CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

February 19, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Xcrhom T4S WiFi outdoor smart socket features power meter function, Tasmota open-source firmware

Xcrhom T4S Tasmota outdoor wifi smart socket

ESPHome is the favorite open-source firmware of Smart Home devices, but Tasmota is another option that’s been available for many years. We’ve just seen fewer products based on Tasmota (previously Sonoff-Tasmota) in recent years, but it recently showed up on a credit card-sized quad relay board, and I’ve just come across Maker Go’s Xcrhom T4S WiFi Outdoor Smart Socket that also ships with Tasmota firmware and sells on AliExpress for $24.88 shipped. The Xcrhom T4S exposes two sockets with dust and rainproof covers to be used safely outdoors, integrates a power meter, and the Tasmota firmware enables MQTT support, Home Assistant compatibility, and support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Xcrhom T4S specifications: Two EU sockets Max load – 3680W in total (16A x 230V) Rated Current – Up to 16A in total Power Input – 100 to 240V AC 50Hz Wireless – 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4; Tx power […]

February 19, 2025February 22, 2025 by Sponsored Post - 1 Comment

Check out this 24-layer HDI PCB made with PCBWay’s high-layer, high-order interposer PCB manufacturing services (Sponsored)

Connections between chips have become increasingly complex, and applications with higher frequency and speed requirements may not make use of traditional PCB technology. That’s where the interposer PCB, a new type of PCB comes into play. PCBWay has the capability to manufacture high-layer, high-order PCBs, and even successfully developed a 24-layer, 6-order arbitrary interconnection HDI PCB. The interposer PCB is a highly precise, high-density interconnect (HDI) PCB that allows for a higher wiring density per unit area compared to traditional PCBs. HDI PCBs are characterized by features such as micro vias, finer lines and spaces, higher connection pad density, and the use of blind and buried vias. These features enable the miniaturization of electronic devices by allowing more functionality to be packed into a smaller space. The design characteristics of this PCB include inner layers connected to the outer layers through laser microvias and dense routing, resulting in a multi-structure […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

February 19, 2025February 19, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Bapaco is a mechanical keyboard PC with an ultra-wide 12.3-inch touchscreen display (Crowdfunding)

Bapaco mechanical keyboard PC with integrated touchscreen display

Made by Shenzhen SIDIQIAO Technology, the Bapaco is a mechanical keyboard PC powered by an Intel Core i5-1235U 10-core Alder Lake SoC and equipped with a 12.3-inch ultra-wide touchscreen display with 1920×720 resolution. The keyboard PC is offered as a barebone model without memory or storage but supports up to 32GB RAM, an M.2 2280 NVMe SSD, and/or an M.2 2242 SATA 3.0 SSD. It also features an HDMI output to connect an extra display, WiFi 6 connectivity, a few USB ports, and a 3.5mm audio jack and stereo speakers. Bapaco specifications: SoC – Intel Core i5-1235U CPU – 10-core/12-thread hybrid Alder Lake U-Series processor with 2x Performance cores @ 1.3/4.4GHz, 8x Efficient cores @ 0.9/3.3GHz Cache – 12 MB Intel Smart Cache GPU – 80EU Iris Xe Graphics @ 1.2 GHz BPB: 15W System Memory – Up to 32GB DDR4 3200MT/s SO-DIMM single-channel memory Storage M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe […]

February 18, 2025February 19, 2025 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 3 Comments

Vaaman reconfigurable edge computer features Rockchip RK3399 SoC and Efinix Trion T120 FPGA (Crowdfunding)

Vaaman is a reconfigurable single-board edge computer that integrates a Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core ARM processor with an Efinix Trion T120 FPGA, offering a reconfigurable platform for edge computing applications. The board combines the flexibility of an FPGA with the raw power of a hard processor to create a system capable of adapting to varying computational demands in real time. The compact SBC features the Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core processor with two Cortex-A72 cores and four Cortex-A53 cores, as well as an Efinix Trion T120 FPGA with 112,128 logic elements, interlinked with RK3399 via a high-speed 300Mbps bridge (but it’s unclear how this is implemented). It is billed as a “Raspberry Pi-style board for the FPGA world” that can be used for cryptographic acceleration, software-defined radio (SDR), digital signal processing, real-time robotics, real-time video processing, edge AI deployments, industrial automation, and hardware prototyping. It features a 40-pin Raspberry Pi-compatible GPIO header and […]

February 18, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

exo software – A distributed LLM solution running on a cluster of computers, smartphones, or SBCs

