CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

August 24, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

DeskPi Super6C mini-ITX board takes up to 6x Raspberry Pi CM4 modules

Mini-ITX cluster board 6x Raspberry Pi CM4

You may remember the Turing Pi 2 mini-ITX cluster board that supports up to four Raspberry Pi CM4 modules. It now has some competition with the DeskPi Super6C board, still based on the mini-ITX form factor, and taking up to six Raspberry Pi CM4 modules. The Super6C offers a much slimmer design since the modules are inserted horizontally instead of vertically, plus each module comes with its own M.2 NVMe SSD socket besides a microSD card slot. The board also features two Gigabit Ethernet ports and two HDMI outputs, as well as four USB 2.0 ports. DeskPi Super6C specifications: SoM – 6x sockets for up Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 Storage 6x M.2 PCIe Gen2 x1 2280 sockets, one per CM4 module 6x MicroSD card slots, one per CM4 module Video Output – 1x HDMI 2.0 output, 1x HDMI 1.4a output, both attached to the first Raspberry Pi CM4 module […]

August 24, 2022August 25, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

WiCAN ESP32-C3 CAN Bus platform is available in USB-CAN and OBD-II form factors (Crowdfunding)

WiCAN is an ESP32-C3 CAN bus adapter that works over USB, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth LE, and designed for car hacking and general CAN bus development. The device is available in USB-CAN and OBD-II form factors and comes with firmware that works with RealDash to create nice-looking dashboards with the data. RealDash can be installed on Android, iOS, and Windows 10 operating systems. WiCAN specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-C3-MINI-1 with ESP32-C3 RISC-V microcontroller with 2.4GHz WiFI 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, 4 MB flash, PCB antenna CAN 2.0 A/B interface up to 1 Mbps Host interface WiCAN-OBD – OBD-II connector WiCAN-USB – Mini USB port for USB-to-UART up to 6 Mbps Power Supply WiCAN-ODB – 7.5V to 16V (Vbat) WiCAN-USB – 7.5V to 36V via screw-terminal connector Power Consumption – <= 1 mA in battery-saving mode The CAN Bus adapter also supports firmware updates over WiFi, and can be used either […]

August 24, 2022January 25, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Trigkey Speed S3 mini PC review – Part 1: Unboxing and teardown

Trigkey Speed S3 is a compact mini PC powered by AMD Ryzen 5 3550H quad-core/eight-thread processor with 16GB DDR4 and a 500GB M.2 SSD with Windows 11 Pro operating systems, as well as two HDMI ports. Trigkey sent CNX Software a sample of the Speed S3 mini PC for review. In this post, we’ll check out the specifications of the device, before doing an unboxing and teardown of the device, and testing Windows 11 and Ubuntu in subsequent parts of the review. Trigkey Speed S3 specifications SoC – AMD Ryzen 5 3550H quad-core/eight-thread processor @ 2.1 / 3.7Ghz (Turbo) with Radeon Vega 8 Graphics @ 1200 MHz; TDP: 12-35W System Memory – 16 GB (2x 8GB) DDR4-3200MHz via two SO-DIMM sockets (upgradeable up to 64 GB) Storage 500GB M.2 SSD 2.5-inch SATA HDD bay (up to 7mm thick) Video Output – 2x HDMI ports Audio – 3.5mm audio jack with […]

August 23, 2022August 25, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 47 Comments

StarFive VisionFive 2 quad-core RISC-V SBC launched for $46 and up (Crowdfunding)

As expected, StarFive has officially unveiled the JH7110 quad-core RISC-V processor with 3D GPU and the VisionFive 2 SBC. I just did not expect the company to also launch a Kickstarter campaign for the board, and the version with 2GB RAM can be had for just about $46 for “early birds”. The VisionFive 2 ships with up to 8GB RAM, HDMI 2.0 and MIPI DSI display interfaces, dual Gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.0/2.0 ports, a QSPI flash for the bootloader, as well as support for eMMC flash module, M.2 NVMe SSD, and microSD card storage. VisionFive 2 specifications: SoC – StarFive JH7110 quad-core 64-bit RISC-V (SiFive U74 – RV64GC) processor @ up to 1.5 GHz with Imagination BXE-4-32 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 1.2, Vulkan 1.2 4Kp30 H.265/H.264 video decoder 1080p30 H.265 video encoder System Memory – 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB LPDDR4 Storage – MicroSD card slot, eMMC flash […]

August 23, 2022August 24, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

LeapFive NB2 quad-core RISC-V processor comes with GPU, NPU, and DSP

After SiFive and StarFive, here comes LeapFive RISC-V silicon vendor offering the NB2 quad-core 64-bit RISC-V application processor with GPU, NPU, and vision and audio DSPs capable of running Linux. LeapFive NB2 processor is equipped with MIPI DSI and LVDS display interface, dual GbE, USB 3.2/2.0 interfaces, and other peripheral interfaces that make it well-suited to a wide range of applications including Smart Home applications, robotics, industrial gateways, drones, building automation, smart cities, digital signage, medical equipment and more. LeapFive NB2 specifications: CPU – Quad-core SiFive U74 64-bit RISC-V processor @ 1.8 GHz delivering 2.5 DMIPS/MHz Cache – 32KB I-cache, 32KB D-cache, 2MB level 2 cache GPU – “High-performance graphics processor” @ 850 MHz DSP – Dedicated vision DSP, audio DSP NPU – Independent AI engine delivering up to 4 TOPS @ 1.4 GHz VPU – 4Kp60 H.264/H.265 Video encoding and decoding, JPEG image codec System Memory – Up to […]

August 23, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments

$29 Inovato Quadra Arm mini PC runs Armbian on Allwinner H6 processor

Inovato Quadra is an Arm Linux mini PC based on Allwinner H6 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor with 2GB RAM, 16GB flash, and running Armbian-built Debian 11 Bullseye 64-bit. If the device looks like a repurposed Android TV box, it is because it is based on the T95 Mini model with one HDMI 2.0 port, USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports, a microSD card slot, a Fast Ethernet port and WiFi 4 wireless connectivity. Inovato Quadra specifications: SoC – Allwinner H6 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.7 GHz with Arm Mali-720 MP2 GPU System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot Video & Audio Output HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60 3.5mm AV port with video composite and analog audio Networking 10/100M Ethernet port Wireless Quadra – 2.4 GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi 4, no Bluetooth (can be added with a USB dongle) Quadra Plus – Dual-band 802.11ac […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

August 23, 2022November 15, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

AI, computer vision meet LoRaWAN with SenseCAP K1100 sensor prototype kit

Wio Terminal Grove Vision AI LoRaWAN module

CNXSoft: This is another tutorial using SenseCAP K1100 sensor prototype kit translated from CNX Software Thai. This post shows how computer vision/AI vision can be combined with LoRaWAN using the Arduino-programmable Wio Terminal, a Grove camera module, and LoRa-E5 module connecting to a private LoRaWAN network using open-source tools such as Node-RED and InfluxDB. In the first part of SenseCAP K1100 review/tutorial we connected various sensors to the Wio Terminal board and transmitted the data wirelessly through the LoRa-E5 LoRaWAN module after setting the frequency band for Thailand (AS923). In the second part, we’ll connect the Grove Vision AI module part of the SenseCAP K1100 sensor prototype kit to the Wio Terminal in order to train models to capture faces and display the results from the camera on the computer. and evaluate the results of how accurate the Face detection Model is. Finally, we’ll send the data (e.g. confidence) using […]

August 22, 2022August 29, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Femto is a tiny 12x12mm Raspberry Pi RP2040 module

Mirek Folejewski has designed the ridiculously tiny Femto module based on the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller with a size of just 12x12mm, and still including an SPI flash, a crystal, and a few passive components. We’ve previously covered some really tiny RP2040 boards with the Pimoroni Tiny 2040 and Adafruit QT Py RP2040 boards, as well as the RP2040 Stamp module, but the 12x12mm Femto module is about a quarter of the size of 25x25mm RP2040 Stamp. Femto specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ up to 133Mhz with 264kB of SRAM Storage – 4 to 64Mbit QSPI flash I/O – 30 GPIO pins, Reset and BOOTSEL signals, etc… exposed through a frame (See below) Misc – Status LED, 12MHz crystal oscillator, decoupling capacitors Dimensions – 12 x 12mm The board is comprised of two parts: the module itself (aka mainboard) with the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller […]

Boardcon Rockchip and Allwinner SoM and SBC products