The Raspberry Pi Zero (W/WH) board is great because of its size, price tag, and software support, but processing power is limited with Broadcom BCM2735 SoC only offering a single ARM11 core clocked at 1 GHz. There are already some more powerful boards in a similar form factor include Banana Pi M2 Zero or FriendlyELEC NanoPi Duo2 both equipped with an Allwinner quad-core Cortex-A7 processor, but there’s another upcoming board with NXP i.MX 8M Mini quad-core 64-bit Cortex-A53 processor. Meet Kimχ Micro (pronounced Kimchi Micro). Kimχ Micro (preliminary) specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Mini single to quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.8 GHz, Cortex-M4F real-time core @ up to 400 MHz, Vivante GC NanoUltra 3D GPU + GC320 2D GPU, VPU for 1080p60 video decoding and encoding; (Single and dual-core version of NXP i.MX 8M Mini processor are also compatible) System Memory – 2GB LPDDR4 Storage – 8GB […]
Linux Powered Industrial IoT Gateway Offers WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, 4G LTE Connectivity
Compulab IOT-GATE-IMX8 is a Debian Linux powered fanless Industrial IoT gateway powered by NXP i.MX 8M Mini processor and specially designed for industrial control and monitoring with optional support for WiFI 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.1, 4G LTE, and GNSS connectivity. The gateway is equipped with up to 4GB RAM and 128GB eMMC flash, takes variable DC input from 8V to 36V, and operates in a wide temperature range of -40C to 80°C with the company providing a 5-year warranty and 15-year availability. Compulab IOT-GATE-IMX8 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX8M Mini quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.8GHz with Arm Cortex-M4 real-time core, Vivante 3G and 2D GPU System Memory – 1GB – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 4GB – 64GB eMMC flash (soldered on-board), plus secondary storage with optional 16GB – 64GB eMMC flash module Networking & Wireless Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet port, RJ45 connector Fast Ethernet port, RJ45 connector Optional 802.11ax WiFi […]
iWave Systems i.MX8M Mini Devkit Targets Low-cost Facial Recognition Systems
iWave Systems i.MX8M Mini Board is a development platform based on an update versions of the company’s iW-RainboW-G34M-SM i.MX 8M Mini system-on-module and designed specifically for low-cost facial recognition systems thanks to NXP eIQ ML software, and MIPI display and camera. iWave Systems i.MX8M Mini (aka iW-RainboW-G34D) specifications: SoM SoC – NXP i.MX8M Mini Q/QL/D/DL/S/SL with up to 4x Cortex-A53 cores, 1x Cortex-M4F real-time core, Vivante 3D and 2D GPUs System Memory – 1GB LPDDR4 (Expandable up to 4GB) Storage – 8GB eMMC Flash (Expandable), optional 2MB QSPI Flash optional Micro SD slot Wireless – Dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0. PMIC – BD71847AMWV i.MX8M SODIMM Carrier Board Storage – MicroSD slot Display I/F – MIPI DSI display connector Camera I/F – MIPI CSI camera connector Audio – Audio codec, 3.5mm Line In/Out jack Networking – Up to 2x Gigabit Ethernet ports (One is Optional) USB – 2x USB […]
Teensy 4.1 Board Gets Longer for Ethernet, MicroSD Slot, and More GPIOs
What comes after Teensy 4.0? Teensy 4.1. The new version of the Arduino compatible board is powered by the same NXP i.MX RT1062 Cortex-M7 crossover processor clocked at 600 MHz, but about doubling in length in order to add a 10/100 Mbit Ethernet PHY, a MicroSD card slot, and offer more I/Os. Teensy 4.1 also increases flash memory to 8 MB (vs 2 MB for Teensy 4.0), and the USB hot-plugging power management circuitry needed to plug a USB device via a USB host cable. Teensy 4.1 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX RT1062 Arm Cortex-M7 processor at 600 MHz with 1024KB RAM (512KB is tightly coupled), Storage – 8 MB serial flash (64KB reserved for recovery & EEPROM emulation), MicroSD Socket, footprints for 2x extra QSPI chips such as flash or 8MB PSRAM chip USB – 1x micro USB port for power and programming Networking – 6-pin Ethernet header via […]
