The Pantera Pico PC is an ultra-compact Gemini Lake Refresh mini computer similar to the Chuwi Larkbox Pro, that was supposed to launch in December 2020 through an Indiegogo campaign. Let’s say there have been delays, and the company – XDO Tech – has only just launched the Pico PC on Kickstarter for $149 and up. Pantera Pico PC specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J4125 quad-core Gemini Lake Refresh @ 2.0 / 2.7 GHz (Turbo) / 2.4 GHz (Turbo all cores) with Intel UHD Graphics 600 @ 250/750 MHz; 10W TDP System Memory – Dual-channel 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4 Storage – 64 GB to 1TB M.2 2242 SSD, MicroSD card socket Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60 Audio – 3.5mm speaker/microphone jack, digital audio via HDMI Connectivity Dual-Band WiFi (allegedly WiFi 6, but limited to 422 Mbps?), Bluetooth 5.1 USB – 3x USB3.0, 1x USB2.0 Misc – Power button, […]
Viomi V3 Max – A 3-in-1 sweep, mop and vacuum cleaner robot (Sponsored)
The Viomi V3 Max Robot Vacuum offers more than your typical Lidar robot vacuum cleaner as it features three functions, namely sweep, mop, and vacuum cleaner. It can even combine sweep & mop modes to thoroughly remove dust, dirt, water stains, crumbs, pet hair, and footprints on diversified floors. The Viomi V3 Max is born for mopping with an exclusive deep cleaning algorithm running on the Cortex-A35 processor powering the appliances, mimicking the manual way of mopping with 97.5% of cleaning coverage in order to ensure stubborn stains are removed without damaging the floor. An Auto Boost Mode enables perfect carpet cleaning with suction power automatically boosted to 2700Pa. The vacuum cleaner can either be fitted with 2-in-1 dust and water tank (400ml dust bin + 200ml water tank) to enable sweeping and mopping at the same time or an optional super-sized 700ml water tank that is large enough to […]
Your VGA monitor may be easier to repair than you think
When a VGA monitor does not start at all, a common reason is that one or two capacitors are damaged. All you need to do to repair it is to replace them, and you’re good to go. It’s quite easier than you think, and I’ll show you how. I was tasked with repairing a VGA monitor, namely an LG Flatron W1934S, that would not turn on anymore. All I could see what the blue power LED blinking regularly, about every two seconds. Since so far, I had a 100% success rate in failing to repair TVs, I was not confident, and I thought maybe the monitor is some special state making it not turn on, as it happened to me with another monitor a few years ago. But a web search revealed the problem was probably a power supply board issue with one of the capacitors damaged and, in theory, […]
Kryptor FPGA – Tiny MAX10 FPGA board works as a hardware security module (Crowdfunding)
Kryptor FPGA, sometimes just called Kryptor, is a compact Intel/Altera MAX10 FPGA development board mostly designed for encryption, and acting as a dedicated Hardware Security Module (HSM) with a custom soft-core from Skudo OÜ. But obviously, you could also use the FPGA board for other purposes. Hardware encryption can be quite more secure than software-based encryption with reduced attack surfaces, especially since data processing can be done in the FPGA RAM. The HSM can be used to encrypt files, videos, emails, IoT messages, etc… from various hardware platforms including Arduino and Raspberry Pi boards. Contrary to closed-sourced commercial solutions, the soft-core is open-source and as such can be verified by third parties to make sure there aren’t any backdoors or security flaws. Kryptor FPGA specifications: FPGA – Intel/Altera MAX10 8K LE ( 10M08DAF256C8G) FPGA @ 100 MHz with 8000 logic elements (LE), 1376 Kb flash, 378 Kb total RAM, up […]
NXP i.MX RT500 Cortex-M33 Crossover MCU integrates DSP, 2D GPU for wearables and IoT devices
NXP i.MX RT500 is the second Cortex-M33 Crossover MCU following the NXP i.MX RT600 Series announced in 2018, and optimized for low-power HMI applications such as wearables and Smart Home & IoT devices. NXP Crossover MCUs are typically clocked at 600 MHz or more, but NXP i.MX RT500 Cortex-M33 is limited to 200 MHz, and combined with 200 MHz Tensilica Fusion F1 DSP as well as a 2D GPU, and power optimizations that enable long battery life of up to 40 days on a charge for wearables like smartwatches. NXP i.MX RT500 key features and specifications: MCU Core – Cortex-M33 @ up to 200 MHz with Arm TrustZone, M33 built-in Memory Protection Unit (MPU), PowerQuad hardware accelerator for DSP functions, CASPER crypto coprocessor for asymmetric cryptographic algorithms DSP Core – Cadence Tensilica Fusion F1 DSP @ up to 200 MHz On-Chip Memory Up to 5 MB of system SRAM accessible […]
AYN Odin – A Dockable portable game console offered with Snapdragon 845 or Dimensity 900 (Crowdfunding)
AYN Odin is a 6-inch portable game console powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 or MediaTek Dimensity 900 processor and offered with an optional dock with an HDMI port to connect it to a large screen, various ports for controllers, and even a 2.5-inch SATA bay. It offers a much more powerful experience, a larger display, a more recent Android 10/11 OS, and better multiplayer abilities than the Amlogic S905D3 powered Powkiddy A20 portable game console we have just covered. Three models of the Odin are offered with the Lite, Base, and Pro model differing in terms of processors, and/or storage and memory: SoC Odin Lite – MediaTek Dimensity 900 octa-core processor with 2x Cortex-A78 cores @ 2.4 GHz, 6x Cortex-A55 cores @ 2.0 GHz, Mali-G68 MC4 GPU Odin Base/Pro – Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor with 4x Kryo Gold (Cortex A75) cores @ 2.8 GHz, 4x Kryo Silver (Cortex A55) […]
Powkiddy A20 – An Amlogic S905D3 powered portable Android game console
Powkiddy A20 is a 3.5-inch portable Android game console based on the same Amlogic S905D3 processor found in Khadas VIM3L SBC, equipped with 2GB RAM, 8GB storage, and supported 18 different emulators for gaming. It could potentially also be an interesting platform to play with AOSP, as we’ll see below. Preliminary specifications for Powkiddy A20: SoC – Amlogic S905D3 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.9GHz with Arm Mali-G31MP2 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.0 and OpenCL 2.0 System Memory – 2GB DDR4 RAM Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card socket Display 3.5-inch IPS screen with 640×480 resolution Micro HDMI port to connect to external monitor or TV Audio – 3.5mm audio jack Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n/ WiFi 4 and Bluetooth User input – Rocker, D-Pad, A/B/C/D/X/Y buttons, volume buttons, and power button USB – 1x USB-C port for charging Battery – 3,000 mAh good for about 3.5 hours of […]
MutantC V4 – DIY Raspberry Pi Handheld PC adds ESP32-S2 module
Earlier this year we wrote about Mutantc V3 DIY Raspberry PI UMPC after noticing a talk about it at FOSDEM 2021 online conference. MutantC V4 is a new version of the Raspberry Pi handheld PC that is both easier to build and cheaper. The new model replaces the Arduino Pro Micro board with a more compact ESP32-S2 module and offers a Lite version with even fewer parts (notification LED, IR blaster, IMU, etc..) to make it easier to build. The new MutantC v4 shares many of the same features of the previous versions: Supported SBCs – Raspberry Pi Zero, 2, 3, 4 and compatible. Wireless module for keyboard and other controls – Ai. Thinker ESP-12K module based on ESP32-S2 single-core WiFi microcontroller @ 240 MHz with 8MB flash Display – 2.8-inch, 3.5-inch, or 4-inch “GPIO” LCD such as AdaFruit PiTFT 480×320 display Keyboard – 56-key customizable keyboard with 2x shoulder […]