Category: Intel Atom

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on UP 4000 x86 SBC review with Ubuntu 22.04

UP 4000 x86 SBC review with Ubuntu 22.04

UP 4000 x86 SBC Ubuntu 22.04 review

The UP 4000 is a credit-card / Raspberry Pi-sized single board computer based on an Intel Apollo Lake processor. AAEON sent me the model with an Intel Atom x7-E3950 quad-core processor, 4GB RAM, and a 64GB eMMC flash, and in the first part of the review, I installed Ubuntu 22.04 since the board would initially only boot to the UEFI shell out of the box. I’ve now spent more time with the board, and in this article, I will report my experience with the UP 4000 SBC running Ubuntu 22.04 checking out features, performance, video playback, power consumption, and so on. Ubuntu 22.04 System info Let’s check out some information after I’ve upgraded the system to the latest packages:

Everything looks good with an Intel Atom E3950 processor detected together with 3.68GB RAM and a 56.53GB rootfs EXT-4 partition. UP 4000 features testing There may also be some issues […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments on UP 4000 x86 SBC review – Part 1: Unboxing and first boot

UP 4000 x86 SBC review – Part 1: Unboxing and first boot

UP 4000 SBC review

AAEON UP 4000 is a compact Apollo Lake single board computer that’s about the size of a business card or a Raspberry Pi designed for automation, robotics, digital signage, and other space-constrained applications that may benefit from an x86 processor. The company already published some Phoronix benchmarks comparing the UP 4000 SBC against Raspberry Pi 4, NVIDIA Jetson Nano, and the original UP board, but since nothing beats third-party evaluation, AAEON sent a review sample to CNX Software for additional testing. UP 4000 SBC unboxing There are several variants of the board, and I received the UP-APL03X7F-A10-0464 SKU with 4GB RAM, 64GB eMMC flash, and an Intel Atom x7-E3950 quad-core processor. The package includes the board together with a multilingual safety manual that explains you should not immerse the board underwater and should avoid walking on it :). A 12V/5A power supply was also included separately. The power cord was […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on MaxLinear AnyWAN URX850, URX851, and MxL25641 Intel Atom SoCs target broadband routers and gateways

MaxLinear AnyWAN URX850, URX851, and MxL25641 Intel Atom SoCs target broadband routers and gateways

MaxLinear AnyWAN Atom SoC broadband routers

MaxLinear has just announced the availability of the first three AnyWAN broadband SoCs featuring Intel Atom cores with the MxL25641, URX850, and URX851 processors designed for 5Gbps and 10 Gbps broadband routers and gateways, usually referred to as CPEs (customer premise equipment). When I first read the news of MaxLinear releasing Intel Atom SoCs, I could not quite compute how it was possible, as I can’t remember any third-party releasing Intel processors and I thought it might be a system-in-package instead. But MaxLinear keeps calling those Intel Atom SoCs, and the reason is that the company acquired Intel’s Home Gateway Platform Division in 2020. MaxLinear AnyWAN x86 SoCs key features and specifications: AnyWAN URX850/URX851 (for 10Gbps systems) CPU – 4x Intel Atom CPU cores @ 2 GHz Memory – Up to 16GB LPDDR4 or DDR4 Storage – eMMC 5.1 flash Networking 4x 2.5GE PHYs XFI WAN Packet processor for full […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on AAEON launches UP Xtreme i11 & UP Squared 6000 robotic development kits

AAEON launches UP Xtreme i11 & UP Squared 6000 robotic development kits

UP Xtreme i11 robotics development kit

AAEON’s UP Bridge the Gap community has partnered with Intel to release two robotic development kits based on either UP Xtreme i11 or UP Squared 6000 single board computers in order to simplify robotics evaluation and development. Both robotic development kits come with a four-wheeled robot prototype that can move omnidirectionally, sense and map its environment, avoid obstacles, and detect people and objects. Since those capabilities are already implemented, users can save time and money working on further customization for specific use cases. Key features and specifications: SBC UP Squared 6000 SBC – Recommended for power efficiency and extended battery power SoC – Intel Atom x6425RE Elkhart Lake processor clocked up to 1.90 GHz with Intel UHD Graphics System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4 Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, SATA port UP Xtreme i11 SBC – Recommended for higher performance SoC Intel Core i7-1185GRE clocked at up to 4.40 GHz and […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on Benchmarks comparison between UP 4000, Raspberry Pi 4, UP board, and Jetson Nano

