Xiaomi has unveiled its latest phone with Mi 6 smartphone equipped with a 5.15″ display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 octa-core processor, 6GB RAM, 64 or 128GB storage, and more.

Xiaomi Mi 6 specifications:

• SoC – Qualcomm Snpadragon 835 octa-core Kryo 280 processor with 4x cores @ 2.45 GHz, 4x cores @ 1.9 GHz, Adreno 540 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 full, Vulkan, DX12, Hexagon 682 DSP
• System Memory – 6GB LPDDR4X dual channel memory
• Storage – 64 or 128 GB UFS 2.0 flash; NO micro SD card
• Display – 5.15″ capacitive touch display with 1920×1080 resolution, 428ppi
• Audio – Speakers; microphone; 3.5mm audio jack
• Cellular Connectivity
  • 2G: GSM 2/3/5/8; CDMA: BC0
  • 3G: WCDMA B1/2/5/8; TD-SCDMA: B34/39
  • 4G: FDD-LTE: B1/3/5/7/8, TDD-LTE:38/39/40/41
  • Dual Nano SIM card dual standby
• Other Wireless Connectivity – Dual band 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, BEIDOU
• Camera –  12.0MP+12.0MP dual back camera;  8.0MP front-facing camera
• USB – USB type C port
• Sensors – Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Distance sensor, Ambient light sensor, Hall sensor, electronic compass, barometer
• Battery – 3,350mAh Lithium battery
• Dimensions – 145.17 x 70.49 x 7.45mm
• Weight – 168 grams

The phone runs MIUI 8 based on Android 7.1, and the company claims its Antutu score is over 180,000 points. With those specifications Xiaomi Mi 6 would be a great candidate for convergence applications, but AFAIK the company has not provided any “desktop experience” software, nor docking station.

The phone ships with a USB tType-C cable, an eject pin for the SIM card slots, a user manual, and a power adapter. The 4GB/64GB sells in China for 2,499 CNY ($362), and 6GB/128GB version for 2,899 CNY ($USD421). GeekBuying has already started to take pre-orders for respectively $481.99 and $565.99 shipped, with actual shipping scheduled for in about one month.

Tweet Xiaomi has unveiled its latest phone with Mi 6 smartphone equipped with a 5.15″ display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 octa-core processor, 6GB RAM, 64 or 128GB storage, and more. Xiaomi…

Yesterday, Xiaomi introduced Mi 6 smartphone, in what looked like to be their premium model, but it turns out they have a more powerful (and expensive) model with Mi MIX 2 Phablet/Smartphone boasting the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, but equipped with up to 8GB RAM, 256 GB flash, and a 6.4″ display with 2560×1440 resolution and virtually without any bezels.

Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 preliminary specifications:

• SoC – Qualcomm Snpadragon 835 octa-core Kryo 280 processor with 4x cores @ 2.45 GHz, 4x cores @ 1.9 GHz, Adreno 540 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 full, Vulkan, DX12, Hexagon 682 DSP
• System Memory – 4, 6 or 8 GB LPDDR4X dual channel memory
• Storage – 128 or 256 GB UFS 2.0 flash; NO micro SD card
• Display – 6.4″ capacitive touch AMOLED display with 2560×1440 resolution
• Audio – Speakers; microphone; 3.5mm audio jack
• Cellular Connectivity
  • 2G – 580/900/1800/1900 MHz; CDMA EVDO: BC0
  • 3G – WCDMA B1/2/5/8; TD-SCDMA: B34/39
  • 4G – FDD-LTE: 850/900/1700/1800/1900/2100/2600MHz;  TDD-LTE: B38/B39/B40/B41
  • Dual Nano SIM card dual standby
• Other Wireless Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
• Camera –  19 MP dual rear camera with flash and auto focus;  13.0MP front-facing camera
• USB – Micro USB port
• Sensors – Ambient Light Sensor, Gravity Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Fingerprint scanner
• Battery – 4,500 mAh Lithium battery
• Dimensions – 15.80 x 8.19 x 0.79 cm
• Weight – 209 grams

The phone will run MIUI 9 based on Android 7.1 Nougat, and ship with a power adapter, a USB cable, and a “SIM needle”. A few items in the specifications above are inconsistent with the features of Mi 6 smaprthone, so I guess they may be incorrect: 3.5mm audio jack is not part of Mi 6, the wireless module is probably 802.11ac + Bluetooth 5, micro USB port ? seriously? It must be a USB type C port. I also have a gut feeling the sensor list is incomplete. Nevertheless, that device looks just as powerful as some entry level to mid range computers or laptops.

The reason why we don’t have clear specifications is because Xiaomi has not formally launched the device, but GearBest has listed the phone/phablet on their website, with three models:

• 4GB RAM / 128 GB flash – $848.91 shipped
• 8GB RAM / 128 GB flash – $951.37 shipped
• 8GB RAM / 256 GB flash  – $1094.81 shipped

It’s also possible, GearBest is playing it safe, and gave higher prices before the product is formally announced, and while they are gathering emails to send “Arrival Notices” later on. We’ll know the real price of the phone once Xiaomi introduces it in China.

Via AndroidPC.es

Tweet Yesterday, Xiaomi introduced Mi 6 smartphone, in what looked like to be their premium model, but it turns out they have a more powerful (and expensive) model with Mi…

Wemos – the company behind the cool Wemos D1 mini ESP8266 board – has now launched its first Espressif ESP32 development board with LoLin32 equipped with ESP-WROOM-32 module with 4MB flash, a micro USB port, and a battery header.

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Wemos Lolin32 specifications:

• Wireless Module – ESP-WROOM-32 based on Espressif ESP-32 dual core processor @ 240 MHz with 4MB flash
• Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth LE
• I/Os
  • 26x digital I/Os
  • 12x analog inputs
  • UART, I2C, SPI, VP/VN, DAC
  • 3.3V I/O voltage
  • Breadboard compatible
• USB – 1x micro USB port for power and programming/debugging
• Power – 5V via micro USB + battery header for Lithium battery (charging current: 500mA max)
• Dimensions – 5.8 x 2.54 cm
• Weight – 5.8 grams

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The board is not compatible with Wemos D1 mini (34.2 x 25.6 mm) and shield, but offers a more powerful solution with Bluetooth LE, battery support, and more I/Os. The Wiki is still work-in-progres, and there’s no that much information on the page yet.

Wemos LoLin32 can be purchased for $6.90 + shipping ($8.66 in my case) on Aliexpress.

Via ESP32net twitter

Tweet Wemos – the company behind the cool Wemos D1 mini ESP8266 board – has now launched its first Espressif ESP32 development board with LoLin32 equipped with ESP-WROOM-32 module with…

After Wio Link and Wio Node boards, Seeed Studio has added a new board to their Wio (Wireless Input Output) family with Wio GPS board based on Microchip SAMD21 Cortex M0+ MCU for Arduino compatibility, and Mediatek MT2503 ARM7 processor for GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, and 2G (GPRS) connectivity.

