Testing Category - Page 46 of 168 - CNX Software

June 1, 2021 by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 24 Comments

MeLE Quieter2 Review – Windows 10, Ubuntu 20.04, and eGPU

MeLE has recently released a passive mini PC called the Quieter2. What is particularly interesting is that whilst it only has a low-powered Intel Celeron CPU it also supports an M.2 2280 NVMe SSD drive which theoretically makes using an eGPU possible. MeLE provided a 99% discount coupon so that I could purchase one for review and the results from various testing are detailed below. Hardware Overview The Quieter2 physically consists of a 131 x 81 x 18.3mm (5.16 x 3.19 x 0.72 inches) rectangular plastic case with a metal base plate. The top half of the case is finely grooved to mimic the fins of a heat spreader but is made of plastic rather than metal to allow reception to the WiFi antennas as one is directly connected to it. As a passively cooled mini PC, it uses Intel’s 14 nm J4125 Gemini Lake Refresh processor which is a […]

May 26, 2021May 26, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

JTAG Hat for Raspberry Pi eases debugging with OpenOCD

Low-level debugging can be performed with a JTAG debugger and OpenOCD open-source software, but since not everybody may have a JTAG debugger at home, some have reverted to using the Raspberry Pi as a JTAG debugger, and you’ll find instructions for cabling and installing the software on the Internet. Matt Mets of BlinkinLabs have been using the Raspberry Pi SBC and OpenOCD to debug Arm-based microcontroller boards for a while, but found it to be a pain to find jumper wires and look up the pin-outs manually each time. So he designed a JTAG Hat with properly labeled 20-pin .1″ and 1.27mm Cortex debug connectors to speed up the process. The expansion board also adds level-shifting buffers to interface with targets running at 1.8-5V, transistor-based power reset pins, a power switch for optionally supplying 3.3V to the target, a voltage/current sensor for measuring the target power consumption, and a buffered […]

May 22, 2021 by Karl Johnson - No Comments

Genmitsu 6060 XY-Axis Extension Kit for PROVerXL4030 – DIY desk and folding cart

Karl here. I teased this article in the final review of the Genmitsu PROVerXL 4030 CNC Router. I was really happy with the base kit. You can check out all my thoughts there. SainSmart recently released an extension kit that I have now had for a few weeks. It increases the stock size from 300 x 400 to 600 x 600. That is what we are here to check out today. When I inquired about the kit I didn’t realize how boring a review of the kit would be but I will do my best to bring some additional value beyond just unboxing and building experience. Unboxing The parts list is minimal 2x Y-axis Aluminum Extrusion (lead screw included) 2x X-axis Aluminum Extrusion (lead screw included) 2x Front/Back Plate 7x Drag Chain 9x Drag Chain 4x Hexagonal Wrench, 4mm, 3mm, 2.5mm, 1 mm The original kit came with some decent […]

May 10, 2021May 10, 2021 by Karl Johnson - 5 Comments

Genmitsu PROVerXL 4030 CNC Router Review – Mods & Projects

Hey, Karl here. Today I am writing about my opinions on the Genmitsu PROVerXL 4030 CNC Router and sharing the projects that I have done. My initial review was published back in January. I have been working with the tool for several months now and I have had a lot of fun. I have also gained a ton of experience and am really proud of what I have been able to make. I attribute my success to doing my homework and not doing my usual feet first approach. Let’s start with my opinions then showcase the projects I have completed. First opinions. The machine is well thought out and the build quality and materials are good. Other than a few modifications I outlined in the first part I have done nothing else. I installed an rpm meter but found that it was unnecessary. I don’t even look at it anymore […]

May 2, 2021May 10, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Allwinner D1 RISC-V processor SDK & Documentation

We published information about Allwinner D1 SBC and processor a few weeks ago. The news was pretty interesting as it’s the first RISC-V processor from the company, and one of the first affordable RISC-V SBC. But all we had at the time was hardware information from a leak, or rather from China-only Allwinner developer website. But now the company has added more information to its open-source development website with the release of documentation, now only in Chinese, as well as the Allwinner D1 Tina SDK. Eventually, there should be a better SDK via linux-sunxi community and some are already working on the Allwinner D1 SBC, but let’s try to get the SDK from Allwinner and build the code from source using the documentation. First, you’d need to register on Allwinner open-source website and click on signup. You’ll probably want to select Email registration. Now fill your username, select a country, […]

April 11, 2021April 11, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Crowbits Master Kit Tutorial – Part 2: ESP32 intrusion scanner and visual programming

I started Crowbits Master Kit review last month by checking out the content, user manual, and some of the possible projects for the ESP32 educational kit including a 2G phone and a portable game console. For the second part of the review, I’ll go through one of the lessons in detail, namely the intrusion scanner to show the whole process and how well (or not) it works. Let’s go to Lesson 5 directly, although I’d recommend going through the first lessons that provide details about the hardware and visual programming basics using Letscode program, which is basically a custom version of Scratch for Crowbits The user manual introduces the project, explains it is to detect intruders, and lists the learning goals as we’ll learn how to control the servo and play music on the Crowbits kit. Kit Assembly But first, we’ll have some assembly to do, in a similar way […]

April 2, 2021April 2, 2021 by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 13 Comments

Linux and Memory Performance on an Intel NUC 11 Enthusiast Phantom Canyon NUC11PHKi7C

I’ve already looked at Windows performance on the NUC11PHKi7C Enthusiast Phantom Canyon which is Intel’s latest NUC 11 flagship product specifically targeting gamers as it includes an NVIDIA RTX 2060 GPU. Now it is the turn of Linux and like before I will compare performance against Intel’s previous NUC with a discrete GPU: the NUC 9 Extreme Ghost Canyon. I will also briefly revisit Windows performance by looking at the impact of using 3200MHz memory as opposed to the 2400MHz used during the previous review. Hardware Overview As a reminder, the NUC11PHKi7C physically consists of a 221 x 142 x 42 mm (8.70 x 5.59 x 1.65 inches) rectangular plastic case. It is an actively cooled mini PC and uses Intel’s 10 nm Core i7-1165G7 Tiger Lake processor which is a quad-core 8-thread 2.80 GHz processor boosting to 4.70 GHz with Intel’s Iris Xe Graphics and the NUC also includes […]

March 22, 2021February 27, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Annke CZ400 AI security camera reviewed with basic and smart events

At the beginning of this month, I started the review of Annke CZ400 AI security camera by listing specifications, unboxing the device, and doing a partial teardown, notably to install a MicroSD card. In theory, the camera comes with more advanced AI features than Reolink RLC-810A 4K CCTV camera that only supports people and vehicle detection, as the Annke security camera can handle face detection, line crossing, unattended baggage detection, and other smart event detections. So let’s see how it performs Annke CZ400 installation The first challenge was the installation, as I told the company I would not be willing to install the camera on the ceiling since I’m renting, and preferred wall-mounting. after checking the user manual that included a wall mount, I decided to go ahead, and get the review unit. But sadly, the wall mount is not included in the package, and Annke even told me they […]

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