Testing Category - Page 63 of 169 - CNX Software

July 1, 2019October 20, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Khadas VIM3 Review – Part 1: Kit Unboxing and Assembly

We started to read about Khadas VIM3 in May of this year as an Amlogic S922X development board with an M.2 socket for NVMe SSD, and 802.11ac WiFi 5 & Bluetooth 5.0 wireless module. Eventually, Shenzhen Wesion decided to change the processor to Amlogic A311D before the launch last month, since it does not cost much more, but includes a 5.0 TOPS neural processing engine. The company has sent me a Khadas VIM3 kit for evaluation and review. Before going through the software part, and especially the tools for the NPU which will be one of the highlights of the board, I’ll check out what I received today, and show how to assemble the kit. Khadas VIM3 Kit Unboxing The package is rather boring… But what’s really important is what’s inside… We’ve got an enclosure, a smaller package with the board itself, a USB-C power supply, a thermal pad + […]

June 29, 2019July 1, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 51 Comments

New Raspberry Pi 4 VLI Firmware Lowers Temperature by 3-5°C

Raspberry Pi 4 VLI Firmware Idle Temperature

The other day I tested Raspberry Pi 4 with an heatsink since previous multi-threaded benchmarks clearly made the board throttle when running those without any cooling solution. The guys at the Raspberry Pi Foundation somehow noticed my post, and I received an email from Eben Upton explaining a new Raspberry Pi 4 VLI firmware had “some thermal optimizations that are not installed by default on early production units.” I did not understand VLI at first, but eventually understood this referred to the firmware for VIA VL805 PCIe USB 3.0 controller on the board. The Raspberry Pi Foundation provided me with a test version of the firmware, which they’ll release in the next few days, or weeks after testing is completed. Now if you’re going to test a platform that will throttle due to overheating, it’s very important you do so at constant room temperature. I work in a office where […]

June 28, 2019July 28, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Chuwi HiPad LTE Tablet Review – Part1: Specs and Unboxing

Chuwi HiPad LTE is an 10.1″ tablet running Android 8.0 Oreo on a MediaTek Helio X27 deca-core processor coupled with 3GB RAM, 32GB flash, and offering both dual band WiFi and LTE connectivity. The company just sent me a sample, and today I’ll quickly go through the specifications, before unboxing the two packages I received. Specifications SoC – Mediatek Helio X27 (MT6797) deca-core processor with 2x Cortex-A72 cores @ 2.6 GHz, 4x Cortex A53 cores @ 2.0 GHz, and 4x Arm Cortex-A53 cores @ 1.6 GHz, as well as an Arm Mali-T880 GPU clocked at up to 875MHz System Memory – 3GB RAM Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, microSD card socket up to 128GB Display – 10.1″ IPS capacitive screen with 1920 x 1200 resolution Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack, built-in stereo speaker and microphone Camera – 5.0MP rear camera, 5.0MP front-facing camera Connectivity Dual band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 Bluetooth […]

June 26, 2019June 26, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

4K Video Playback on Raspberry Pi 4 with LibreELEC (Alpha)

In my short Raspberry Pi 4 review, I tested 4K video output and playback in Raspbian, and sadly neither are working properly, with video output stuck to 1080p60 even after selecting 4K HDMI in the settings and yes, I double checked for “hdmi_enable_4k=1” in config.txt, while H.265 video playback is still clearly using software decode in both VLC and omxplayer. However, LibreELEC team announced support for Raspberry Pi 4 in LibreELEC 9.2 Alpha1 release based on Kodi 18.3 and Linux 4.19.x. So I downloaded LibreELEC-RPi4.arm-9.1.001.img.gz and flash it to a microSD card with balenaEtcher. The good news is that I could manually set the resolution to 3840×2160 and confirm it works with my TV, but the refresh is limited to 30 Hz maximum. Other refresh rates currently available include 23.98 Hz, 24 Hz, 25 Hz, and 29.97 Hz. The hardware is capable if 4K 60Hz, so it’s just a question […]

June 24, 2019June 30, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 63 Comments

Raspberry Pi 4 Benchmarks & Mini Review

Raspberry Pi 4 has just been released with many improvements over Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ including a faster processor, a proper Gigabit Ethernet port, USB 3.0 interfaces, and 4K video support. That’s the theory, but how does it work in practice? I can now let you know as I’ve received a Raspberry Pi 4 sample courtesy of Cytron, and ran some tests and benchmarks on the very latest boards from the Raspberry Pi foundation. System Info Before starting with the benchmarks, let’s go through some basic system info:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /etc/issue
Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 \n \l

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ uname -a
Linux raspberrypi 4.19.46-v7l+ #866 SMP Fri Jun 7 18:00:39 BST 2019 armv7l GNU/Linux

