Topton 2 Bay NAS N1
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Topton N1 dual-bay NAS features AMD Athlon 3050e CPU, four Ethernet ports

Powered by an AMD Athlon Silver 3050e dual-core processor, Topton N1 (aka TP-N1) NAS comes with two SATA bays for 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drives, as well as four gigabit Ethernet ports. The system can support up to 32GB RAM, relies on M.2 SSD storage for the OS, and can provide up to 40TB of data storage through the two SATA bays. It is also equipped with an HDMI output port, several USB 3.x/2.0 ports, as well as a 3.5mm audio jack. Topton N1 specifications: SoC – AMD Athlon Silver 3050e dual-core/quad-thread processor @ 1.4 / 2.8 GHz (Turbo) with Radeon Vega 3 graphics @ 1 GHz; TDP: 6W System Memory – Up to 32GB DDR4-2400 RAM via two SO-DIMM slots Storage M.2 2280 socket for a (PCIe 3.0) NVMe SSD 2x SATA III bay for 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch driver for a maximum of 40TB data storage (based on currently available […]

Raspberry Pi Pico Advanced Kit
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Elecrow’s Raspberry Pi Pico Advanced Kit ships with 32 electronics modules, 32 project tutorials

We’ve just reviewed the Raspberry Pi 4-powered CrowPi L laptop and Crowtail Starter kit used to teach programming and electronics, but Elecrow has now launched the “Raspberry Pi Pico Advanced Kit” with 32 electronics modules, a smart kit car, and 32 tutorials that should be a more affordable way of teaching electronics and programming. However, it does so in a different way, as instead of using visual programming and Python, the Raspberry Pi Pico Advanced Kit’s lessons rely on MicroPython, and the projects are different with for example parts to build an obstacle avoidance, line tracking, or remote controlled car.   Package content: Optional Raspberry Pi Pico board with Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller Breadboards 2x 400 holes solderless breadboards 1x 170 holes solderless breadboard Display modules 1602 LCD display module (Blue) OLED module 4-bit digital LED display module Lights 10x 5mm LEDs in green, red, blue, yellow, and […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
mass production mishap IP2315 CH224D
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Another consequence of supply shortage: mass production mishaps

Chips may suddenly disappear from the supply chain or get really expensive due to the recurring supply shortage, companies are now designing their PCBs to support multiple chips either selecting drop-in replacements or creating multiple footprints to cater to at least one alternative part. That means one PCB and multiple bill-of-materials are needed to be more resilient to any supply disruption. Radxa did that on the ROCK 3A board for the USB PD circuitry with the ability to use either Injoinic IP2315 or WCH CH224D IC. Those are not pin-to-pin compatible chips, and two circuitry were made for the board requiring two BoMs as it’s not just possible to only replace IP2315 by CH224D. But this information did not get to the inventory manager, and once IP2315 was out of stock, he/she believed it would be possible to simply replace IP2315 with CH224D. The unlucky part is that the factory […]

Linux 5.19 release arm risc-v mips
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Linux 5.19 Release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 5.19. It should be the last 5.xx version, with Linux 6.0 coming for the next cycle: So here we are, one week late, and 5.19 is tagged and pushed out. The full shortlog (just from rc8, obviously not all of 5.19) is below, but I can happily report that there is nothing really interesting in there. A lot of random small stuff. In the diffstat, the loongarch updates stand out, as does another batch of the networking sysctl READ_ONCE() annotations to make some of the data race checker code happy. Other than that it’s really just a mixed bag of various odds and ends. On a personal note, the most interesting part here is that I did the release (and am writing this) on an arm64 laptop. It’s something I’ve been waiting for for a _loong_ time, and it’s finally reality, […]

MECOOL KP1 projector review
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MECOOL KP1 projector review – Part 2: Android 11 TV OS and Full HD clarity

In the first part of MECOOL KP1 smart projector review, I checked out the package content, projector design, and integrated HDMI stick running Android 11 TV, before going through the setup wizard, and trying the projector with Android 11. I’ve now spent more time with the device, so I’ll report my overall experience. The best way to install the projector is probably to mount it on a ceiling or a wall, but in my case, I just placed it on top of a shelf itself placed on top of a table to adjust the height for a comfortable viewing experience from our comfy seats. As we’ve seen before, the projector will boot directly to the Android 11 TV launcher from the included MECOOL KD5 TV stick. Android 11 TV OS runs on top of Linux 5.4.125, as we can see it’s a Hailstorm device that’s certified for Netflix and an […]

Rock 5B review Debian 11
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Rock 5B RK3588 SBC preview – What works, what doesn’t in Debian 11

I’ve recently received an early sample of Radxa ROCK5 Model B (aka ROCK 5B) SBC part of the “Developer Edition” batch with 16GB RAM, and already showed the hardware and it booting successfully in Debian 11.

I’ve now spent more time with the board, and as part of the “debug party” tested performance and features in Debian 11. As one would expect, some things work fine, providing excellent performance, but others still need improvements.

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
RK3588 mini PC SATA SSD
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Mekotronics R58 review – Part 2: Android 12 on Rockchip RK3588 CPU

I’ve written the first part of Mekotronics R58 review last month with an unboxing, teardown, and first boot with 3D graphics benchmarks. I’ve now had more time to play with Android 12 on the Rockchp RK3588 mini PC, so I’ll report my experience with the device. User interface and settings As already mentioned, the box ships with Android 12 for TV and the stock launcher. The Google Play store is working, and I had no troubles installing all apps I needed for the review. Most of the settings are pretty much standard. While the first time, I used Ethernet, and also tried WiFi 6 connecting the R58 to Xiaomi Mi AX6000 router. It worked but not without some effort, as initially, all I got were messages like “Couldn’t find SSID” both with 2.4GHz and 5GHz SSIDs. It turned out I had to disconnect the Ethernet to make WiFi work, and […]

Meteor Lake Block Diagram
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Intel Meteor Lake mobile processor highlights leaked

Intel Meteor Lake processor family is supposed to succeed the 13th generation Raptor Lake chips itself coming after the current 12th generation Alder lake processors. It is scheduled to launch next year (2023), but we already have some details about the Meteor Lake U, P, and H mobile processors from a leak. Just like most Alder Lake processors, Meteor Lake will be hybrid processors with power and energy-efficient cores, but they’ll also feature new LP E-cores which should stand for “low power efficiency” cores in order to further lower the power consumption while a laptop or mini PC in standby mode. Meteor Lake mobile processors highlights: CPU P cores + E cores + LP-E cores architecture U-series with up to 12 cores P- and H-series up to 14 cores; Up to 6+8 configuration with up to 24MB LLC/core (Note the LP-E cores don’t seem to be part of the main […]

Boardcon CM3588 Rockchip RK3588 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications