CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

January 26, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

ESP32 OpenMQTTGateway smart plug acts as an BLE MQTT gateway and a power meter

The Theengs Plug ESP32 smart plug runs OpenMQTTGateway firmware to serve as a BLE MQTT gateway and power meter compatible with Home Assistant, Homebridge, OpenHAB, DomoticZ, FHEM, Jeedom, NodeRed, AWS, and any MQTT-compatible IoT or Smart Home system. While the Matter standard should improve interoperability between Smart Home frameworks over time, there are still millions of devices already produced that are not Matter compatible, and the Theengs Plug aims to at least partially address this issue by helping users reduce the number of hubs required and have only one that supports different ecosystems. Theengs Plug hardware specifications: Microcontroller – ESP32 dual-core wireless MCU with 2.4 GHz WiFi and Bluetooth LE connectivity Network Protocol – MQTT Power Supply – 100-120VAC, 60Hz, up to 15A Dimensions – 103 x 61 x 34.6mm Temperature Range – Operating: 0ºC ~ 40ºC; storage: -10°C ~ 50°C Humidity – 0%～95% (no condensation) Certification – UL Some […]

January 26, 2023January 27, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

Intel Processor N95 Alder Lake-N CPU shows up in entry-level mini PC with 2.5GbE, dual HDMI

We’ve started to see Intel Alder Lake-N processors in mini PCs such MSI Cubi ADL N and Morefine M9 based on announced SKUs, but the Intel Processor N95 processor, which Intel has yet to unveil, is now found in a mini PC sold for various Aliexpress sellers starting at $187 for a barebone system and going up to $384 for a model with 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD preloaded with an activation version of Windows 10 or Windows 11. The Processor N95 is a quad-core processor clocked at up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, and 16EU Intel UHD graphics clocked up to 1.2 GHz. The 15W processor’s base frequency is shown to be 1.7 GHz in GeekBench while the 6W Alder Lake-N processors have a sub-GHz base frequency. That could mean the CPU performance is quite higher than the 6W N100 and N200 parts, but the GPU […]

January 25, 2023January 25, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

U-boot now supports booting Linux from an HTTP server

Up until now, U-boot would only support the User datagram protocol (UDP) allowing for TFTP and NFS boot, but Linaro has now added support for TCP and HTTP in U-boot in order to boot Linux from common web servers. TFTP boot from U-boot has been supported for years, as around the year 2006 I remember implementing TFTP Linux boot for a Karaoke system in order to lower the BoM cost by selecting a smaller flash device, and I also explained how to boot Linux on a TV box with TFTP back in 2014. This requires installing a TFTP server on your server, which is quite a trivial task, but HTTP servers are omnipresent, so it’s a welcome addition to U-boot. If you want to use HTTP to boot Linux, it needs to be enabled in the U-boot config:

CONFIG_PROT_TCP=y
CONFIG_PROT_TCP_SACK=y
CONFIG_CMD_WGET=y

CONFIG_PROT_TCP=y

CONFIG_PROT_TCP_SACK=y

CONFIG_CMD_WGET=y

The top and bottom options are pretty obvious, and the second […]

January 25, 2023May 24, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

$199+ Morefine M9 mini PC is powered by an Intel Processor N100 Alder Lake-N processor

Morefine M9 is one of the first mini PCs I’ve seen sold with the 6W Intel Processor N100 Alder Lake-N quad-core processor and the price is not too bad with $199 asked for a barebone model on Aliexpress. The mini PC supports up to 32GB DDR4 RAM, is sold up with up to 1TB NVMe SSD, and features two 4K-capable HDMI 2.0 ports, 2.5 Gbps Gigabit Ethernet, a WiFi 6 & Bluetooth 5.2 module, as well as four USB 3.2 ports. Morefine M9 specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N100 quad-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel HD graphics; TDP: 6W System Memory – Up to 32GB DDR4-3200MHz Storage M.2 2280 PCIe/NVMe socket fitted 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB SSD M.2 2242 SATA socket Video Output – 2x HDMI 2.0b ports up to 4Kp60; dual independent display support Audio – 1x audio jack […]

January 25, 2023February 2, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

SOCORAD32 ESP32 walkie-talkie board also supports data communication (Crowdfunding)

SOCORAD32, aka ESP32 Software Controlled Radio, is a hackable, open-source hardware ESP32-based amateur radio board for walkie-talkie and data communication applications. The board comes with an ESP32 module with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth connectivity, an RDA Microelectronics RDA1846 RF IC used in many commercial walkie-talkies and offering a range up of to 5 km, a small display, a speaker, and a 18650 battery holder. SOCORAD32 specifications: Microcontroller module – ESP32-WROOVER-32E with ESP32 dual-core microcontroller, 4MB flash, 2.4 GHz WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, built-in PCB antenna Walkie-talkie chip – RDA1846 single-chip transceiver for Walkie-Talkie applications (See datasheet and programming guide for details) Frequency Range: ISM 400 – 470 MHz Frequency Step: 5 K / 6.25 K / 12.5 K / 25 K RF Output Power: 2 W / 0.5 W (+5 KM @ 2 W) set to what the local law permits RF Input Sensitivity: -122 dBm Voice Scrambling: 8 type […]

January 24, 2023 by Karl Johnson - 30 Comments

TerraMaster F4-423 review – A low-power 4-bay NAS tested with Unraid

Hey Karl here. The timing couldn’t have been more opportune when I was asked to review the TerraMaster F4-423 4-bay NAS. Let me explain why. I run Unraid as my OS of choice for my home lab. I have found it easy to maintain and hard to break. My old rig had a 3900X with 3 cores, 6 threads dedicated to docker containers, and the remaining cores running VM’s. It has been a fun and learning experience. I have run it with several different VM configurations over the past few years. The majority of the time I ran 2 VM’s. One personal and one work and I would RDP over to the work VM. If I wanted to game I had a third gaming VM and allocated all resources to it. It’s not super convenient and as convoluted as it sounds. But recently I moved back to my company-provided laptop […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

January 24, 2023January 25, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

HiFive Pro P550 “Horse Creek” RISC-V motherboard with 16GB RAM to launch this summer

SiFive HiFive Pro P550 RISC-V motherboard based on Intel “Horse Creek” quad-core SiFive Performance P550 processor will launch this summer with 16GB DDR5 memory, two PCIe expansion slots, Gigabit Ethernet networking, USB 3.x ports, and on-board graphics. Intel Horse Creek platform was first revealed when SiFive unveiled the SiFive Performance P550 64-bit RISC-core with Cortex-A75 class performance in June 2021. The companies then demonstrated an internal Intel Horse Creek board with 8GB DDR5 and PCIe Gen5 at the Intel Innovation 2022 Developer Conference last October, and it looks like the 7nm RISC-V processor, manufactured with an Intel 4 process, will finally be available to developers this summer with the launch of the HiFive Pro P550 motherboard/development system. HiFive Pro P550 preliminary specifications: SoC – Intel-SiFive Horse Creek SoC equipped with 4x SiFive Performance P550 RV64GBC RISC-V cores with a 13-stage, 3-issue, out-of-order (OoO) pipeline GPU – “On-board graphics” [Update: […]

January 24, 2023January 24, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

HackyPi Raspberry Pi RP2040 USB dongle serves as an educational “hacking” tool (Crowdfunding)

SB Components’ HackyPi is a Raspberry Pi RP2040-based USB dongle whose main purpose is to teach ethical hacking and coding programs, in other words, some sort of portable educational hacking tool. The small USB stick features a 1.14-inch color LCD, a MicroSD card to store data such as scripts and photos, and a button to enable programming like on other Raspberry Pi RP2040 boards. HackyPi specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM Storage – QSPI flash, MicroSD card slot Display – 1.14-inch color LCD with 240 x 135 resolution USB – 1x USB 1.1 Type-A port Misc – Boot “Initiate Program” button Power Supply – 5V via USB port Dimensions – 55.04 x 23.20mm SB Components says the HackyPi USB dongle can be programmed with Raspberry Pi Pico C/C++ and MicroPython SDKs as well as CircuitPython, and they will release hardware design […]

Boardcon Rockchip and Allwinner SoM and SBC products