MNT Reform Open Source Hardware Laptop Launched for $999 and Up (Crowdfunding)
MNT Reform DIY Arm Linux laptop has been in the works at least since 2017. The open source hardware laptop is also fully modular with Boundary Devices Nitrogen8M SoM featuring NXP i.MX 8M quad-core Cortex-A53 processor and 4GB RAM, M.2 NVMe SSD storage, and standard, replaceable 18650 batteries. The good news is the laptop is now almost ready for prime-time and has been launched on Crowd Supply with price starting at $999 in DIY kit form without storage, and $1,300 for a complete, assembled system with 256GB NVMe storage. If you don’t have that amount of money to spend, but would like to support the project, a $40 MNT Reform T-shirt is also offered. Alternatively, the motherboard only goes for $550. Here’s a reminder of MNT Reform specification: SoM – Boundary Devices Nitrogen8M SoC – NXP i.MX 8MQuad quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz, 1x Arm Cortex-M4F real-time core Vivante […]
TQ Group Announces NXP i.MX 8X ARM Cortex-A35 Modules as the Processor Finally Becomes Available
TQ Group, headquartered in Germany, has launched two NXP i.MX 8X Cortex-A35 modules with TQMa8Xx and TQMa8XxS SoMs, with the latter being SMARC 2.1 compliant, and both targeting various applications ranging from medical devices, HMIs, industrial controllers and industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to gateways, building automation, transport, and robotics. The press release explains NXP will officially launch i.MX 8X CPUs on May 14, 2020. We first heard about i.MX 8X in 2016, before an official announcement in 2017, and we wrote about Toradex i.MX 8X SoM in 2018, plus 96Boards AI-ML SBC in 2019, so I naively believed the processor had been around for a couple of years, but the Toradex SoM product is still shown as an “early product announcement” [Update: the page has just been updated since it is now shipping as well], and AI-ML board has just launched with 26 units available on Arrow website. Some […]
Qt for MCUs 1.1 Adds Support for more STM32 and NXP i.MX RT Boards, FreeRTOS
The first stable version of Qt for MCUs was released in August 2019 in order to bring Qt graphical toolkit to microcontrollers such as STMicro STM32F7, Renesas RH850, or NXP i.MX RT1050. Qt for MCUs would run bare metal on supported boards, and software engineers would develop graphical interface using QML and C++. Qt for MCUs 1.1 has just been released with the addition of more STM32 and i.MX RT boards, support for FreeRTOS real-time operating system, and more. Qt for MCUs 1.1 highlights: Five new supported boards: NXP i.MX RT 1064 EVK, STM32 H750B-DK, STM32 F469i-disco, STM32 L4R9i-disco, and STM32 L4R9i-eval Asset management Optional PNG compressions for assets to lower storage footprint Option to read data directly from flash memory for lower RAM consumption, or copy to RAM for better performance, at the cost of higher RAM consumption. FreeRTOS support (technology preview) to run background tasks without blocking the […]
HummingBoard Ripple SBC Targets AI Applications with NXP i.MX 8M Mini SoC & Gyrfalcon Lightspeeur 2803S NPU
SoliRun has made good use of its i.MX 8M Mini SoM which – as its name does not imply – comes with both an NXP i.MX 8M Mini processor and Gyrfalcon Lightspeeur 2803S AI accelerator, and can now be found in HummingBoard Ripple SBC part of the new HummingBoard-M family and based on a cost-reduced version of HummingBoard Pulse baseboard which we covered in 2018. Note that HummingBoard Ripple board is also available with the earlier SoliRun i.MX 8M module, and comes with up to 4GB RAM, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, Micro HDMI. Compared to HummingBoard Pulse SBC, it does without MIPI-DSI nor digital audio, and removing one Gigabit Ethernet port, and one MIPI-CSI connector. HummingBoard Ripple SBC specifications: SOM Model NXP i.MX8M dual-/quad-core Arm Cortex A53 processor up to 1.5GHz with Arm M4 MCU core NXP i.MX8M Mini single to quad-core Arm Cortex A53 processor up to 1.8GHz with […]