Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on NanoPi R2S Plus dual GbE SBC and router gets 32GB flash, USB-C debug port, M.2 socket for WiFi

NanoPi R2S Plus dual GbE SBC and router gets 32GB flash, USB-C debug port, M.2 socket for WiFi

NanoPi R2 Plus

NanoPi R2S Plus dual GbE SBC and router is an update to the Rockchip RK3328-powered NanoPi R2S SBC that was introduced in 2020 with the new model adding a 32GB eMMC flash, a USB-C debug port for easier debugging without having to open the enclosure, and an M.2 socket for an optional SDIO WiFi module. The NanoPi R2 Plus still comes with 1GB DDR4 memory, a microSD card, two gigabit Ethernet ports implemented through the RK3328’s GMAC and a USB 3.0 controller, adds one extra USB 2.0 port, and ditches the micro USB port used for power with a USB-C port. NanoPi R2S Plus specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3328 quad-core Cortex-A53 @ 1.5 GHz with Arm Mali-450MP2 System Memory – 1GB DDR4 RAM Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot, SPI flash footprint Connectivity 1x Gigabit Ethernet (WAN) up to 941 Mbps (measured) via Realtek RTL8211F gigabit Ethernet controller […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Watch ESP32’s GPIO status in real-time in a web browser

Watch ESP32’s GPIO status in real-time in a web browser

GPIOViewer ESP32 GPIO web browser

GPIOViewer is an open-source Arduino library allowing users to monitor the GPIO pins status of their ESP32 board in real-time in a web browser for troubleshooting or fun. It’s different than the Wokwi ESP32 simulator that works entirely in a web browser since the GPIOViewer library sends GPIO status data of the actual hardware over WiFi to display the pin status as they change in a page rendered in a web browser from a choice of popular ESP32 development boards. The GPIOViewer library relies on the ESPAsyncWebServer Async web server for ESP8266 and ESP32 and the AsyncTCP asynchronous TCP library for ESP32 microcontrollers. The first two must be manually downloaded and installed, and the latter can be installed directly from the Arduino IDE’s Library Manager by searching for it. GPIOViewer has a 50 KB footprint, works with digital, analog, and PWM, and supports various ESP32-VROOM-32 development boards, Olimex ESP32-EVB and […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on TerraMaster unveils F2-424 and F4-424 2-bay/4-bay NAS systems powered by Intel Processor N95 SoC

TerraMaster unveils F2-424 and F4-424 2-bay/4-bay NAS systems powered by Intel Processor N95 SoC

TerraMaster F4-424 and F2-424

We have already covered NAS systems based on the Alder Lake-N processor such as the 2-bay AAOSTAR R1 and the 6-bay ZimaCube both powered by an Intel Processor N95. But both are made by smaller companies, and TerraMaster has now introduced the 2-bay F2-424 and 4-bay F4-424 NAS systems equipped with an Intel Processor N95 quad-core processor. The two models ship with 8GB DDR5 memory by default, upgradable to 32GB, and feature two M.2 2280 sockets for NVMe SSDs, dual 2.5GbE networking, and two 10 Gbps-capable USB 3.2 host ports, one being a USB Type-A port, and the other a USB Type-C port. The multimedia capabilities of the Processor N95 CPU can be used through an HDMI 2.1 video output. TerraMaster F2-424 and F4-424 specifications: SoC – Inte Processor N95 quad-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.4 GHz with 6MB cache, 16 EU Intel UHD graphics @ up to […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Xiaomi Router AX1500 WiFi 6 router sells for $25

Xiaomi Router AX1500 WiFi 6 router sells for $25

Xiaomi Router AX1500

Xiaomi Router AX1500 is an inexpensive WiFi 6 router with four antennas delivering up to 1201Mbps at 5 GHz and 300 Mbps at 2.4GHz and selling for just around $25 including shipping on Aliexpress. We had already cheap WiFi 6 solution with the Banana Pi BPI-WiFi 6 router based on Triductor Technology TR6560 dual-core Cortex-A9 router SoC and TR5220 WiFi 6 chipset going for $26, but that was the board only, and a complete system went for around $40. Xiaomi Router AX1500 is a complete WiFi 6 router selling for just $25 with an enclosure and power supply. Xiaomi Router AX1500 specifications: SoC – Unspecified Networking Wireless 2.4GHz WiFi 2×2  802.11n up to 300Mbps Channels – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,11, 12, 13 5GHz WiFi 2×2 802.11ax (WiFi 6) up to 1201Mbps Channels – 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64,149, 153, 157, 161, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Beelink SEi12 i7-12650H mini PC review – Part 1: unboxing, teardown, and first boot

