Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 57 Comments on Sophgo SG2380 – A 2.5 GHz 16-core SiFive P670 RISC-V processor with a 20 TOPS AI accelerator

Sophgo SG2380 – A 2.5 GHz 16-core SiFive P670 RISC-V processor with a 20 TOPS AI accelerator

Sophgo SG2380 RISC-V processor

Sophgo SG2380 is an upcoming 2.5 GHz 16-core RISC-V processor based on SiFive Performance P670 cores and also equipped with a 20 TOPS AI accelerator using SiFive Intelligence X280 and Sophgo TPU that will find its way into a $120 desktop-class mini-ITX motherboard in H2 2024. The RISC-V processor also supports up to 64GB RAM, as well as UFS 3.2 and SATA 3.0 storage, comes with an Imagination GPU for 3D graphics and a VPU capable of 4Kp60 H.265, H.264, AV1, and VP9 video decoding, plenty of interfaces, and the system can manage locally deployed larger-scale LLMs like LLaMA-65B without the need for external NVIDIA or AMD accelerator cards. Sophgo SG2380 RISC-V SoC Sophgo SG2380 specifications: CPU 16-core SiFive P670 (RV64GCVH) 64-bit RISC-V processor @ up to 2.5GHz with RISC-V Vector v1.0, Vector Crypto Cluster configuration – 12x 2.5 GHz performance cores, 4x 1.6 GHz efficiency cores Full RISC-V RVA22 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Mixtile Cluster Box supports four Rockchip RK3588 SBCs connected over PCIe

Mixtile Cluster Box supports four Rockchip RK3588 SBCs connected over PCIe

Mixtile Cluster Box

The Mixtile Cluster Box is comprised of four Mixtile Blade 3 Pico-ITX single board computers each powered by a Rockchip RK3588 processor and connected over a 4-lane PCIe Gen3 interface through a U.2 to PCIe/SATA breakout board. We mentioned the Cluster Box last year, but Mixtile had few details about it at the time. The company has now released more technical information, worked on the software, and just launched the box for $339 (without the SBCs). Mixtile Cluster Box specifications: Supported SBCs – Up to 4x Mixtile Blade 3 with Rockchip RK3588, up to 32GB LPDDR4 each, up to 256GB eMMC flash each Control board running OpenWrt 22.03 SoC – MediaTek MT7620A MIPS processor @ 580 MHz System Memory 256 MB DDR2 Storage – 16 MB SPI Flash PCIe Switch – ASMedia ASM2824 with four PCIe 3.0 4-lane ports Storage interfaces via 4x U.2 breakout boards 4x NVMe M.2 M-Key […]

ArmSoM CM5 - Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on microSD Express memory cards to support up to 2GB/s data transfers

microSD Express memory cards to support up to 2GB/s data transfers

microSD Express 2GB per second

SD Association (SDA) has announced the new SD 9.1 specification that doubles the speed of microSD Express memory card speed up to 2GB/s, defines four new SD Express Speed Classes to ensure guaranteed minimum sequential performance levels, and adds support for multi-stream access and related power and thermal management to assure the guaranteed performance. We first covered the microSD Express cards in 2019 as they were added to the SD 7.0 specification with promises of SSD performance through a PCIe 3.0 interface delivering up to 985MB/s. Over four years have passed since then, and I have yet to write about devices supporting the new standard, but the SD Association is not giving up with the introduction of the SD 9.1 specification that doubles the speed of the microSD Express cards, and full-size SD Express card can even reach close to 4GB/s. More specifically, the maximum speed achievable on microSD Express […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on KAMRUI AK1 Plus Processor N95 mini PC comes with a detachable base for SATA storage expansion

KAMRUI AK1 Plus Processor N95 mini PC comes with a detachable base for SATA storage expansion

