Last year, AMD launched Ryzen Embedded V1000 series processor found in UDOO BOLT single board computer, industrial motherboards, and rugged mini PCs. The company has now introduced their second Ryzen Embedded processor family with AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000 SoC based on the same Zen cores, and offering 3x the performance per watt against the previous AMD R-Series SoC, and 4x the performance per dollar compared to a system based on an Intel Core i3-7100U Kaby Lake processor. AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000 processors all come with two cores / four thread configuration, 1MB L2 cache, 4MB L3 cache, VEGA 3 graphics, support for three 4K displays, 4K60 video decode & encode, dual 10Gbit Ethernet, and a TDP configurable between 12W and 25W. Two Ryzen Embedded R1000 processors have been announced so far: Ryzen Embedded R1606G with 2.6 GHz base frequency, 3.5 GHz one-thread boost frequency, and 1.2 GHz GPU Ryzen Embedded […]
GL-USB150 OpenWrt Microrouter Looks Like a USB Flash Drive
There are plenty of small low cost routers capable of running OpenWrt, including the TP-Link WR703N or Marstek MPR-N9 model which we covered several year ago. GL.inet also made several tiny routers that ended up being supported by OpenWrt, including their GL-USB150 microrouter that looks like a USB flash drive, but is really an Atheros AR9331 router that can be powered by any USB ports. GL-USB150 microrouter specifications: CPU – Qualcomm QCA9331 (Atheros AR9331) MIPS processor @ 400MHz System Memory – 64MB DDRII Storage – 16MB NOR Flash Connectivity – 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi up up 150Mbps transmission rate Power input – 5V/1A via USB port Power consumption – <1W Dimension – 82x24x11mm Weight – 10 grams There’s no Ethernet port, no extra USB port to add 3G/4G connectivity, and the microrouter can either be accessed wirelessly when connected to a power bank, or via Ethernet over USB when connected to […]
ClearFog CX LX2K Networking Board is Powered by NXP LX2160A 16-core Processor
SolidRun started their ClearFog family of networking boards back in 2015 with Marvell ARMADA based ClearFog Pro board exposing 7 Gigabit Ethernet ports, an SFP cage, mPCIe/mSATA sockets, and more. Since then the company has launched several other ClearFog boards with small variation in the name with the latest being ClearFog CX 8K equipped with a COM Express module based on Marvell ARMADA A8040 quad-core Arm Cortex A72 processor. Today I was made aware that the company leveraged of the flexibility of having a COM Express module by offering a more powerful version of the board – ClearFog CX LX2K – powered by NXP LX2160A networking processor with 16 Arm Cortex-A72 cores, 100GbE support, 24x PCIe Gen4 lanes, and more. The rest of the specifications are pretty much the same since the COM Express carrier board – pictured above – remains the same: COM Module – CEx7 LX2K module with […]
IPFS Distributed, Resilient Internet Protocol Aims to Replace HTTP
HTTP(S) is the protocol used to retrieve content from the Internet, and files are stored in a server with all clients downloading files from this location. It works fine, but also comes with shortcomings such as traffic costs for the content provider, lack of resiliency if the server is down, and lack of persistence as for example all files hosted on GeoCities web hosting service are now gone. Having all files hosted on a single server also makes it too easy for governments or companies to censor content. But while looking at FOSDEM 2019 schedule yesterday, I found out an initiative aiming to solve HTTP shortcomings had been in development for several years, IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) is a described as a peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol to make the web faster, safer, and more open, with the ultimate goal of replacing HTTP. The four main advantages over HTTP listed for the […]
FOSDEM 2019 Open Source Developers Meeting Schedule
FOSDEM – which stands for Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting – is a free-to-participate event where developers meet on the first week-end of February to discuss open source software & hardware projects. FOSDEM 2019 will take place on February 2 & 3, and the schedule has already been published with 671 speakers scheduled to speak in 711 events themselves sorted in 62 tracks. Like every year, I’ll create a virtual schedule based on some of the sessions most relevant to this blog in tracks such as open hardware, open media, RISC-V, and hardware enablement tracks. February 2 10:30 – 10:55 – VkRunner: a Vulkan shader test tool by Neil Roberts A presentation of VkRunner which is a tool to help test the compiler in your Vulkan driver using simple high-level scripts. Perhaps the largest part of developing a modern graphics driver revolves around getting the compiler to […]
ClearFog CX 8K ARMADA 8040 Networking Board Complies with COM Express type 7 Specifications
After ClearFog GT 8K earlier this year, SolidRun has now launched another variant of their Marvell ARMADA based ClearFog networking boards: ClearFog CX 8K. The new single board computer features the same ARMADA 8040 quad core Cortex A72 processor as found in the GT 8K model, but complies with COM Express type 7 standard, and takes the company’s CEx7 A8040 module, and in the future any compatible COM Express type 7 module that may be launched by the company, or others. ClearFog CX 8K specifications: Supported COM Module – CEx7 A8040 Marvell ARMADA A8040 quad-core Arm Cortex A72 Memory – Up to 16GB DDR4 DIMM Storage – M.2b & M 2280 SSD, microSD slot, on-module eMMC flash, SATA 3.0 port Networking – 4x SPF+ cages including 2x 10GbE SFP, 1x 1GbE copper (RJ45) USB – 1x USB 3.0 Expansion 2 x mPCIe 1 x PCIe x4 Gen 3.0 I/O – […]
Gateworks Newport GW6100 Miniature Networking SBC Comes with one GbE Port, one mPCIe Socket
Nearly exactly one year ago, Gateworks announced Newport family of networking SBCs powered by Cavium Octeon TX 64-bit Arm SoC, and earlier this year launched the higher-end GW6400/GW6404 boards with multiple network interfaces and mPCIe sockets. The company has now introduced the entry-level GW6100 mini Network SBC with just one Gigabit Ethernet port, one mPCIe socket, and a USB 2.0 type-C port. Gateworks Newport GW6100 specifications: SoC – Cavium OcteonTX CN8120 dual core ARMv8 processor @ 800MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR4 SDRAM Storage – 8GB eMMC Flash, mSATA via mini PCIe socket, serial configuration EEPROM Networking – Gigabit Ethernet Port Compliant with 802.3 10BaseT/100BaseTX/1000BASE-T USB – USB Type-C DFP featuring USB 2.0 up to 480Mbps and 1.5A Power Delivery Expansion High power (up to 8W) mini PCIe socket supporting PCIe or mSATA with USB 2.0 and Nano-SIM socket Application Connector with serial I/O, Digital I/O, I2C, and SPI Misc […]
ClearFog GT 8K is a High-End Networking SBC Powered by Marvell ARMADA A8040 Processor
A few years ago, SolidRun launched ClearFog Pro and Base router boards based on Marvell ARMADA 388 Armv7 (32-bit) processor, and about a year later, the company introduced MACCHIATObin networking board powered by a more powerful Marvell ARMADA 8040 quad core Cortex A72 processor. The company has now given an upgraded to its ClearFog family with ClearFog GT 8K networking board powered on the same ARMADA A8040 processor as on the community board, and offering support for up to 16GB RAM, 6 network interfaces including one 10GbE SFP+ cage , and three mPCIe slots. ClearFog GT 8K specifications: SoC – Marvell ARMADA A8040 quad-core Cortex A72 processor up to 2GHz (commercial), up to 1.6 GHz (industrial) Memory – DIMM slot for up to 16GB DDR4 Storage – Up to 128GB eMMC flash, 64 Mbit SPI flash, micro SD slot, M.2 SSD via optional M.2 mPCIe adapter Connectivity 4x 1GbE switched LAN […]