CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

September 10, 2024September 8, 2024 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Mayhem v2 expansion for Flipper Zero adds Wi-Fi, BLE, camera, microSD card slot, and NRF24 or CC1101 radio support

Erwin Ried‘s Mayhem v2 is an all-in-one ESP32 and NRF24L01-based expansion board designed for Flipper Zero. This board adds Bluetooth and Wi-Fi through an ESP32-S module, features 2MP camera with flashlight, a microSD card slot, and support for either an NRF24L01 module (for sniffing and mousejacking) or a CC1101 module (for external radio communication). These features make this Flipper Zero add-on board useful for WiFi and Bluetooth penetration testing, motion detection, QR code reading, and as a nanny cam with remote access. Previously we have written about similar expansion boards like the Flipper Zero ESP8266 Deauther which adds de-authentication capabilities and the Flipper Add-On CANBus which can be used to sniff, send, and log CAN bus packets directly from the Flipper Zero. Feel free to check those out if you are interested in those tools. Mayhem v2 Flipper Zero add-on board specification Wireless Module – ESP32-S WiFi 802.11 b/g/n + […]

September 9, 2024September 9, 2024 by Sayantan Nandy - 12 Comments

Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus 8-core – A 4 GHz octa-core processor for entry-level Copilot+ PCs and laptops

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X line of ARM-based processors is designed for Windows laptops, offering CPUs capable of competing with Intel and AMD processors. The Snapdragon X Plus (10 core) and Snapdragon X Elite, announced last year, include high-performance NPUs for AI processing. Qualcomm has now introduced the entry-level Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processor, targeting the $700 to $900 laptop market instead of the ~$1,300+ asked for something like the Microsoft Surface Laptop 15. It reduces CPU and graphics performance while maintaining the same AI features as the higher-end models. The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus lineup includes two octa-core processors: the X1P-46-100 and X1P-42-100, both built on a 4nm process. These processors come with eight Oryon CPU cores, clocked at 4GHz and 3.4GHz respectively, and are equipped with the Qualcomm Hexagon NPU, delivering 45 TOPS for AI tasks like Copilot+ PC. They also integrate Qualcomm Adreno GPUs offering 2.1 TFLOPS for the […]

ArmSoM CM5 - Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC

September 9, 2024September 9, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Banana Pi BPI-CM5 Pro – A Rockchip RK3576-powered Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with up to 16GB RAM, 128GB flash, a 6 TOPS NPU

Banana Pi BPI-CM5 Pro, also called ArmSoM-CM5, is a Rockchip RK3576 system-on-module electrically and mechanically compatible with the Raspberry Pi CM4 while offering up to 16GB LPDDR5 memory, 128GB eMMC flash, and a 6 TOPS AI accelerator embedded into the RK3576 SoC. It comes with a WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 wireless module, a PMIC for power management, and two 100-pin connectors mostly compatible with the pinout of the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4. ArmSoM also provides a CM5-IO carrier board to make use of the extra USB 3.0 and PCIe interfaces, and the company told CNX Software they tested the module successfully with the official Raspberry Pi CM4 IO board. Banana Pi BPI-CM5 Pro specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3576 CPU – 4x Cortex-A72 cores at 2.2GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 cores at 1.8GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 MC3 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0, and 3.2, OpenCL up to 2.0, […]

September 9, 2024September 8, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Android 15 runs on Linaro development boards based on Qualcomm and HiSilicon chips

Android 15 source code was just pushed to AOSP last week, and Linaro has already ported it to four reference development boards based on Qualcomm and HiSilicon/Huawei chips namely Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 devboard (SM8550-HDK), Qualcomm Robotics Board RB5, Qualcomm Dragonboard 845c (DB845c, aka RB3) and HiSilicon Hikey960. Recent Google Pixel phones can already get Android 15 beta, but that makes the aforementioned development boards some of the first hardware platforms running Android 15 which could be useful to app developers and people wanting to customize Android 15 OS for their target product(s). Android 15 worked on the same day as the release to AOSP thanks to a collaboration between Linaro and Google to make sure reference boards get support as soon as possible, and in this case, we had a “0-day boot” as Linaro puts it. This collaboration started in 2022 with Qualcomm Robotics RB3 and RB5 platforms getting […]

