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Acer CB5 Chromebook To Feature Nvidia Tegra K1 Processor, 13 Hours of Battery Life

It seems Nvidia Tegra K1 is getting in more hardware than its predessors. It can not only be found in Jetson TK1 development board and Shield tablet developed by the company, but also products such as Xiaomi MiPad, as well as Google Tango Project Tablet devkit. Acer CB5 Chromebook should also launch very soon with Tegra K1 quad core processor, a 13.3″ display, and the company claims it should last 13 hours based on Google’s power_loadtest. Preliminary specs for Acer CB5 Chromebook: SoC- Nvidia Tegra K1 quad core Cortex A15 @ 2.1 GHz with Kepler GPU System Memory – 2 to 4 GB DDR3 Storage – 16 / 32 GB flash Display – 13.3″ display with 1366×768 or 1920×1080 resolution (TBC) depending on model, and optional touchscreen support Video Output – HDMI Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, speakers Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi USB – 2x USB 3.0 ports, 1x […]

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100KHz-1.7GHz RTL-SDR USB Tuner Receiver DIY Kit Sells for $33

Software-Defined Radios (SDR) are neat little devices that capture radio signals which are then filtered and decoded by software on your PC or embedded system. The currently used radio spectrum is extremely wide from 3 to 30Hz for submarine communication up to 30 to 300+ GHz or more for applications such as amateur radio or radio astronomy. So the price of hardware needed for SDRs varies greatly depending on the frequency range supported, bandwidth, and other technical parameters. Hobbyists can use “low cost” ($300 – $400) FPGA SDR boards such as bladeRF or HackRF, or go ultra-cheap with $20+ RTL-SDR USB TV tuners. I’ve been informed there’s a development kit sold under the name “100KHz-1.7GHz Full Band UV HF RTL-SDR USB Tuner Receiver DIY Kit” based on the latter, but with extra components, on various sites such as Buyincoins, Ebay, Aliexpress, etc.. for just $33 to $45. The problem with […]

ArmSoM CM5 Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC
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Mele F10 Deluxe Air Mouse Review

Mele F10 is an air mouse using 2.4GHz RF technology, that can be used as a remote, a QWERTY keyboard, and a wireless mouse. That’s my favorite input device for Android TV Box, and I use it regularly for my product reviews. The company has now introduced an improved model called Mele F10 Deluxe with trick mode buttons, a gaming mode thanks to a gyroscope, and an IR learning function to use it as a universal remote. Mele sent me a sample for evaluation, so I’ll start with some unboxing pictures, and compare it to the original Mele F10, before testing the remote. Mele F10 Deluxe Unboxing I’ve received the air mouse in the package below that highlights the four main features: Air mouse, Game Controller, Wireless Keyboard, and IR Learning. We’ll find the air mouse, a tiny RF dongle, a USB cable for charging, and a user’s manual describing […]

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EasyEDA is a Web-based Schematics Capture, Simulation, and PCB Layout Tool

I recently watched a video showing AllWinner R&D, and I noticed although most (all?) software engineer run Ubuntu in the PC, the hardware engineers all relied on Windows based EDA tools for schematics capture and PCB Layout. There are already Linux-based tools such as Kicad, which appears to be good for new projects, but importing existing projects can be an issue. An alternative to operating system dependent EDA software suites are web-based tools. I’ve already tried Fritzing which allows to draw circuits on breadboard, convert these to schematics and PCB layouts, and order the PCBs. It looks pretty good for its purpose, but it’s limited to mostly simple designs, and AFAIK can’t be used to replace an EDA suite. That’s where EasyEDA comes into play.  It’s a web-based tool where you can draw schematics, perform simulation, and create PCB layouts for your project, either keeping them private, or sharing them […]

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Linaro 14.07 Release with Linux Kernel 3.16 and Android 4.4

