Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on Intel RealSense Robotic Development Kit Features Atom x5 UP Board, Realsense R200 Depth Camera

Intel RealSense Robotic Development Kit Features Atom x5 UP Board, Realsense R200 Depth Camera

An Intel Developer Forum is currently taking place in Shenzhen, China, which may explains why we have several Intel products announcements targeting developers such as the launch of Quark D2000 development board. Another product for makers and developers is Intel RealSense Robotic Development Kit combining Raspberry Pi like UP Board powered by Intel Atom x5-Z8350 processor with Intel RealSense camera (R200) in order to bring 3D / depth vision to robots. UP Board specifications have changed a little as the processor is now Z8350 instead of Z8300, and they now have a version with 4GB RAM used in the kit: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8350 “Cherry Trail” quad core processor @ 1.44 GHz (Burst frequency: 1.92 GHz) with Intel Gen8 HD graphics System Memory –  4GB DDR3L-1600 Storage – 32 GB eMMC flash Video Output / Display – HDMI 1.4b, MIPI DSI/eDP interface Audio I/O – HDMI, I2S Connectivity – […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on UDOO x86 Development Board Combines Quad Core Intel Motherboard with Arduino 101 Board for $89 and Up (Crowdfunding)

UDOO x86 Development Board Combines Quad Core Intel Motherboard with Arduino 101 Board for $89 and Up (Crowdfunding)

UDOO is known for their ARM based development board with an MCU to control I/Os from Arduino compatible headers such as UDOO Quad or UDOO NEO. The community has now launched a new board called UDOO x86 powered by a quad core Intel processor, and integrating the Intel Curie compute module with Quark SE MCU used in Arduino 101, and the Arduino UNO headers. The basic version will come with Atom x5-E8000 Cherry Trail Braswell processor while the advanced version will feature Celeron N3160 Braswell processor. UDOO x86 Basic and Advanced specifications: SoC Basic – Intel Atom x5-E8000 quad core processor @ 1.04 / 2.0 GHz GHz with 12EU Intel HD graphics @ 320 MHz (5W TDP) Advanced – Intel Celeron N3160 quad-core processor @ 1.6 GHz / 2.24 GHz (Turbo) with 12EU Intel HD graphics@ 320 MHz/640Mhz (4W SDP / 6W TDP) System Memory Basic – 2 GB DDR3L […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on NEXBOX T11 Cherry Trail Mini PC Includes a 2.5″ SATA Bay, Supports HDMI and VGA Output

NEXBOX T11 Cherry Trail Mini PC Includes a 2.5″ SATA Bay, Supports HDMI and VGA Output

It’s always possible to connect a USB hard drive to a mini PC, but it’s not quite as neat as having an internal drive, and it may not pass the wife test. NEXBOX T11 mini PC powered by Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor addresses this issue by including a 2.5″ SATA bay on the bottom for the case of a SSD or HDD with up to 2 TB capacity. NEXBOX T11 specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8300 “Cherry Trail” quad core processor @ 1.44 GHz/1.84 GHz (turbo) with Intel Gen8 HD graphics System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 Storage – 32 GB flash, 2.5″ SATA drive support, and micro SD slot Video Output – HDMI and VGA Audio Output – HDMI and 3.5mm audio jack Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet port, 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x USB 3.0 port, 1x micro USB OTG […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Intel Launches $15 Quark D2000 Arduino Compatible Board

Intel Launches $15 Quark D2000 Arduino Compatible Board

Intel introduces three new Quark Micro-controllers last year, and I already experimented with Intel System Studio tools, quite similar to the Arduino IDE, and designed for hardware such as Intel Quark D1000 Customer Reference Board. So far the company had not released any boards available to the general public, but this has now changed since they’ve launched the “Intel Quark Microcontroller Developer Kit D2000”. Intel Quark D2000 development board specifications: MCU – Intel Quark D2000 32-bit processor Intel Pentium x86-compatible without x87 FPU @ 32 MHz with 8 KB SRAM, 32 KB instruction flash, 8 KB OTP flash and 4 KB OTP data flash USB – 1x micro USB (JTAG) for power and programming/debugging Sensors – 6-axis Accelerometer / magnetometer with temperature sensor (Bosch Sensortec BCM150) Expansion options: Arduino Uno compatible SIL sockets (3.3V IO only) Booster pack compatible SIL headers (3.3V IO only) Misc – Reset and user buttons, jumpers, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on HA544 Android Virtual Reality Headset Powered by Rockchip RK3188 Processor Sells for $155