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Wio GPS board specifications:

• MCU – Microchip ATSAMD21G18A-MU ARM Cortex M0+ MCU @ 48 MHz with 256KB flash, 32KB SRAM
• Wireless SoC – Mediatek MT2503 ARM7EJ-S processor @ 260 MHz
• Storage – micro SD slot (shared with nano SIM slot)
• Connectivity (built-in MT2503 in Quectel MC20 module)
  • Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 3.0 with SPP Profile and HFP-AG Profile; u.FL connector for external antenna
  • Quad band 2G GSM/GPRS  with u.FL connector for external antenna and nano SIM card slot
  • GNSS – GPS + BeiDou + QZSS with u.FL connector for external antenna
• Audio – Speaker footprint (+/-), 3.5mm AUX jack with mic and stereo audio
• Expansion – 6x Grove Connectors (2x Digital, 2x Analog, 1x UART, 1x I2C)
• USB – 1x micro USB port for power and firmware update
• Misc – RGB LED, GSM power button, reset button
• Power Supply – 5V via micro USB port, 2-pin JST 1.0 header for battery
• Dimensions – 54.7mm x 48.2mm
• Weight – 45 grams; antennas add 9 grams

While you can already do much of the things achieved with Wio GPS using an Arduino board, and corresponding GPRS/GPS shields, Seeed Studio’s board offers a more compact solution, and access to over 180 modules via the grove connectors. The board can be programmed with the Arduino IDE, and in due time a Wiki will be setup showing how to get started with the board.

Wio GPS Board with tis three antennas (GPS, Bt, GSM) is available for pre-order for $39.90 on Seeed Studiofor pre-order for $39.90 on Seeed Studio, and shipping is scheduled for June 1st. The company also plans to released an 4G /LTE version in Q3 2017.

Tweet After Wio Link and Wio Node boards, Seeed Studio has added a new board to their Wio (Wireless Input Output) family with Wio GPS board based on Microchip SAMD21…

Rockchip first unveiled RK3399 hexa-core processor at the beginning of 2016, but we had to wait longer than expected to get devices to play with. The first retail product based on the processor is really Samsung Chromebook Plus, and we only saw a few TV boxes for pre-sale in January such as Yundoo Y8 or R-TV Box K99, and with the first shipments occurring in March. However, I’ve also noticed many companies postponed the launch of the RK3399 mini PC/TV box, and no company contacted me for review so far, so I had no rush because that probably means the boxes were not quite ready. But starting at the beginning of next month, more companies will start selling their model, and GearBest proposed to send me Yundoo Y8 model with 4GB RAm, 32GB flash, and decided to give it a go. In this first part of the review, I’ll only look at the hardware, and will further test overall performance, video & audio capabilities, in subsequent posts.

Yundoo Y8 Unboxing

The retail package refers to Yundoo Y8 “True 4” media player.

There are two version for Y8 model one with 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, and the other with 4GB RAM/32GB storage which I received,

The box ships with a HDMI cable, an infrared remote control with IR learning function for 5 keys, a 5V/2.5A power supply, and a rather useless user manual.

The enclosure is made of plastic with the power button on the front panel, an SD card, USB 3.0 port, and USB type C port on one of the side, with the rest of the ports on the rear panel: DC jack, optical S/PDIF, AV port (composite + stereo audio), Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 2.0, and two USB 2.0 ports.

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You may watch the unboxing video if you please.

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Yundoo Y8 Teardown

We’ll start our unboxing by removing 3 rubber pads from the bottom of the case, and loosen the three screws underneath. You can leave the one at the top left alone, since there’s nothing there.

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The gap between the two side of the enclosure is extremely small, and my green plastic tool was not sharp enough, so I took a bit more risks and used a sharper metal tool to get started with popping up the bottom part of the case, before carrying on with the plastic tool.

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There’s no much to see on the bottom of the board, except a footprint for a wireless module with one antenna, and the sticker showing the key features of the board: RK3399, 4G/32G, and AP6356 wireless module. After removing four more screws, we can completely take the board out.

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A large heatsink covers the processor and RAM chips, and it’s further cooled by a thermal pad and a thick metal plate attached to the box of the case. Two antennas are connected to the Wireless module, which could help with WiFi reliability and/or performance. The power button and LED is located in a separate small board.

I’ve removed the heatsink to have a better look at the board, Note that there’s no thermal paste between the heatsink and the processor, but instead the company used another thermal pad.

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Rockchip RK3399 processor is connected to four Samsung K4B8G1646D-MYK0 DDR3L chip (4x 1GByte), and a 32GB Samsung KLMBG4WEBD-B031 eMMC 5.0 flash with theoretical 260/46 MB/s sequential read and write speed, and 6000/5000 R/W IOPS, which should offer a good user experience. That’s still the lowest end 32GB Samsung eMMC flash there is. Ampak AP6356S module brings dual band 802.11 b/g/n/ac 2×2 (Up to 867 Mbps) and Bluetooth 4.1 LE connectivity to the board, while Gigabit Ethernet is made possible thanks to ZTE ZX2AA500 transceiver – no a Realtek chip for once – and SG24002 magnetics. Rockchip RK808-D PMIC completes the list of the mains chips on the board. You may have also noticed the unpopulated 4-pin header  on the bottom right of the board which should be the serial console. The firmware recovery button is hidden right behind the AV port.

I’d like to thank GearBest for sending a sample for review. If you are interested you could purchase the device on their website for $109.99 with coupon GBYDY8, or $90 with coupon GBYDY816 for the 2GB/16GB version. Yundoo Y8 appears to be a GearBest exclusivity, as I failed to find it on Aliexpress, GeekBuying and other websites.

Tweet Rockchip first unveiled RK3399 hexa-core processor at the beginning of 2016, but we had to wait longer than expected to get devices to play with. The first retail product…

Last year, I reviewed U4 Quad Hybrid, an Android TV box powered by Hisilicon Hi3796M quad core Cortex A7 processor and with a combo DVB-T2/C + DVB-S2 tuner. with digital TV tuner. It worked pretty well, except for a few bugs here and there, the processor is not the most powerful, and video output & decoding is limited to 4K  @ 30Hz. The company – Shenzhen Vivant Technology – is now back with a new model called U5 PVR powered by a more powerful Hisilicon Hi3798C V200 quad core Cortex A53 processor with fast interfaces like USB 3.0, SATA, and Gigabit Ethernet, as well as support for 4K @ 60Hz via a HDMI 2.0a interface. There are actually three variations of U5 PVR with Deluxe/Slim/Normal models, and the company sent me U5 PVR Deluxe model for review. As usual, after listing the specifications, I’ll start the review by checking out the hardware, before reporting my experience with the firmware in the second part.

U5 PVR Deluxe TV Box Specifications

The TV box has some pretty impressive specifications:

• SoC – Hisilicon Hi3798C V200 quad core Cortex A53 processor + multi-core ARM Mali-T720 processor
• System Memory – 2GB DDR4-2133 SDRAM
• Storage – 16GB eMMC 5.0 flash, internal SATA port for 2.5″ & 3.5″ hard drives / SSDs, micro SD slot
• Video Output – HDMI 2.0a port up to 4K60 with HDR10 support, HDCP 1.4/2.2, AV port (composite + stereo audio)
• Audio Output – Via HDMI, AV ports, optical S/PDIF port
• Video Decoding – 10-bit H.265/HEVC up to 160 Mbps, H.264, MPEG-2, AVS/AVS+, VC1, VP8/VP9
• Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, dual band 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE
• USB – 1x USB 3.0 port, 3x USB 2.0 ports
• Tuner
  • Smart Card slot
  • 4 Options
    • Combo tuner with DVB-S2/S and DVB-T2/T/C tuners
    • Dual DVB-T2/T/C tuner with two demodulators
    • Twin DVB-S2/S tuner with Disqc v1.0, v1.2, and USALS support
    • Dual ATSC 2.0 tuner with two demodulators
• Misc – Power/standby button, power switch, 2x LED, 4-digit 7 segment front panel display, IR receiver
• Power Supply – 12V/3A ; Standby mode power consumption: 0.5 watt
• Dimensions – 320 x 275 x 135 mm
• Weight – 1.5 kg
• Operating Temperature – 0 to 45 °C

The box runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with LeanBack launcher, a customized Live TV app, and support for PVR, time-shifting, and  TVHeadEnd 3.6 to steam Live TV to other devices (laptop, smartphone…). You’ll find more details hardware and software specifications in U5 PVR forums.

U5 PVR Deluxe Unboxing

The device package is really massive compared to other boxes I’ve received. I thought somebody might have sent an large oscilloscope instead…

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The package also shows one more option for tuner: single satellite tuner (DVB-S2/S). No tick on my package, so we’ll see which exact model I’ve received later.

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The box ships with a WiFi antenna, a large remote control taking two AAA batteries, and HDMI cable, a SATA cable + screws, a 12V/3A power supoply, and U5 PVR user manual. The user manual indicates that I should have gotten an RS-232 cable too, but it was nowhere to be found.

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The front panel comes with one USB 2.0 port, one USB 3.0 port, a window for the IR receiver and LCD display, two LEDs and the power button.

Both sides of the set-top box expose plenty of ventilation holes, with one side featuring the WiFi antenna connector, and the other two more USB 2.0 ports, and the Smart Card slot. The rear panles comes with two coaxial connectors (one female, one male) for the tuner, a 3.5mm AV jack, optical S/PDIF, HDMI 2.0a, Gigabit Ethernet, micro SD slot, the power jack, a mechanical power switch, and an RS-232 port used to reflash or upgrade the firmware.

U5 PVR Deluxe Teardown and SATA Drive Installation

Most TV boxes need to be opened from the bottom side of the case, and there are indeed a few screws that we could have removed to try to open the box. But since U5 PVR is supposed to take an internal hard drive, I found it would be an inconvenient way.

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So I looked into the user manual, but found absolutely nothing about installing a hard drive in the box. Then I realized the top cover was slightly elevated, and after gently pulling it I managed to take it out fairly easily.

We can see multiple mounting options with A: 2x 2.5″ HDD, B: 1x 3.5″ HDD, and C: 1x DVD. There’s only one SATA port, so I’m not sure how you would install two SATA drives, and a DVD drive would be possibly, but inconvenient unless you have a specific application that requires one DVD, or you place it on top of the case, and do not put the top cover back. There are also holes to install a fan, but I don’t have details to what type of fan is suitable. The sticker on the top left of the case read “Warranty void if seal is broken”, which does not make any sense, since that means connecting the hard drive internally would void the warranty. Anyway, I loosen the four screws, and pulled out the cover to have a better look at the board.

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The board is called “VV98C VERO 3”. A small heatsink covers the Hisilicon processor, are very next to it we can see a 16GB Samsung KLMAG2GEND-B031 eMMC 5.0 flash with 230/50MB/s sequential R/W speeds, and 6.5K/6K R/W IOPS, as well as two K4A8G16-5WG8CRC DDR4 memory chips. The tuner board comes with two Availink AVL6762TA DVB-T2/T/C demodulators, which means I got the Dual DVB-T2/T/C tuner version of U5 PVR Deluxe. Ampak AP6335 module provides 802.11 b/g/n/ac and  Bluetooth 4.0 Smart connectivity, while as we can see in the picture below, Realtek RTL8211E transceiver and PSF-2447 transformer are used for Gigabit Ethernet.

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Genesys Logic GL850G USB 2.0 hub is used for the extra USB ports since the processor only comes with a single USB 2.0 interface. The tiny 8-pin chip close to the power jack is FR9889 step-down DC to DC converter. The front panel board includes i-core HD2015E LED driver IC.

Now that we’ve had a look at the board’s main components. Let’s carry with the hard drive installation, and I’ll use a 3.5″ hard drive. First connect the 4-wire part of the cable J12 header, and the red SATA cable to the SATA port close to Ampak AP6335 module.

Connect the other part of the cable to the hard drive, place the HDD upside-down on a table, and tighten the four screws through the four “B” holes, before placing it back on top of the case as shown below.

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Tighten the four screws on the edges of the box, put back the top cover, and you’re done. In case, you prefer to use a fan, I strongly suspect that J14 3-pin header on the main board is designed for this very purpose.

I’d like to thank Shenzhen Vivant Technology for sending a review sample. Distributors and resellers may contact the company to purchase in quantities. U5 PVR Deluxe is not for sale at the retail level yet, but you should eventually find it on Vivant Technology Aliexpress store.

Tweet Last year, I reviewed U4 Quad Hybrid, an Android TV box powered by Hisilicon Hi3796M quad core Cortex A7 processor and with a combo DVB-T2/C + DVB-S2 tuner. with…

While many Apollo Lake mini PCs have been launched, few support 4K @ 60 Hz video output, but Zotac CI327 Nano mini PC does even better than that thanks to HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2 outputs allowing for dual 4K UHD @ 60 Hz setups, and it also adds an extra VGA port to enable triple display setups.

The rest of the specifications are not too bad either with three models CI327 Nano (windows / no windows) and CI327 Nano Plus with slightly different hardware specifications:

• SoC – Intel Celeron N3450 quad-core  processor @ 1.1GHz / 2.2GHz with Intel HD Graphics 500
• System Memory
  • Nano with Windows and Nano PLUS – 4GB DDR3L (one slot occupied, up to 8GB)
  • Nano – 2x 204-pin DDR3L-1866 SO-DIMM slots (up to 8GB)
• Storage – 1x 2.5″ SATA 6.0 Gbps SSD/HDD slot; 3-in-1 (SD/SDHC/SDXC); Nano with WINDOWS only: 32GB M.2 on-board SATA SSD
• Video Output
  • HDMI 2.0 up to 3840×2160 @ 60 Hz
  • DisplayPort 1.2 up to 4096×2160 @ 60 Hz
  • VGA up to 1920×1080 @ 60 Hz
• Audio – 3.5mm headphone and microphone jacks, lossless bitstream via HDMI
• USB – 1x USB 3.0 type C port, 2x USB 3.0 ports, 2x USB 2.0 ports
• Connectivity – Dual Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 ac WiFi + Bluetooth 4.2
• Misc – Power button, Kensington lock, Power/HDD/WiFi LEDs, VESA mount
• Power Supply – 19V/40W AC adapter
• Dimensions – 127 .8 x 126.8 x 56.8 mm

The mini PC ships with a WiFi antenna, an AC adapter with power cord, a warranty card, a user manual, a quick install guide, a driver disc, and a VESA monitor mount (with 4 screws). Nano with Windows version also comes with a O/S recovery DVD. The only operating system listed as supported is Windows 10 Home 64-bit, so it’s unclear whether you’d be able to install Linux distributions.