Benchmarks comparison between UP 4000, Raspberry Pi 4, UP board, and Jetson Nano

UP 4000 vs UP Board vs Raspberry Pi 4-vs-Jetson-Nano Phoronix benchmarks

We wrote about the UP 4000 SBC with an Intel Apollo Lake processor and Raspberry Pi form factor yesterday.  But today, I noticed the UP community had put up a benchmarks comparison between the UP 4000 board, the original UP board (Atom x5-8350), the Raspberry Pi 4, and NVIDIA Jetson Nano. They used several of the Phoronix Test Suite benchmarks running on Ubuntu 20.04 (x86) or Ubuntu 18.04 (Arm) on all four boards. The UP 4000 board used featured an Intel Celeron N3350 dual-core processor @ 2.40GHz, the 2GB RAM version of the UP Board, an RPi 4 with 4GB RAM, and a Jetson Nano developer kit with 4GB RAM. As one would have expected, the UP 4000 is ahead in most tests, even though they did not select a model with a quad-core processor such as a Pentium N4200. Note that reading the table may be confusing as for […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments on UP 4000 SBC is a Raspberry Pi lookalike with an Intel Apollo Lake processor

UP 4000 SBC is a Raspberry Pi lookalike with an Intel Apollo Lake processor

UP 4000 SBC

AAEON has unveiled the UP 4000 single board computer with a form factor and ports arrangement similar to Raspberry Pi 2/3, but powered by a choice of x86 processors, namely the Intel Atom E3900 series, Celeron N3350, or Pentium N4200 all parts of the Apollo Lake family. The first UP Board was introduced in 2015 as a device offering an x86 alternative to the Raspberry Pi 2 with an Intel Atom x5-Z8300/Z8350 “Cherry Trail” processor, but later “UP bridge the gap” boards from the company used larger “Squared” (85.6 x 90 mm) or “Xtreme” (122 x 120 mm) form factors. The UP 4000 SBC brings us back to the original business card form factor but with a boost in performance and various specifications improvements. UP 4000 vs UP Board specifications   AAEON says the new board is able to deliver 30% faster CPU performance and twice the 3D graphics performance […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Intel releases SDK for Cortex-M7 PSE found in Elkhart Lake processors

Intel releases SDK for Cortex-M7 PSE found in Elkhart Lake processors

Intel PSE firmware SDK

Elkhart Lake processors integrate the Intel Programmable Services Engine (Intel PSE) offload engine for IoT workloads powered by an Arm Cortex-M7 microcontroller that handles real-time IO control using GPIO, I2C, and/or UART interfaces, and supports functions such as remote, out-of-band device management, network proxy, embedded controller, and sensor hub. Until now the firmware was only provided as a closed-source binary, and Coreboot developers published an open letter to open the source code for the PSE firmware last December, and it’s been successful with Intel releasing the Intel PSE SDK based on Zephyr OS. The SDK combines open-source components (code samples, services, etc…) released under a permissive Apache 2.0 license (“License A”), and closed-source libraries and tools released under an Intel license (“License B”) allowing the redistribution and use in binary form, without modification. You’ll find everything on Github including documentation explaining how to get started with the Zephyr SDK, the […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 47 Comments on 7-inch tablet with Intel Atom Z3735G processor sells for $55

7-inch tablet with Intel Atom Z3735G processor sells for $55

cheap Atom Z3735F tablet

Hardware platforms based on Atom Z3735G or Z3735F Bay Trail processors were all the rage in 2014-2016, as the processors were found in tablets, mini PCs, and single board computers sold at price points that provided alternatives to Arm platforms that may not be as well supported. But time has passed and those processors are really slow by today’s standard, so I was surprised to find out some companies were still selling products based on Bay Trail processors with the “MOMO7W” 7-inch tablet powered by an Intel Atom Z3735G quad-core processor, coupled with 1GB RAM and 16GB flash. MOMO7W tablet specifications: SoC – Intel Atom Z3735G quad-core Bay Trail processor @ up to 1.33 GHz / 1.83 GHz (Turbo) with Intel HD graphics; 2.2W SDP. Note: it’s indeed discontinued. Storage – 1GB SDRAM Storage – 16 GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot up to 32GB Display – 7-inch capacitive touch […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC