CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

May 17, 2023July 3, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 36 Comments

Pocket-sized 2.8-inch mini PC features an Intel N100 processor, 12GB RAM, up to 2TB storage

Pocket-sized mini PC Intel Processor N100

A pocket-sized 2.8-inch (72 x 72 x 45mm) mini PC based on an Intel Processor N100 SoC with 12GB LPDDR5, and up to 2TB storage has started to show up on Aliexpress for $154 and up under the names ZX01 Plus and Topton M6S. This is the most compact Alder Lake-N mini PC we’ve seen so far, yet it still comes with two HDMI 2.0 ports, a 3.5mm audio jack, Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi 5 connectivity, and three USB 3.2 ports, plus a non-standard 12V USB-C port that’s now common for this type of mini PC. ZX01 Plus / Topton M6S specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N100 Alder Lake-N quad-core processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24 EU Intel HD graphics @ up to 750 MHz; TDP: 6W System Memory – 12GB LPDDR5 @ 4800 MHz Storage Optional 128GB to 2TB M.2 2242 SATA SSD, but […]

May 16, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Gigadevice GD25LE128EXH is a tiny 3x3mm 128Mbit SPI NOR flash

GigaDevice Semiconductor has just launched the GD25LE128EXH 128Mbit SPI NOR Flash in a tiny ultra-compact 3x3x0.4mm FO-USON8 package designed for IoT, wearables, healthcare, and networking products. The GD25LE128EXH supports up to 133MHz frequency with four channels delivering up to 532Mbit/s data throughput. GigaDevice also highlights the low power consumption of just 6mA when reading, or a reduction of power consumption by 45% compared to previous devices. GD25LE128EXH specifications: Density – 128Mb I/O Bus – Single I/O, Dual I/O, Quad I/O, QPI Frequency – 133 MHz (x1 x2 x4) Features H/W RESET WP# Security Registers with OTP Locks Suspend Unique ID HOLD# Voltage – 1.65V~2.0V Package – FO-USON8 3x3mm Temperature Range – -40°C~85°C; -40°C~105°C, or -40°C~125°C The GD25LE128E SPI flash is also available in SOP8 208mil, USON8 4x4mm, WSON8 6x5mm, WSON8 8x6mm, and WLCSP (4-4 ball array) packages, which means the GD25LE128EXH’s FO-USON8 package reduces area by 70% and thickness by […]

ArmSoM CM5 Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC

May 16, 2023July 8, 2023 by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 56 Comments

Beelink EQ12 Review – An Intel Processor N100 mini PC tested with Windows 11, TrueNAS, pfSense, Ubuntu, and more

Beelink’s new EQ series of mini PCs form their base product range and feature low-powered Jasper Lake and Alder Lake-N processors with relatively basic port and memory/storage configurations. Perhaps more importantly, they are also the cheapest mini PCs they offer. Having recently announced the EQ12 mini PC featuring an Intel Processor N100 ‘Alder Lake-N’ CPU with up to 16GB RAM, Beelink have now sent one for review. Whilst I’ll cover the basic Windows operation and performance, I’ll also explore how this new mini PC performs when used as an integrated router and NAS. Beelink EQ12 specifications Beelink list the EQ12 specifications as: It is worth noting that the Processor N100 processor only supports a single memory channel and that according to Intel’s specification for the processor, the maximum memory supported is only 16 GB. Intel’s specification for the number of graphical execution units (EUs) also states 24 however software such […]

May 16, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

STMicro unveils STM32MP2 Arm Cortex-A35/M33 MPU family starting with STM32MP25

STMicro has introduced its second generation of its STM32 MPUs (microprocessors) with the STM32MP2 moving to a 64-bit Arm architecture with Edge AI acceleration, multimedia features, graphics processing, and digital connectivity targeting industrial and IoT edge applications. The new family follows the STM32MP1 Arm Cortex-A7/M4 series introduced in 2019, and the first member of the family is the STM32MP25 with up to two 1.5 GHz Cortex-A35 cores coupled with an Arm Cortex-M33 real-time core clocked at 400 MHz, a 3D GPU, and a 1.35 TOPS NPU for AI acceleration. STM32MP25 key features and specifications: CPU – Single or dual Arm Cortex-A35 cores running up to 1.5 GHz Real-time MCU – Arm Cortex-M33 core running up to 400 MHz GPU – Unnamed 3D GPU for “advanced HMI” with support for the Vulkan API VPU – H.264 hardware video decoder and encoder AI accelerator – 1.35 TOPS NPU (Neural processing unit) System […]