The barebone version – Zotac CI327 Nano – sells for as low as 172.13 Euros in Germany, or about 20% more than the Braswell based Zotac CI323 Nano. You’ll find a comparison of the three models on Zotac website.

Via FanlessTech

Tweet While many Apollo Lake mini PCs have been launched, few support 4K @ 60 Hz video output, but Zotac CI327 Nano mini PC does even better than that thanks…

Beelink’s latest Intel mini PC offerings includes the AP34 and AP42 which are their first models using Intel Apollo Lake processors. The former uses an Intel Apollo Lake Celeron N3450 processor (burst frequency 2.2GHz, Intel HD Graphics 500 with Graphics Burst Frequency 700MHz and 12 Execution Units) while the latter uses the slightly more powerful Pentium N4200 (burst frequency 2.5GHz, Intel HD Graphics 505 with Graphics Burst Frequency 750MHz and 18 Execution Units). Both support Windows 10 (Home) and Beelink’s marketing claim they “support Linux system”. GearBest has given me the chance to review running Linux on the AP42 model so here are my findings.

Spot the difference!

Normally I first make a disk image before booting Windows or installing Linux. However initial attempts at booting a Live USB with a variety of Linux systems failed so both the reseller and manufacturer were contacted for comment. Interestingly there was no immediate reply but early indications that something was amiss was when the reseller’s advert (right) changed compared with the manufacturers advert (left).

As I’d previously had a comment on my website about using rEFInd boot manager when a system wouldn’t boot I gave it a try by manually building an Ubuntu Live USB which successfully booted. Unfortunately the ISO I had used was Ubuntu 16.04.2 and whilst it ran fine on the USB drive, it couldn’t ‘see’ the eMMC of the AP42. Further experimentation with Ubuntu 17.04 Beta 2 and a variety of kernels showed that a minimum 4.10 kernel was required in order to access the eMMC. Anyone wanting to boot an Ubuntu ISO can either manually add the rRFInd boot manager, or use the latest version of ‘isorespin.sh’ to respin the ISO with the rRFInd boot manager and optionally update the kernel.

Then having taken a disk image I booted Windows only to find that Windows was already set up with an ‘Admin’ account. Which of course gave me the opportunity to test a full Windows restore that fortunately worked.

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So with a nice clean and activated Windows system and 24 hours later due to all the updates download and installing I was able to run my usual Windows tests to given me a basic comparison with other Intel devices.

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As can be seen there is a performance increment over Cherry Trail devices including better graphics performance and the new Apollo Lake Pentium N4200 processor is overall slightly better than the earlier Celeron N3150 processor.

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​Being a passively cooled device I was interested to see whether temperature was an issue. I ran HWiNFO64’s Sensor Status utility before and after each test and rather unscientifically held the box to see how hot it was. Neither indicated that I had any reason to be concerned as whilst the box felt warm the temperature maxed out at around 70 °C and no thermal-throttling was encountered.

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Having put the device through its paces under Windows, it was time to look at Linux performance. For a comparison I was going to use the results from my Phoronix ‘mini PC’ test suite run on Intel Compute Sticks. However I initially had problems getting the ‘unpack-linux’ test to install so I decided to download the latest version directly from www.phoronix-test-suite.com rather than use the one provided through ‘apt’. And because comparing results across different versions of test software and different releases of OS is often meaningless I first had to reinstall Ubuntu 17.04 on the comparison hardware and then run the tests in parallel across each device. For those not familiar with the model names they decode as STCK1A32WFC is the Intel Compute Stick (Falls City), STK1AW32SC is the Intel Compute Stick (Sterling City) and STKM3W64CC is the Intel Compute Stick (Cedar City) with the specs listed in the above table. Unfortunately with the Phoronix Test Suite some tests give decidedly strange and confusing results even those they are the average of three runs. However, as per the Windows results there is a noticeable improvement as the power of the processor increases and the AP42 performance is as expected.

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I also ran the Octane 2 on Chrome which was also comparable with the Windows result albeit slightly lower which in iteself was slightly unusual given it is typically slightly higher in Ubuntu than with Windows normally. Interestingly Octane 2 has now been retired as it seems too many programs were cheating their scores (all too familiar).

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In terms of what works under Ubuntu it was nice to find that all the usual problem areas were fine, with working audio, WiFi, Bluetooth and SD cards (including Sandisk). I did encounter a problem with HDMI audio in that you must first select the audio device under Sound Settings before it works. And in Lubuntu this was impossible to do as only Headphones showed up until I plugged in some external speakers into the headphone jack and then after unplugging them the HDMI output option then appeared. But otherwise the device ran smoothly on Ubuntu.

Some specifics about the hardware.

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The memory is single channel and is 2x 2GB DDR3 1600 MHz…

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… and the eMMC storage is CJNB4R which is a Samsung 64GB storage chip…

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… with WiFi/Bluetooth provided by an Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165 chip with Bluetooth 4.2 as reported by inxi.

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Given the kernel limitation, I found running other Linuxes rather limiting. I did get OpenELEC to successfully boot and run from USB but installing would be an issue. I also tried Android-x86 and Chromium OS loaders but they were also impacted and not usable. My initial Remix attempts were unsuccessful and Phoenix took too long to download to be worth waiting for another failure. Other Ubuntu based distro ISOs worked as long as they were respun with a later kernel (I tested LinuxMint, Neon and Elementary with the latest v4.11-rc7 kernel). The only other Linux distro I tried was Debian but this was also unsuccessful due to the kernel issue, however other distros with rolling releases like Tumbleweed and Arch should be okay.

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KDE Neon – Click to Enlarge

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In terms of support Beelink are somewhat lacking. Despite having released the device for nearly a month, there are still no download links for BIOS or Windows drivers. They have just added a download for the entire Windows OS, but have failed to create a forum for AP42 users. For the Linux issue, they did eventually respond with “Sorry for that we don’t allow the right of Linux now” which is a somewhat unexpected response given their advert.

So for a new device running Linux it is arguably hit and miss. Depending on what you want to run will rule out the device completely at this stage and if you are looking for flexibility it may also be too restrictive. It may be that a BIOS update addresses the current Linux limitations, but equally given Beelink’s response it could restrict Linux even further.

The price is also somewhat questionable given it has a range from US$180 to US$270 which is the current price on Amazon. In comparison a barebones Zotac ZBOX CI323 with Celeron N3150 is currently US $148 on Newegg and a barebones Intel NUC NUC6CAYS with Celeron J3455 is US $149 on Amazon so the value for money given the level of support and current Linux restrictions is worth considering before purchasing. GearBest – who sent Beelink AP42 mini PC for review – somewhat sweetens the deal, as they sell it for $179.99 including shipping with coupon GBAP42. Beside Amazon and GearBest, you can also purchase the mini PC on sites like Aliexpress and Banggood for $185 to $190.

Tweet Beelink’s latest Intel mini PC offerings includes the AP34 and AP42 which are their first models using Intel Apollo Lake processors. The former uses an Intel Apollo Lake Celeron…

Most 64-bit ARM processors found in TV boxes and mini PC features ARM Cortex A53 cores which are good enough to watch most videos, since video decoding is usually handled by the video processing unit. But if you want some more performance for games and web browsing, SoCs based on Cortex A72 or similar high performance ARMv8 cores would deliver much a much better experience in Android. The problem is that there aren’t many options with products such as NVIDIA Shield Android TV, and Xiaomi Mi Box 3 Enhanced. The former is potentially expensive depending where you live, and the later is targeted at the Chinese market and lacks an Ethernet port. Rockchip RK3399 SoC should fill the market void for people wanting to do more than just watching videos on their TV box, and since I’ve just received Yundoo Y8 TV box based on the processor, I’ve run some apps to check out system information, and benchmark the system.

Yundoo Y8 / Rockchip RK3399 System Info with CPU-Z

CPU-Z appears to have improved since it can now detect clusters, and could detect a processor with two clusters: 2x Cortex A72 @ up to 1.99 GHz and4x Cortex A53 @ up to 1.51 GHz, as well as a Mali-T860 (actually T860MP4).

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Yundoo Y8 runs Android 6.0.1 on top of Linux 4.4.16, but I’ve read that other upcoming models based on RK3399 will run Android 7.1 instead.

Yundoo Y8 / Rockchip RK3399 Benchmarks

Let’s start with Antutu 6.x.

The 76,819 points achieved by the device is a big improvement compared to – for example – the 41,000 points in Amlogic S912 TV boxes. It also beats the ~71,000 points of Xiaomi Mi Box 3 Enhanced also based on a hexa-core Cortex A72/A53 processor (Mediatek MT8693), but at a lower 1.57 GHz maximal frequency, with a PowerVR GX6250 GPU,. and running Android 5.1 instead of Android 6.0.

Vellamo 2.x confirms the good performance of Rockchip RK3399: 5,275 points for Chrome Browser test, 2,492 points for Multicore test, and 2,332 points the Metal test. Amlogic S912 TV boxes gets about half that, and it’s also significantly better than Mi Box 3 Enhanced except for the metal test (2,392 points).

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The most powerful mobile/embedded GPUs will easily max out in 3Dmark Ice Storm Extreme 1.2 test, but the Mali-T860MP4 in RK3399 cannot quite do it, although with 9,906 points it’s a big improvement over the Mali-T820MP3 found in Amlogic S912 (~5,750 points), and slightly better than PowerVR GX6250 GPU in Mediatek MT8693 (9,260 points) using 1920×1080 output resolution.

Since low power processors are gone a long way in recent, I wanted to check out far it was from my main computer based on AMD FX8350 processor (125 Watt TDP) and running Ubuntu 16.04. One way to compare performance across different hardware and operating systems is to run GeekBench cross-platform benchmark.

GeekBench 4 Results for my PC:

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GeekBench 4 Android Results for Yundoo Y8:

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The single Cortex A72 core performance is about 50% of an FX8350 “Piledriver” core. Not too bad, even though the single core performance of this AMD CPU is not the best in the world. Multi-core performance is another story, as there are less cores/threads (6 vs 8), my computer throttles when all 8 cores are used (Normal score should be 10,000 to 12,000) , and it appears the Cortex A53 cores in RK3399 may not be used at all in GeekBench’s multi-core test. For reference, the latest Samsung Exynos 9 (8850) gets respectively 1,978 and 6,375 points in the same benchmarks. I’m assuming than in 4 to 5 years, we should be able to get AMD FX8350 type of performance in a mobile device.

Ethernet performance should be about the same in all RK3399 devices, and I tested with iperf with the command used in the TV box shown in brackets:

• Full duplex (iperf -t 60 -c 192.168.0.104 -d):

• Upload only (iperf -t 60 -c 192.168.104):

• Download only (iperf -s):

So it’s working pretty well here.

Internal storage will different from box to box, and even Yundoo Y8 with 32GB storage should perform than the same box with 16GB storage, but USB 3.0 performance should remain pretty much the same across devices.

The cached read is for the internal memory (eMMC flash) which we’ll ignore here due to reason explained above. The “SD card” is the NTFS partition of my Seagate USB 3.0 drive, and results are pretty good with 94.34 MB/s sequential read, and 53.50 MB/s sequential write considering I could achieve 107 MB/s and 45 MB/s with that hard drive in my main computer.  The RAM test shows a 9684.47MB/s copy, which compared to the 3301.73 MB/s achieved by Mecool BB2 Pro Amlogic S912 TV box with DDR4 memory.

So overall the platform looks promising, and offers a significant performance boost compared to the Cortex A53 competition at an affordable price, more exactly $90 and up with 2GB RAM, 16GB storage. The downside is that since the SoC is rather new there may be a few firmware bugs at this stage, which I’ll check/report in the full review, but I’m confident they will be ironed out over time, if not in Yundoo Y8, in other RK3399 devices.

Tweet Most 64-bit ARM processors found in TV boxes and mini PC features ARM Cortex A53 cores which are good enough to watch most videos, since video decoding is usually…

SolidRun MACCHIATOBin is a mini-ITX board powered by Marvell ARMADA 8040 quad core Cortex A72 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz and designed for networking and storage applications thanks to 10 Gbps, 2.5 Gbps, and 1 Gbps Ethernet interfaces, as well as three SATA port. The company is now taking order for the board (FCC waiver required) with price starting at $349 with 4GB RAM.

MACCHIATOBin board specifications:

• SoC – ARMADA 8040 (88F8040) quad core Cortex A72 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz with accelerators (packet processor, security engine, DMA engines, XOR engines for RAID 5/6)
• System Memory – 1x DDR4 DIMM with optional ECC and single/dual chip select support; up to 16GB RAM
• Storage – 3x SATA 3.0 port, micro SD slot, SPI flash, eMMC flash
• Connectivity – 2x 10Gbps Ethernet via copper or SFP, 2.5Gbps via SFP,  1x Gigabit Ethernet via copper
• Expansion – 1x PCIe-x4 3.0 slot, Marvell TDM module header
• USB – 1x USB 3.0 port, 2x USB 2.0 headers (internal),  1x USB-C port for Marvell Modular Chip (MoChi) interfaces (MCI)
• Debugging – 20-pin connector for CPU JTAG debugger, 1x micro USB port for serial console, 2x UART headers
• Misc – Battery for RTC, reset header, reset button, boot and frequency selection, fan header
• Power Supply – 12V DC via power jack or ATX power supply
• Dimensions – Mini-ITX form factor (170 mm x 170 mm)

Click to Enlarge

The board ships with either 4GB or 16GB DDR4 memory, a micro USB cable for debugging, 3 heatsinks, an optional 12V DC/110 or 220V AC power adapter, and an optional 8GB micro SD card. The company also offers a standard mini-ITX case for the board. The board supports mainline Linux or Linux 4.4.x, mainline U-Boot or U-Boot 2015.11, UEFI (Linaro UEFI tree), Yocto 2.1, SUSE Linux, netmap, DPDK, OpenDataPlane (ODP) and OpenFastPath. You’ll find software and hardware documentation in the Wiki.

The Wiki actually shows the board for $299 without any memory, but if you go to the order page, you can only order a version with 4GB RAM for $349, or one with 16GB RAM for $498 with the optional micro SD card and power adapter bringing the price up to $518.

Tweet SolidRun MACCHIATOBin is a mini-ITX board powered by Marvell ARMADA 8040 quad core Cortex A72 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz and designed for networking and storage applications thanks…

Chromium OS for SBC aimed to bring Chromium operating systems to low cost development boards such as the Raspberry Pi 3 board, but the website is now down, and the developer announced he had stopped working on it several months ago due the hardware limitations of the Raspberry Pi 3 board. But others decided it was still worth the effort, and created Flint Innovation company (based in UK/China) to develop Flint OS, a build of Chromium OS with optimizations for Raspberry Pi 3 and Firefly-RK3288 boards with more boards likely coming soon.

Click to Enlarge

The developers also provide an x86 image, but after asking more details, it turns out they only changed the boot splash screen for now on the x86 image, with most of the early work done on Raspberry Pi board:

At this moment our public Flint OS releases are still pretty much vanilla Chromium OS (we changed the boot splash screen). Our efforts so far have been focused on getting Chromium OS to run on more hardware platforms other than Google approved ones, with a special focus on ARM-based embedded systems. This is also why we found your site 🙂

Flint is still at its very early stage, going forward we plan to bring enhancements for the application layer too. For starters, we have planed to modify the activation/authentication mechanism that Google has built-in for only allowing Google account login.

If you’d like to give it a try, head to the download page for either:

• Flint OS for RPi v0.2.1 “Beetle” image based on Chromium 55
• Flint OS for PC v0.2.1 based on Chromium 55

They also have a Flint OS for Firefly-RK3288 v0.1 based on Chromium 57 in their Chinese download page, and uploaded a short demo with HTML5 video playback in YouTube. The image can be flashed to a USB drive or micro SD card with Etcher, Win32DiskImager, or other common tools.
[embedded content]

A build working with VMWare/VirtualBox is also in the works, but there are still some blockers with regards to the graphics driver. Note that while Chromium OS itself is open source, and Flint Innovation intends to comply with open source licenses (GPL and others), Flint OS is not fully open source, and the company offers consulting & customization services, as well as IT-as-a-Service for schools and businesses.

Tweet Chromium OS for SBC aimed to bring Chromium operating systems to low cost development boards such as the Raspberry Pi 3 board, but the website is now down, and…

A camera in an embedded system is normally connected to an ISP (image signal processing) block inside an SoC to handle the data coming from the sensor, and with recent cars now requiring more and more cameras for car DVRs, car parking systems, and self-driving vehicles, ARM has now unveiled Mali-C71 ISP specifically designed for automotive applications with support for 4 real-time cameras and 16 camera streams with a single pipeline.

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ARM explains that you can’t simply use smartphone cameras in automobile, as automotive requirements in terms of clarity and reliability are much more stringent. For example, Mali-C71 supports UWDR (Ultra-wide dynamic range) up to 24 stops, against 15 stops for the best DSLR cameras, which removes noise and process multiple exposures from the camera, and allows the processor/computer vision engine to detect objects such as a pedestrian, while others systems may not detect it. The image is also much clearer to the driver when displayed on a rearview mirror or other displays.

Illustration Showing Importance of UWDR. Top: Standard ISP – Bottom: Mali-C71 ISP

Mali-C71 also brings low latency and advanced error detection with more than 300 dedicated fault detection circuits to complies with automotive standards such as ISO26262, ASIL D and IEC 61508, SIL3.

Visit Mali Camera product page for more details about Mali C71 ISP.

Tweet A camera in an embedded system is normally connected to an ISP (image signal processing) block inside an SoC to handle the data coming from the sensor, and with…

Shenzhen SDMC Technology launched DV8219-LTE Android TV box with 4G modem powered by Amlogic S905X processor a while ago, and the company is back with a new model called DV8230-AP LTE with the same processor, but running Android 7.0, and what they call a “4G LTE router function”.

SDMC DV8230-AP LTE specifications:

• SoC – Amlogic S905X quad core Cortex A53 processor @ up to 1.5 GHz with a Mali-450MP GPU
• System Memory – 2GB DDR3 RAM
• Storage – 8GB eMMC flash (4 to 64GB as option) + micro SD card slot
• Video Output – HDMI 2.0a, 3.5mm AV port
• Audio Output – HDMI, AV, optical S/PDIF
• Connectivity
  • 10/100M Ethernet port
  • 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (Dual band optional)
  • Optional Bluetooth 4.0
  • Built-in 4G Module + SIM card slot
  • 2x dBi external antennas
• USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports
• Misc – IR receiver; LEDs; standby key; reset button; WPS button
• Power Supply – 5V/2A
• Dimensions – 120 x 120 x 28 mm
• Temperature Range – 0~40℃ (operating)

Apart from the extra RAM, the two external antennas, and WPS button, I could not see the difference with the previous model. Most Android TV boxes already support “portable hotspot” mode allowing to share an Ethernet connection over WiFi. So for example, if you are in a hotel room with Ethernet only, and happen to have a TV box with you, you could connect it to add a WiFi hotspot for your smartphone.

So since the company did a pretty poor job at explaining that router function in their website, I tried to ask them for more details about the hardware and software related to that function, and after several email exchanges, I could only find out there’s “router module” inside the box, and that “you can still use the WiFi function when the box is in standby.” So I’m assuming there could be a card like AsiaRF AP7620-MPE-1 or similar, with its own processor, possibly running OpenWrt, and always on, but this is all speculation since the company refuses to provide clear details.

You could visit the product page, but you’re unlikely to find many more details there. AFAIK, SDMC does not sell to individuals, only to resellers and distributors.

Tweet Shenzhen SDMC Technology launched DV8219-LTE Android TV box with 4G modem powered by Amlogic S905X processor a while ago, and the company is back with a new model called…

Mediatek Labs has launched a new IoT development, which on the surface looks similar to LinkIt Smart 7688 board, but the internal design is quite different as the MIPS processor and Linux OS, have been replaced by Mediatek MT7697 ARM Cortex-M4 processor running FreeRTOS, and beside WiFi, also includes support for Bluetooth 4.2 LE.

LinkIt 7697 board specifications:

• Wireless SoC – Mediatek MT7697 ARM Cortex M4F MCU @ 192 MHz with 352KB RAM, 4MB flash, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2 LE and a PMU
• Expansion – 2x 14-pin header with 18x GPIO, 2x UART, 1x I2C, 1x SPI, 18x PWM, 4x EINT, 4x ADC (0 to 2.5V), 1x IrDA, 1x I2S
• Debugging – 1x SWD, CP2102 UART to USB chipset
• Misc – Reset and user buttons; power and user LEDs
• Power Supply – 5V via micro USB port
• Dimensions – 48 x 26 mm

Pinout Diagram – Click to Enlarge

The board can be programmed with the Arduino IDE, or if you need more control LinkIt SK for RTOS. The documentation is available on Mediatek Labs LinkIt MT7697 page. We’ll note that the board is based on Wrtnode7 module, also found in the upcoming 96Boards WRTnode IE board. Mediatek MT7697 appears to competes directly with Espressif ESP32, and already comes with a 5GHz variant (MT7697D).

Mediatek MT7697 SoC Block Diagram

LinkIt 7697 board is up for pre-order for $13.90 on Seeed Studio, and there’s also a Grove Starter Kit for LinkIt 7697 selling with breakout board, and plenty of module for $150. The board and starter kit should ship on June 15, 2017…

Tweet Mediatek Labs has launched a new IoT development, which on the surface looks similar to LinkIt Smart 7688 board, but the internal design is quite different as the MIPS…

The most powerful 96boards development board – HiKey 960 – has finally been launched, and can be purchased for $239 on Aliexpress, Amazon US, Switch Sense (Japan), Seeed Studio, or All Net (Germany).

HiKey 960 specifications have not changed much since we found out about the board:

• SoC – Kirin 960 octa-core big.LITTLE processor with 4x ARM Cortex A73 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex A53 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz, and a Mali-G71 MP8 GPU
• System Memory – 3GB LPDDR4 SDRAM (PoP)
• Storage – 32GB UFS 2.1 flash storage + micro SD card slot
• Video Output / Display Interface – 1 x HDMI 1.2a up to 1080p, 1x 4-lane MIPI DSI connector
• Connectivity – Dual band 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1 with on-board antennas
• USB – 2x USB 3.0 type A host ports, 1x USB 2.0 type C OTG port
• Camera – 1x 4-lane MIPI CSI, 1x 2-lane MIPI CSI
• Expansion
  • PCIe Gen2 on M.2 Key connector
  • 40 pin low speed expansion connector with +1.8V, +5V, DC power, GND, 2x UART, 2x I2C, SPI, I2S, 12x GPIO
  • 60 pin high speed expansion connector: 4L MIPI DSI, 2L+4L MIPI CSI, 2x I2C, SPI (48M), USB 2.0
• Misc – LEDs for WiFi & Bluetooth, 4x user LEDs, power button, copper heatsink for CPU
• Power Supply –  8V-18V/2A via 4.75/1.7mm power barrel (EIAJ-3 Compliant); 12V/2A power supply recommended; PMU: Hi6421GWCV530, Hi6422GWCV211, Hi6422GWCV212;
• Dimensions – 85mm x 55mm

The board officially supports Android Open Source Project (AOSP) with Linux 4.4. Binary images, and instructions to build from source are available in the Documentation page. You’ll also find the hardware manual and schematics over there. There’s no firm commitment to a Linux distributions release, but based on comments from the launch video (embedded below), there could be some later on, and Linux mainline is also being worked on. Stocks are currently limited so you can buy one or two boards, but larger quantities would require a longer lead time. LeMaker also mentions kits with power supply, mini PCIe card… being available soon.

The video will eventually be uploaded to YouTube, but in the meantime I’ve embedded the Facebook video.

Tweet The most powerful 96boards development board – HiKey 960 – has finally been launched, and can be purchased for $239 on Aliexpress, Amazon US, Switch Sense (Japan), Seeed Studio,…

FriendlyELEC has launched a new accessory board for their NanoPi NEO / NEO 2 / NEO Air boards with UNO Dock V2.0 board compatible with Arduino UNO board thanks to its Microchip ATMeaga328P MCU and compatible headers, and also equipped with headers to plug a NanoPi NEO board.

Key features for UNO Dock v2.0 for NanoPi NEO:

• MCU – Microchip ATmega328 8-bit AVR  MCU @ 16 MHz with 2KB SRAM, 32KB flash, 1024 bytes EEPROM
• USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports connected to NEO board
• Expansion
  • Arduino UNO headers for shields
  • Female headers to insert the NanoPi NEO board
  • Male headers to access NanoPi NEO boards’ IOs
• Debugging & Programming – 1x micro USB port (USB to UART), ICSP header, NEO debug UART header
• Misc – Power on/off, reset button, UART select jumper
• Power Supply – 12V DC via 2.1mm power barrel

Click to Enlarge

The system would be great if NanoPi NEO boards actually had an HDMI output port, as it would be an all-in-one Arduino development platform that does not require an extra computer, just like UDOO NEO, but cheaper. But sadly that’s not case, so you still need a separate computer to program the board, and NanoPi NEO board here is mainly used to process data from sensors and modules connected to the Arduino and NEO headers, potentially sending & receiving data to/from a cloud service.  In some ways it’s similar to NanoHAT Hub for instead of being designed for Groves modules, it’s designed for Arduino Shields. You’ll find some more details in the Wiki (Chinese version only for now). Based on the schematics, NanoPi NEO board and the Microchip MCU communicate over I2C.

UNO Dock v2.0 sells for $6.99 plus shipping, quite cheaper than the first version (UNO Dock v1.0) going for $14.99 plus shipping.

Thanks to theguyuk for the tip.

Tweet FriendlyELEC has launched a new accessory board for their NanoPi NEO / NEO 2 / NEO Air boards with UNO Dock V2.0 board compatible with Arduino UNO board thanks…

The 3D printer maket is brutal. Many people have tried to designed their own 3D printer, and launch them through crowdfunding campaigns, but the rate is failure is very high, and some cases, scams are also reported. When I covered BlackSmith Genesis 3D Printer, Scanner and Copier in 2015,  I was hopefully it would become successful, as it solves one the main problem with 3D printing: the high skill sets required to operate the device as it would just operate as a 3D copier. Place the object inside the 3D printer, press copy, and a few minutes or hours later, you get a copy of the object without having to learn about 3D design or G-code format. But today, I noticed the website account at expired, and the 3D copier was nowhere to be found, so it looks like another failure. Around the same time in 2015, another company called AIO Robotics launched Zeus 3D printer, scanner and editor, and I re-discover the printer through a blog post on Tindie. A good sign since it means the company survived for at least 2 years, and should have a working business model.

Let’s have a closer look at the main hardware specifications of Zeus 3D copier:

The mode of operation is very simple. Insert you object in the 3D printer to start the scan, edit it if needed (e.g. zoom in/out), and print it. This is summarize in the video (no audio) below.

[embedded content]
You can check a scan sample and view the PNG files, or open the sample in Slic3r.

Zeus All-in-One 3D printer sells for $2,499 on Tindie, $2,237.37 on Amazon US, where you’ll also find usually positive user reviews, but many not from “verified purchases”, and some other reviewers mention several issues including low success while printing (80% fails) due to the filament breaking, while scan is OK as long as you calibrate the device, and cover the object with white powder (e.g. flour, talc, …) before scanning.

You’ll find more details about the device on AIO Robotics Zeus microsite.

Tweet The 3D printer maket is brutal. Many people have tried to designed their own 3D printer, and launch them through crowdfunding campaigns, but the rate is failure is very…

Qualcomm unveiled Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC for wearables early last year, and since then a few smartwatches powered by the processor – such as LG Watch Style and Watch Sport – have been launched, and Intrinsyc has now unveiled one of the first module based on the processor with Open-Q 2100 system-on-module, and a corresponding Nano-ITX baseboard.

