Intel Apollo Lake NUC6CAYS & NUC6CAYH NUC mini PCs Specifications Released

Intel Apollo Lake is the next generation of low power processor family that should replace Braswell Celeron processors, and Fanlesstech got hold of the specifications for two upcoming “Arches Canyon” NUC6CAYS and NUC6CAYH NUCs (Next Unit of Computing) mini PCs based on the processors, as well as the 2016-2018 roadmap for the complete (consumer grade) Intel NUC family. The only differences between the two models are that NUC6CAYH is a barebone model without memory or storage, nor operating system. So I’ll just list NUC6CAYS specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron Jxxx quad core processor @ x GHz to y GHz (burst) with Intel HD graphics up to z MHz (10W TDP) System Memory – 2GB DDR3L-xxxx SO-DIMM (dual channel), upgradeable up to 8GB DDR3L-1866 Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, 2.5″ SATA3 bay for 9.5mm hard drives, SDXC slot with UHS-I support Video Output – HDMI 2.0 (4K @ 60 Hz), VGA […]

Nintendo NES Classic Edition is a $60 Nintendo NES mini Replica with HDMI Output, 30 Games

Retro gaming appears to gaining momentum in 2016, with projects like Dreamcade Replay, or even PocketCHIP, and well as more powerful Windows 10 portable consoles like GPD Win (real) and PGS Portable (maybe not so real) capable of handling old sort of game emulators, and Windows games released 3 to 4 years ago. But Nintendo has decided to join the fray, and released NES Classic Edition game console, a smaller version of Nintendo NES, compatible with recent TVs thanks to its HDMI output, and loaded with 30 classic games. The full technical details about the device are not known, but the console with ship with an HDMI cable, and well as a game controller. Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong, PAC-MAN, and Kirby’s Adventure are among the 30 NES games pre-installed. (Full list in the press release).Sadly, there’s no cartridge support, nor SD card slot or […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

Mini M8S II TV Box (Amlogic S905X) Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Teardown

Amlogic S905X powered TV boxes have now hit the market, and compared to existing Amlogic S905 devices add VP9, and provided your TV can handle it, HDR (High Dynamic Range) support. GearBest sent me one of the cheapest S905X TV Box with Mini M8S II, and in the first part of the review, I’ll take some picture of the device, and tear it down, while the second part will be posted later, and focus on testing the firmware. MINI M8S II Unboxing The package was slightly damaged, but nothing to bad. The top reads “Mini TV Box” with some icons describing the main feaures like 4K & H.265/HEVC support, WiFi, and so on. I’ve recently realized that logos and trademarks may cause problems with customs in some countries, and the package does have several potentially problematic trademarks like HBO and Netflix, as well as logos for Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo…. In […]

sModule SBC-x6818 Development Kit based on Samsung S5P6818 Processor Includes a 7″ Touchscreen

For some reasons, Samsung S5P4418 and S5P6818 quad and eight Cortex A53 core processors – likely made by Nexell – have been quite popular with embedded systems companies based in China. So after Graperain, Boardcon, and FriendlyARM, there’s at least one another company offering solutions with either processor, as sModule, a subsidiary of CoreWind, has now launched systems-on-module, single board computers, and development kits with the 64-bit ARM SoCs. In this post, I’ll cover one of their development kit including their CORE6818 CPU module, a baseboard, and an optional 7″ capacitive touch display.. sModule SBC-x6818 development kit specifications: CORE6818 CPU module SoC – Samsung S5P6818 octa-core ARM Cortex A53 processor @ 1.4 to 1.6 GHz with Mali-400MP 3D GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 (2GB optional) Storage – 8GB eMMC Flash (4 & 16GB optional) Ethernet – Realtek RTL8211E Gigabit Ethernet transceiver 180-pin “interface” to baseboard Power Supply – 3.7 […]

SiFive Introduces Freedom U500 and E500 Open Source RISC-V SoCs

Open source used to be a software thing, with the hardware design being kept secret for fear of being copied, but companies such as Texas Instruments realized that from a silicon vendor perspective it would make perfect sense to release open source hardware designs with full schematics, Gerber files and SoM, to allow smaller companies and hobbyists, as well as the education market, normally not having the options to go through standard sales channels and the FAE (Field Application Engineer) support, to experiment with the platform and potentially come up with commercial products. That’s exactly what they did with the Beagleboard community, but there’s still an element that’s closed source, albeit documented: the processor itself. But this could change soon, as SiFive, a startup founded by the creators of the free and open RISC-V architecture, has announced two open source SoCs with Freedom U500 processor and Freedom E300 micro-controller. Freedom […]

Morefine M1+ Review – A Dual Boot Windows and Android TV Stick

Karl here and I will be reviewing the Morefine M1+. It is an Intel based stick PC with an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor with 2GB RAM and 64 GB of storage. It dual boots Windows 10 Home 32 bit and Android 5.1. In this review, I won’t be doing many benchmarks because they have been done a lot in the past. Be careful when researching this product because there are 2 devices with same name with different specs. The other one has an Intel Atom z3735 and only 32GB storage and Android 4.4. The box came expertly wrapped and I have never seen a package delivered and protected so well. In the box was the stick, short HDMI extension, power cable, and instruction manual. No micro USB OTG cable is included. I didn’t find this an issue because I had several already. Specs OS Version: OS Windows 10 (Trial Version) […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025

ARNU Box Mach 10 64-bit Pure Linux TV Box Review

In part 1 of ARNU Box Mach 10 64-bit Pure Linux review, I listed the specifications, and took some pictures of the Amlogic S905 based TV box, and its board. I’ve now completed testing of this Kodi Linux media player, going though setup and add-ons, and see how it works compared to ARNU Box Mach 10 Pure Linux based on Amlogic S812 processor. Setup, Cloudword and Configuration The setup part is basically the same as on the previous model, but I’ll go through it again. Please ignore the vertical white line on the TV in the photos below, as it’s just due to my 18 months old LG 42UB820T 4K UHD television being partially broken, and out of warranty. The boot will typically take 30 seconds, but the first time, you’ll go through ARNU Box Setup Wizard. You could skip it in theory, but it’s still a good idea to […]

Samsung UFS micro SD Card Alternatives Promise High Sequential and Random I/O Performance

UFS (Universal Flash Storage) chips are now commonly found in premium smartphones, but the UFS standard has also been published for removable cards, and Samsung has just introduced their first cards based on UFS 1.0 Card Extension Standard* for use in high-resolution mobile shooting devices such as DSLRs, 3D VR cameras, action cams and drones, as a new alternative to micro SD cards. Before getting into more details about the Samsung card, let’s go through the main features defined by UFS card specifications: Based on the UFS 2.0 standard and compatible with the UFS HCI 2.0 standard Supports MIPI M-PHY HS-Gear3, HS-Gear2 (optional), and PWM-Gear1 A detailed mechanical definition is defined by the JEDEC MO-320 outline Features common to embedded UFS 2.0 devices: Support for multiple logical units, each with configurable characteristics Reliable write and background operations Secure operations such as purge and erase to enhance data security Includes write […]

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