Processor N95 mini PC detachable base

Alder Lake-N mini PCs keep on coming, the latest model is the KAMRUI AK1 Plus with an Intel Processor N95 CPU and a detachable base that can take a 2.5-inch SATA hard drive or SSD. The computer also features 8GB or 16GB soldered-on memory, up to 1TB M2 SSD, two HDMI ports, gigabit Ethernet and dual-band WiFi 5, four USB ports, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. KAMRUI AK1 Plus specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N95 quad-core Alder Lake N-series processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 16EU Intel HD graphics @ 1.2 GHz; TDP: 15W (up to 20W) System Memory – 8GB or 16GB DDR4 RAM Storage 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB M.2 SSD (apparently SATA and not NVMe, TBC) 2.5-inch SATA bay in detachable base for HDD or SSD Video Output – 2x HDMI ports up to 4Kp60; dual independent display support Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Generative AI on NVIDIA Jetson Orin, Jetpack 6 SDK to support multiple OSes

Generative AI on NVIDIA Jetson Orin, Jetpack 6 SDK to support multiple OSes

Jetson Orin Generative AI

NVIDIA has had several announcements at ROSCon 2023 related to robotics & embedded with highlights including generative AI on the NVIDIA Jetson Orin module and the Jetpack 6 SDK will be released next month (November 2023) with supports for Ubuntu as usual, but also other operating systems and platforms such as Debian, Yocto, Wind River, Redhawk RTOS, and Balena. Generative AI on NVIDIA Jetson Orin There’s been a lot of hype in the last year about generative AI thanks to services such as ChatGPT, Google Bard, or Microsoft Bing Chat. But those rely on closed-source software that runs on powerful servers in the cloud. As we noted in our article about the “AI in a box” offline LLM solution there are some open-source projects such as Whisper speech-to-text model and Llama2 language models that could be run on embedded hardware at the edge, but as noted by some readers platforms […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on SiFive announces Intelligence X390 NPU, Performance P870 RISC-V core

SiFive announces Intelligence X390 NPU, Performance P870 RISC-V core

SiFive Performance P870 RISC V Intelligence X390 NPU

SiFive has announced two new high-performance IP blocks with the Intelligence X390 NPU and the Performance P870 RISC-V core that should find their way into SoC designed for Generative AI and ML applications. We had already covered the Performance P870 and its automotive sibling – the P870-A – from information in an earlier presentation, but the SiFive Intelligence X390 NPU is new to me and appears to be aimed at generative AI in data centers, although we will very soon be seeing companies implement generative AI at the edge in pretty powerful embedded devices. SiFive Performance P870 highlights: Full support for the RVA23 RISC-V profile specification and Vector 1.0 and Vector Crypto Six-wide, out-of-order 64-bit core Up to a 32-core cluster >12 SpecINT2k6/GHz, or a 50% peak single thread performance upgrade over the previous generation SiFive Performance P670 SiFive Features 2x 128b VLEN RVV Vector crypto and hypervisor extensions IOMMU […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Rugged fanless Alder Lake-N mini PC features 6x RS232/422/485 ports, dual 2.5GbE, dual HDMI

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

AAEON BOXER-6617-ADN

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 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Raspberry Pi Zero W-based Weather Orbs shows weather data on three round displays (Crowdfunding)

Raspberry Pi Zero W-based Weather Orbs shows weather data on three round displays (Crowdfunding)

Weather Orbs

Peter Holderith’s Weather Orbs is a Raspberry Pi Zero W-powered desktop weather station that displays animated weather data from NOAA and NWS on three small round displays connected over SPI. Internally it’s an add-on board that connects to the 40-pin GPIO header of the Raspberry Pi Zero W and with three additional headers to connect the smartwatch round displays. The PCB also comes with 16 RGB LEDs to create some nice lighting effects. The Raspberry Pi Zero W and accompanying electronics are housed in a custom “high-quality” 3D printed enclosure with a cover made of brushed stainless steel, and thick glass magnifiers complete the design for a retro style. The default firmware fetches weather data, such as live satellite images from NOAA or radar from NWS, and displays those on the three round displays. It also starts a Wi-Fi hotspot called “weatherorbs” to which the user can connect and then […]

Boardcon Rockchip and Allwinner SoM and SBC products