HA544 Android Virtual Reality Headset Powered by Rockchip RK3188 Processor Sells for $155

Virtual reality headset have become more and more popular recently, from the basic Google Cardboard using your own smartphone, to models interfacing with a computer such as the $599 Oculus Rift or $700 HTC Vive. Chinese manufacturers have all launched a few standalone models running Android such as the high-end Deepoon M2 based on Samsung Exynos 7420, or the relatively inexpensive HA544 powered by Rockchip RK3188 quad core processor with 2GB RAM, and 8GB flash. HA544 virtual reality headset (aka VR HMD “Head-mount display”) specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3188 quad core Corter A9 processor @ 1.6 GHz with Mali-400MP4 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND flash + micro SD slot Display – 5.5, 1920×1080 resolution Lenses 2x aspherical lens for myopia under 700 degrees Diameter – 42mm 90 degrees field of view (FOV) IPD (Interpupillary distance) & focus adjustment Connectivity – WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 with […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on The USB Type-C Authentication Specification Aims to Prevent Damage from Non-Compliant Cables and Adapters

The USB Type-C Authentication Specification Aims to Prevent Damage from Non-Compliant Cables and Adapters

The new USB Type-C standard is great, as cables are reversible so it does not matter if you connect them up or down, it can handle USB 3.1 data speed, as well as carrying video and up to 100W power thanks to USB-C power delivery. In theory all is great, but in practice, many USB-C cables are not compliant, and Benson Leung, a Google employee, has found that many USB-C cable sold on Amazon were not compliant, with even one damaging his Pixel 2 laptop and two USB PD analyzers. His reviews on Amazon, as well as customer complaints, probably lead the company to ban the sale of non-compliant cable or adapter, but to really mitigate the issue, a technical solution was needed, and that’s why the USB 3.0 Promoter Group has defined the Authentication Protocol for USB Type-C as part of the USB Power Delivery 3.0 specifications.   Key […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on Windows Subsystem for Linux (Ubuntu Bash on Windows) Benchmarked Against Native Ubuntu 14.04 and 16.04

Windows Subsystem for Linux (Ubuntu Bash on Windows) Benchmarked Against Native Ubuntu 14.04 and 16.04

Microsoft recently announced that they brought Ubuntu userspace to Windows, and that this features will be officially released in Windows 10’s Anniversary Update and called Windows Subsystem for Linux. But people part of the company’s insider program can already try the beta version of “Bash on Windows”, and Phoronix ran some benchmarks in bash in Windows 10, and repeated the tests in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 14.04, and Clear Linux. The test machine was based on an Intel Xeon E3-1280 v5 Skylake CPUwith 16GB of RAM and 120GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD. Many of the results show Windows Subsystem for Linux (I’ll just call it Windows 10 in the rest of the post) just performing a little slower than on the Linux distributions, but there are also some outliers, which I’m going to cover here. The most surprising results is when Windows 10 clearly outperforms Linux at its own game which […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 41 Comments on Xiaomi Mi Box 3 Enhanced / Pro (Mediatek MT8693) Benchmarks and System Info

Xiaomi Mi Box 3 Enhanced / Pro (Mediatek MT8693) Benchmarks and System Info

Xiaomi Mi Box 3 Enhanced is the first TV Box I’ve tested with a processor featuring ARM Cortex A72 cores, so I’m very eager to see how its performs, and I’m expecting it to be quite faster than Rockchip RK3288, but still not quite matching Nvidia Tegra X1 processor found in Nvidia Shield Android TV box. But first let’s check the system information with CPU-Z app. First, it looks like CPU-Z does not detect big.LITTLE processor very well, as it detect a six core ARM Cortex-A72, instead of a six core processor with two Cortex A72, and four Cortex A53 cores. The clock speed ranges between 507 MHz and 1.57 GHz, but that’s likely the number for the Cortex A53 core, as the marketing materials report the Cortex A53 cores run at up to 1.6 GHz, and the Cortex A72 cores up to 2.0 GHz. Antutu info reports the frequency […]

Boardcon CM3588 Rockchip RK3588 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications