How to Access the Serial Console in HI802 / GK802 mini PC

One of the advantage of HiAPad Hi802 (aka Zealz GK802) is that it provides access to UART and I2C pins via through holes on the board. UART4 Tx and Rx pins give you access to the serial console which is a must for bootloader (U-boot), and kernel development or for debugging. The first thing is the open the casing and locate the debug pins on the board. The very best way is probably to solder a pin header, but since I don’t have header, nor soldering iron, I’ve done it the “MacGyver” way with 3 wires connected to TxD, RxD and GND, and some sticky tape. You can now insert the other side of the wires into your USB to TLL debug board (GND <-> GND, Tx <-> Rx, and Rx <-> Tx), and connect it to your Windows or Linux PC. The serial board should be recognized as a […]

VIA Announces VIA VAB-800 Pico-ITX Board Based on Freescale i.MX537 Processor

VIA Technologies has announced the VIA VAB-800 Pico-ITX board powered by a Freescale i.MX537 (ARM Cortex A8) processor clocked at 800MHz or 1GHz depending on the requirements, with 1GB DDR3-800 SDRAM and support for eMMC Flash with a capacity of up to 64 GB. The VIA VAB-800 is an industrial board that can operate in a wide temperature range and targets high-end industrial and in-vehicle embedded applications. Here are the specs of the board: Processor – Freescale Cortex-A8 single core iMX537 @800MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3-800 SDRAM, using 128M x16 memory devices Flash – eMMC Flash, up to 64GB Graphics  – Supports two independent, integrated graphics processing units: an OpenGL® ES 2.0,  3D graphics accelerator and an OpenVG™ 1.1 2D graphics accelerator Ethernet – SMSC LAN8720A 10/100 PHY transceiver with HP Auto-MDIX support Audio – Freescale SGTL5000 low power stereo codec with headphone amp HDMI – Silicon image SiI9024A […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC

AAEON RICO-3568 is a Pico-ITX Plus board powered by a Rockchip RK3568 SoC

AAEON RICO-3568 is a Pico-ITX Plus single board computer powered by a Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 AI SoC, up to 8GB LPDDR4, 16GB eMMC flash, four display interfaces (HDMI, LVDS, eDP, MIPI DSI), gigabit Ethernet, and various expansion headers for industrial applications. Most have already heard about the Pico-ITX form factor, but it’s the first time I’ve ever come across a Pico-ITX Plus board. It looks like it’s an AAEON-specific “standard” right now, with the Pico-ITX Plus boards (100x80mm) being slightly wider than Pico-ITX SBCs (100x72mm). AAEON RICO-3568 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568 CPU – Quad-core Cortex A55 processor at up to 2.0 GHz GPU – Mali G52 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.1 VPU 4Kp60 H.264, H.265, VP9, 1080p60 MPEG-4/-2/-1, VP8, and VC1 video decoder 1080p60 H.264/H.265 video encoder AI accelerator – 0.8 TOPS NPU System Memory – 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB LPDDR4 Storage […]

The Portenta Hat Carrier board adds Raspberry Pi HAT support to the Portenta X8 SBC

The Arduino Portenta Hat Carrier board aims to interface the Linux-capable Portenta X8 board with the vast ecosystem of Raspberry Pi HAT (Hardware on Top) expansion boards. Introduced last year, the Arduino Portenta X8 is the first Arduino Pro hardware that can run Linux thanks to its NXP i.MX 8M Mini Arm Cortex-A53 quad-core processor. But it comes in a tiny 66.04 x 25.4 mm form factor which may be great for integration into products, but for prototyping or design of products such as IoT gateways, the company has now launched the Portenta Hat Carrier that enables the board to easily connect with the Raspberry Pi HATs available today. Portenta Hat Carrier specifications: Compatible with the Portenta X8 board and future Portenta with the same high-density connectors Storage – MicroSD card slot Camera I/F – MIPI CSI camera connector (CNXSoft: Arduino does not explicitly say whether it’s compatible with the […]

Toradex Verdin AM62 – An entry-level Sitara AM623/AM625 SoM for Industry 4.0, Smart Cities, Healthcare…