Open-Q 2100 SoM specifications:

• SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 (APQ8009W) quad core ARM Cortex A7 processor @ up to 1.094 GHz with Adreno 304 GPU
• System Memory – 512 MB LPDDR3
• Storage – 4GB eMMC flash
• Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (WCN2320), Bluetooth 4.1 LE, Gen 8C GNSS (GPS/GLONASS) with on-board u.FL connector (WGR7640)
• Audio – Integrated Codec/PMIC (PM8916-1) with optional support for Fluence HD, Snapdragon Voice Activation, and Snapdragon Voice+
• 2x 100-pin board-to-board connectors with USB 2.0, I2S, GPIO, MIPI DSI up to 720p @ 60 Hz, 2-lane MIPI CSI, SDC2/microSD signals
• Power Supply – 3.6 to 4.2V input
• Dimensions – 31.5 x 15 mm
• Temperature Range – -10 to +70 °C

The module runs Android 7 Nougat by default, but it can also support Android Wear.

The company also provides Open-Q 2100 SoM development board to evaluate the platform, and get started as soon as possible while you wait for your custom baseboard. The development includes the following key features:

• Connectors for Open-Q 210 system-on-module
• Storage – micro SD slot
• Display – MIPI DSI connector with optional smartphone display, HDMI output
• Camera – MIPI CSI connector for optional 720p capable camera
• Connectivity – Ethernet port (via LAN9514); wireless connectivity (WiFi, BLE, GPS) on module
• USB – 4x USB 2.0 host ports
• Expansion Headers – SPI, I2S, GPIO, etc…
• Debugging – micro USB port for debug UART
• Power Supply – 12V/3A via DC jack, or 6-pin battery connector
• Dimensions – Nano-ITX form factor (120×120 mm)

The module is expected to be used in connected wearables & trackers, tethered smartwatches, as well as ultra-compact embedded designs.

Open-Q 2100 SOM and Development Kit can be pre-ordered for respectively $75 and $595, with “early adopter units available to approved customers by May 31”. More information can be found on Intrynsic Open-Q2100 SoM and Devkit pages.

Via LinuxGizmos

Tweet Qualcomm unveiled Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC for wearables early last year, and since then a few smartwatches powered by the processor – such as LG Watch Style and Watch…

We had already seen ODROID-XU4 development board price drop to $59 earlier this year, but a frequent complain about the board remained: it requires a fan to operate at full speed, and makes noise while the fan turns. To address this issue, the company has now launched ODROID-XU4Q board with exactly the same specifications with Samsung Exynos 5422 octa-core processor, 2GB RAM, eMMC module support, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, HDMI 1.4 etc…, except the fan is replaced by a large heatsink.

ODROID-XU4 (left) vs ODROID-XU4Q (right) – Click to Enlarge

The company has also thoroughly tested both versions in different configurations such as setting the maximum frequency to 1.8 or 2.0 GHz, and found ODROID-XU4Q to be slightly slower under high load due to CPU throttling, as the large heatsink does not cool quite as well as the smaller heatsink in combination with a fan. However in many cases, the difference is minimal as shown by Antutu results (61,112 vs 60,283 points). Running sysbench at 2.0 GHz showed one of the biggest gaps in performance, with XU4Q taking 16% more time (420 seconds vs 362 seconds) to complete the test as shown below.

Click to Enlarge

If you run the board at 1.8 GHz, the difference decreases to just 6%. If you are using ODROID-XU4 as part of a build farm, you may want to keep using the actively cooled version, it takes take 25 minutes to build the Linux kernel against 30 minutes on ODROID-XU4Q.The company also found that if you don’t want throttling at all, you need to set the CPU frequency to 1.2 GHz.

The company also had to add a cut out line to ODROID-XU4(Q) cases to allow for the taller heatsink. If you have a ODROID-XU4 board with a fan, and would like to convert it into a quitet ODROID-XU4Q board, you can do so by purchasing the new heatsink for $4.90 + shipping. The price for ODROID-XU4Q board is the same as for ODROID-XU4 ($59 + shipping).

If you’re wondering when the next major update of ODROID board is coming, there is a clue in ODROID Magazine April 2017:

In 2017, we are planning another 64-bit ARM platform and a 64-bit x86 platform, and we are also considering an upgraded version of XU4.

Tweet We had already seen ODROID-XU4 development board price drop to $59 earlier this year, but a frequent complain about the board remained: it requires a fan to operate at…

Yesterday one person contacted me on Facebook asking me whether there was any chance of me doing a “which usd-micro usb cable is best”, as there’s not much clear information on the Internet. His purpose was to charge his phone, but many development boards come with a micro USB port, and I’ve read many comments about powering the board. It also happened to me, and the main cause can either be the power supply which does not work as rated (usually 5V/2A), or the micro USB cable which may have a resistance a little to high leading to voltage drops. You’ll know you may have a power problem when the board refuses to boot, and usually boot loop, or randomly reboots especially under high load. The first solution is to get a power supply that provide the right voltage and amperage, and you can test that with USB Charger doctor an ultra cheap tool that will show both the voltage and intensity on an LCD display, although it will only work on chargers with a USB port.

But what about the micro USB cable? Let’s consider the actual problem, which is well explained in a post about USB cable resistance, but I’ll summarize below. First all conductor have some tiny resistance, and usually the thicker the cable the less resistance there is. The American Wire Gauge (AWG) value is often used to describe the thickness of the cable, with numbers from 0 to 40 ranging from the larger diameter/smaller resistance/higher capacity to the smaller diameter/larger resistance/lower capacity. For USB cable, AWG20 to AWG28 are often used for USB cables, and the latter seems to be very common for  data wires, but what matters here is the AWG value for the power wires (5V/GND) of the cable. The resistance also depends on the length of the cable with longer cables having a longer resistance, as well as the USB contact resistance, but I’m not sure we can do much about that one. Anyway, that means a short cable with a lower AWG value would be better suited here, as shown in the table below from the aforelinked post using 5V/1A and 5V/1A loads. This table assumes 30 mOhms contact resistance, so the values would be lower if there’s a lower resistance.

Boards can normally work in a range around 5V. For the sake of argument, let’s assume a board taking 4.5V to 5.5V DC input. and would reboot if the voltage drops below 4.5V. If you have a 5V power supply use with a non-optimal AWG rating and length, the voltage will drop more than 0.5V (red zone above) and the board will not work properly. 5V/1A (5W) is a very common on development boards, while getting to 10Watts is possible for you’d need a high load plus possible some USB storage device to reach the power level.

Based on those results, what we want is an AWG20 cable (ideally) with a length of less than one meter, and the shorter the better. So I’ve been looking for such cables on the web and found a bunch. I did not test any, but they may be good candidates to look at:

There are many others, just search for AWG20 micro USB cable, or in some cases micro USB charging cables, and you should find decent cables that should not cause power or charging troubles. The last cable in the list above (eBay) was tested with a Charger Doctor dongle showing 4.95V/3.47A going through the cable (1.8 meter length). The voltage value should be lower when measured at the DIY charging board due the internal resistance of the cable, but it still shows the cable allows around 3 to 4 amps.

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