Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on RAUC open-source OTA update solution for embedded Linux ported to Rock Pi 4 SBC

RAUC open-source OTA update solution for embedded Linux ported to Rock Pi 4 SBC

RAUC OTA firmware update Rock Pi 4

RAUC open-source OTA update solution enabling A/B updates for embedded Linux images has recently been ported to the Radxa Rock Pi 4 Model B SBC powered by a Rockchip OP1 SoC by the project’s maintainer, Leon Anavi working for Konsulto Group. If you run a Linux distribution like Ubuntu, Debian, or Fedora, packages and OS images are taken care of automatically or by running a few commands. However, software engineers who build custom embedded Linux images with the Yocto Project or Buildroot must handle this themselves. Luckily, there are already open-source OTA firmware update solutions such as Mender, Balena, Torizon, OSTree, Snap, or RAUC, and we’ll look at the latter today. RAUC (Robust Auto-Update Controller) was started by Pengutronix in 2015 and eventually adopted by the community. It’s a lightweight update client that runs on an Embedded Linux device and controls the A/B update procedure when a new firmware revision […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Sipeed Tang Mega 138K Dock is a lower-cost GOWIN GW5AST FPGA + RISC-V development board

Sipeed Tang Mega 138K Dock is a lower-cost GOWIN GW5AST FPGA + RISC-V development board

Sipeed Tang Mega 138K Dock

The Sipeed Tang Mega 138K Dock is a low-cost version of the Tang Mega 138K Pro development board launched last year with the GOWIN GW5AST FPGA + RISC-V SoC, two SPF+ cages, a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface, and DVI Rx and Tx ports. The new Tang Mega 138K Dock keeps a GW5AST FPGA SoC but with a 484-ball package that fits on a smaller system-on-module, and does without the SPF+ cages, replaces the PCIe 3.0 x4 interface with a PCIe 2.0 x4 interface, and only uses a single HDMI port for DVI Rx or Tx. Sipeed Tang Mega 138K system-on-module Let’s first have a look at the specifications of the SoM itself: SoC FPGA – GOWIN GW5AST-LV138FPG484A with 138,240 LUT4 1,080 Kb Shadow SRAM (SSRAM) 6,120 Kb Block SRAM (BSRAM) Number of BSRAM – 340 298x DSP slices 12x PLLs 16x global clocks 24x HCLK 8x transceivers at 270Mbps to […]

ArmSoM CM5 - Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC
Posted on by Debashis Das - 2 Comments on Infineon CY8CKIT-062S2-AI PSoC 6 Edge AI evaluation kit features multiple sensors, Arduino headers, Pmod connectors

Infineon CY8CKIT-062S2-AI PSoC 6 Edge AI evaluation kit features multiple sensors, Arduino headers, Pmod connectors

CY8CKIT 062S2 AI Kit

Infineon CY8CKIT-062S2-AI evaluation kit is a hardware platform built around the PSoC 6 family of MCUs and designed to help developers easily create and test edge AI applications. The dev board features an array of sensors including radar, microphone, magnetometer, IMU, and an air pressure sensor, which make it easy for data collection applications. The board also features Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and includes an additional expansion header that can be used to connect other modules and sensors. All of these features make this board useful for building a wide range of AI-powered applications, including smart home automation, industrial monitoring, wearables, healthcare devices, and robotics. Previously we have written about similar low-power edge AI modules such as the Digi ConnectCore MP25, the Axiomtek AIE110-XNX, and the Arducam KingKong feel free to check those out if you are interested in such low-power modules. Infineon CY8CKIT-062S2-AI Evaluation Kit specifications: MCU – Infineon […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Elecrow LR1262 development board combines Raspberry Pi RP2040, SX1262 LoRaWAN module, and 1.8-inch LCD

Elecrow LR1262 development board combines Raspberry Pi RP2040, SX1262 LoRaWAN module, and 1.8-inch LCD

LoRaWAN LR1262 Raspberry Pi RP2040 Development Board

Elecrow LR1262 development board combines a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller with the company’s LR1262 LoRaWAN module based on STM32WL LoRa SoC with support for 868 and 915 MHz frequency bands, and a 1.8-inch LCD. The board also offers an RS485 terminal block to connect sensors and actuators, plenty of connectors and headers for further expansion, several buttons for user control, and LEDs for debugging/monitoring. Elecrow LR1262 development board specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ @ 133MHz built-in 264KB SRAM Storage – 4MB flash Display – 1.8-inch 128×160 TFT LCD using ST7735S 4-wire SPI driver Wireless – Elecrow LR1262 LoRaWAN module MCU – STMicro STM32WLE5CCU6 Arm Cortex-M4 32-bit, 256 KB Flash, 64KB RAM RF transceiver – Semtech LX1262 Frequency band – 150 MHz to 930 MHz (Note: the board itself is advertised as supporting 803MHz to 930MHz: IN865, EU868, AU915, US915, KR920, RU864, and AS923) LoRaWAN protocol – […]

