The electronics industry and the severe shortage of components have had a huge impact on the electronics sector, disrupting the way products are produced and how they are produced. Despite the dramatic reduction in supply, demand for many components has increased dramatically. The reasons for the shortage of components are mainly multifaceted with the outbreak of COVID, and the aggressive stockpiling of goods by companies, and manufacturers that must prepare to shut down component production lines with lower profit margins. This has led to a narrowing of component selection, a reduction in the supply of some components, and so on. There are mainly two solutions to work around components shortage: find replaceable components or reliable component suppliers. This is where WIN SOURCE can help. The company has been assisting customers in finding deprecated, EoL (end-of-life), and difficult-to-find electronic parts ever since it was established in 1999 from its base in Shenzhen. WIN SOURCE has expanded since then with additional […]
Libre Computer ROC-RK3328-CC now supports Ubuntu 22.04 with Linux 5.18.2
Libre Computer’s latest Ubuntu 22.04 desktop and server images for ROC-RK3328-CC board are based on Linux mainline, namely Linux 5.18.2, and other boards from the company, based on Allwinner H2+/H5 processor or Amlogic S905X, have gotten the same treatment. Some companies will churn out boards regularly but provide limited software support. Libre Computer seems to have taken a different approach, as they released most of their board in 2017 and 2018, starting with AML-S905X-CC “Le Potato” board based on the Amlogic S905X processor, followed by ALL-H3-CC “Tritium” SBC with Allwinner H2+, H3, or H5 processor, and finally ROC-RK3328-CC “Renegade” board, but still release updated OS images in 2022. I reviewed ROC-RK3328-CC SBC with Debian 9 and Ubuntu 18.04 using Linux 4.4 in July 2018, and four years later, you might have thought such boards could have become abandonware, but Libre Computer just released Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop and Server image with […]
Geniatech XPI-3566 is a business-card sized Rockchip R3566 SBC
Geniatech has added a new member to its XPI SBC family with the business card-sized XPI-3566 board powered by a Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor, and mostly following the Raspberry Pi 3 form factor like its predecessors. The single board computer comes with 1GB to 8GB RAM, up to 64GB eMMC flash, HDMI 2.0 video output, Gigabit Ethernet, dual-band WiFi, a few USB ports, and a 40-pin GPIO header. It is said to target retail, “interactive communication”, and education applications. Geniatech XPI-3566 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 1.8 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 2EE GPU, 0.8 TOPS AI accelerator System Memory – 2GB DDR (1GB, 4GB, or 8GB optional) Storage 16GB eMMC flash (8GB, 32GB, 64GB optional) MicroSD card socket Video Output HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60 MIPI DSI connector (not listed in the specs, but it can clearly be seen on the board) Camera […]
DEBIX Model A – A Raspberry Pi-inspired NXP i.MX 8M Plus SBC for AI applications
DEBIX Model A is a single board computer powered by an NXP i.MX 8M Plus quad-core Cortex-A53 processor with a 2.3 TOPS AI accelerator in a form factor that combines Raspberry Pi 4 and 3 Model B designs. The SBC comes with up to 6GB RAM, a microSD card slot, an optional eMMC flash of up to 128GB capacity, HDMI 2.0a, LVDS, and MIPI DSI display interfaces, a MIPI CSI camera interface, Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi 5 connectivity, plus a 40-pin GPIO expansion header. DEBIX Model A specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Plus quad-core Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.6 GHz (industrial) or 1.8 GHz (commercial), with Arm Cortex-M7 @ up to 800 MHz, Vivante GC7000UL 3D GPU, Vivante GC520L 2D GPU, 2.3 TOPS NPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR4 (4GB/6GB optional) Storage – Default: Micro SD card; optional 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB eMMC flash Video Output HDMI […]
What is PVTM? Or why your Rockchip RK3588 CPU may not reach 2.4 GHz
While the Rockchip RK3588 processor is advertised as reaching 2.4 GHz, not all RK3588 chips may achieve this frequency. The keyword is PVTM (Process-Voltage-Temperature Monitor), and we’ll try to explain why it does, and why some of the RK3588 processors may only be clocked at about 2.3 GHz, while others will run fine at 2.4 GHz. This all started with Rock 5B SBC debug party, where we noticed our boards did not reach the same frequency. Willy Tarreau noted the “pvtm” value was different between our boards: Willy’s board: (Cortex-A76 cluster 1 @ 2,304 MHz, cluster 2 @ 2,352 MHz)
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# dmesg|grep cpu.*pvtm [ 2.606324] cpu cpu0: pvtm=1482 [ 2.606542] cpu cpu0: pvtm-volt-sel=3 [ 2.614206] cpu cpu4: pvtm=1722 [ 2.618389] cpu cpu4: pvtm-volt-sel=5 [ 2.626814] cpu cpu6: pvtm=1744 [ 2.630998] cpu cpu6: pvtm-volt-sel=6 |
CNXSoft board (Cortex-A76 cluster 1 @ 2,304 MHz, cluster 2 @ 2,304 MHz) :
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[ 3.620281] cpu cpu0: pvtm=1490 [ 3.620376] cpu cpu0: pvtm-volt-sel=4 [ 3.627377] cpu cpu4: pvtm=1736 [ 3.631320] cpu cpu4: pvtm-volt-sel=5 [ 3.639103] cpu cpu6: pvtm=1732 [ 3.643069] cpu cpu6: pvtm-volt-sel=5 |
Thomas Kaiser (tkaiser) board: (Cortex-A76 cluster 1 @ 2,400 MHz, cluster 2 @ 2,400 MHz)
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[ 3.117399] cpu cpu0: pvtm=1528 [ 3.117491] cpu cpu0: pvtm-volt-sel=5 [ 3.124529] cpu cpu4: pvtm=1785 [ 3.128495] cpu cpu4: pvtm-volt-sel=7 [ 3.136234] cpu cpu6: pvtm=1782 [ 3.140173] cpu cpu6: pvtm-volt-sel=7 |
For reference, CPU 0 to 3 are Cortex-A55 cores, CPU 4-5 are two Cortex-A76 cores (cluster 1), and […]
CANDuino v3 – A Microchip ATmega168PA board with CAN bus, Arduino Nano form factor
CANduino v3 is the third revision of MassiveButDynamic’s CAN bus board with Arduino Nano form factor based on Microchip ATmega168PA 8-bit AVR microcontroller, Microchip MCP2515 CAN controller with an SPI interface, and Microchip MCP2551 CAN transceiver suitable for 12V and 24V systems. The CANDuino v3 board is now slightly narrower in order to give access to two rows on each side when installed on a breadboard, comes with a USB Type-C port to reduce the number of cables needed, and the CAN bus function can be deactivated via a jumper in order to use the CANduino as a normal Arduino Nano. CANDuino v3 specifications: MCU – Microchip ATmega168PA 8-bit AVR microcontroller @ up to 16 MHz with 16KB flash, 512 bytes EEPROM, 1 KB SRAM CAN Bus CAN L/H header and CAN bus termination Microchip MCP2515 CAN controller connected to the AVR microcontroller over SPI. Supports CAN V2.0B at 1 […]
ASRock Industrial iEPF-9010S/iEP-9010E Edge AIoT platforms feature Alder Lake S CPU, up to 128GB RAM
ASRock Industrial has released the iEPF-9010S and iEP-9010E high-end, rugged Edge AIoT platforms powered by 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake S processors, equipped with up to 128GB RAM, 4G LTE, 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, and real-time TSN/TCC networking. The I/O rich embedded computers are designed for highly demanding workloads and mission-critical industrial applications such as factory automation, machine automation, robotic control, AI-enabled AOI (automated optical inspection), autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and more. The ASRock iEPF-9010S Expandable AIoT Edge platforms come with the following specifications: SoC – Intel 12th Gen Core, Pentium or Celeron “Alder Lake S” hybrid processor with up to 16 cores and 24 threads, Intel Xe or UHD Graphics fitting in an LGA 1700 socket Chipset iEPF-9010S-EY4 model – Intel R680E iEPF-9012S-EY4 model – Intel H610 System Memory iEPF-9010S-EY4 model – 4x 260-pin SO-DIMM DDR4 3200MHz up to 128GB (32 GB per SO-DIMM) iEPF-9012S-EY4 model – […]
YD-CH32V307VCT6 RISC-V MCU board comes with Ethernet and plenty of I/Os
At the beginning of the year, we wrote about WCH CH32V307 RISC-V microcontroller and a development board with 8 UART ports controlled over Ethernet. I’ve now been informed of a similar, but much more compact by VCC-GND Studio named “YD-CH32V307VCT6”. Besides the 144 MHz RISC-V microcontroller, the board features a 10Mbps Ethernet port, two USB Type-C ports, SPI flash, EEPROM, a microSD card socket, and four rows of 24 pins each for a total of 96 pins exposing all pins out of the LQFP100 package. YD-CH32V307VCT6 board specifications: MCU – WCH CH32V307VCT6 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller @ 144 MHz with 256K Flash, 64K SRAM Storage – 32Mbit SPI NOR flash (W25Q32), 64kbit EEPROM (24C64), MicroSD card slot Networking – 10 Mbps Ethernet USB – 1x USB 2.0 Type-C port (High Speed: 480 Mbps), 1x USB 2.0 Type-C port (Full Speed: 12 Mbps) Expansion – 2x 48-pin headers with 2 x 12-bit […]