Linux 6.7 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 6.7, following Linux 6.6 LTS a little over two months ago: So we had a little bit more going on last week compared to the holiday week before that, but certainly not enough to make me think we’d want to delay this any further. End result: 6.7 is (in number of commits: over 17k non-merge commits, with 1k+ merges) one of the largest kernel releases we’ve ever had, but the extra rc8 week was purely due to timing with the holidays, not about any difficulties with the larger release. The main changes this last week were a few DRM updates (mainly fixes for new hw enablement in this version – both amd and nouveau), some more bcachefs fixes (and bcachefs is obviously new to 6.7 and one of the reasons for the large number of commits), and then a few random […]

The PCOM-B65A COM Express module is powered by Intel Core Ultra Processors

Taiwan-based embedded systems manufacturer, Portwell, has announced a new COM Express Type 6 Basic module based on the Intel Core Ultra processor platform. The Portwell PCOM-B65A module is a minimal COM Express module that comes with either one of the H-series or U-series processors in the Core Ultra series. The Intel Core Ultra series (formerly known as Meteor Lake) uses Intel’s 3D performance hybrid architecture (two core microarchitectures on a chip) to optimize performance and distribute workloads efficiently. It also features an integrated neural processing unit that offers low-power AI acceleration and hardware offloading.The I/O and artificial intelligence feature set on the PCOM-B65A COM Express module suits several embedded applications such as medical devices, automation, IoT, and industrial control. We have already covered other products based on the newly released 14th Gen Intel Core Ultra (Meteor Lake) series with the ADLINK’s cExpress-MTL Type 6 Compact module and the ASRock Industrial’s […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC

2023 Year in review – Top 10 posts, statistics, and what to expect in 2024

It’s the last day and last article of the year, so we will look at some highlights of 2023, some traffic statistics on the CNX Software website, and speculate what interesting developments may happen in 2024. Looking back at 2023 The semiconductor shortage that had happened since 2020 started to fade away in early 2023, and supplies for most electronics components and devices seem to be adequate at this time, so that was a bright spot this year, and hopefully, it will stay that way in 2024 despite geopolitical tensions. We did not have any super exciting new Arm application processors from Rockchip, Amlogic, or Allwinner announced this year, although the Amlogic S928X penta-core Cortex-A76/A55 CPU started to show up in some 8K TV boxes. The launch of the Raspberry Pi 5 SBC with a Broadcom BCM2712 quad-core Cortex-A76 processor was probably the main highlight for Arm on this side […]

GEEKOM Mini IT13 Review – Part 2: An Intel Core i9-13900H mini PC tested with Windows 11 Pro

Earlier this month, we had a look at GEEKOM Mini IT13 hardware, a mini PC powered by an Intel Core i9-13900H Raptor Lake processor and equipped with 32GB RAM, a 2TB NVMe SSD, 8K capable HDMI and USB-C video outputs, and several high-speed ports such as 2.5GbE and Thunderbolt 4. We’ve now had time to test the powerful mini PC with the preinstalled Windows 11 Pro operating system, in the second part of the GEEKOM Mini IT13 review, we’ll report our experience with the device with features testing, various benchmarks, power consumption number, and thermal performance under load. Software overview and features testing GEEKOM Mini IT13 ships with Windows 11 Pro 22H2 build 22621.23.61 and the System->About window confirms we have a mini PC powered by an Intel Core i9-13900H and equipped with 32GB RAM. HWiNFO64 provides more details about the Intel Core i9-13900H 14-core/20-thread Raptor Lake processor, the motherboard, […]

AAEON PICO-ADN4 Pico-ITX Alder Lake-N SBC features Processor N50 to Atom x7425E SoC

AAEON PICO-ADN4 Pico-ITX SBC comes with a choice of four Alder Lake-N processors – Processor N50, Processor N97, Core i3-N305, or Atom x7425E – and is available in SKUs with both standard (0°C ~ 60°C) and wide-temperature (-40°C ~ 85°C) ranges for industrial applications. The single board computer comes with up to 16GB LPDDR5, SATA and mSATA storage, three display interfaces (HDMI, eDP/LVDS, DDI), dual Ethernet with 2.5GbE and GbE RJ45 ports, USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, and M.2 and mPCIe sockets for expansion. The board supports 12V DC power input by default, but AAEON company offers a 9V to 36V DC input option. PICO-ADN4 specifications: Alder Lake-N SoC (one or the other) Intel Processor N50 dual-core processor up to 3.4 GHz with 6MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 6W Intel Processor N97 quad-core processor up to 3.6 GHz with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 12W Intel […]

AMD Ryzen Embedded 7000 Zen 4 SoC integrates Radeon RDNA 2 graphics, up to 28 lanes of PCIe 5 connectivity

AMD Ryzen Embedded 7000 Series is a new “Zen 4” processor with integrated Radeon RDNA 2 graphics designed for high-performance embedded systems targetting industrial automation, machine vision, robotics, and edge servers. The last two Ryzen Embedded families from AMD, namely the Ryzen Embedded V3000 and Ryzen Embedded 5000, mostly targeted headless networking and storage applications since the processors lacked any 3D GPU. But the new Ryzen Embedded 7000 processors bring back graphics with a Radeon RDNA 2 GPU clocked at up to 2.2 GHz and also come with up to 12 Zen4 cores clocked at up to 5.4 GHz, and feature up to 28 lanes of PCIe 5 connectivity. Ryzen Embedded 7000 Series specifications: CPU – Up to 12-core/24-thread “Zen 4” processor GPU – Radeon RDNA 2 graphics 1WGP @ 2.2GHz max with support for AV1/VP9 decode, H.264/HEVC decode/cncode Cache – Up to 1MB L2 cache/Core, up to 32MB L3 […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

Rugged fanless Alder Lake-N mini PC features 6x RS232/422/485 ports, dual 2.5GbE, dual HDMI

We’ve covered many Alder Lake-N mini PCs, but the AAEON BOXER-6617-ADN is a little different as a robust, fanless industrial embedded PC with up to six RS232/RS422/RS485 serial ports, two 2.5GbE ports, and two HDMI video outputs. Powered by up to an Intel Core i3-N305, the latest mini PC from AAEON works in a -20°C to 70°C temperature range and supports 9V to 36V DC input with circuit protection suitable for industrial environments like the previously announced BOXER-6406-ADN fanless embedded computer from the company, but with a slightly different feature set. BOXER-6617-ADN specifications: Alder Lake-N SoC (one or the other) Intel Atom x7211E dual-core processor up to 3.2 GHz with 6MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD Graphics; 6W TDP Intel Processor N50 dual-core processor up to 3.4 GHz with 6MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 6W Intel Processor N97 quad-core processor up to 3.6 GHz with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel […]

BOXER-6406-ADN Alder Lake-N fanless embedded computer supports 9V-36V DC input

AAEON BOXER-6406-ADN is a compact fanless embedded computer powered by the popular Intel Alder Lake-N family of processors with their the Processor N50, Processor N200, or Intel Atom x7211E SoC. The mini PC comes with up to 32GB DDR5, supports M.2 NVMe SSDs and 2.5-inch SATA drives for storage, integrates two HDMI 2.0 video outputs and two 2.5GbE ports, and features specific to the embedded/industrial market such as three DB9 serial connectors (COM ports), one DB15 connector for digital I/Os, and a wide range 9V-36V DC input terminal block. BOXER-6406-ADN specifications: Alder Lake-N SoC (one or the other) Intel Atom x7211E dual-core processor up to 3.2 GHz with 6MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD Graphics; 6W TDP Intel Processor N50 dual-core processor up to 3.4 GHz with 6MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 6W Intel Processor N200 quad-core processor up to 3.7 GHz with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel HD graphics; […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC