modules like servos and motors, as well as some resources for gaming including two USB gamepads. The first things we get when opening […]
Beelink Gemini M is a Thin Mini PC Powered by Intel Celeron J4125 Gemini Lake Refresh SoC
The first Intel Gemini Lake Refresh (GLK-R) processors were announced last November, but we haven’t seen that many devices with the new processors, and so far we only covered some FUJITSU thin clients, as well as ODROID-H2+ and ODYSSEY-X86J4105 SBC’s with the “refreshed” processors. Beelink is about to launch a rather thin mini PC – Beelink Gemini M – powered by a 10W Intel Celeron J4125 Gemini Lake Refresh SoC coupled with 8GB RAM, and offering two independent 4K video outputs. Beelink Gemini M specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J4125 quad-core Gemini Lake Refresh processor @ 2.00 GHz / 2.7 GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD Graphics 600; 10W TDP System Memory – 8GB RAM Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, M.2 2242 SATA socket, SD card reader Video Output – 2x HDMI 1.4 ports up to 4K @ 30 Hz Audio – 3.5mm headphone+mic jack, digital audio output via HDMI Connectivity […]
UP Xtreme Lite Whiskey Lake SBC is Made for “Developers on a Budget”
AAEON UP Xtreme Whiskey Kake SBC launched last year for 249 Euros via a crowdfunding campaign, and the single board computer can now be purchased from UP shop from $299 for the Celeron 4305UE version with 4GB RAM, and up to $799 with an Intel Core i7-8665UE quad-core processor and 16GB RAM. But soon, you should be able to purchase a more affordable version as the company just unveiled UP Xtreme Lite board made “for developers on a budget” and “designed to provide developers with a platform that’s flexible, powerful, and great value while not sacrificing performance”. UP Xtreme Lite specifications with the differences against the original UP Xtreme either stricken though (when removed) or highlighted in bold (for new features): SoC (one or the other) Intel Celeron 4305UE dual-core processor @ up to 2.2 GHz with 2MB cache, Intel UHD 610 graphics Intel Core i3-8145UE dual-core 4-thread processor @ […]
Beelink GS-King X Review with Android 9 – Video & Audio Playback, NAS/File Server Function, and Benchmarks
Last month I received Beelink GS-King X for review and started with an unboxing and teardown to check out the hardware. I’ve now had time to test the device with Android 9 including the file server function, a key selling point since of the device since it supports up to two 3.5″ SATA drives internally. A Tedious and Frustrating Start Eventually, I managed to boot the TV box and access the launcher, but it was no pleasure cruise. The first time, I connected the power, there was nothing at all, with the LED turned off, and no noise from the device. I thought the device was dead. The company asked me to check the power supply, and indeed a quick check with a multimeter confirmed it was dead despite the blue LED (on the power supply) implying the contrary. Nevermind, bad things happen, and the company sent me a new […]
Rock Pi 4C SBC with 4GB RAM, HDMI and DisplayPort Launched for $59 and up
Last October, Radxa unveiled Rock Pi 4C SBC as an update to the company’s Rock Pi 4 SBC, with the same Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core processor, 4GB RAM, but instead of providing one HDMI output only, Rock Pi 4C board offers two video output just like Raspberry Pi 4 board, but with a twist, since it combines a micro HDMI port with a Mini DisplayPort connector. It’s all good except for one small detail. So far, it was not possible to purchase the board. The good news is that Radxa has now announced the availability of the board for just $59 on AllNetChina. You can also buy Rock Pi 4C on other platforms, but the price is much higher at $109.99 on Amazon, and $99.99 on Aliexpress. Rock Pi 4C specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 big.LITTLE hexa-core processor with 2x Arm Cortex-A72 @ up to 1.8 GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 @ up […]
Dune HD AV1 4K TV Box To Run AOSP or Android TV for Android 10 on RealTek RTD1319 Processor
4K TV boxes capable of playing AV1 content are coming later this year. Many of the entry-level models will feature Amlogic S905X4 processor, but some higher-end set-top boxes will instead be equipped with Broadcom BCM7218X or Realtek RTD1319 processor with better video post-processing capabilities and often more extensive DRM support which can be important to operators. Dune HD AV1 4K TV box is coming later this year with Realtek RTD1319 media processor, and support for either Android 10 AOSP or Android TV for Android 10. Dune HD AV1 4K TV box specifications: SoC – Realtek RTD1319 quad-core Arm Cortex A55 processor with Mali-G31 GPU with OpenGL ES 3.2 API support System Memory – 2 GB RAM Storage – 16 GB flash (32 GB or more as an option) Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.1 up to 4Kp60 with HDR support, 3.5mm AV port with composite video and analog stereo […]
PolarFire SoC Icicle 64-bit RISC-V and FPGA Development Board Runs Linux or FreeBSD (Crowdfunding)
We got some more details about PolarFire RISC-V FPGA SoC late last year, and we were promised a Linux capable 64-bit RISC-V & FPGA development board with PolarFire SoC Icicle kit in Q3 of 2020. We are already in July 2020. So where is the board? Oh, look! It’s right here on Crowd Supply where it is offered for $499, and shipping is expected to start in mid-September. PolarFire SoC Icicle specifications: SoC FPGA – PolarFire SoC MPFS250T-FCVG484EES penta–core RISC-V CPU subsystem (1xRV64IMAC, 4xRV64GC) with 254K LE non-volatile fabric, 784 18 × 18 math blocks, secure boot, 4x 12.7 Gbps SERDES, FCVG484 package (19 × 19 mm, 0.8 mm pitch) System Memory – 2GB LPDDR4 x32 Storage – 1 GBit QSPI Flash, 8GB eMMC Flash or SD card slot (multiplexed) Video Output – HDMI 2.0 (removed from final board) Connectivity – 2x Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth USB – 1x […]