laptop News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

June 19, 2024June 18, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Sipeed Lichee Book 4A 14-inch modular Linux laptop launched with TH1520 quad-core RISC-V processor

We’ve just written about Deep Computing’s DC-ROMA RISC-V Laptop II, but Sipeed has just launched the Lichee Book 4A modular RISC-V laptop based on the quad-core Alibaba T-head TH1520 processor and running Debian Linux. I was expecting the Lichee Book to launch with the SpacemIT K1 octa-core RISC-V processor, but Sipeed started with the time-tested TH1520 quad-core RISC-V processor coupled with up to 16GB RAM and 128GB eMMC flash and equipped with a 14-inch IPS display. In the future, we’ll get the Lichee Book 3A with the SpacemIT K1, and the Lichee Book 5A with an unnamed Cortex-A75-class RISC-V SoC with a 20 TOPS AI accelerator. Sipeed Lichee Book specifications: 260-pin SO-DIMM system-on-module (SoM) Sipeed LM3A – Upcoming module based on SpacemIT K1 octa-core RISC-V CPU (Cortex-A55 class) with 2 TOPS NPU Sipeed LM4A SoC – Alibaba T-Head TH1520 CPU Quad-core RISC-V Xuantie C910 (RV64GCV – RVV 0.7) processor @ […]

June 18, 2024June 18, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

DC-ROMA RISC-V Laptop II with SpacemIT K1 octa-core SoC to run Ubuntu supported by Canonical

Deep Computing has announced the DC-ROMA RISC-V Laptop II powered by a 2.0 GHz SpacemIT K1 octa-core 64-bit RISC-V processor coupled with up to 16GB DDR4 and running Ubuntu with official support from Canonical. Deep Computing unveiled the first RISC-V laptop – named ROMA – in 2022 but it never really took off because of all the web3 and cryptocurrency features plus the ultra-high price. The new DC-ROMA RISC-V Laptop II does without those and features a 14-inch IPS display, a 1TB SSD, a WiFI 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 module, a webcam, several USB ports including a USB-C with DisplayPort Alr mode, and a “development interface” with a few GPIOs. DC-ROMA RISC-V Laptop II specifications: SoC – SpacemiT K1 CPU – 8-core X60 RISC-V processor @ up to 2.0 GHz; single-core performance equivalent to about 1.3x the performance of an Arm Cortex-A55 GPU – Imagination IMG BXE-2-32 with support for […]

May 30, 2024May 30, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

Arm unveils Cortex-X925 and Cortex-A725 CPUs, Immortalis-G925 GPU, Kleidi AI software

Arm SoC with Cortex-X925 Cortex-A725 Cortex-A520 CPU with Immortalis-G925 GPU

Arm has just announced new Armv9 CPUs and Immortalis GPUs for mobile SoCs, as well as the Kleidi AI software optimized for Arm CPUs from Armv7 to Armv9 architectures. New Armv9.2 CPU cores include the Cortex-X925 “Blackhawk” core with significant CPU and AI performance improvements, the Cortex-A725 with improved performance efficiency, and a refreshed version of the Cortex-A520 providing 15 percent efficiency improvements. Three new GPUs have also been introduced namely the up-to-14-core Immortalis-G925 flagship GPU which delivers up to 37% 3D graphics performance improvements over last year’s 12-core Immortalis-G720, the Mali-G725 with 6 to 9 cores for premium mobile handsets, and the Mali-G625 GPU with one to five cores for smartwatches and entry-level mobile devices. Arm Cortex-X925 The Arm Cortex-X925 delivers 36 percent single-threaded peak performance improvements in Geekbench 6.2 against a Cortex-X4-based Premium Android smartphone, and about 41 percent better AI performance using the time-to-first token of tiny-LLama […]

May 13, 2024May 14, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Convert your tablet or smartphone into a touchscreen display for your PC, motherboard, etc… with the AURGA Viewer

The AURGA viewer is an HDMI and USB dongle with WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity that plugs into any system with HDMI output and can convert any smartphone, tablet, or laptop with a touchscreen display into a KVM solution by sending video data, as well as keyboard and mouse events wirelessly. We’ve recently written about Openterface Mini-KVM KVM-over-USB device that allows users to use their laptop to control another device with HDMI output locally without any additional display, keyboard, and mouse. But I’ve just been informed the AURGA Viewer, launched in 2022 on Kickstarter, can do something similar wirelessly. AURGA Viewer specifications and features: SoC – Allwinner S3 Cortex-A7 processor with 128MB DDR3 HDMI input – Male HDMI port with Toshiba TC35874x HDMI to MIPI CSI-2 bridge internally (See comments section); Works with VGA, mini HDMI, micro HDMI, etc… using adapters Wireless – Broadcom BCM4345C5 SDIO 802.11AC WiFi 5 and Bluetooth […]

April 30, 2024May 10, 2024 by Leo Zachary - 22 Comments

Muse Book laptop features SpacemiT K1 octa-core RISC-V AI processor, up to 16GB RAM

Muse Book RISC-V laptop with SpacemiT K1 SoC

SpacemiT, a chip design company from China with RISC-V as its core technology, recently unveiled the Muse Book laptop based on the K1 octa-core RISC-V chip. Unlike our daily laptops, it has many interesting unique features and is mainly sold to hardware engineers and DIY enthusiasts. This Muse Book runs the Bianbu OS operating system based on the Debian distribution and optimized to run on the SpacemiT K1 octa-core RISC-V SoC. Let’s first take a look at its external interfaces. On the left side of the laptop, there are two USB Type-C interfaces, a USB 3.0 Type-A port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a microSD card slot, and a reset pinhole. The 8-pin header on the right side of the laptop is quite interesting, and SpacemiT hopes the Muse Book can become one of the most convenient hardware development platforms for RISC-V. In addition to the power pins, users will find […]

February 28, 2024February 29, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Intel Core Ultra 5 134U and Core Ultra 7 164U are 9W Meteor Lake processors

Intel Core Ultra 5 134U and Core Ultra 7 164U are new 12-core Meteor Lake processors with 9W PBP (Processor Base Power) and 30W Max Turbo Power (MTP) that appear to have recently been added to Intel Ark. Intel just announced Intel vPro Platform support for the Core Ultra Meteor Lake processors to make those more suitable to business customers with improved security through AI-powered Intel Threat Detection Technology, better manageability with the Intel Device Discovery comprised of cloud-based tools for managing PCs remotely, and enhanced stability thanks to Intel’s Stable IT Program aiming to validate and ensure Windows 10 and Windows 11 compatibility. But Liliputing also notes that Intel has added some 9W parts besides the existing 15W parts such as the Intel Core Ultra 5 125U or Core Ultra 7 165U, namely the Core Ultra 5 134U and Core Ultra 7 164U. They are quite similar to the […]

January 29, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Lichee Console 4A RISC-V devkit testing – Part 2: benchmarks and features in Debian 12

Sipeed Lichee Console 4A RISC-V devkit review

When checking out the hardware of the Lichee Console 4A portable RISC-V development terminal in the first part of the review, I noted that I had some troubles with the display that did not work properly. I did a little massage to “fix” the display, but unsurprisingly it ended up not being a long-term solution. So I had to open a case a few times and ended up breaking the wires to the fan… Each time I reassembled the device, the display only worked for a few seconds or minutes if at all. So I decided to test the system by keeping it open, as the display is working reliably that way. So I won’t be able to do a proper review testing the device on the go, but I still tested all features and benchmarked the T-Head TH1520 mini laptop with Debian 12, and will report my findings in […]

January 16, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Debian 12 and Linux upstreaming for the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite SoC

When Qualcomm launched the powerful 4.2 GHz Snapdragon X Elite 12-core Arm SoC for “mobile PCs” (better known as laptops), I was surprised they showed benchmarks for both Windows and Linux as in the past, the company focused on Windows only for this type of processor. But at the time we were only shown Geekbench 6.2 results in Linux, so it was not clear what was supported at the time. But a recent post by Abel Vesa, Linaro engineer, explains a fully working Debian 12 image with GPU rendering and WiFi connectivity was ready right before launch and work is now being done to upstream the code to Linux mainline. In this post, he shares the Linux upstreaming plan and provides instructions to install Debian 12 on an official Snapdragon X Elite reference design. Upstreaming will be done in two parts, starting with support for the following: Qualcomm Oryon CPUs Clocks, […]