Posted on

MINIX MINI HD PC Based on Intel Atom D2550 Sells for $119

MINIX MINI HD PC is a barebone x86 computer without RAM or hard disk that has been announced last year, and it has just come to my attention that the system sells for just $119 on Geekbuying (excluding shipping), so once you add (up to 4GB) DDR3 RAM, and a SATA hard drive, you may have a basic x86 Linux or Windows system for about $200. MINIX MINI HD PC specifications: CPU – Intel dual-core (4 threads) D2550 processor @ 1.86GHz Chipset – Intel NM10 GPU – Intel GMA 3600 Series System Memory – 2x 1.5V DDR3 @ 800/1066MHz SO-DIMM sockets supporting up to 4GB of system memory (GeekBuying reports that “8GB (4GB x 2) memory is supported unofficially, stability will not be guaranteed by Intel”) BIOS – 1 x 16Mbit flash with AMI BIOS. Supports Plug & Play, Advanced Power Management ACPI, STR, CPU temperature, Fan speed, System Voltage […]

Posted on

Android Now Comes to Exercise Bikes thanks to The Peloton Bike

Beyond smartphones and tablets, Android is now running in a number of others devices such as cars, watches, set-top boxes and more, but Android should soon enter the gym, or rather bring the gym to your home, with the Peloton Bike, an exercise bike that comes with a 21.5″ touchscreen powered by Texas Instruments OMAP4 and running Android 4.1. Here are Peloton bike panel’s specifications: SoC – Texax Instruments OMAP 4470 dual-core Cortex A9 @ 1.5GHz System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 16GB internal flash Display – 21.5″ PCAP (projected capacitive) multitouch display (1080p resolution). Sweat resistant. Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi ANT+ wireless Bluetooth 4.0 10/100 Ethernet Audio  – 3.5mm TRRS headphone and mic jack, 2x 3 watt stereo speakers Camera – 1.3MP front camera Misc – Peloton Cycle data connector as well as the key features of the bike itself: Carbon steel and aluminum monocoque frame Neodymium rare […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
Posted on

HP Unveils Slate 21 AIO Android PC and Tablet with a 21.5″ Touchscreen

Hewlett Packard has announced an all-in-one desktop PC in Beijing featuring a 21.5″ touch screen that ships with Android 4.2.2 instead of the usual (for dekstop PCs) Windows 8 operating system. It’s a concept we’ve seen before with devices such as Frontier FT103, but HP Slate 21 AIO is much more powerful with Nvidia Tegra 4 quad core cortex A15 against the TI OMAP4 used in the Frontier PC. HP Slate 21 AIO (partial) specifications: SoC – Nvidia Tegra 4 quad core Cortex A15 processor System Memory – Unknown Storage – 8GB memory + SD card slot Display – 21.5″ 10-point capacitive touchscreen IPS display with 1920×1080 resolution Connectivity – Wi-Fi Direct and BT 3.0. Camera – Front-facing webcam USB – 3x USB 2.0 Host ports Audio – Stereo speakers, DTS audio. That’s all we know at this time, but since we can also connect a USB keyboard and mouse, […]

Posted on

Open Source Prosthetic Arm Controlled By Muscle Movements

Gustavo Brancante is working on a very interesting project that let you control a prosthetic arm with your muscle movement using open source technology with InMoov Hand (which can be 3D printed), Arduino Uno R3, and Olimex Electrocardiography electromiography shield (SHIELD-EKG-EMG). This is called a Myo-Electric Prosthesis. Gabriel wrote a tutorial to use his “open arm” which I’ll summarize here. On the hardware front, you’ll also need a UDP compatible Wifi Shield configured as a UDP server with a fixed IP in the same LAN as the smartphone, and 57600 bps. TouchOSC (for smartphone and Workstation) is used with the following layout for calibration and feature selection. Finally load the program below to your Arduino board: Once everything is connected together, you should be able to do that: The demo looks impressive, but this is still work in progress, and next step will be to use a four channel EMG instead […]

Posted on

Rockchip RK3066 is Now Part of Mainline Linux Kernel

After AllWinner A10/A13 SoCs, it’s time for another Chinese SoC to be included into mainline kernel, with Rockchip RK3066(a). A few hours ago, Heiko Stuebner’s commit for basic support in Linux kernel 3.11 has been accepted. This is the commit message: This adds a generic devicetree board file and a dtsi for boards based on the RK3066a SoCs from Rockchip. Apart from the generic parts (gic, clocks, pinctrl) the only components currently supported are the timers, uarts and mmc ports (all DesignWare- based). Don’t get too excited though, as it may take a little while until you can actually build a kernel for Rockchip RK3066 or AllWinner A10 from mainline linux source code. But this is definitely another step in the right direction, and hopefully, Chinese SoC companies will eventually get involved, instead of relying on the community, as it is in their best interest. To access the full list […]

Posted on

Samsung Unveils ATIV Q Android & Win8 Convertible Tablet, Galaxy NX DSLR Camera Running Android 4.2

Samsung Premiere 2013 took place yesterday in London, and the company announced 9 new products at the event. But 2 devices really stood out for me: ATIV Q – A 13.3″ tablet convertible to a notebook that runs Windows 8 and Android 4.2.2 simultaneously. Galaxy NX – a DSLR Camera running Android 4.2.2 supporting interchangeable lenses. Galaxy S4 Active was also interesting as it’s compliant with IP67, which means it’s dust proof and water resistant, so you don’t have to worry about dust / sand getting into the device, or dropping it into the water. It can stay under in 1 meter of water for 30 minutes, and even though the touchscreen won’t operate under water, you can still take underwater pictures during your snorkeling trip. Don’t expect it to work for diving though. Samsung ATIV Q (Preliminary) Specifications: Processor – Intel Core i5 (Haswell) GPU – Intel HD Graphics […]

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

Beyond Semiconductor Announces BA21 Processor Core for Embedded MCUs

Beyond Semiconductor, a Ljubljana, Slovenia based company, has recently announced BA21, a 32-bit processor core, with 2.5 Coremark per megahertz, and clocked up to 125 MHz, that’s roughly equivalent to a Cortex M3 core @ 120 MHz. Target applications include mixed signal embedded processing, wireless communications ICs (e.g. Bluetooth, Zigbee, GPS), industrial Microcontrollers, and battery-powered or ultra-low-cost devices.If you’ve never heard about Beyond Semi, you may want to read my previous article about their BA25 core (Cortex A7/A8 equivalent) for a bit more details about the company. Here are the key features of BA21 core: 32-bit Processor Small silicon footprint (less than 10k gates) for lower leakage and dynamic CPU power Two-stage pipeline architecture Extreme Code Density for lower instruction fetching energy Advanced power management Dynamic clock gating and power shut-off of unused units Software- and hardware-controlled clock frequency Wake-up on tick timer or external interrupt Performance Up to 2.5 […]

Posted on

Atmel SAM D20 MCU Family Features ARM Cortex M0+ Core

Atmel has just announced its SAM D20 family of embedded Flash micro-controllers based on ARM Cortex-M0+ processor core, designed for low power applications such as home automation, consumer, smart metering and industrial applications. The key features of Atmel SAM D20 MCUs are as follows: Cortex M0+ @ 48MHz, 2.14 Coremark/MHz Single-cycle IO access, supporting a pin toggling frequency up to 24 MHz Eight-channel event system Peripherals: Four to six serial communication modules (SERCOM) configurable as UART/USART, SPI or I2C Up to eight 16-bit Timer/Counters Peripheral touch controller (PTC) that supports up to 256 channels and supports buttons, sliders, wheels, and proximity Real Time Clock (RTC) and calendar with leap year correction 12-bit 350ksps ADC and 10-bit DAC Power Consumption: <150µA/MHz <2µA RAM retention and RTC Options between internal and external oscillators and on-the-fly clock switching The family supports features 14 new devices available in 32-, 48- and 64-pin package options […]

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