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Review of Youyeetoo Rockchip RK3568 SBC with Lubuntu 20.04 and the RKNPU2 AI SDK

We’ve already reviewed the Rockchip RK3568-power Youyeetoo YY3568 SBC with Android 11 – and listed the specifications and checked out the hardware kit –  in the first part of the review. We now had time to switch to Lubuntu 20.04, perform some basic tests, and also have a closer look at the RKNPU2 AI SDK for the built-in 0.8 TOPS AI accelerator found in the Rockchip RK3568 SoC. Installing Ubuntu or Debian on YY3568 SBC The company provides both Debian and Ubuntu images for the YY3568 SBC with different images depending on the boot device (SD card or eMMC flash) and video interface used (DSI, eDP, HDMI). Our YY3568 “Bundle 5” kit comes with an 11.6-inch eDP display so we’ll select the “Ubuntu 20” image with edp in the file name. The RKDevTool program is used to flash Linux images and it’s the same procedure as we used with Android […]

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AI in a box offline LLM solution leverages Rockchip RK3588S’ NPU (Crowdfunding)

Useful Sensors “AI in a box” LLM (large language model) solution works offline with complete privacy and leverages the NPU in Rockchip RK3588S processor for conversational AI similar to ChatGPT but without an internet connection or registration required. The AI box prototype currently relies on off-the-shelf hardware, specifically the Radxa ROCK 5A SBC with 8GB RAM, housed in a plastic enclosure, and the code relies on open-source models like Whisper speech-to-text model and Llama2 language models.   Besides conversational AI where you can interact with the box as if you were talking to a person, the AI in a Box can also be useful for other use cases: Live Captions – The box can display subtitles/closed captions for a live event or help in situations where people have trouble hearing a conversation using the audio input. Live Translation – It can also translate various languages close to real-time. Simply select […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC
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Home Assistant Green – A $99 Home Assistant gateway with a Rockchip RK3566 processor

The developers of the popular Home Assistant open-source automation framework have introduced the Home Assistant Green gateway based on a Rockchip RK3566 processor providing a lower-cost alternative to the Raspberry Pi CM4-based Home Assistant Yellow gateway. The Home Assistant Green was created to cater to the needs of people who did not need all of the advanced features enabled in the Home Assistant Yellow gateway and also because of the supply and pricing issues with the Raspberry Pi CM4. Just like its predecessor, the new gateway ships with Home Assistant OS and comes with everything that beginners may need to get started with Home Assistant in just one box.   Home Assistant Green specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.8 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 2EE GPU NPU – 0.8 TOPS AI accelerator, VPU – 4Kp60 H.265/H.264/VP9 video decoding, 1080p100f H.265/H.264 video encoding System […]

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Libre Computer AML-S905X-CC-V2 SBC directly installs Linux images from the Internet

Libre Computer AML-S905X-CC-V2 “Sweet Potato” is a “new” Amlogic S905X SBC following the Raspberry Pi 3B form factor and that will eventually directly boot Linux images downloaded from the Internet using the Libre Computer OS Tool (LOST). I wrote “new” in quotes because the single board computer is an update to the Potato board (AML-S905X-CC) introduced in 2017 with just a few hardware changes. But that’s because Libre Computer focuses on the software side and all/most of their boards can now run mainline Linux and have support for features such as LOST whose support is set to be implemented by November. Libre Computer AML-S905X-CC-V2 SBC specifications with changes in bold or strikethrough: SoC – Amlogic S905X quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with penta-core Arm Mali-450MP GPU, and Amlogic Video Engine 10 VPU System Memory – 2GB DDR4 (OEM can request 1GB) Storage 1x microSD card slot with UHS […]

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SparkFun launches ESP32-based “Arduino IoT Weather Station” with Arduino IoT Cloud integration

SparkFun’s Arduino IoT Weather Station is a complete weather station kit leveraging the company’s MicroMod ecosystem with an ESP32 Processor Board and various sensors and developed in collaboration with Arduino for integration into their IoT Cloud service. Most people will check the weather on the Internet or watch the weather forecast on TV, but if you live in a remote area with a micro-climate or just want to have fun building your own weather station, the latest SparkFun kit will allow you to monitor temperature, air and soil humidity, wind speed and direction, lightning, and rainfall data at home and monitor the data from anywhere using a web browser. Arduino IoT Weather Station kit content: MicroMod ESP32 Processor module MicroMod Weather Carrier Board with a BME280 temperature, pressure, and humidity sensor and an AS3935 lightning detector only. The optional VEML6075 UV sensor is NOT included. The Weather Meter Kit with […]

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ZimaBlade – A $64+ low-profile Intel Celeron board for server applications and more (Crowdfunding)

ZimaBlade is an inexpensive low-profile board based on an Intel Celeron dual-core or quad-core processor and designed for server applications with a low-profile RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port, two SATA connectors, and a PCIe slot, but not only as the board also comes with display interfaces such as mini DP and USB-C DisplayPort Alt. mode and a few USB ports. It’s not IceWhale Technology’s first venture into portable server board as the company previously introduced the Zimaboard based on Intel Celeron Apollo Lake processors with many of the same features back in 2021. The new ZimaBlade offers more interfaces as well as a complete enclosure instead of just a large heatsink. ZimaBlade specifications: SoC (one or the other) ZimaBlade 3760 – Intel Celeron dual-core processor up to 2.2 GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD graphics; 6W TDP ZimaBlade 7700 – Intel Celeron quad-core processor up to 2.4 GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
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Sipeed unveils RISC-V tablet, portable Linux console, and cluster

Sipeed has unveiled three new hardware platforms based on the LM4A RISC-V system-on-module found in their LicheePi 4A SBC, namely the Lichee Cluster 4A cluster for native RISC-V compilation, the Lichee Pad 4A 10.1-inch tablet running Android 13 or Debian, and the Lichee Console 4A a portable Linux console with a small 7-inch display and a built-in keyboard. As a quick reminder, the Sipeed LM4A SoM is based on the Alibaba T-Head TH1520 quad-core RISC-V processor @ 1.8 to 2.5 GHz that has just gotten some support in Linux 6.5, comes with up to 16GB RAM and up to 64 GB eMMC flash, integrates two Gigabit Ethernet PHY, and exposes all I/Os through a 260-pin SO-DIMM connector. We’ve previously noticed the TH1520 module delivers performance similar to the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 and even more when using a customized toolchain. Lichee Cluster 4A All new Sipeed hardware platforms feature […]

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Tiny solder-down NXP i.MX 93 System-on-Module powers credit card-sized evaluation board

Ka-Ro Electronics’ QS93 is a tiny solder-down NXP i.MX 93 System-on-Module (SoM) running Linux and designed for edge processing. The company also offers a credit card-sized evaluation board that may remind some of the Raspberry Pi with its GPIO header and general layout, but it comes with two Fast Ethernet ports and one USB 2.0 port. We’ve already covered several system-on-modules based on the NXP i.MX 93 Cortex-A55/M33 AI processor including some with high-density board-to-board connectors such as the Compulab UCM-IMX93 and Forlinx FET-MX9352-C, others with a SO-DIMM connector like the VAR-SOM-MX93, and finally some designed to be soldered on the carrier board such as the OSM-L compatible iW-RainboW-G50M, and the QS93 adds to the latter category in a tiny 27×27 mm form factor. Ka-Ro electronics QS93 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 93 with CPU – Up to dual-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 1.5 GHz Real-time core – Arm […]

Boardcon Rockchip and Allwinner SoM and SBC products