Posted on by Tomisin Olujinmi - 7 Comments on Zigbee Coordinator CC2652P7 1.0 runs open-source firmware, works with Zigbee2MQTT, Home Assistant, and ioBroker

Zigbee Coordinator CC2652P7 1.0 runs open-source firmware, works with Zigbee2MQTT, Home Assistant, and ioBroker

codm zigbee coordinator

The cod.m Zigbee Coordinator 1.0 (CZC 1.0) is a hybrid ZigBee coordinator that can be used to connect devices over a network (Ethernet/Wi-Fi) and USB. The ZigBee Coordinator version 1.0 is an upgrade of version 0.2 released in 2022. The CZC 1.0 replaces the Texas Instruments CC2652P2 chip with the much more powerful CC2652P7 chip, uses an ESP32-WROOM-32E module instead of the USR-K6 chip, and adds compatibility with Home Assistant (ZHA integration). It can create a Zigbee network and pair Zigbee devices over Ethernet, WiFi, or Serial (USB). It features the same Texas Instruments CC2652P7 chip as the SMLIGHT line of Zigbee Ethernet/WiFi/USB coordinators and USB dongles. There are two models of the CZC 1.0: a Power over Ethernet model and a model that can only be powered via USB-C. cod.m Zigbee Coordinator specifications: Zigbee SoC – Texas Instruments CC2652P7 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ 48 MHz with 704 KB flash, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on HIGOLE F9B Pro Intel N100 mini computer comes with a built-in 7-inch touchscreen display and 5,000 mAh battery

HIGOLE F9B Pro Intel N100 mini computer comes with a built-in 7-inch touchscreen display and 5,000 mAh battery

HIGOLE F9B Pro mini PC with 7-inch touchscreen display

HIGOLE F9B Pro is a mini PC powered by an Intel Processor N100 quad-core CPU and equipped with a built-in 7-inch touchscreen display, a 5,000mAh battery, and full-size ports that could be confused with a 7-inch tablet if it was not so thick… GOLE/HIGOLE has made many such mini PCs with integrated displays over the years initially to lower the Windows license fee, but they’ve kept making those with new Intel families, for example with the Gemini Lake-powered GOLE1 Pro mini PC with a 5.5-inch display introduced in 2022. The HIGOLE F9B Pro is just the latest iteration with a modern Alder Lake-N CPU and a 7-inch touchscreen display. HIGOLE F9B (Pro) specifications: SoC – SoC – Intel Processor N100 quad-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel HD graphics @ 750 MHz; TDP: 6W System Memory – 16GB LPDDR4 Storage 256GB or […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on NUMA emulation patch boosts Geekbench 6 benchmark results by up to 189 on Raspberry Pi 5

NUMA emulation patch boosts Geekbench 6 benchmark results by up to 18% on Raspberry Pi 5

Raspberry Pi 5 NUMA emulation

Igalia Engineer, Tvrtko Ursulin has recently submitted a patch to the Linux kernel adding a NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) emulation implementation for arm64 platforms that boosts the performance of 64-bit Arm targets by “splitting the physical RAM into chunks and utilizing an allocation policy to better utilize parallelism in physical memory chip organization”.

The NUMA emulation implementation was tested on a Raspberry Pi 5 SBC and the Geekbench 6 single-core score improved by 6%, while the multi-core score boosted by 18% after splitting into four emulated NUMA nodes. In other words, that’s like having a Broadcom BCM2712 CPU overclocked from 2.4 GHz up to 2.83 GHz.

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Quectel FLM263D 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 and BLE 5.2 RISC-V module supports Amazon Alexa Connect Kit (ACK) SDK for Matter

Quectel FLM263D 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 and BLE 5.2 RISC-V module supports Amazon Alexa Connect Kit (ACK) SDK for Matter

Quectel FLM263D WiFi 6 Smart Home module

Quectel Wireless FLM263D is a standalone WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 LE module with a 320 MHz RISC-V microcontroller that supports Alexa Connect Kit (ACK) SDK for Matter for connectivity with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, Apple HomeKit, and other Matter-compliant Smart Home devices. The module also implements security standards such as secure boot and Mbed TLS encryption. The FLM263D offers certifications such as Works with Alexa (WWA) and supports features such as Matter Simple Setup (MSS) that allows zero-touch setup of Matter-compliant smart home devices through Alexa. Quectel FLM263D specifications: MCU – RISC-V wireless microcontroller up to 320 MHz, with 512KB SRAM and 4MB flash (likely Beken BK7235) Wi-Fi 6 & BLE 5.2 WLAN Protocol – IEEE 802.11b/g/n/ax Wi-Fi Frequency Band – 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi Modulation Mode – CCK, BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM Wi-Fi Operating Mode – AP, STA, STA + AP WiFi Rx sensitivity – Up to […]

Boardcon Rockchip and Allwinner SoM and SBC products