Beelink SEi12 i7-12650H mini PC review – Part 1: unboxing, teardown, and first boot

Beelink SEi12 i7-12650H mini PC windows 11

Beelink SEi12 i7-12650H is a Windows 11 Pro mini PC powered by an Intel Core i7-12650H Alder Lake-H processor coupled with up to 64 GB of DDR4 memory, up to 2TB of M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 SSD storage, and various ports such as HDMI 2.0 video output, USB Type-C and Type-A ports, gigabit Ethernet, as well as a WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 module. Shenzhen AZW Technology, the company behind the Beelink brand, sent us the Beelink SEi12 i7-12650H mini PC with 32GB DDR4 RAM and a 500GB M.2 SSD 500 GB for review. In the first part of the review, we’ll check out the specifications, before going through an unboxing and a teardown, and checking whether it boots to Windows 11 Pro as expected. We’ll then work on detailed reviews with both  Windows 11 Pro and Ubuntu 22.04 in the next few weeks. Beelink SEi12 i7-12650H specifications SoC – […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Qotom Q20332G9-S10 fanless “mini PC” features four 10 GbE and five 2.5GbE ports

Qotom Q20332G9-S10 fanless “mini PC” features four 10 GbE and five 2.5GbE ports

Qotom Q20331G9-S10 fanless network appliance

Qotom Q20332G9-S10 is described as a fanless mini PC or somewhat more accurately as a router PC with four 10GbE SFP+ cages and five 2.5GbE RJ45 ports powered by an Intel Atom C3758R Denverton Refresh eight-core processor first introduced in 2020. I would rather call it a network appliance than anything with “PC” in its name since the system only comes with VGA video output (e.g. no HDMI or DisplayPort output), no audio support, and Denverton server processors lack an internal GPU. The Qocom device supports up to 64GB DDR4 memory, up to two 2.5 SATA drives, and two M.2 NVMe SSDs, and comes with one extra M.2 socket for cellular connectivity and a few USB ports. Qotom Q20332G9-S10 specifications: SoC – Intel Atom C3758R Denverton Refresh 8-core processor @ 2.4 GHz with 16M cache; TDP: 26W System Memory – Up to 64GB dual-channel DDR4 @ 2400MHz Storage 2x M.2 […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
Posted on by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments on The PCOM-B65A COM Express module is powered by Intel Core Ultra Processors

The PCOM-B65A COM Express module is powered by Intel Core Ultra Processors

PCOM B65A front

Taiwan-based embedded systems manufacturer, Portwell, has announced a new COM Express Type 6 Basic module based on the Intel Core Ultra processor platform. The Portwell PCOM-B65A module is a minimal COM Express module that comes with either one of the H-series or U-series processors in the Core Ultra series. The Intel Core Ultra series (formerly known as Meteor Lake) uses Intel’s 3D performance hybrid architecture (two core microarchitectures on a chip) to optimize performance and distribute workloads efficiently. It also features an integrated neural processing unit that offers low-power AI acceleration and hardware offloading.The I/O and artificial intelligence feature set on the PCOM-B65A COM Express module suits several embedded applications such as medical devices, automation, IoT, and industrial control. We have already covered other products based on the newly released 14th Gen Intel Core Ultra (Meteor Lake) series with the ADLINK’s cExpress-MTL Type 6 Compact module and the ASRock Industrial’s […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on WCH RISC-V microcontrollers can now be programmed with the Arduino IDE

WCH RISC-V microcontrollers can now be programmed with the Arduino IDE

WCH RISC-V Arduino

WCH has launched some interesting RISC-V microcontrollers in the last year or so, including the “10 cents” CH32V003 RISC-V microcontroller with 2KB SRAM and 16KB flash or the CH32V307with more resources (up to 64KB SRAM and 256KB flash) and additional peripherals. So far they were programmable in C language using MounRiver IDE or an open-source toolchain, but WCH has now announced Arduino support for many of those RISC-V microcontrollers which should enable more people to get involved. The core library for CH32duino works with OpenOCD through WCH-LINKE hardware to download the firmware and debug WCH chips and a riscv-none-embed-gcc toolchain that supports custom RISC-V instructions (half-word and byte compression instruction extensions and hardware stack push/pop functions) found in WCH RISC-V microcontroller. The following evaluation kits are currently supported with ADC, DAC, USART, GPIO, EXTI, SysTick, I2C, and SPI peripherals: CH32V003F4P EVT board CH32V203G8U EVT board CH32X035G8U EVT board CH32V103R8T6_BLACK EVT […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC