A few weeks ago, I received Microchip PolarFire SoC FPGA Icicle Kit with FPGA fabric and hard RISC-V cores capable of handling Linux. I wrote “Getting Started with Yocto Linux BSP” tutorial for the board, and I had initially titled the current post “Getting Started with FPGA development using Libero SoC and Polarfire FPGA SoC”. I assumed I would write one or two paragraphs about the installation process, and then show how to work with Libero SoC Design Suite to create an FPGA bitstream. But instead, I spent countless hours trying to install the development tools. So I’ll report my experience to let readers avoid some of the pitfalls, and hopefully save time. (Failing to) Install Libero SoC v2021.v2 on Ubuntu 20.04 If we go to the download page, we’ll see Libero SoC v2021.2 for Windows and Libero SoC v2021.2 for Linux. Since my computer is running Ubuntu 20.04, I decided […]
How to upgrade a mini PC to Windows 11 and install WSL
In this short article, I show how to install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and how to force the upgrade of Windows 10 to Windows 11 in a mini PC rather than waiting for Windows to offer it. The reason I’ve coupled these two topics together is not because there is any dependency, but simply as I use WSL to help me perform administrative tasks like downloading and copying files when installing applications on Windows mini PCs. WSL installation Installing WSL has recently become so simple it is worth doing just to gain the flexibility it offers for so little effort. Now you only need to open ‘Windows Terminal (Admin)’ and enter wsl –install: then reboot for Ubuntu to start installing, during which you will be asked to create your user with a password, which finishes in Ubuntu: Further information about installing WSL can be found in Microsoft’s documentation. Now […]
Rockchip RK3566/RK3568 SoM’s feature board-to-board connectors or castellated holes
Rongpin Electronics has designed RK3566 and RK3568 systems-on-modules (SoM) with either board-to-board connectors or castellated holes for direct soldering to the carrier board, which adds competition to the Firefly Core-3568J AI Core Rockchip RK3568 system-on-module offered in a SO-DIMM form factor with an edge connector. The Rongpin Pro-RK3566 and Pro-RK3568 core boards are equipped with four high-speed Hirose connectors, while the RP-RK3568 Core board exposes I/Os through castellated holes around the four sides of the CPU module. Rongpin Pro-RK356x system-on-module & devkit Specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566/RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ 2.0 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 2EE GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.1, 0.8 TOPS NPU for AI acceleration, 4Kp60 H.265/H.264/VP9 video decoding, and 1080p100 H.265/H.264 video encoding System Memory – 2GB DDR4 (option for 4GB) Storage – 8GB eMMC 5.1 flash (option for 16GB to 128GB) 4x Hirose board-to-board connectors with Storage 1x SATA […]
Khadas VIM4 – An Amlogic A311D2 SBC with 8GB RAM, Wi-Fi 6, HDMI input & output
We’ve just written about the Amlogic A311D2 processor with some pretty interesting features, and Khadas VIM4 will be one of the first single board computers equipped with the latest octa-core processor, succeeding the company’s earlier Khadas VIM3 board powered by an Amlogic A311D hexa-core processor. Khadas VIM4 makes good use of the extra memory allowance with faster 8GB LPDDR4 RAM, and also offers 32GB eMMC flash, Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6, 4Kp60 HDMI input and output, independent USB 3.0, and PCIe (via M.2 socket) interfaces, and more. Khadas VIM4 specifications with bold highlights showing the differences with the VIM3 Pro model: SoC – Amlogic A311D2 octa-core processor with 4x Arm Cortex-A73 cores @ up to 2.2 GHz and 4x Cortex A53 cores @ up to 2.0 GHz, Arm Mali-G52 MP(8EE) GPU, NPU shown as TBD possibly due to license requirements System Memory- 8GB LPDDR4X @ 2112 MHz Storage – 32GB eMMC […]
Beelink SER3 Review – A good AMD Ryzen 7 mini PC… after tweaks
Beelink has just launched a new mini PC called the SER3. It is another ‘new’ mini PC using an older CPU, in this case, an AMD mobile processor. However, the performance is surprisingly good once a few tweaks are made to the stock configuration. Beelink kindly sent one for review and I’ve looked at performance running both Windows and Ubuntu together with using an eGPU. Hardware Overview The SER3 physically consists of a 126 x 113 x 40mm (4.96 x 4.45 x 1.57 inches) square metal case. As an actively cooled mini PC, it uses AMD’s older 12 nm Zen+ Ryzen 7 3750H Picasso processor which is a quad-core 8-thread 2.3 GHz mobile processor boosting to 4.0 GHz with Radeon RX Vega 10 Graphics. The front panel has an illuminated power button, dual USB 3.0 ports, a Type-C USB 3.0 port with Alternate Mode, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a […]
Raspberry Pi 4, Rockchip RK3399 SBC’s get Arm SystemReady IR certification
The first hardware platforms getting Arm SystemReady IR certification for IoT Edge applications were announced a few months ago with namely NXP i.MX 8 Mini evaluation kit and Compulab IOT-GATE-IMX8 gateway being able to run off-the-shelf operating system images such as Fedora IoT, OpenSuSE Leap 15.3, and Debian 11 thanks to UEFI firmware. But following PinePhone Pro Linux smartphone announcement, and Pine64 October update, we also learned that Rockchip RK3399 based RockPro64 was also Arm SystemReady IR certified, and check Arm’s website directly revealed it was joined by Lenovo Leez P710 “Gateway” SBC, as well as Raspberry Pi 4 and Pi 400 platforms. Let’s check the details and see what off-the-shelf images each board has been tested with. Pine64 RockPro64 RK3399 SBC achieved SystemReady IR v1.0 Level 1 certification meaning it complies with some waivers and workarounds found in the errata document. The board has been successfully tested with Fedora […]
ASUS PN41 mini PC offers 2.5GbE networking for $169 and up
When I looked for an SBC or a mini PC with 2.5GbE networking following the discontinuance of ODROID-H2+ SBC, I focused on systems with dual 2.5GbE ports to closely match Hardkernel’s SBC specifications, and most of those systems were rather expensive. But if a single 2.5 GbE port is enough for your application, then there’s a good alternative to ODROID-H2+ with ASUS PN41 mini PC powered by a choice of Jasper Lake processors, and pricing starting at $169 on Amazon for a barebone model with an Intel Celeron N4500 dual-core processor. ASUS PN41 mini PC specifications: Jasper Lake N-Series SoC (one or the other) Pentium Silver N6005 quad-core processor @ 2.0GHz / 3.3GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD graphics; 10W TDP Celeron N5105 quad-core processor @ 2.0GHz / 2.9GHz with Intel UHD graphics; 10W TDP Celeron N4505 dual-core processor @ 2.0GHz / 2.9GHz with Intel UHD graphics; 10W TDP Pentium Silver […]
Beelink U59 Celeron N5095 Jasper Lake mini PC ships with up to 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD
Beelink U59 is a Jasper Lake mini PC based on an Intel Celeron N5095 15W quad-core processor that ships with 8GB RAM and a 256 GB M.2 SSD for $279+ on Amazon or Banggood, or $349+ with 16GB RAM and a 512 GB SSD. The mini PC offers two 4K HDMI 2.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, WiFi 5, as well as four USB 3.0 ports, and supports one 2.5-inch SATA drive up to 7mm thick. Beelink U59 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N5095 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 2.0GHz / 2.9GHz (Turbo) with 4MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD Graphics; 15W TDP System MEmory – 8GB or 16GB DDR4 2,933 MHz Storage – 256GB or 512GB M.2 SATA SSD with up to 500MB/s read speed. Support for 2.5-inch SATA drives (7mm thick max). Video Output – 2x HDMI 2.0 ports up to 4Kp60 Audio – 3.5mm audio (headphone & microphone) […]