CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

April 3, 2022April 4, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Add WiFi HaLow to Raspberry Pi with ALFA Network AHPI7292S HAT

ALFA Network AHPI7292S is a Raspberry Pi HAT with WiFi HaLow (802.11ah) offering low power connectivity, up to one kilometer line-of-sight range, and that’s mostly useful for security cameras, but it can also be used to extend the range of the network for other purposes. The Newracom NRC7292 expansion board adds to be few WiFi HaLow hardware we’ve seen in the past year including a mini PCIe card, a WiFi HaLow development board, and a gateway kit to extend the range of IP cameras. ALFA Network AHPI7292S specifications: Chipsets – Newracom NRC7292 WiFi HaLow SoC (IEEE 802.11ah draft 8.0 compliant) RF – Qorvo RFFM6901 front-end Frequencies – 847 MHz (TW), 866 MHz (EU), 915 MHz (US), 922 MHz (KR), 924 MHz (JP) Modulation – OFDM with BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM Data rate – 150 Kbps ~ 15 Mbps Channel bandwidth – 1/2/4 MHz Antenna connector – 1x IPEX/U.FL connector or […]

April 2, 2022June 1, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 30 Comments

ASUS Tinker Edge R SBC with 3GB RAM, Rockchip RK3399Pro sells for $179

ASUS Tinker Edge R Pico-ITX single board computer with Rockchip RK3399Pro AI processor was first unveiled in 2019 with 6GB RAM, but a cheaper 3GB RAM version with 2GB RAM for the CPU, and 1GB RAM with the integrated NPU just showed up in my news feeds. Whether it comes with 3GB or 6GB RAM, the Tinker Edge R board should mostly be interesting for AI accelerated workload thanks to the 3 TOPS built-in NPU, as well as the two MIPI CSI camera interfaces. ASUS Tinker Edge R (3GB) SBC specifications: SoC – Rochchip RK3399Pro hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 2x Cortex A72 cores up to 1.8 GHz, 4x Cortex A53 cores @ 1.4 GHz, an Arm Mali-T860 MP4 GPU up to 800 MHz with OpenGL ES 1.1 to 3.2, OpenVG1.1, OpenCL 1.2 and DX 11 support, and NPU delivering up to 3.0 TOPS System Memory – 2 GB dual-channel LPDDR4 […]

April 1, 2022April 2, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

PiSquare enables wireless Raspberry Pi HAT control though ESP8266 and RP2040 MCUs (Crowdfunding)

PiSquare Wireless Raspberry Pi HAT RP2040 & ESP8266

SB Components PiSquare is a board following the Raspberry Pi HAT form factor, and based on Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller & ESP-12E Wireless module in order to control multiple Raspberry Pi HATs wirelessly without stacking them on their Raspberry Pi. The PiSquare uses Socket programming to control multiple Raspberry Pi HATs wirelessly, and for instance, you could connect multiple HATs with SPI or UART without the expansion boards conflicting with each other since the physical interface is handled by the Raspberry Pi RP2040 on each PiSquare connected over WiFi (ESP8266) to the Raspberry Pi SBC. PiSquare hardware specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ up to 133 MHz Storage – 16Mbit SPI flash Display – 0.91-inch OLED display Connectivity – 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 via ESP-12 (ESP8266) module USB – 1x USB Type-C port 40-pin header and form factor compatible with the official Raspberry Pi HATs Power Supply […]

March 31, 2022April 1, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments

How to Install dnsmasq caching DNS server in Ubuntu

As you may have noticed in recent days, my domain registrar (HostFast) suspended cnx-software.com domain for what I believe are dubious reasons, meaning the site was inaccessible to the outside world and myself. I cannot do much about the latter and I’m held hostage to what the domain registrar’s will, but I was able to access my own website with my domain name after installing a DNS server through dnsmasq on my Ubuntu 20.04 laptop. Edit: most of the steps below are actually not needed in Ubuntu 20.04, since you could just edit /etc/hosts (step 4). I’ll just leave the instructions below in case somebody needs to install dnsmasq. Here are the steps I followed. Install dnsmasq

sudo apt install dnsmasq

1	sudo apt install dnsmasq

This did not work at first since systemd-resolved is already installed, so I disabled it by following instructions on askubuntu:

sudo systemctl stop systemd-resolved
sudo systemctl disable systemd-resolved
sudo systemctl mask systemd-resolved

sudo systemctl stop systemd-resolved

sudo systemctl disable systemd-resolved

sudo systemctl mask systemd-resolved

I then added name servers to /etc/dnsmasq.conf:

server=8.8.8.8
server=4.4.4.4

1 2	server=8.8.8.8 server=4.4.4.4

and cnx-software.com IP […]

March 31, 2022March 31, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Kontron Pi-Tron CM4 mini PC leverages Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 for industrial applications

Kontron Pi-Tron CM4 is a single-board computer and mini PC based on the Raspberry Pi Compute Module with a Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor, up to 8GB RAM, up to 32GB eMMC flash, HDMI video output, two Ethernet ports, optional WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, and an M.2 slot for AI or wireless expansion. Designed for industrial applications, the Pi-Tron CM4 is also equipped with RS232, RS485/CAN FD bus, and GPIO terminal blocks, supports 24V input voltage, and is optionally sold as AL Pi-Tron CM4 in a housing suited for challenging environments. Kontron Pi-Tron CM4 specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4) with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @1.5 GHz, VideoCore VI GPU, H.265 (HEVC) up to 4Kp60 decode, 1080p30 encode, up to 8GB LPDDR4, up to 32GB eMMC flash Storage – MicroSD card socket (only for Raspberry Pi CM4 Lite module) Display I/F HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60 […]

March 31, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

VESA compatible mini PC is powered by Vortex86DX3 x86 processor

ICOP EB-3362-I fanless mini PC powered by DM&P Vortex86DX3 x86 processor coupled with 2GB DDR3 of memory and designed to be mounted on the back of a VESA compatible display or monitor, a wall, or even a DIN rail through an adapter. The mini PC will be mostly useful for legacy x86 applications with features like VGA video output, multiple DB9 COM ports, as well as SATA storage. The wide 8V to 24V input voltage and -20 to 70C temperature range will also make it suitable for some industrial applications. ICOP EB-3362-I specfications: SoC – DM&P Vortex86DX3 dual-core x86 processor @ 1GHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – SATA interface, SD card socket Display Output – VGA up to 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz Networking 10/100M Ethernet RJ45 port Optional additional Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port Optional WiFi via USB 2.0 port, and external antenna USB – 3x USB […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

March 31, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

TurboX C7230 SOM integrates Qualcomm QCS7230 SoC for WiFi 6 & 5G 8K AI cameras

Thundercomm TurboX C7230 SOM is a system-on-module powered by the just-announced Qualcomm QCS7230 hexa-core processor with 7 TOPS of AI performance and designed for WiFi 6 and 5G connected smart cameras with up to 8K resolution. The TurboX C7230 module comes with 8GB LPDDR5 (PoP), 128GB UFS storage, six MIPI CSI camera interfaces, two MIPI DSI display interfaces, as well as a QCA6391 chip for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity, plus optional 5G cellular connectivity through an optional Snapdragon X55 module that connects to the TurboX C7230 development kit. TurboX C7230 SOM system-on-module specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon QCS7230 hexa-core processor with 1x Kryo 585 Gold (Cortex-A77) core @ 2.84 GHz, 3x Kryo 585 Gold cores @ 2.4 GHz, and two Kryo 585 Silver (Cortex-A55) cores @ 1.8 GHz, 4 MB L3 cache, Adreno 650 GPU, Adreno 665 VPU, Adreno 995 DPU, Hexagon DSP with dual-HVX, and Spectra 480 […]

March 30, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Bluetooth LE audio evaluation kit supports nRF52840 Bluetooth Low Energy SoC

Software company Packetcraft has announced the availability of its Bluetooth LE audio evaluation kit for the Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 Bluetooth Low Energy SoC used to let engineers evaluate the technology and develop Bluetooth LE Audio applications. Bluetooth LE audio was first announced in January 2020 together with the LC3 audio codec, and promised to deliver a much longer battery life for your Bluetooth headphone or battery-operated speaker, as well as support for multi-stream and broadcast audio. But it’s taken some time before being adopted in chips like Qualcomm QCC305x/QCC3056 or FastConnect 7800, as well as operating systems with, for instance, Android 12 being the first version of Android with LE audio support. The kit is comprised of three Nordic Semi nRF52840-DK boards each fitted with a Packetcraft audio interface board (AIB) equipped with two 3.5mm audio jacks for microphone and speaker, plus a ground loop isolator, three 3.5mm audio cables […]