May 15, 2023June 19, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

GEEKOM AS 6 (Ryzen 9 6900HX) mini PC review – Part 1: unboxing, teardown, and first try

GEEKOM AS 6 is a mini PC based on AMD Ryzen 6000HX CPU with up to 64GB dual-channel DDR5 RAM memory, two PCIe Gen 4×4 M.2 2280 SSD sockets, WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, and a range of ports, made in collaboration with ASUS (that’s the PN53 model) and which the company advertises as an alternative to the Intel NUC 13 Pro “Arena Canyon”. GEEKOM sent us a sample of the AS 6 mini PC with an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX octa-core processor with Radeon 680M graphics, 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD for review, and in the first part of the review, we’ll look at the specifications, check the package content, teardown the system, and give it a first try, before testing it more thoroughly with the pre-installed Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04 in the next parts. GEEKOM AS 6 specifications Here’s how GEEKOM AS 6 specifications compare the […]

May 15, 2023May 15, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Seeed Studio launches Jetson-based “reComputer Industrial” fanless Edge AI computers

reComputer Industral fanless Jetson Orin computer

We covered the actively-cooled reComputer J4012 Edge AI mini PC powered by Jetson Orin NX system-on-module last January, but Seeed Studio has now launched four fanless “reComputer Industrial” variants with an aluminum case, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, three USB 3.2 ports, an RS232/RS422/RS485 serial port, and a terminal block with four DI, four DO, and a CAN Bus. The four different models simply use a different Jetson Xavier NX/Orin NX/Orin Nano module: reComputer Industrial J2011 – NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX 8GB with a 6-core NVIDIA Carmel Armv8.2 64-bit CPU, 384-core NVIDIA Volta GPU with 48 Tensor Cores delivering up to 21 TOPS of AI performance, 8GB LPDDR4x, 16 GB eMMC flash reComputer Industrial J3011 – NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano NX 8GB with a 6-core Arm Cortex-A78AE Armv8.2 64-bit CPU, 1024-core NVIDIA Ampere GPU with 32 Tensor Cores delivering up to 40 TOPS of AI performance, 8GB LPDDR5 reComputer Industrial J4011 […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs abd SoMs

May 15, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Review of MaTouch_ESP32-S3 4-inch Display Demo Kit with sensors, Arduino, LVGL graphics library

Matouch Environmental Monitor LVGL graphics library

Makerfabs MaTouch_ESP32-S3 4-inch Display Demo Kit is an ESP32-S3 development board with a 4-inch touchscreen display, a TVOC sensor, and a thermal camera. It can be used to make various projects such as electronic photo frames. air quality monitors, or patient screening devices MaTouch_ESP32-S3 4-inch display demo kit unboxing When we unpack the box, we will find the device as in the picture, consisting of the following items: The mainboard of the MaTouch_ ESP32-S3 4-inch Display with the following specifications: Controller – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1, PCB Antenna, 16MB Flash, 8MB PSRAM, ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8 Wireless – WiFi & Bluetooth 5.0 Storage – MicroSD card slot LCD 4.0-inch IPS display with 480×480 resolution, 50+ FPS RGB 5/6/5+ SPI interface using ST7701S controller. 5 Points Touch, Capacitive via GT911 touch panel driver. Audio – MAX98357A USB – Dual USB Type-C (one for USB-to-UART and one for native USB); USB to UART Chip: CP2104 Expansion – 2x […]

May 14, 2023June 30, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

GL.iNet Spitz AX review – Part 2: a router with 5G NR, WiFi 6, 2.5GbE, failover and load balancing

Gl.iNet Spitz AX review 5G failover testing

Earlier this month I introduced the GL.iNet Spitz AX (aka GL-X3000NR) router with 2.5GbE, WiFi 6, and 5G NR cellular connectivity listing the specifications, doing an unboxing, and going through the initial setup. I’ve now received a new SIM card for testing and installed it into the router to continue the review. 4G/5G cellular connectivity on Spitz AX router After powering the router, the SIM card was detected and showed a 5G connection, but quickly fell back to 4G as can be seen with the cyan icon in the screenshot below. Shortly after, I lost 4G data connectivity, and after a while, the modem was not detected at all. But after restarting the router, and clicking on the “Auto Setup” icon everything looked to be working fine and I was always on a 5G connection from “house 1”. You’ll notice an envelop icon on the top right corner of the […]