Marvell ESPRESSOBin Board with Gigabit Ethernet, SATA, mini PCIe, and USB 3.0 To Launch for $39 and Up (Crowdfunding)

I can often read people hoping for an inexpensive community board for network, storage and connectivity applications with high speed interface like SATA, multiple Gigabit Ethernet port, USB 3.0 and/or mini PCIe, and that’s exactly what Globalscale Technologies is about to offer with their Marvell ARMADA 3700 based ESPRESSOBin development board to go for $39 and up via Kickstarter. Marvell ESPRESSOBin board specifications: SoC – Marvell Armada 3700LP (88F3720) dual core ARM Cortex A53 processor up to 1.2GHz System Memory – 512MB DDR3 or optional 1GB DDR3 Storage – 1x SATA interface, 1x micro SD card slot with footprint for an optional 4GB EMMC Network Connectivity 1x Topaz Networking Switch 2x GbE Ethernet LAN 1x  Ethernet WAN 1x MiniPCIe slot for Wireless/BLE periphereals USB – 1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, 1x micro USB port Expansion – 2x 46-pin GPIO headers for accessories and shields with I2C, GPIOs, PWM, UART, […]

Getting Started with NanoPi NEO Development Board – Ubuntu Core Firmware

NanoPi NEO is an exciting ARM Linux board due to the power it packs into its small size, and its low price starting at $7.99. It’s made by FriendlyARM, and since I’ve read some people had never heard about the company before, I’d like to point out it has been providing development boards well before the Raspberry Pi board was launched, with products such mini2440 based on a Samsung ARM9 processor introduced around year 2010. Anyway, I asked the company if they were willing to send 2 samples for review, as I plan to remove the USB & Ethernet port on one of them. Instead I got a 4 boards and accessories, so I’m going to start reviewing the board by writing a quick start guide, showing how to setup it, and check out the Ubuntu core provided by the company. If you are a fan of armbian made Debian […]

Arduino Yún Shield Adds Ethernet and WiFi to Arduino Boards for $50

You can now add WiFi to Arduino for about $3 thanks to ESP8266, and it’s been long possible to add Ethernet with ENC28J60 module now selling for the same $3. Alternatively, if you want some a little more powerful, you could also use IoT modules running OpenWrt such as a $30 WrtNode or $13 LinkIt Smart 7688 both capable of supporting Ethernet with some hacks. But if you’ve been used to Arduino Yun, have a few spare Arduino boards, or simply think the other solutions are just too cheap, Arduino LLC has just launched Arduino/Genuino Yún Shield for $49.90 / 43.90 Euros. Arduino Yún Shield specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Atheros AR9331 MIPS WiSoC @ 400 MHz System Memory – 64 MB DDR2 Storage – 16 MB flash Connectivity – 10/100 M and 802.11 b/g/n WiFi USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port Board interfacing – SPI and HW Serial Misc […]

Qualcomm DragonBoard 600c 96Boards Development Board Includes Ethernet and SATA

A few weeks ago, I was informed that some code about DB600c board powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor (APQ8064T) was making it into mainline Linux, and more recently I found a website listing DragonBoard 600c with a low resolution picture of the board. While we don’t have the complete specifications yet, the form factor of the board is quite interesting, as we’ll find the typical 96Boards CE form factor on the right, and some extra interfaces on the left with Ethernet and SATA. It turns out, as we’ll see below, it’s perfectly compliant (hardware wise) with 96Boards CE “Extended Version” specifications. Preliminary specifications of DragonBoard 600c board: SoC- Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 (APQ8064 Fusion 3) quad-core Krait processor  @ 1.7 GHz with Adreno 320 GPU @ 400MHz System Memory – 1GB or more RAM (TBD) Storage – eMMC Flash + micro SD slot + SATA port Video Output – HDMI […]

Olimex A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-eMMC Board Replaces NAND by eMMC Flash for Better Performance & Reliability

A20-OLinuXino-LIME boards are the most popular development board sold by Olimex, likely thanks to reasonable pricing, and Allwinner A20 is one of the rare low cost processor to features an actual SATA interface and Gigabit Ethernet support. The company has now launched a new version A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-eMMC, based on A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-4GB, but replacing the NAND flash by an eMMC flash that should offer both better performance and reliability. A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-eMMC specifications: SoC – Allwinner A20 dual-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU @ 1.0 GHz  with dual-core Mali 400 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4GB eMMC flash (Micron), SATA data and power connectors, micro SD slot, 2KB EEPROM for MAC address and custom data Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet Video Output – HDMI up to 1080p60 USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports with power control and current limiter, 1x micro USB-OTG with power control and current limiter Expansion – 160 GPIOs on four […]

NXP Introduces QorIQ LS1046A Quad Cortex A72 Communication Processor with 10 GbE, SATA 3.0, PCIe 3.0, etc…

NXP has unveiled a new QorIQ communication processor with LS1046A based on quad ARM Cortex-A72 cores, and including 10GbE, PCIe Gen.3, SATA 3.0, and USB 3.0 interfaces. The processors targets CPE and vCPE (virtual Customer Premise Equipment), routers, NAS, and service provider gateways for the home and small office, as well as single board computers. QorIQ LS1046A key specifications: CPU – Four ARM Cortex -A72 cores with 2MB L2 cache; 32,000 CoreMarks. Memory  – 32-/64-bit DDR4 memory controller Storage – SATA 3.0 controller, quad SPI Connectivity 2x 10 Gigabit Ethernet controllers 1x 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet controller 4x Gigabit Ethernet controllers Other peripherals 3x PCIe 3.0 Controllers, x4, x2, x 1 3x USB 3.0 with integrated PHY 4x UART, 4x I2C, SPI, GPIO JTAG Support for hardware-based virtualization via ARM SMMU Packet processing acceleration –  Packet classification and distribution; hardware work scheduling, shaping, and buffer management. Integrated security engine – High-speed […]

Avnet Introduces Zynq Based MicroZed Industry 4.0 / IIoT Ethernet Kit

There’s a lot of buzz around IoT, and the industrial sector is also trying to build smarter factories using protocols or standards part of Industry 4.0 or Industrial IoT (IIoT) depending on the country or group you belong too. Avnet has just launched MicroZed Industry 4.0 Ethernet Kit (I4EK) based on Xilinx Zynq-7000 ARM & FPGA SoC to address this market with support for the most common industrial protocols such as EtherCAT, Powerlink, PROFINET RT/IRT, EtherNet/IP, and Modbus-TCP. The “brain” of the development board is MicroZed module powered by Zilinx Zynq-7020 dual core Cortex A9 processor with FPGA fabric, and coupled with 1GB RAM, 128 MB SQPI flash, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and various I/Os. The module is connected to MicroZed FMC Carrier board with the following features: 2x 100-pin board-to-board MicroHeaders Xilinx PC4 header for download/debug – Accesses PL JTAG 5x Digilent Pmod compatible interfaces 39 user I/O 1x […]

Raspberry Pi 3, ODROID-C2 and Pine A64+ Development Boards Comparison

Raspberry Pi 3 and hardkernel ODROID-C2 launched the same day, and together with Pine A64/A64+, are the only ultra low cost (<$40) 64-bit ARM development boards available or soon-to-be available, so I’ve decided to make a comparison of the three boards the same way I did with ~$10 boards with a Raspberry Pi Zero, C.H.I.P, and Orange Pi One comparison. I’ve used features of Pine A64+ instead of Pine A64 since features and price are closer to the other two boards. Text highlighted in green means a board is clearly better than the other two for a given features, while a red highlight means it’s the weakest of the three. Raspberry Pi 3 ODROID-C2 Pine A64 Plus Processor Broadcom BCM2837 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2 GHz(4x ~2760 DMIPS) Amlogic S905 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 2.0 GHz(4x ~4600 DMIPS) Allwinner A64 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC