CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

September 14, 2021September 14, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

$10 LILYGO T-Display RP2040 board integrates a 1.14-inch color display

As its name implies, LILYGO T-Display RP2040 is a Raspberry Pi RP2040 based development board that comes with a display, and more exactly a 1.14-inch color display with 240×135 resolution and based on ST7789V SPI display driver. The T-Display RP2040 board joins other Rasberry Pi RP2040 boards with integrated displays like Arducam Pico4ML, but does so at a much lower price with LILYGO selling the board for just $9.98 on Aliexpress. LilyGO T-Display RP2040 specifications: Microcontroller – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ MCU with 264 KB of embedded SRAM Storage – 4MB SPI flash Display – 1.14-inch full-color IPS LCD Display (ST7789V SPI controller) with 240 x 135 resolution Expansion – 15-pin + 12-pin expansion headers with 14x GPIOs, 6x PWMs, up to 2x UART, up to 2x I2C, up to 2x SPI, 2x programmable high-speed I/O, 5V, 3.3V, Vbat, and GND Misc – Boot & enable buttons, 2x user […]

September 14, 2021September 14, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Portenta H7 Lite cost-optimized Arduino Pro board drops WiFi, USB-C video output, NXP secure element

Arduino Portenta H7 Lite is a cost-down version of Portenta H7 STM32H7 that shaves off a little over $30 of the Arduino Pro board by doing without a wireless module nor USB-C video output and opting for a lower cost Microchip ATECC608 secure element. Arduino says the new board provides a cost-optimized solution for companies developing high-end industrial machinery, laboratory equipment, computer vision, PLCs, robotics controllers, and mission-critical devices. Arduino Portenta H7 Lite specifications (with differences in bold or strikethrough): Microcontroller – STMicro STM32H747XI Cortex-M7 @ 480 MHz + M4 @ 200 MHz MCU with 2MB dual-bank Flash memory, 1 MB RAM, Chrom-ART graphical hardware accelerator System Memory – 2MB SDRAM (upgradeable up to 64MB) Storage – 16MB QSPI NOR Flash (Upgradeable up to 128MB) Connectivity 2.4GHz WiFi 802.11b/g/n up to 65 Mbps and Bluetooth 5.1 BR/EDR/LE via Murata 1DX module On-board 10/100M PHY Video I/F – MIPI DSI & […]

ArmSoM CM5 - Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC

September 13, 2021September 13, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

RK3399 based Industrial computer runs Debian 9.0 or Android 7.1

Vecow EIC-1000 in an industrial Edge AI computer powered by Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core Cortex-A72/A53 processor with 9V to 55VDC wide-range supply input, an operating temperature range of 0°C to 70°C, and designed for digital signage, factory automation, smart retail, and other AIoT/Industry 4.0 applications. The fanless mini PC is equipped with 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM and 32GB eMMC flash, offers 4K video output via HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0/2.0, and RS232/RS485 serial ports, and more. Vecow EIC-1000 specifications: SoC- Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core Arm processor with dual-core Arm Cortex-A72 @ 2.0 GHz, quad-core Cortex-A53 @ 1.6GHz, Arm Mali-T860MP4 GPU System Memory – 1GB or 2GB DDR3L 1066MHz SDRAM Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card socket Video Output – HDMI 2.0 output up to 4Kp60 Video Encoder – Up to 1080p30 H.264/MVC/VP8 Decoder Up to 4Kp60 H.264/H.265 10-bit, VP9 Up to 1080p60 MPEG-4/MPEG-2/VP8 Audio – 3.5mm headphone and microphone jacks, Networking […]

September 13, 2021July 4, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

AAEON PICO-TGU4 Pico-ITX Tiger Lake UP3 SBC Comes with 2.5 GbE, SATA, HDMI & eDP

I’ve just written about the first Tiger Lake UP3 Pico-ITX motherboard I’ve seen with Commell LP-179 equipped with an Intel Core i7 or Celeron processor, but while doing research on the topic, AAEON PICO-TGU4 Pico-ITX SBC with “11th Generation Intel Core i7/i5/i3/Celeron U-Series Processor SoC” showed up. More specifically, the PICO-TGU4 Pico-ITX SBC features processors from the Tiger Lake UP3 family, comes with up to 32GB RAM, SATA storage, HDMI output, dual Gigabit Ethernet, dual USB 3.2, and more. But we’ve now got some photos and key features & specifications for AAEON PICO-TGU4 SBC: SoC – 11th Generation Intel Core i7/i5/i3/Celeron Tiger Lake UP3 SoC up to 4.8 GHz System Memory – Up to 32GB LPDDR4x 3200 MHz on-board memory, optional In-Band ECC for Tiger Lake GRE processors, only available upon request Storage – 1x SATA port Video Output HDMI 2.0b port up to 4Kx2K 60Hz 1x eDP up to […]

September 13, 2021September 13, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

BrakTooth vulnerabilities impact closed-source Bluetooth stacks used in chips from Espressif, Intel, Qualcomm…

BrakTooth is a family of new security vulnerabilities in commercial, closed-source Bluetooth Classic stacks that range from denial of service (DoS) via firmware crashes and deadlocks to arbitrary code execution (ACE) in certain IoT devices. A team from Singapore has discovered 16 new security vulnerabilities after evaluating 13 Bluetooth devices from 11 vendors, but after browsing through the list of certified Bluetooth devices with impacted processors, they estimate it could impact 1400 devices. We can see the list of BrakTooth-impacted SoCs include some familiar names like Intel AX200 (found in many laptops and computers through M.2 cards), Espressif Systems ESP32, Texas Instruments CC2564C, Qualcomm CSR8811/CSR8510, Bluetrum AB32VG1 board (based on AB5301A SoC) which I’ve just reviewed, and more… The good news is that most vendors have either already submitted a patch or working on it. Espressif, Infineon (previously Cypress), and Bluetrum already have released patchsets for their firmware. It’s really […]

September 12, 2021September 14, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Getting started with Bluetrum AB32VG1 RISC-V Bluetooth audio board using RT-Thread

Bluetrum AB32VG1 is a development board based on AB5301A RISC-V microcontroller designed for Bluetooth audio applications as well as general-purpose projects that works with RT-Thread real-time operating system. RT-Thread sent me a board for review, and I’ll write about my experience in a getting started guide for Bluetutm AB32VG1 trying out the RT-Thread Studio IDE with the LED blink and audio samples, as there’s no Bluetooth sample at this time… Bluetrum AV32VG1 Unboxing The board ships with a USB-C cable for power and programming. It offers Arduino UNO headers for expansion, a MicroSD card slot, a USB host port, a 3.5mm audio jack, an IR receiver, and a few buttons. There’s nothing to do on the bottom of the board apart from a QR Core for the WeChat app. There are also several configuration jumpers, but I could not find any documentation about these and did not mess with the […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

September 11, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Intel Atom x5-Z8350 mini PC sells for $88.90 shipped

More Intel Atom x5-Z8350 hardware is being discounted with Unisound T7 II mini PC selling for $88.90 including shipping, which follows last month’s Atom x5-Z8350 single board computers sold for $50 to $64. As we’ll see below, the mini PC’s specifications are similar to the ones for the SBC’s, but the advantage here is that you’ll get an enclosure, a power supply, and an HDMI cable, plus the usual mostly useless user manual and warranty card. T7 II mini PC specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8350 “Cherry Trail” quad-core processor @ 1.44 GHz / 1.92 GHz (Burst frequency) with Intel HD 400 graphics @ 200 / 500 MHz System Memory – 2 GB DDR3L Storage – 32 GB eMMC flash, full-size SD card socket Video Output – HDMI 1.4 port up to 4Kp30, 1080p60 Audio – 3.5mm audio (mic+headphone) jack, and digital audio via HDMI Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet 802.11 b/g/n […]

September 10, 2021June 3, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 36 Comments

Mikron MIK32 – Made in Russia 32-bit RISC-V MCU offers features similar to STM32L0 MCU

The Mikron MIK32 is a 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller made in Russia with features similar to an STMicro STM32L0 Cortex-M0+ MCU that shows how RISC-V open-source architecture can help lower the barrier to entry, and let more companies design their own chips. The MIK32 microcontroller features CPU IP from Syntacore based in Saint Petersburg following the RV32IMC profile. Clocked at 32 MHz, the MCU comes with I2C, UART, SPI, ADC, DAC interfaces, as well as various timers, an interrupt controller, and more. Mikron MIK32 specifications: CPU Core – 32-bit RISC-V up to 32 MHz with 32 registers, embedded multiplier, debugger (TAP controller and JTAG interface), and interrupt controller Memory & Storage – 256 bytes OTP ROM, 16KB RAM, 8KB EEPROM Interfaces Storage I/F – SPI, Dual-SPI, Quad-SPI interfaces for NOR and NAND flash devices 4-channel DMA controller supporting low-power modes 2x I2C, 2x UART with synchronous mode support, 2x SPI 12-bit […]