You’d typically need hardware with a large amount of memory and bandwidth and multiple GPUs, if you want to run the latest large language models (LLMs), such as DeepSeek R1 with 671 billion parameters. But such hardware is not affordable or even available to most people, and the Exo software works around that as a distributed LLM solution working on a cluster of computers with or without NVIDIA GPUs, smartphones, and/or single board computers like Raspberry Pi boards. In some ways, exo works like distcc when compiling C programs over a build farm, but targets AI workloads such as LLMs instead. Key features of Exo software: Support for LLaMA (MLX and tinygrad), Mistral, LlaVA, Qwen, and Deepseek. Dynamic Model Partitioning – The solution splits up models based on the current network topology and device resources available in order to run larger models than you would be able to on any […]

February 18, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

ADLINK OSM-MTK510 – An OSM Size-L module with MediaTek Genio 510 AI SoC, up to 8GB RAM and 128GB eMMC flash

ADLINK OSM-MTK510 is an OSM Size-L compliant module powered by a MediaTek Genio 510 hexa-core Arm Cortex-A78/A55 SoC with a 3.2 TOPS AI accelerator and equipped with up to 8GB LPDDR4 and 128GB eMMC flash. The OSM module supports HDMI 2.0, MIPI DSI, and eDP display interfaces, up to 30MP cameras, and I/O options such as gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, and PCIe Gen2 x1. The OSM-MTK512 is available in either commercial or industrial (-40°C to 85°C) temperature grades and the company offers at least a 10-year lifecycle for long-term use. ADLINK OSM-MTK510 specifications: SoC – MediaTek Genio 510 (MT8370) CPU – Hexa-core processor with 2x Cortex-A78 cores @ up to 2.2 GHz and 4x Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 2.0 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G57 MC2 GPU VPU for visual processing Encoding up to 4Kp30 with H.265/HEVC or H.264 Decoding up to 4Kp60, AV1, VP9, HEVC, H.264 codecs supported AI […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025

February 18, 2025February 18, 2025 by Debashis Das - 5 Comments

PocketBeagle 2 SBC combines TI AM6232 dual-core Cortex-A53 SoC with MSPM0 MCU

Beagleboard has recently announced the PocketBeagle 2, a single board computer (SBC) built around TI’s AM6232 dual-core Cortex-A53 and Cortex-M7 SoC and an additional MSPM0L1105 Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller for ADC pins and board ID storage. Designed for developers, students, and hobbyists, it’s a direct upgrade from the previous generation PocketBeagle which the company released in 2017. The new board comes with a faster dual-core 64-bit CPU (compared to a single-core CPU), faster memory (DDR4), improved power management (USB-C + LiPo charger), and easier debugging (UART + JTAG) for faster development. Additionally, it comes with four user-controllable LEDs, a power LED, and a battery-charging LED for better status indication. Unlike the first generation, this new version comes with pre-soldered GPIO headers with the same compact (55 x 35mm) form factor making it suitable for embedded applications and IoT projects. PocketBeagle 2 single-board computer specifications Main SoC – Texas Instruments AM6232 CPU […]

February 17, 2025February 17, 2025 by Debashis Das - 16 Comments

HaLowLink 1 Wi-Fi HaLow gateway turns legacy devices into Wi-Fi HaLow clients via Ethernet, USB, or 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi

MorseMicro HaLowLink 1 Long Range Sub GHz Wi Fi HaLow

Morse Micro in collaboration with GL.iNet has recently showcased the HaLowLink 1 Wi-Fi HaLow gateway, which the company terms as Wi-Fi HaLow reference design and evaluation platform developed for long-range, low-power wireless connectivity for IoT applications. Built around the AzureWave AW-HM593 module with Morse Micro MM6108 silicon, it supports 1/2/4/8 MHz bandwidths. It features a MediaTek MT7621A dual-core CPU, Wi-Fi 4 module, dual Gigabit Ethernet, USB-C, and an SMA antenna connector, allowing it to work as a Wi-Fi HaLow router, access point, or extender. The device runs OpenWrt and provides an intuitive web-based UI and SSH/CLI configuration. OpenWrt also gives access to a web-based UI and SSH/CLI configuration. These features make this device useful for applications like smart homes, industrial automation, agriculture, and telecommunications. HaLowLink 1 specifications: SoC – Mediatek MT7621 dual-core, quad-thread MIPS1004K processor @ up to 880MHz System Memory – 256MB DDR3 (optional 512 MB) Storage – 32MB […]