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Bootterm – a developer-friendly serial terminal program

There are plenty of terminal programs to access the serial console from minicom or screen to Putty. But Willy Tarreau was not quite happy with those tools, so he decided to write his own: Bootterm. I was terribly fed up with the current state of serial terminals, which either don’t cope well with errors, or take ages to start, making you lose the first characters, or don’t support non-standard speeds etc. I finally wrote mine to address all that at once, plus support for automatic port detection (the last registered one is the good one by default), waiting for the port to be ready, and also support fixed or timed captures. And a few environment variables make it possible not to type any argument at all yet have the expected behavior. If that’s something of interest to you, you can check it there: https://github.com/wtarreau/bootterm It’s still young (no support for […]

OpenTitan Security Model
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OpenTitan and Microsoft Pluton – The security chips of the future

Security is becoming more and more important with critical data exposes to the Internet. Traditionally some PCs, laptops, motherboards, or single board computers would be equipped with a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) designed to secure hardware through integrated cryptographic keys.  More recently, we’ve started to read more and more about secure elements providing hardware-based security for lower-end platforms. Those are external chips, but companies have also started to providing hardware-security within the processor with solutions such as Arm Trustzone or Intel SGX (Software Guard Extensions). But more recently, Google and Microsoft have made announcements about hardware-security IP with respectively OpenTitan open source project and Microsoft Pluton security chip both meant to be embedded into processors. OpenTitan OpenTitan is described as being “the first open-source project building a transparent, high-quality reference design and integration guidelines for silicon root of trust (RoT) chips”. It is backed by Google, Seagate, Nuvoton, Western Digital, […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
NanoPi R4S review
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NanoPi R4S SBC preview with OpenWrt and Ubuntu Core

Rockchip RK3399 powered NanoPi R4S router SBC launched at the beginning of the month, and FriendlyELEC kindly sent a review sample to CNX Software. I intended to test thermally performance, Ethernet, and USB like I did for NanoPi R2S and NanoPi NEO3,  but Armbian is not available right now, so I could not use some of the tools I normally used right now. So instead, I tested the board/gateway with the image from FriendlyELEC. First FriendlyCore based on Ubuntu Core 20.04, but there some issues which we’ll detail in this preview, so I then switch to FriendlyWrt built upon OpenWrt 19.07 which works better, but I still encountered some problems. That’s just to say it might be better to wait a little longer until Armbian images are released, or until FriendlyELEC fixes some of the shortcomings. NanoPi R4S gateway unboxing Before testing the software, let’s see what I’ve received. NanoPi […]

ASUS ChromeBox 4
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ASUS Chromebox 4 features Intel Comet Lake processor, WiFi 6, up to 16GB RAM

Chrome OS devices, be it Chromebook laptops, Chomebox mini PCs, or Chromebit PC sticks, used to be relatively low-cost devices designed to run the Chrome browser. But over the years. the versatility of the platform has increased with more powerful, yet still with low-power consumption,  hardware, and improved software with support for Android apps, the Google Play Store, and even Linux programs. ASUS Chromebox 4 mini PC should be able to handle all those tasks pretty well, thanks to a choice of Intel Comet Lake processors ranging from a dual-core Intel Celeron 5205U to a quad-core Core i7-10510U with up to 16GB RAM, 64GB eMMC flash, and an M.2 socket that will be fitted to either 128GB or 256GB SATA SSD. The device offers Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi 6 connectivity, also has the ability to drive up to three displays thanks to two HDMI 2.0 ports, and a USB 3.2 […]

PINECIL RISC-V soldering iron
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Pine64’s PINECIL RISC-V soldering iron launched for $25

We’ve previously mentioned PINECIL RISC-V soldering iron during Pine64’s release of PineCube open-source IP camera development kit, and the good news is the soldering iron is now available for $24.99 on Pine64 store together with optional sets of gross or fine soldering tips compatible with the one used with TS100 model The soldering iron is powered by GigaDevice GD32VF103TB 32-bit RISC-V general-purpose microcontroller and features a small display and two buttons for user interaction, as well as changeable tips. It can be powered by a USB-C power adapter or a 12 to 24V power brick such as the ones you’d found with laptops. PINECIL soldering iron key features and specifications: MCU – GigaDevice GD32VF103TB 32-bit RV32IMAC RISC-V “Bumblebee Core” @ 108 MHz with 128KB flash, 32KB SRAM Display – 0.69-inch OLED monochrome display with 96×16 resolution Tip – 106mm long, Type B2 Temperature range – 100°C to 400°C; reaches operating […]

telematics applications overview-GNSS CAN Cloud embedded Linux
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Reading Vehicle OBD-II data through CAN within a containerized application in Embedded Linux

CNXSoft: This is a guest about OBD-II and CAN support in embedded Linux by Andre Márcio de Lima Curvello, Sr. FAE and Technical Evangelist, Toradex A connected world makes it possible to track your online orders being shipped to your home through your smartphone in real-time, and getting information about your vehicle such as tire pressure, outside temperature, and even details like if a lamp is broken – has begun to be possible via smartphones in modern vehicle models. But behind the magic of knowing where the truck carrying your package is at all times and other details of the vehicle, there is a very complex world made of embedded devices ‘talking’ to each other so the information makes its way from the device to you. In this article, you will learn how to create an application to communicate with a vehicle through CAN via the OBD-II standard. We use […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
ICOP VEX2-6415 SBC
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ICOP VEX2-6415 SBC runs DOS, QNX, Linux, Windows on Vortex86EX2 “Dual OS” x86 processor

DM&P Vortex86EX2 is a dual-core x86 processor that supports legacy ISA and PCI interfaces, and designed in a way that makes it capable of running two OS independently, easy with its own BIOS, without the need for virtualization, nor a hypervisor. At the time, we also covered the Vortex86EX2 evaluation board from the company, but the first commercial product that has come to my attention is ICOP VEX2-6415 Vortex86EX2 SBC designed for automation and IoT, and which the company says support “Windows Embedded Compact 7, Windows Embedded Compact 6, various of (sic) Linux distribution, QNX, and even the legacy but still popular DOS”. ICOP VEX2-6415 SBC specifications: CPU – DM&P Vortex86EX2 dual-core processor with Master core @ 600MHz max with build-in FPU L1/L2 Cache for user interface Slave core @ 400MHz max with build-in FPU, L1 Cache for real-time control System Memory – 512MB/1GB DDR3 Storage – 4GB eMMC flash […]

Forlinx-OK1028A-C Single Board Computer
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Forlinx OK1028A-C networking SBC supports LVDS displays, 4G/5G modules

Forlinx released two networking SBC’s with 10Gbps Ethernet powered by NXP LS1043A and LS1046A processor nearly exactly one year ago. Like many other networking SBCs they do not come with video output so configuration is done via a computer or laptop either through a UART interface or a web interface. But in some cases, such boards may be integrated into machines that require a display for human-machine interaction. That’s why Forlinx has now released a new networking board – OK1028A-C – powered by NXP QorIQ Layerscape LS1028A dual-core Cortex-A72 processor that natively supports video output up to 4K UHD resolution via an eDP/DisplayPort interface which the company used to provide an LVDS header. The board also offers 5 Gigabit Ethernet ports, as well as optional WiFi, Bluetooth, and 4G or 5G cellular connectivity via M.2 and mPCIe modules. Forlinx OK1028A-C specifications: FET1028A-C system-on-module SoC – NXP LS1028A dual-core Cortex-A72 processor […]

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