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Lichee Console 4A portable RISC-V development terminal review – Part 1: Unboxing, teardown, and hands on

Sipeed has just sent me a “Lichee Console 4A portable RISC-V development terminal” for review. It’s a quad-core RISC-V mini laptop based on the Alibaba T-Head TH1520 processor with a 7-inch touchscreen display, and my model is equipped with a Lichee LM4A module fitted with 16GB RAM and 128GB eMMC flash. I’ll start the review of the RISC-V developer kit with an unboxing, a teardown, and a quick try with the preinstalled Debian 12 “Bookworm” image, before testing the latter in the second part of the review. The second part will take some time as we have about twenty reviews planned for now, four of which I’ll be taking care of myself… Lichee Console 4A unboxing I received the device in a package indicating I had been sent the 16GB+128GB model and reading “Lichee Console 4A portable RISC-V developer terminal” which makes it clear it’s based on RISC-V, is portable […]

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Maxtang MTN-FP750 review – Part 2: Windows 11 Pro on an AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS mini PC

In the first part of the Maxtang MTN-FP750 mini PC review, we looked at the hardware with an unboxing, a teardown, and a first boot to the pre-installed Windows 11 Pro.  We’ve now spent more time testing the Maxtang MTN-FP750, also called NUC-7735HS-A16, and we will report our experience with the AMD Ryzen 7 7735H mini PC in Windows 11 Pro with a software overview, features testing, benchmarks, storage and network performance testing, cooling performance, fan noise, power consumption, and more. Software overview and feature testing The Maxtang MTN-FP750 shipped with Windows 11 Pro 22H2, but we updated it to 23H2 (and somehow entered the Windows Insider program) before starting our test. The System->About window confirms the update and that we have an FP750 PC powered by a 3.2 GHz AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS SoC with 32GB of RAM. HWiNFO64  provides some details about the AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS 8-core/16-thread […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC
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iKOOLCORE R2 (Core i3-N300) system review – Part2: Proxmox VE, Ubuntu 22.04, pfSense

In the first part of iKOOLCORE R2 mini PC & router review, I had a look at the hardware with an unboxing and a teardown of the Intel Core i3-N300 Alder Lake-N computer and also noticed the device booted to a UEFI shell. So for the second part of the review, I will report my experience installing Proxmox VE on the iKOOLCORE R2 and setting up and using Ubuntu 22.04, pfSense 2.7.2, and OpenWrt 23.05 virtual machines, making sure I can still use a physical display, keyboard, and mouse with Ubuntu while pfSense firewall is running. As a side note, the previous generation iKOOLCORE R1 mini PC that was sent to Ian for review with Proxmox VE and various virtual machines preinstalled OpenWrt, Debian 11, and Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC set to Chinese language by default. As I understand it, iKOOLCORE still does that for the Chinese market, but not […]

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Silicon Labs partners with Nabu Casa to support Home Assistant development

Silicon Labs has entered an official partnership with Nabu Casa, the company behind the popular Home Assistant home automation software, to support the development of Home Assistant open-source software and Silicon Labs-based hardware platforms. Most open-source embedded software projects start as a one-person (or a small team) effort as the vendor-provided firmware and related software may not have the features set needed by this user or group of users. So they hack existing hardware to build something that better fits their requirements often without input/help from the silicon vendor or product manufacturer. But sometimes the project becomes popular enough that large companies start to help it with support and funding. That’s apparently the case for Home Assistant project with Silicon Lans and Nabu Case entering an official partnership. The announcement does not provide details about the partnership but explains this should lead to better support and improvements for both Home […]

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Lichee Console 4A RISC-V mini laptop sells for $252 and up

Sipeed Lichee Console 4A is a RISC-V portable Linux console, that I would also call a RISC-V mini laptop, powered by an Alibaba T-Head TH1520 quad-core C910 processor and equipped with up to 16GB RAM and 128GB eMMC flash. We first covered the device last August, but Sipeed had started taking pre-ordered by the end of October, and they’ve gone through the first batch of mass production, and should soon ship the mini laptops with the Aliexpress store showing December 31 as the release date, and we’re told some samples may have already been shipped in the first part of the month. Lichee Console 4A specifications: SoM – Replaceable Lichee LM4A system-on-module based on TH1520 quad-core RISC-V C910 processor with up to 16GB LPDDR4X, 128GB eMMC flash Storage – MicroSD card slot, M.2 SSD support Display – 7-inch 1280 x 800 LCD with capacitive touch Video Output – 1x mini […]

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Arduino Portenta X8 achieves EU’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) compliance

Foundries.io, in collaboration with Arduino, has integrated its security software into the Portenta X8, making it the first system-on-module (SoM) to achieve CRA Compliance with the European Union’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). Last year, we covered the Portenta X8, Arduino’s first board with an Arm processor running Linux with expansion capabilities with add-ons such as the Portenta HAT Carrier Board, and you’ll find more details about the hardware in those posts. This new EU’s CRA specifies minimum security for all IoT devices in Europe from 2025. This includes: Establish standards for secure products with digital elements throughout the EU. Require manufacturers to focus on security at every stage of a product’s life. Increase user awareness of a product’s cybersecurity features. Demand that Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) quickly address vulnerabilities in devices already in use. All these rules will be applicable for the full lifespan of the devices. Under the upcoming […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
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GEEKOM Mini IT13 Review – Part 2: An Intel Core i9-13900H mini PC tested with Windows 11 Pro

Earlier this month, we had a look at GEEKOM Mini IT13 hardware, a mini PC powered by an Intel Core i9-13900H Raptor Lake processor and equipped with 32GB RAM, a 2TB NVMe SSD, 8K capable HDMI and USB-C video outputs, and several high-speed ports such as 2.5GbE and Thunderbolt 4. We’ve now had time to test the powerful mini PC with the preinstalled Windows 11 Pro operating system, in the second part of the GEEKOM Mini IT13 review, we’ll report our experience with the device with features testing, various benchmarks, power consumption number, and thermal performance under load. Software overview and features testing GEEKOM Mini IT13 ships with Windows 11 Pro 22H2 build 22621.23.61 and the System->About window confirms we have a mini PC powered by an Intel Core i9-13900H and equipped with 32GB RAM. HWiNFO64 provides more details about the Intel Core i9-13900H 14-core/20-thread Raptor Lake processor, the motherboard, […]

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Theengs Bridge BLE to MQTT gateway supports Home Assistant, OpenHAB, Jeedom, NodeRed, and more

The Theengs Bridge is a new WiFi & Ethernet BLE to MQTT gateway running the open-source OpenMQTTGateway firmware, compatible with a range of sensors, and supporting Home Assistant, OpenHAB, Jeedom, NodeRed, and other MQTT-compatible systems. It follows the Theengs Plug smart socket introduced at the beginning of the board with many of the same features (minus the socket part…) but adds Ethernet and an external antenna for improved range, and improves modularity with a Grove I2C connector and mounting holes for a LoRa-E5-based Grove module and a prototyping area where you can solder your own circuitry with DIP components. Theengs Bridge specifications: Wireless module MCU – ESP32 microcontroller with WiFi and Bluetooth Storage – 8MB flash PCB antenna and u.FL antenna connector Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet RJ45 port 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE with 6dBi 50Ohm external antenna Optional LoRa module via Grove I2C connector MQTT protocol Expansion – […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC