CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

February 7, 2024February 7, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Maxtang MTN-FP750 business mini PC review – Part 3: Ubuntu 22.04

We’ve already checked out the hardware of the Maxtang MTN-FP750 mini PC in the first part of the review with an unboxing and a teardown, and tested the AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS Mini PC with 32GB DDR5 and a 512GB SSD in Windows 11 Pro in the second part. In the third part of the review, we will report our experience with the Ubuntu 22.04 Linux operating system. This includes features testing, several benchmarks, storage and networking performance testing, a stress test to check thermal performance, as well as fan noise and power consumption measurements. Ubuntu 22.04 installation Since the plan is to install Ubuntu 22.04 alongside Windows 11, so we will shrink the Windows 11 partition by about half first, before inserting the Ubuntu 22.04.3 USB drive to install the Linux distribution. The installation went smoothly with no issues to report on. Ubuntu 22.04 System information Going to Settings->About […]

February 6, 2024July 31, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 19 Comments

Tangara is a portable, open-source music player based on an ESP32 MCU (Crowdfunding)

Tangara is a portable music player that is out to make MP3 players cool again. With an iPod-inspired design and an ESP32 module at its core, Tangara presents an open-source and nostalgic way to listen to your favorite music and podcasts. The ESP32-WROVER-E at the core of the music player is the main microcontroller but it also features a co-processor, a Microchip SAMD21, which is responsible for USB communication and power management. We have covered the ESP32-WROVER-KIT, a development kit for the ESP32-WROVER and ESP-WROOM-32 line of modules with a JTAG interface and an LCD. The Tangara music player can output audio through a 3.5mm headphone jack or Bluetooth, although Bluetooth is currently limited to the default SBC codec. Tangara is the brainchild of Australian tech company Cool Tech Zone and is aimed at the portable media player community at large. This is reflected in many of the design choices […]

ArmSoM CM5 - Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC

February 6, 2024February 9, 2024 by Sponsored Post - No Comments

GEEKOM Mini IT12 Mini PC with Core i5-12450H CPU, USB4, 2.5GbE, WiFi 6E goes for less than $400 (Sponsored)

GEEKOM has launched a new promotion for the Mini IT12 mini PC with an Intel Core i5-12450H, 16GB DDR4 memory, and a 512GB SSD which you can get for under $400 when using the coupon code cnxsoftwareit12 for a $20 discount on GEEKOM US or a £20 discount on GEEKOM UK. The mini PC also supports up to four displays thanks to two HDMI ports and two USB4 ports, offers 2.5GbE and WiFi 6E networking, and comes with a total of six USB ports for expansion. GEEKOM Mini IT12 specifications: SoC – Intel Core i5-12450H 8-core/12-thread Alder Lake hybrid processor up to 4.40 GHz with 12MB Cache, 48 EU Intel UHD Graphics @ up to 1.2 GHz; PBP: 45W System Memory – 16GB DDR4-3200 via SODIMM sockets upgradeable up to 64GB Storage 512GB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD, expandable up to 2TB M.2 2242 SATA SSD socket up […]

February 6, 2024February 6, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

DFI MTH968 Intel Core Ultra “Meteor Lake” COM Express module to power industrial AI PCs

DFI MTH968 is a COM Express Compact Type 6 computer-on-module equipped with an Intel Core Ultra Meteor Lake processor designed for industrial AI PCs thanks to the integrated Neural Processor Unit (Intel AI Boost) and designed for industrial automation, smart transportation, and smart agriculture. It’s not quite the first COM Express module based on the new Core Ultra Meteor Lake SoCs, as we previously covered the ADLINK cExpress-MTL and conga-TC700 with a similar range of features, and the MTH968 provides another alternative with the company highlighting a fanless wide temperature design operating from -40°C to 85°C, DDR5 memory, and NVMe SSD storage (soldered on module). DFI MTH968 specifications: Meteor Lake U/H-series SoC (one or the other) Intel Core Ultra 7 165H 16-core (6P+8E+2LPE) processor @ 0.9 / 1.4 / 5.0 GHz (Turbo) with 24MB cache, 8x Xe-cores Intel Arc graphics @ 2.3 GHz, Intel AI Boost NPU; TDP: 28W Intel […]