September 8, 2024September 12, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Maxtang T0-FP750 review – Part 2: An AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS mini PC tested with Windows 11 Pro

Maxtang T0-FP750 mini PC review windows 11

We already listed the specifications and performed an unboxing and a teardown of the Maxtang T0-FP750 mini PC in the first part of the review. We’ve now had time to test the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS mini PC in more detail with the Windows 11 Pro operating system. So in the second part of the review, we’ll report our experience with the Maxtang T0-FP750 in Windows 11 Pro with a software overview, features testing, benchmarks, networking and storage performance, cooling performance, and measurement of fan noise and power consumption. Software overview and features testing The System->About menu confirms we have an “FP750” Mini PC powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS processor clocked at 1.80 GHz (base frequency) with Radeon 780M Graphics, equipped with 32 GB RAM, and running Windows 11 Pro 23H2, OS build 22631.4112. HWiNFO64 provides additional details about the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS 8-core/16-thread processor, the Maxtang […]

September 7, 2024September 7, 2024 by Debashis Das - 5 Comments

nRFBOX V2 ESP32 wireless hacking tool can scan, analyze, spoof, and jam the whole 2.4GHz spectrum

CiferTech has recently introduced the nRFBOX V2 ESP32-based wireless hacking tool designed for spectrum analysis, jamming, BLE device emulation, and more. The device is built around an ESP32-WROOM-32U module and includes an NRF24 module covering the whole 2.4GHz spectrum. Additionally, the device has a 0.96-inch OLED display, a five-way microswitch control pad, and a WS2812 RGB LED for feedback. The device can also be operated with a single 3.7V lithium battery, and that batter’s charging is handled by a TP4056 charging IC. All these features make this device useful for wireless security testing, educational environments, research, and hobbyist projects. Previously we have written about similar portable hacking tools like the DSTIKE Deauther Watch X, the HackBat pen-testing device, and the popular Flipper Zero wireless hacking tool. Feel free to check those out if you are looking for similar products. nRFBOX V2 specifications Microcontroller – ESP32-WROOM-32U with ESP32 dual-core wireless microcontroller […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

September 6, 2024September 6, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Arduino CLI 1.0 released – Let’s try it with the Raspberry Pi Pico 2

Arduino has just announced the release of the Arduino CLI version 1.0.0, the first stable release for which users and developers can be confident the software API won’t change over time, or at least with minimal changes that will not impact the workflow of applications based on it. We first looked at the Arduino CLI when it was still at the alpha stage way back in 2018. Arduino CLI version 1.0.0 was actually quietly released about two months ago, but Arduino only announced it now and the utility is now at version 1.0.4 with several bug fixes. Arduino CLI 1.0 release The goal of the API is to easily program the boards from the command line without having to use the Arduino IDE, and the CLI can be integrated into your own script to automatize various processes. Arduino explains there are three ways to integrate and utilize the capabilities of […]

September 6, 2024September 6, 2024 by Debashis Das - No Comments

ECS ADLN-IE1S – A 3.5-inch Alder Lake-N industrial motherboard with solid capacitors and 15µ gold contact

ECS Industrial Computer has recently launched the ECS ADLN-IE1S 3.5-inch industrial motherboard built around the Intel Alder Lake-N SoC family. Other than that, the motherboard supports DDR5 memory, 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, and triple display capabilities via a dual HDMI port, and an LVDS port. It also features multiple expansion slots for SSDs and WiFi modules including various I/O options including USB 3.2, serial ports, GPIO, and more. The motherboard is designed for industrial applications, so it has a wide operating temperature range making it suitable for applications including automation, control systems, digital signage, and kiosks. Previously we have written about motherboards designed for industrial applications like the DFI RPS310, the ASRock NUC Ultra 100 motherboards, the Kontron K3931-N mITX, and many others. The main difference is that this new ESC ADLN-IE1S motherboard comes in a 3.5-inch form factor whereas the other comes in a MINI-ITX or MICRO-ATX form factor. ECS ADLN-IE1S […]