Hardware Category - Page 922 of 1114 - CNX Software

January 29, 2015March 24, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

MeLE PCG03 mini PC Review and Benchmarks with Windows 8.1 with Bing

MeLE PCG03 is an Intel Atom Z3735F mini PC with 2GB RAM, and 32GB eMMC. I’ve already posted some pictures of the device and board, and since Windows 8.1 with Bing NTE (with proper license) is installed, I’ll first test the device with Microsoft OS as a reference, before trying Ubuntu or/and Android. MeLE PCG03 Setup The computer comes only with a power adapter, so you’ll need to find an HDMI or/and VGA cable for your display(s), and a USB keyboard and mouse to get started. Optionally, you’ll also want an Ethernet cable, and since storage is limited an extra storage device be it a USB hard drive, flash drive, or SD card. Once all is connected you can press the power button on the left side to boot the device. The boot normally takes about 20 seconds, but the first time, you’ll go through the usual Windows 8.1 setup […]

January 29, 2015May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

FOSDEM 2015 Schedule – January 31 – February 1 2015

FOSDEM (Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting) takes place every year during the first week-end of February. This year the developer-oriented event expects to bring over 5000 geeks to share ideas and collaborate on open source projects. Contrary to most other events, it’s free to attend, and you don’t even need to register, just show up. FOSDEM 2015 will take place on January 31- February 1 in Brussels. There will be 551 sessions divided into 5 keynotes, 40 lightning talks, 6 certification exams, and with the bulk being developer rooms and main tracks, divided into 7 main tracks this year: Languages, Performance, Time, Typesetting, Hardware, Security and Miscellaneous. I’m not going to attend, but it’s still interested to see what will be talked about, and I’ve concocted my own little virtual program out of the main tracks and developers’ rooms. There’s a few minutes overlap between some talks […]

January 28, 2015March 6, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

TCL T1 (SL-WR5028J) is a $46 Wi-Fi Router with a 2.5″ SATA Bay

Many routers now come with one or more USB ports to let you connect 3G dongles or/and storage device(s) to share the data on your local network. If you want to go with a fully integrated solution, and obvious solution is to go with a NAS, but these usually cost a bit more, so instead TCL SL-WR5028J (aka TCl T1) router could make a low cost (and low performance) NAS alternative thanks to its internal 2.5″ SATA bay, and it can be had for just $45.99 on DealExtreme. [Update: GearBest sells it for $35.98 with coupon TCLT1] TCL T1 specifications: SoC – Mediatek MT7260 MIPS WiSoC @ 580MHz System Memory – 64MB DDR2 Storage – 8MB Flash for firmware + SATA bay for 2.5″ HDD (5, 7.5 or 9mm thick hard drives are supported). Max capacity: unlimited… 🙂 Connectivity 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi up to 300 Mbps with two external antennas […]

January 28, 2015January 28, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Black Swift is a Tiny OpenWRT Wi-Fi Board Powered by Atheros AR9331 (Crowdfunding)

In case you thought there were not enough Wi-Fi board in the market already, here’s another one with Black Swift. The board runs OpenWRT, is a little larger than Vocore, and quite smaller than WRTnode, is powered by Atheros AR9331, provides access to I/Os via headers, and comes with two micro USB ports which should make it easy to use, and allow some interesting applications with USB devices. Black Swift specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Atheros AR9331 32-bit MIPS 24K CPU core @ 400 MHz, or 200 MHz in energy-saving mode selectable by software System Memory – 64 MB DDR2 SDRAM Storage – 16 MB NOR flash Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi (1×1, up to 150 Mbps) with PCB antenna USB – 1 x microUSB for power, 1x microUSB 2.0 port Expansion – Headers for 26x GPIO, 2x Fast Ethernet, SPI, I²C, 1x 16550 UART, 1x USB 2.0 Misc – Factory reset […]

January 28, 2015January 28, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

$46 EKB318 / F6 Android Media Player Features Rockchip RK3128, Supports H.265 Decoding

Rockchip RK3128 is a quad core Cortex A7 processor with a Mali GPU that supports H.265 video decoding up 1080p, and aimed at tablets, but it also found it way into mini PCs such as EKB318 (aka F6) with 1GB RAM, and 8GB flash in what looks like the answer from Rockchip to Amlogic S805 solutions. F6 / EKK318 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3128 quad core ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.3 GHz (or 1.2GHz) with ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB NAND flash + micro SD slot (up to 32GB) Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and optional Bluetooth 4.0. Video Output – HDMI 1.4 Audio Output – HDMI, optical S/PDIF Video Codec Decode – H.265, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, AVS, VC-1, RV, VP6/VP8, Sorenson Spark, MVC up to 1920×1080 @ 60fps Encode – H.264, H.265, VP8, MVC (1080p) USB – […]

January 27, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Olimex ESP8266-EVB Wi-Fi Evaluation Board Includes a Relay, an UEXT Connector

Olimex announced open source hardware ESP8266 modules last month, and the company has just announced the availability of ESP8266-EVB board with an ESP8266 module, a relay, an UEXT connector for other compatible Olimex modules, and headers for access to GPIOs. ESP8266 evaluation board specifications: MOD-WIFI-ESP8266-DEV Wi-Fi module with soldered connectors Female connectors for MOD-WIFI-ESP8266-DEV 10A/250VAC Relay Expansions 16-pin header (CON3) with access to some GPIOs, ADC, SDIO, RESET, and power signals. UEXT connector to connect modules and sensors from Olimex, or access I2C, UART, SPI, and extra GPIOs Misc – User Button which can also be pressed at boot time to enter bootloader mode for firmware upgrade. Power Supply – 5V/1A recommended; DCDC power converter to 3.3V to supply ESP8266 and UEXT modules with up to 1.5A current Dimensions – 57x50mm (4 mounting holes) You’ll also need 5V power supply, and a USB to serial board (3.3V) in order to […]

January 27, 2015January 27, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Amlogic S805 Datasheet Released

A datasheet release should not really be news, but not all companies are as open as Freescale, and possibly for fear of IP theft or patent trolls, most companies decide to keep datasheet, technical reference manuals, and other documentation confidential, and only release them under NDA, so it may take months before they come out, if ever. Thanks to Hardkernel and their ODROID-C1 board, Amlogic has allowed the release of Amlogic S805 datasheet (PDF 123 pages). The document is divided into two sections: Section I : System General Description Features Summary CPU and GPU subsystem Memory Map Power Domain Clock and Reset Unit System Boot General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) Interrupt Controller Direct Memory Access (DMAC) Timer Real Time Clock Section II: Interfaces MMC/SD/SDIO Controller Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) Serial Peripheral Interface Communication Controller Serial Peripheral Interface Flash Controller (SPI) Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter (UART) Infrared Remote Universal Serial Bus (USB) […]

January 26, 2015March 16, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

X29 Intel Celeron J1800 / J1900 mini PC Sells for $125 and Up

Today, somebody asked me to test 4K output on Intel Atom Z3735F, but I can’t do that since the platform only supports 1080p. As I just posted my unboxing of MeLE PCG03 mini PC, I noticed several ICs where added for extra functionalities, and people also started to complain about lack of Gigabit Ethernet, Fast Ethernet via a USB bridge, no USB 3.0, and no SATA. That’s what happens when you use a Tablet SoC in a mini PC, but if you’re ready to pay a little more, you could still get a mini PC with a proper desktop processor (Bay Trail-D) including SATA, USB 3.0, and Gigabit Ethernet (maybe) for about $125 (shipped) with X29-J1800 computer powered by Intel Celeron J1800 (10W TDP). That’s the price for the barebone system without RAM or storage, and if you want a complete system with 32GB eMMC and 4GB RAM the price […]