February 6, 2024February 6, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Solar power manager module supports 6V-24V input range, battery charging, MPTT function, and outputs 5V/3A

Waveshare Solar Power Manager Module (D) is a compact power module for solar panels with support for 6V to 24V input, MPTT (Maximum Power Point Tracking), and battery charging. It outputs 5V up to 3A via a USB-C port or terminal block and should be suitable for a range of projects. A few weeks ago, we wrote about the FireBeetle 2 ESP32-C6 IoT development board with DFRobot highlighting support for solar charging of lithium batteries thanks the the CN3165 chip. But with a range of just 4.5 to 6V for solar panel input and a lack of support for MPTT, several readers were unimpressed by the solution. The Waveshare Solar Power Manager Module (D) recently popped up in my news feed, and I thought it might be worth a look. Waveshare Solar Power Manager Module (D) specifications: Solar panel input 6V to 24V via DC jack or 2-pole screw terminal […]

February 5, 2024February 6, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

PANZER-PLUS fanless AIoT computer to support Ubuntu 24.04, Android 14, Yocto 5.0

Taiwan-based MayQueen Technologies has recently introduced the PANZER-PLUS fanless AIoT computer powered by an NXP i.MX 8M Plus Arm SoC with support for Ubuntu 22.04, Android 12/13, and Yocto 4.0 “Kirkstone”, but the company also claims it is working on Ubuntu 24.04 and Android 14 operating systems, as well as Yocto 5.0 “Scarthgap”. The company initially pinged us in 2018 about its NXP iMX6UL-powered PANZER fanless box PC and contacted us again last week with the new PANZER-PLUS model equipped with an NXP i.MX 8M Plus AI processor, which I found only mildly interesting until the company informed me about (planned) software support. So let’s have a closer look. PANZER-PLUS specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX8M Plus CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.8GHz MCU – Arm Cortex-M7 real-time core @ 400 MHz GPU – Vivante GC520L 2D GPU, Vivante GC7000UL 3D GPU VPU – 1080p60 hardware decoder (HEVC, H.264, […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

February 5, 2024February 7, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Wiser wireless-to-serial kit eases the debugging and programming of embedded devices (Crowdfunding)

WiSer is a wireless-to-serial communication kit comprised of a USB dongle (WiSer-USB) and a USB TTL debug board (WiSer-TTL) – both built around an ESP32-S2 microcontroller – that allows users to establish a P2P wireless connection between a host computer and a development board or sensor. It works like a typical USB to TTL debug board except it operates over WiFi, and it’s especially useful to debug code, update firmware, log data, or transfer files without a USB cable or even a Wi-Fi router since the connection to peer-to-peer. It looks especially useful when the host and DUT are too far apart, and my review samples are often on another table around 1.5m from the nearest USB port of my laptop, so I could see some use for it myself… WiSer specifications: Wireless SoC – ESP32-S2 Wi-Fi (and Bluetooth) microcontroller USB – 1x USB Type-C port providing a virtual serial […]

February 5, 2024February 6, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Review of Blackview MP80 Processor N97 mini PC with Fedora 39 Linux (Part 2)

After reviewing the Blackview MP80 (Processor N97) mini PC with Windows 11 in detail, we now had time to test it with Fedora 39 Workstation to find out how well it works in Linux. In this second part of the review, we’ll explain our “choice” of Linux distribution, go through benchmarks and features testing, as well as measure fan noise and power consumption, among other test Finding a Linux distribution that works with Blackview MP80 Last year, we reviewed the Blackview MP80 model equipped with an Intel Processor N95 CPU and after the Windows 11 review, we were unable to install Ubuntu 22.04 on the machine with the company eventually telling us Linux was not supported. But several months after the review, a reader commented he could install Fedora 39 on the Blackview MP80 and that it “worked like a charm“. We thought maybe the BIOS had been updated and […]