Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Testing Cytron MAKERDISK M.2 NVMe SSDs on Raspberry Pi 5 with GEEKWORM X1001 and Waveshare M.2 PCIe HAT+

Testing Cytron MAKERDISK M.2 NVMe SSDs on Raspberry Pi 5 with GEEKWORM X1001 and Waveshare M.2 PCIe HAT+

MAKERDISK M.2 NVMe SSD Raspberry Pi 5 review

Cytron has sent us a few of their MAKERDISK NVMe SSDs preloaded with Raspberry Pi OS so that we can test them on a Raspberry Pi 5 SBC, either with a GEEKWORM X1001 or Waveshare M.2 PCIe HAT+ add-on boards both of which were also provided by the company. Ever since the first M.2 PCIe HATs for the Raspberry Pi 5 were released, we knew Raspberry Pi Limited was working on its own model, and based on some Twitter/X “rumors” (with photos) the launch of the official M.2 HAT+ should be just around the corner. So it’s the perfect timing to test some SSDs on the Raspberry Pi 5 even though I’ve yet to get the official HAT+ Cytron “MAKERDISK” package unboxing The Malaysian company sent me a kit with everything I needed to get started, minus the Raspberry Pi 5 I already owned. This includes 128GB or 256GB NVMe […]

Posted on by Debashis Das - 3 Comments on CWWK NAS mini-ITX motherboard features six SATA connectors, three 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports

CWWK NAS mini-ITX motherboard features six SATA connectors, three 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports

CWWK NAS Motherboard

In our last post, we wrote about the CWWK X86-P1 which is a fanless SBC and mini PC that goes for $101 and up, but while writing another product that got my attention was the CWWK NAS motherboard which is built around the Intel Celeron J Series SoC and features six SATA connectors and three 2.5GbE network ports, two of which are connected to Intel i226-V controllers and the other one to a Realtek RTL8125BG controller. The board also has support for dual 2280 M.2 NVMe SSDs and DDR4 memory. Other than that, it has HDMI, DisplayPort, USB 2.0, 3.0, PCIe, and audio output ports. The board follows the mini-ITX form factor, and previously, we have written about many different boards with the same form factor, such as the Sapphire Edge+ VPR-4616-MB, ASRock Industrial Boards, Kontron K3931-N, and many others. Feel free to check those out if you are interested […]

ArmSoM CM5 - Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on PCIe 7.0 to support up to 512GB/s bidirectional transfer rates

PCIe 7.0 to support up to 512GB/s bidirectional transfer rates

PCIe 7.0 Speed 512GB/s

The PCI-SIG first unveiled the PCIe Express (PCIe) 7.0 specification at US DevCon in June 2022 with claims of bidirectional data rates of up to 512GB/s in x16 configuration, and the standard is now getting closer to the full release in 2025 with the release of the specification version 0.5. PCIe 7.0 increases data transfer speeds to 128 GT/s per pin doubling the 64 GT/s of PCIe 6.0 and quadrupling the 32 GT/s of PCIe 5.0, delivering up to 256 GB/s in each direction in x16 configuration, excluding encoding overhead. In other words, the total maximum bandwidth of a PCIe 7.0 x1 interface (32GB/s) would be equivalent to PCIe Gen3 x16 or PCIe Gen4 x8 as shown in the table below. PCIe 7.0 highlights: 128 GT/s raw bit rate and up to 512 GB/s bidirectionally via x16 configuration PAM4 (Pulse Amplitude Modulation with 4 levels) signaling Doubles the bus frequency […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Kamvas Pro 16 (2.5K) review – A 15.8-inch drawing tablet and stylus with 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity

Kamvas Pro 16 (2.5K) review – A 15.8-inch drawing tablet and stylus with 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity

HUION Kamvas Pro 16 2.5K drawing tablet review

HUION Kamvas Pro 16 (2.5K) is a 15.8-inch drawing tablet with 2.5K resolution that comes with a stylus supporting 8192 levels of pressure. The company sent us a review sample, so I’ll test it as an external display in Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04, and check the drawing functions of the Kamvas Pro 16 with the stylus as well as other potential use cases. Kamvas Pro 16 (2.5K) specifications (model GT1602) But before that, let’s list the specifications of the display: Panel – 15.8-inch (diagonal) IPS display at 60 Hz Resolution – 2560 x 1440 (16:9) QHD PPI (Pixels Per Inch) – 186 Active Area – 349.6 x 196.7 mm Contrast Ratio – 1200:1 Brightness – 220nit (Max.) Response Time – 14ms Viewing Angle – 178° (89°/89°(H)/89°/89°(V) (Typ.)(CR＞10)) Color Gamut Volume – 145% sRGB Color Gamut Coverage – 99% sRGB / 99% Adobe RGB Colors – 16.7M (8-bit) Surface Finish […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Toradex Aquila AM69 SoM features TI AM69A octa-core Cortex-A72 AI SoC, rugged 400 pin board-to-board connector

Toradex Aquila AM69 SoM features TI AM69A octa-core Cortex-A72 AI SoC, rugged 400 pin board-to-board connector

Toradex Aquila AM69

Toradex Aquila AM69 is the first system-on-module (SoM) from the company’s Aquila family with a small form factor and a rugged ~400-pin board-to-board connector targetting demanding edge AI applications in medical, industrial, and robotics fields with Arm platforms that deliver x86 level of performance at low power. The Aquila AM69 SoM is powered by a Texas Instruments AM69A octa-core Arm Cortex-A72 SoC with four accelerators delivering 32 TOPS of AI performance, up to 32GB LPDDR4, 128GB eMMC flash, built-in WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 module, and a board-to-board connector for display, camera, and audio interfaces, as well as dual gigabit Ethernet, multiple PCIe Gen3 and SerDes interfaces. All that in a form factor that’s only slightly bigger (86x60mm) than a business card or a Raspberry Pi 5. Toradex Aquila AM69 specifications: SoC  – Texas Instruments AM69A Application processor – Up to 8x Arm Cortex-A72 cores at up to 2.0 GHz […]

Posted on by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments on Cavli’s CQM220 5G RedCap module is available in LGA, M.2, and mPCIe form factors

Cavli’s CQM220 5G RedCap module is available in LGA, M.2, and mPCIe form factors

Cavli QM220

At Embedded World 2024, leading cellular IoT module manufacturer, Cavli Wireless, is set to shine the spotlight on their latest product offering, the CQM220 cellular IoT module with support for the 5G RedCap (reduced capability) standard introduced in 3GPP Release 17. The module is available in three different form factors: LGA, M.2, and mPCIe Gen 2. It offers a maximum network speed of 226 megabits per second (Mbps) for downlink communication and 121 megabits per second for uplink communication. Similar to the Cavli C16QS module, it can support an integrated eSIM for global coverage via the Calvi Hubble cloud platform and comes with an optional GNSS (Global navigation satellite system) for tracking applications. Cavli CQM220 specifications: Processor – ARM Cortex-A7 @ up to 1.7 GHz Memory / Storage 256 MB RAM 256 MB flash Radio Radio Access Technology: 5G RedCap 3GPP Release: 17 Fallback: 4G LTE Cat 4 Network Speed […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on Google’s Jpegli open-source library can compress high quality images 359 more than traditional JPEG codecs

Google’s Jpegli open-source library can compress high quality images 35% more than traditional JPEG codecs

Jpegli ELO score vs other JPEG libraries

Google has released the Jpegli open-source library for advanced JPEG coding that maintains backward compatibility while delivering an up to 35% compression ratio improvement at high-quality compression settings. Google Research has been working on improving the compression of data (Brotli), audio (e.g. Lyra V2), and images with a project such as WebP for many years in order to speed up the web and make it consume less bandwidth for dollar savings and lower carbon emissions.  Jpegli is their latest project and aims to improve the compression ratio of legacy JPEG files on systems were modern compression such as WebP may not be available or desirable. Jpegli highlights: Support both an encoder and decoder complying with the original JPEG standard (8-bit) and offering API/ABI compatibility with libjpeg-turbo and MozJPEG. Focus on high-quality results with up to 35% better compression ratio. Just as fast as libjpeg-turbo and MozJPEG. Support for 10+ bits […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on AMD Ryzen Embedded 8000 Series processors target industrial AI with 16 TOPS NPU

AMD Ryzen Embedded 8000 Series processors target industrial AI with 16 TOPS NPU

AMD Ryzen Embedded 8000

AMD has recently “announced” the Ryzen Embedded 8000 Series processors in a community post with the latest AMD embedded devices combining a 16 TOPS NPU based on the AMD XDNA architecture with CPU and GPU elements for a total of 39 TOPS designed for industrial artificial intelligence. The Ryzen Embedded 8000 CPUs will be found in machine vision, robotics, and industrial automation applications to enhance the quality control and inspection processes, enable real-time, route-planning decisions on-device for minimal latency, and predictive maintenance, and autonomous control of industrial processes. AMD Ryzen Embedded 8000 key features and shared specifications: CPU – Up to 8 “Zen 4” cores, 16 threads Cache L1 Instruction Cache – 32 KB, L1 Data Cache = 32 KB (per core) L2 Cache – Up to 8 MB (total) L3 Cache-  Up to 16 MB unified Graphics – RDNA 3 graphics with up to 6 WGPs (Work Group processors) […]

Boardcon Rockchip and Allwinner SoM and SBC products