Toradex Verdin AM62 is a system-on-module based on Texas Instruments AM62 Cortex-A53/M4 processor with up to 1GB LPDDR4 RAM and 8GB eMMC flash that is the most affordable system-on-module from the company’s Verdin family. The module also comes with a Gigabit Ethernet PHY and an optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5 module and exposes various interfaces through its edge connector such as dual Gigabit Ethernet, MIPI DSI and LVDS display interfaces, a MIPi CSI-2 camera interface, and CAN FD, and more. Toradex Verdin AM62 specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments Sitara AM623/AM625 with up to 4x Arm Cortex-A53 cores @ 1.4GHz, 1x Arm Cortex-M4F @ 400MHz, optional 3D GPU with support for OpenGL 3.x/2.0/1.1 + extensions, Vulkan 1.2 (AM625 only) System Memory – Up to 1GB LPDDR4 (16-bit) Storage – Up to 8GB eMMC flash Networking Texas Instruments DP83867IRRGZR industrial-grade Gigabit Ethernet PHY Optional Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5 module (AzureWave […]

Portenta X8 is the first Arm Linux Arduino board

In simpler times, Raspberry Pi was making Arm Linux SBC’s, and Arduino MCU boards, but after Raspberry Pi got into the MCU business last year, it’s now time for Arduino to introduce its first Arm Linux board with the Arduino Portenta X8. The new board since comes with the same STM32H7 Cortex-M7/M4 microcontroller found in the Portenta H7 boards, but add a more powerful, Linux-capable NXP i.MX 8M Mini processor with four Cortex-A53 cores and a Cortex-M4 core, coupled with 2GB RAM and a 16GB eMMC flash. Arduino Portenta X8 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Mini Arm Cortex-A53 quad-core up to 1.8 GHz,1x Cortex-M4 real-time core up to 400MHz. Microcontroller – STMicro STM32H747AII6 Cortex-M7 @ 480 MHz + M4 @ 240 MHz MCU  with 2MB dual-bank Flash memory, 1 MB RAM, Chrom-ART graphical hardware accelerator System Memory – 2GB LPDDR4 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet interface […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

E-Ink Digital Paper Tablet is about the size of an A4 or US Letter paper

While there’s now a bunch of devices with an e-paper display, be it tablets or eReaders, it’s harder to find a model that is about the size of A4 (297 x 210mm) or US letter (279 x 216mm) papers. E-Ink Digitial Paper Tablet solves this issue with an NXP i.MX 8M Mini-powered Android 9 tablet offering a 13.3-inch display (301.1 x 222.8mm), as well as a smaller 10.1-inch display, for business applications. Both digital paper tablets feature E-Ink Carta 1250 screen technology with a higher contrast ratio and faster refresh rate, come with a digital pen supported by Wacom’s battery-free EMR technology, and are said to last about three weeks per charge for light usage. E-ink digital paper tablet specifications: SoC –  NXP i.MX 8M mini quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.8GHz Storage – 32 GB eMMC flash including 24GB for user data, or enough for about 10,000 typical […]

Venice GW7100 compact industrial SBC packs one Gigabit Ethernet port, one mPCIe socket

Gateworks introduced the new Venice Industrial IoT SBC Family based on NXP i.MX 8M Mini processor with up to two Ethernet ports and four mPCIe Sockets last September starting with GW7300 board with dual Gigabit Ethernet and three mPCIe sockets. But the US company has now announced the availability of the smallest member of the family with Venice GW7100 SBC equipped with just one Gigabit Ethernet port and one mPCIe socket in a compact 100x35mm form factor. Venice GW7100 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Mini single, dual or quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.6GHz, with Arm Cortex-M4 at 400+MHz, 3D GPU (OpenGL ES 2.0), 2D GPU, and 1080p VPU System Memory – 1 GB LPDDR4 (up to 4GB) Storage – 8 GB eMMC flash (up to 64GB) Connectivity 1x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port with passive PoE support WiFi/Bluetooth or Cellular connectivity via mini PCIe socket and Nano-SIM […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC