At the very end of last year, I covered Atomic Pi single board computer powered by an Intel Atom x5-Z8350 processor which was mostly interesting because of its incredibly low price: $34 and up. Getting an Intel board fof the price of a Raspberry Pi looked too good to be true, and being launched via a Kickstarter, the crowdfunding campaign raised suspicions. The board would also only ship to the US. Shipping was scheduled for January 2019, backers received their board around two months ago, and most people appear to be satisfied with the main struggle being powering the board since it requires some manual wiring for people who did not purchase the breakout board. So it’s real, it works, and the good news is that the board now sells on Amazon US for $34.50 with the company (DLI – Digital Logger Inc.) shipping worldwide. Here’s a reminder of the […]
MINIX NEO Z83-4U Review – Ubuntu 18.04, Kodi 18, and Xibo Digital Signage
MINIX NEO Z83-4U is a Cherry Trail mini PC pre-loaded with Ubuntu 18.04. I received a sample a little while ago, and in the first part of NEO Z83-4U review I checked out the specifications and hardware that appears to be exactly the same a MINIX NEO Z83-4 Pro mini PC, except for the eMMC flash capacity that has increased from 32GB to 64GB. Since the mini PC comes with an older Atom X5-Z8350 processor, and is designed for commercial applications, I’ve decided to make a slightly different review. We already now how the system is supposed to perform thanks to benchmarks with NEO Z83-4 mini PC running Windows 10 Pro, so I’ll just check the main features are working as expected in Ubuntu 18.04, test audio & video support in Kodi 18.1, and try out Xibo Linux open source digital signage CMS and player on the mini PC. MINIX […]
MINIX NEO Z83-4U Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Teardown
MINIX NEO Z83-4U Ubuntu mini PC was unveiled just a few days ago as the first mini PC from MINIX HK running a Linux operating systems, namely Ubuntu 18.04. The company has sent me a sample for evaluation, so as usual, I’ll first have a look at the hardware in the first part of the review, before reporting my experience with the mini PC in a few weeks. MINIX NEO Z83-4U Unboxing The company has done away with the black and green package for their Android TV boxes and Windows mini PC, and instead went with a purple and (Ubuntu) orange package. I already wrote the specifications in the announcement post, but here they are again on the back of the package. The main difference, in terms of terms, against MINIX NEO Z83-4 Pro (Windows 10 Pro) mini PC is that the storage has been upgraded to 64GB flash since […]
MINIX NEO Z83-4U Ubuntu 18.04 Mini PC Launched for $180
Introduced in 2016, MINIX NEO Z83-4 was an Intel Cherry Trail Windows 10 (Home) mini PC powered by Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor coupled with 4GB RAM and 32GB flash, which was followed by MINIX NEO Z83-4 Pro the next year with basically the same hardware specifications but based on Atom X5-Z8350 processor running Windows 10 Pro instead. The company has now launched another version with MINIX NEO Z83-4U model that comes with 64GB storage, and more importantly comes pre-loaded with Ubuntu 18.04, a rarity in today’s low power mini PC world. MINIX NEO Z83-4U Ubuntu mini PC specifications with bold highlights showing differences against NEO Z83-4 Pro model: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8350 “Cherry Trail” quad core processor @ 1.44 GHz / 1.92 GHz (Turbo) with 12 EU Intel Graphics HD graphics 400 @ 200 / 500 MHz (2W SDP) System Memory – 2 or 4GB DDR3L Storage – 64 […]
AAEON AIOT-IP6801IP68 IoT Gateway Handles Rough Environments
There are plenty of IoT gateways to play with, but if your gateway needs to operate in rough environments, like outdoors or on a boat, you’d need to find one that is water and dust proof event for your environment. AAEON AIOT-IP6801 IoT gateway should meet most people requirements with IP68 ingress protection rating, an Intel Apollo Lake processor, up to 4GB memory, 32GB eMMC flash, built-in support for Ethernet, WiFi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0, as well as optional support for LoRa, 3G/4G LTE, and IQRF connectivity. AAEON AIOT-IP6801 IP68 IoT gateway specifications: SoC (one or the other) Intel Atom E3940 quad-core processor clocked at 1.6 GHz / 1.8 GHz (Turbo) with a 12 EU Intel HD Graphics 500; 9.5W TDP Intel Celeron N3350 dual-core processor clocked at 1.1 GHz / 2.4 GHz (Turbo) with a 12 EU Intel HD Graphics 500; 6W TDP Memory – 2GB or 4GB LPDDR4 […]
PIPO X3 Windows Mini PC / PoS Integrates a Thermal Printer
PIPO has launched several Windows 10 mini PC with a built-in touchscreen display suitable for PoS (Point of Sale) applications. You just had to connect your own thermal printer and/or barcode scanner. It now appears the company has taken their Atom x5 based PIPO X12 model and redesigned a case around the main board to integrate a thermal printer to print receipts. Meet PIPO X3. PIPO X3 specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8350 “Cherry Trail” quad-core processor @ 1.44 GHz / 1.92 GHz (Turbo) with Intel HD graphics 400 System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 Storage – 32 GB flash, and micro SD slot up to 64GB Display – 8.9″ PLS display with 1920×1200 resolution Video Output – HDMI 1.4a output Audio Output – HDMI, 3.5mm audio jack, built-in stereo speaker. Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet ports, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.0 with external antenna USB – 3x USB […]
ATOMIC Pi Intel Atom x5 Board Goes for $34 and Up (Crowdfunding)
Following Raspberry Pi form factor, AAEON Up Board powered by an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor launched in 2015 for 89 Euros and up via a crowdfunding campaign. Since then, the company switched to Atom x5-Z8350, and now offers for the board for $99 US and up, with for example the 2GB RAM / 16GB flash version going for $109 excluding taxes and shipping. I’m mentioning this board, as there’s now a crowdfunding campaign for a larger board with similar specifications (x5-Z8350, 2GB RAM, 16GB flash) called ATOMIC Pi, and being offered for just $34 plus shipping by “Team IoT”. This looks too good to be true, but that’s intriguing so let’s have closer look. ATOMIC Pi specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8350 quad core processor @ up to 1.92GHz with Intel HD graphics System Memory – 2GB DDR3L-1600 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, slot for SD expansion up to 256GB […]
Amazon Echo Look Camera Goes for $50 with Intel Atom x5, RealSense Camera SR300
Amazon Echo Look is a smart camera with Alexa Assistant that was launched about 2 years ago for $200, and designed to help you decide if your outfit is a good match, beside taking photo and video selfies with voice commands. Sales may not have matched Amazon expectations (unsurprisingly), and the product is now offered for just $49.99. What may be interesting for CNX Software readers is that Echo Look appears to be a consumer version of AWS DeepLens deep learning video camera for developers ($249), plus some cost savings as well, so there may be some hacking potential here. A teardown video – embedded below – reveals some interesting specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8350 quad core Cherry Trail processor @ up to 1.44 GHz System Memory – 1 GB LPDDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, 16 Mbit SPI flash Camera – Intel RealSense SR300 depth sensing camera + […]