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/root        13G  4.7G  7.4G  39% /
devtmpfs        334M     0  334M   0% /dev
tmpfs           463M     0  463M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs           463M  6.4M  456M   2% /run
tmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs           463M     0  463M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/mmcblk0p6  253M   40M  213M  16% /boot
tmpfs            93M     0   93M   0% /run/user/1000
/dev/sda4       200G  175G   24G  89% /media/pi/USB3_BTRFS
/dev/sda2       241G  181G   48G  80% /media/pi/USB3_EXT4
/dev/sda1       245G  182G   63G  75% /media/pi/USB3_NTFS

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo 
processor	: 0
model name	: ARMv7 Processor rev 3 (v7l)
BogoMIPS	: 270.00
Features	: half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm crc32 
CPU implementer	: 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant	: 0x0
CPU part	: 0xd08
CPU revision	: 3

....
processor	: 3
model name	: ARMv7 Processor rev 3 (v7l)
BogoMIPS	: 270.00
Features	: half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm crc32 
CPU implementer	: 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant	: 0x0
CPU part	: 0xd08
CPU revision	: 3

Hardware	: BCM2835
Revision	: a03111
Serial		: 00000000ea51204b

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /etc/issue

Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 \n \l

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ uname -a

Linux raspberrypi 4.19.46-v7l+ #866 SMP Fri Jun 7 18:00:39 BST 2019 armv7l GNU/Linux

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ df -h

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/root 13G 4.7G 7.4G 39% /

devtmpfs 334M 0 334M 0% /dev

tmpfs 463M 0 463M 0% /dev/shm

tmpfs 463M 6.4M 456M 2% /run

tmpfs 5.0M 4.0K 5.0M 1% /run/lock

tmpfs 463M 0 463M 0% /sys/fs/cgroup

/dev/mmcblk0p6 253M 40M 213M 16% /boot

tmpfs 93M 0 93M 0% /run/user/1000

/dev/sda4 200G 175G 24G 89% /media/pi/USB3_BTRFS

/dev/sda2 241G 181G 48G 80% /media/pi/USB3_EXT4

/dev/sda1 245G 182G 63G 75% /media/pi/USB3_NTFS

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo

processor : 0

model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 3 (v7l)

BogoMIPS : 270.00

Features : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm crc32

CPU implementer : 0x41

CPU architecture: 7

CPU variant : 0x0

CPU part : 0xd08

CPU revision : 3

....

processor : 3

model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 3 (v7l)

BogoMIPS : 270.00

Features : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm crc32

CPU implementer : 0x41

CPU architecture: 7

CPU variant : 0x0

CPU part : 0xd08

CPU revision : 3

Hardware : BCM2835

Revision : a03111

Serial : 00000000ea51204b

$ inxi -Fc0
System:
  Host: raspberrypi Kernel: 4.19.46-v7l+ armv7l bits: 32 Console: tty 1 
  Distro: Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:
  Type: ARM Device System: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.1 details: BCM2835 
  rev: a03111 serial: 00000000ea51204b 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: ARMv7 v7l variant: cortex-a72 bits: 32 
  type: MCP 
  Speed: 1500 MHz min/max: 600/1500 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1500 2: 1500 
  3: 1500 4: 1500 
Graphics:
  Device-1: bcm2835-vc4 driver: vc4_drm v: N/A 
  Device-2: bcm2835-hdmi driver: N/A 
  Display: tty server: X.org 1.20.4 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev 
  tty: 80x24 
  Message: Advanced graphics data unavailable in console. Try -G --display 
Audio:
  Device-1: bcm2835-audio driver: bcm2835_audio 
  Device-2: bcm2835-hdmi driver: N/A 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.46-v7l+ 
Network:
  Message: No ARM data found for this feature. 
  IF-ID-1: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full 
  mac: dc:a6:32:00:9e:9c 
  IF-ID-2: wlan0 state: up mac: dc:a6:32:00:9e:9d 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 946.35 GiB used: 540.58 GiB (57.1%) 
  ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 vendor: SanDisk model: SL16G size: 14.84 GiB 
  ID-2: /dev/sda type: USB vendor: Seagate model: Expansion size: 931.51 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 12.68 GiB used: 4.71 GiB (37.1%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/mmcblk0p7 
  ID-2: /boot size: 252.0 MiB used: 39.3 MiB (15.6%) fs: vfat 
  dev: /dev/mmcblk0p6 
Sensors:
  Message: No sensors data was found. Is sensors configured? 
Info:
  Processes: 179 Uptime: 4h 37m Memory: 1000.5 MiB used: 324.1 MiB (32.4%) 
  gpu: 76.0 MiB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Shell: bash inxi: 3.0.32

$ inxi -Fc0

System:

Host: raspberrypi Kernel: 4.19.46-v7l+ armv7l bits: 32 Console: tty 1

Distro: Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)

Machine:

Type: ARM Device System: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.1 details: BCM2835

rev: a03111 serial: 00000000ea51204b

CPU:

Topology: Quad Core model: ARMv7 v7l variant: cortex-a72 bits: 32

type: MCP

Speed: 1500 MHz min/max: 600/1500 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1500 2: 1500

3: 1500 4: 1500

Graphics:

Device-1: bcm2835-vc4 driver: vc4_drm v: N/A

Device-2: bcm2835-hdmi driver: N/A

Display: tty server: X.org 1.20.4 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev

tty: 80x24

Message: Advanced graphics data unavailable in console. Try -G --display

Audio:

Device-1: bcm2835-audio driver: bcm2835_audio

Device-2: bcm2835-hdmi driver: N/A

Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.46-v7l+

Network:

Message: No ARM data found for this feature.