Linaro 14.07 has just been released with Linux Kernel 3.16-rc6 (baseline), Linux Kernel 3.10.50 (LSK), and Android 4.4.4. This month, Linaro has continued development on Juno 64-bit ARM development board, as well as other member boards from Broadcom (Capri), Qualcomm (IFC6410), Hisilicon D01, Samsung (Arndale / Arndale Octa), etc.. Android have been upgraded to version 4.4.4 with images released for Pandaboard, Arndale, Nexus 10, and Nexus 7, built with Linaro GCC 4.9. Here are the highlights of this release: Linux Linaro 3.16-rc6-2014.07 released GATOR version 5.18 (same version as in 2014.04) updated basic Capri board support from Broadcom LT. Good progress in upstreaming the code: now the topic has 21 patch on top of v3.16-rc4 vs 53 patches on top of v3.15 in 2014.06 cycle removed cortex-strings-arm64 topic as the code is accepted into the mainline new topic from Qualcomm LT to add IFC6410 board support updated Versatile Express ARM64 […]

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littleBits CloudBit Wi-Fi Module Simplifies DIY IoT Designs

littleBits Electronics is a company selling tiny modules that snap together with tiny magnets for prototyping called… littleBits. They do not require soldering, wiring, or programming, can be buttons, sensors, motors, etc…, and are the electronics equivalent of LEGO, and are suitable to 8 years old and older kids. The company have recently launched a new product called CloudBit, a module based on Freescale i.MX233 with Wi-Fi connectivity meant to be used/snapped with existing littleBits. CloudBit hardware specifications: Processor – Freescale i.MX233 ARM926EJ-S processor  @ 454MHz System Memory – 64MB of RAM; Storage – microSD slot with included 4GB micro SD card pre-loaded with a customized Arch Linux ARM distribution Connectivity – 802.11b/g Wi-Fi via included USB dongle USB – micro USB port (for power only) Connectors – 2x BitSnap connectors for LittleBits connectivity using i.MX233 ADC/DAC signals Debugging – Pads for UART (3.3V, 8-N-1, 115,200 baud) to access the […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
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AMD Announces Availability of their $3,000 Opteron A1100-Series 64-bit ARM Development Kit

AMD Opteron A1100 Server SoCs, codenamed “Seattle”, come with four to eight ARM Cortex A57 cores, and earlier this year, the company unveiled both the processors and a development kit. You can now apply for “AMD Opteron A1100 Series 64-bit ARM developers kit”, and if you’re selected, you’ll “just” need to pay $2,999 to receive the board and related tools. The kit targets software and hardware developers, as well as early adopters in large datacenters. AMD Opteron A1100 Board hardware specifications: SoC – ARM Opeteron A1000 with 4 ARM Cortex-A57 cores System Memory – 2x Registered DIMM with 16 GB of DDR3 DRAM (upgradeable to 128GB) Storage – 8 Serial-ATA connectors Connectivity – Not mentioned, but there seems to be an RJ45 port on the pic, and another SFP cage, both probably 10 Gbit Ethernet since it’s the speed supported by Opteron A1100. Expansion slots – PCI Express connectors configurable […]

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Skytecx SK-R68b Android TV Box Comes with Three Wi-Fi Antennas

There’s now a pretty long list of Android media players powered by Rockchip RK3288, and they keep coming up. While I don’t cover most of them, Skytecx SK-R68b is a little more interesting because for some reasons, the manufacturer has decided to go with not only two, but three Wi-Fi antennas, and the product is the type that you place directly on top of your TV. The rest of the specifications looks pretty standard: SoC – Rockchip RK3288 quad core CortexA17 @ 1.8 GHz with ARM Mali-T764 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8 to 32GB NAND flash (8GB by default) + micro SD card slot (up to 32 GB) Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, dual band WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz/5GHz) and 802.11 a/c with triple Wi-Fi antennas, and Bluetooth 4.0 Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0 output (female) up to 1080p (sic), AV output (3.5mm jack) Video Codecs […]

Boardcon EM3562 Rockchip RK3562 SBC with 8 analog camera inputs