GizmoSphere vs Minnowboard – AMD and Intel x86 Embedded Boards Comparison

The Gizmo Explorer Kit is an embedded kit based on a development board powered by AMD G-Series G-T40E dual core APU that’s available since the beginning of the year. The Minnowboard is another new x86 embedded board, but this time based on Intel Atom E640 processor. Both cost $199, so a side-by-side comparison might be useful,and GizmoSphere team released a comparison table for both board, and is offering free shipping for the week with “Sharkweek2013”. Let’s have a look. The company only provided the table in image format, so I’ll reproduce it “as is” below, and see if there may be some correction or addition afterwards, the table has been designed by one of the competitors. The parts in yellow are supposed to highlight advantages of the GizmoShpere against the Minnowboard, but they conveniently “forgot” to highlight advantages of the Minnowboard. [Update 13/08/2013 – Gizmo guys have updated their table […]

Android 4.3 x86 Test Image Is Now Available For Tablets and Netbooks

Android-x86 project has been working on porting Android OS to Intel and AMD Desktop PC and Laptop, and just about a week after Android 4.3 has been released in AOSP, the project’s team has already managed to provide an Android 4.3 x86 test image for desktop and laptop, probably helped by the recent push by Intel to have Android device powered by x86 processor. The test build (20130725) is based on Android 4.3 release (Jelly Bean-MR2 branch), and they’ve modified parts of the code to make it work with x86, especially on x86 tablets and netbooks. What’s impressive is that most of features appear to work, and they’ve almost managed to add some additional features. The key features in this release are Upgrade to the latest kernel 3.10.2 to support more drivers. Upgrade Mesa OpenGL ES library to 9.2-devel branch to support hardware acceleration for AMD Radeon and Intel chipsets (not […]

AMD “Seattle” Server CPU to Pack up to 16 ARM Cortex A57 Cores

AMD has published a roadmap for the rest of 2013 and 2014 for its server processors, and among all the x86 “Jaguar”, “Warsaw” and “Streamroller” CPUs, there’s an “oddity” with the “Seatlle” processor featuring up to 16 ARM Cortex A57 cores using ARMv8 64-Bit architecture. “Seattle” will come with either 8- or 16-core CPU with ARM Cortex-A57 cores clocked at 2GHz or greater, and is expected to offer 2 to 4 times the performance of AMD Opteron X-Series processors (x86 APU SoC) with improvement in compute-per-watt.  “Seatlle” will handle up to 128GB DRAM, use offload engines for better power efficiency and reduced CPU loading, provides server caliber encryption, compression and legacy networking including integrated 10GbE. “Seattle” samples are expected to be available in Q1 2014, with production in H2 2014. Via Liliputing Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a […]

AMD Launches Three New Mobile APU Families: Elite Mobility, Mainstream, and Performance

AMD has just announced three new Mobile Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) lineup, which better  performance and power efficiency. AMD’s APU brings the CPU and GPU on a single chip, and connects to an external chipset to handle peripherals. Here are the three new families of processors from lower to higher performance: 2013 AMD Elite Mobility APU (codenamed “Temash”) – 28nm, dual and quad-core x86 APU designed for touch small form-factor notebooks (i.e. netbooks),  tablets, and hybrids 13-inches and below; Performance between Intel Atom and Core i3. 3.9 to 8W TDP. The 2013 AMD Mainstream APU (codenamed “Kabini”) – Quad-core x86 SoC solution for entry-level and small-form factor touch notebooks; Performance equivalent to Intel Pentium and Core i3 depending on model. 9 to 25W TDP 2013 AMD Elite Performance APU (codenamed “Richland”) – For premium ultrathin notebooks. Equivalent to Intel Core i3 to Core i5, depending on model. 17 to 35W […]

AMD Unveils AMD G-Series SoCs For Embedded Applications

In 2011, AMD launched the G-Series APUs (Accelerated Processing Unit) that combines the CPU and GPU into one chipset which then connects to a controller hub to handle I/Os, and recently the company announced AMD G-Series SoC at Design West 2013. The new solution combines a “Jaguar” CPU, a Radeon HD8000 series GPU and a controller hub into one and only SoC, further integrating functions. Both AMD G-Series APU and SoC target embedded systems such as industrial control and automation, digital signage, electronic gaming systems, SMB storage, IP-TV, medical and network appliances, set-top boxes and more. AMD claims G-Series SOCs offer up to 113 percent improved CPU performance compared to G-Series APU, and up to a 125 percent advantage compared to the Intel Atom (Dhyrstone, EEMBC CoreMark). The platform also includes support for DirectX 11.1, OpenGL 4.2x and OpenCL 1.2 yielding up to a 20 percent graphics improvement over G-Series […]

$199 Gizmo Explorer Kit Powered by AMD G-Series APU is Now Officially Available

Back in November, I came across the Gizmo Explorer Kit, an embedded development platform based on AMD G-Series G-T40E dual core APU that includes the development board itself (Gizmo Board), two expansion I/O boards, Sage SmartProbe JTAG development tool, some accessories such as cables and power supply, and a DVD with the documentation and SDK. Today, Sage Electronic, Texas Multicore Technologies, and Viosoft officially launched GizmoSphere community that aims at “fostering innovation and development for x86-based embedded Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), and driving and enabling technology projects of interest to independent developers with a focus on stimulating and encouraging innovation for existing and new applications that leverage APUs”. To help with this initiative, they also produce the Gizmo Board, and corresponding Gizmo Explorer Kit, a development board that boots with coreboot, and can run a variety of operating systems such as Android, Linux, Windows, and other RTOS. You can refer to […]

$199 GIZMO EXPLORER KIT – Embedded Development Kit Based on AMD G-Series G-T40E APU

I’ve just stumbled upon a low cost and open source embedded development kit featuring AMD G-Series G-T40E dual core APU that comes with the following: The Gizmo Board – A compact (10×10 cm) development board for powered by an AMD G-Series APU. The Explorer Board – An expansion I/O board providing an alpha-numeric keypad, a micro-display, and a breadboard area for prototyping and customization. Sage SmartProbe JTAG Development Tool – The kit includes the SmartProbe hardware and 20 hours of trial time use. Ethernet & USB Cables – The USB cable lets you connect the SmartProbe to your PC. The Ethernet cable is for networking connectivity, which can be used to access the SmartProbe as well. USB wall charger Power Supplyand Cable – A universal power supply for the Gizmo board, with a U.S.-standard cord. 6x standoffs with nuts Alpha-numeric keypad – To connect to the explorer board Installation DVD […]

Congatec Reference Board for Video Wall Systems Powered by AMD Embedded R-Series APU

congatec AG has introduced a new reference board for video wall system design. This reference design is based on a baseboard, an AMD Embedded R Series APU COM Express CPU module (conga-TFS) & an optional AMD Radeon E6760 GPU  MXM module, and can support up to 9 independent displays. The video wall baseboard includes a wide range of ports and features for embedded applications such as : Video Output – VGA, 18/24Bit single/dual channel LVDS, 3x DisplayPort 1.2, 1x HDMI 1.4 and 2x single-link DVI (All ports are available when both the CPU and MXM graphics modules are used) Ethernet – 2x Gbit Ethernet SATA – 4x SATA (for 2.5″ SATA or SSD) USB – 4x USB 3.0 and 4x USB 2.0 PEG Port 2.0 7x PCI Express 2.0 x1 lanes RF4CE (ZigBee) receiver enabling remote control 19V power supply for standard notebooks Developers can optionally integrate an additional graphics […]

EmbeddedTS embedded systems design