IF-ID-1: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full

mac: dc:a6:32:00:9e:9c

IF-ID-2: wlan0 state: up mac: dc:a6:32:00:9e:9d

Drives:

Local Storage: total: 946.35 GiB used: 540.58 GiB (57.1%)

ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 vendor: SanDisk model: SL16G size: 14.84 GiB

ID-2: /dev/sda type: USB vendor: Seagate model: Expansion size: 931.51 GiB

Partition:

ID-1: / size: 12.68 GiB used: 4.71 GiB (37.1%) fs: ext4

dev: /dev/mmcblk0p7

ID-2: /boot size: 252.0 MiB used: 39.3 MiB (15.6%) fs: vfat

dev: /dev/mmcblk0p6

Sensors:

Message: No sensors data was found. Is sensors configured?

Info:

Processes: 179 Uptime: 4h 37m Memory: 1000.5 MiB used: 324.1 MiB (32.4%)

gpu: 76.0 MiB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Shell: bash inxi: 3.0.32

For reference, you’ll find Raspberry Pi 4 Linux boot log here. Phoronix benchmarks Let’s go ahead and install the latest version of Phoronix benchmarks:

sudo apt install php-cli php-gd php-xml php-zip 
wget http://phoronix-test-suite.com/releases/repo/pts.debian/files/phoronix-test-suite_8.8.1_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i phoronix-test-suite_8.8.1_all.deb

sudo apt install php-cli php-gd php-xml php-zip

wget http://phoronix-test-suite.com/releases/repo/pts.debian/files/phoronix-test-suite_8.8.1_all.deb

sudo dpkg -i phoronix-test-suite_8.8.1_all.deb

Now let’s run the test to compare the performance of Raspberry Pi 4 model B to some other Arm Linux boards including Raspberry Pi 3 Model B.

phoronix-test-suite benchmark 1709271-TY-1704029RI26

1	phoronix-test-suite benchmark 1709271-TY-1704029RI26

For reference, my office has an […]

June 24, 2019July 17, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

ODROID-H2 Rev B Review – Part 1: Kit Unboxing and Assembly

ODROID-H2 was announced in October 2018 as the first x86 SBC from Hardkernel. The board features an Intel Celeron J4105 Gemini Lake processor, two SO-DIMM slots for memory, two SATA ports and M.2 NVMe slot for storage, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, a mix of USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports, as well as HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs. The board went for sale the following month for $111, and the first batch of 2,000 boards was sold within 24 hours. In normal cases, this should not be a big problem, and in a few weeks, the company should have been able to produce more boards to fulfill the demand. But Intel decided to prioritize higher-end processors, and Gemini Lake SoCs’ manufacturing was put on the back foot. That means Hardkernel had to wait over 6 months to get supply of the Celeron J4150 processors. In the meantime, the company slightly redesign […]

June 18, 2019October 4, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Launching Embedded Systems Jobs Board and Company Database

CNX Software writes news, reviews and tutorials about embedded systems, open source, or other topics useful to makers and companies, so we thought it might be useful to get a place where embedded systems companies can be listed and publish related jobs. For that reason, we’ve now designed and launched an embedded systems jobs board in order to help companies find employees or freelancers that can help them achieve their goals. Even if companies have no open positions right now, they are invited to add themselves to the list of companies as they may also be contacted by prospective customers if they wish too. Please, only relevant companies, as we reserve the right to delete entry’s for your spouse’s hair salon or bakery ;). Once a company is registered they can post jobs in one of five categories: Hardware, Software, Support & Documentation, Manufacturing, and Sales & Marketing. Let me […]

June 18, 2019 by Karl Johnson - 11 Comments

Review of SainSmart Genmitsu CNC Router 3018-MX3

Hey Karl here. Back in September of 2018 I reviewed the Sainsmart Genmitsu 3018 Pro. Sainsmart has now further upgraded the 3018 and asked for a review of it. Let’s take a look at the changes and the evolution of the 3018 and see if the increase in price is worth it. You can find the original 3018 on sale for about $200. The pro version can be found for about $250, and the CNC Router 3018-MX3 for $350. I won’t go into too much detail like I did in the previous review. I suggest reading the pro version after reading this one. Most of the experiences and solutions apply to this version. Build Building the CNC Router 3018-MX3 was a breeze. The instructions are fantastic. I struggled a little bit to read the small booklet that came with the kit and afterwards I found a PDF on the Sainsmart […]