CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

June 23, 2026June 23, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

The Best GEEKOM Mini PCs to Buy During the Prime Day 2026 Sale (Sponsored)

GEEKOM has just launched its Prime Day 2026 sale with up to 30% off the entire GEEKOM mini PC lineup, from everyday computing solutions to high-performance mini PCs. We’ve selected three models that are especially worth a look at. GEEKOM A5 Pro The GEEKOM A5 Pro is a mid-range mini PC powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 7430U processor paired with 16GB of RAM and a 512 GB NVMe SSD. It offers four display interfaces through two HDMI 2.0 video outputs and two USB-C ports with DisplayPort Alt Mode, a 3.5mm headphone jack, 2.5GbE and WiFi 6 networking, a full-size SD card reader, and a range of USB 3.2/2.0 ports. We’ve previously reviewed the model with an AMD Ryzen 5 7530U CPU running Windows 11 Pro and Ubuntu 25.10 and found out it was especially a good choice for people wanting low-power consumption and minimal fan noise. It’s now sold […]

June 25, 2026June 26, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Orange Pi 6 CIX CD8180 12-core Arm SBC gets 2.5GbE networking, smaller form factor, drops battery support

Orange Pi 6 is a compact single board computer (SBC) powered by CIX P1 (CD8180) 12-core Arm Cortex-A720/A520 SoC coupled with up to 32 GB 128-bit LPDDR5 memory. It shares many of the features of the Orange Pi 6 Plus board introduced last October, but comes in a smaller and lighter form factor (90 x 90mm vs 115 x 100mm), features two 2.5GbE ports instead of two 5GbE jacks, drops support for LiPo batteries, and is offered with lower RAM capacity options (8GB-32GB vs 16GB-64GB). Orange Pi 6 specifications: SoC – Cix P1 (Codename: CD8180) 12-core DynamIQ processor 4x Cortex‑A720 big cores @ up to 2.6 GHz 4x Cortex‑A720 medium cores @ up to 2.4 GHz 4x Cortex‑A520 LITTLE cores @ up to 1.8 GHz Cache – 12MB shared L3 cache GPU – Arm Immortalis G720 MC10 with hardware ray-tracing support, graphics APIs: Vulkan 1.3, OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 3.0 […]

Louder ESP32 Mini board adds WiFi and Bluetooth to old speakers for SqueezeLite, Snapclient, or ESPHome support

Sonocotta’s Louder-ESP32-Mini is a compact version of the Louder ESP32 board that converts old speakers into WiFi (and Bluetooth) connected speakers for your Smart Home. The board aims to replace the speaker terminals on your old speakers, and comes in two sizes: 42x42mm for small speakers, and 52x52mm for larger models. It’s powered by an ESP32-S3 wireless SoC with 8MB PSRAM and equipped with a high-quality TAS5805M DAC with DSP features. Louder-ESP32-Mini specifications: Wireless Module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-N8R8 SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz with vector extension for AI/ML workloads RAM – 512KB SRAM, 8MB PSRAM Storage – 8MB flash Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5 Antenna – PCB antenna Audio DAC – Stereo TAS5805M I2S DAC with built-in DSP and D-Class amp DSP Features – EQ, FIR, DRC, AGL, etc… Speaker output via two WAGO connectors 4Ω, 1% THD+N 42×42 […]

June 25, 2026June 25, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Quectel FCM365X dual-band WiFi 6, BLE 5.4, 802.15.4 IoT module features NXP RW612 MCU, optional PSRAM

NXP RW612 WiFi 6 BLE 5.4 802.15.4 Quectel IoT module

Quectel FCM365X is a short-range IoT module based on NXP RW612 wireless MCU with support for dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) 5.4, and 802.15.4 (Zigbee and Thread) connectivity. The compact 25.5 x 18.0mm RW612 module features 8MB flash and optional PSRAM, and operates in the -40 °C to +85 °C temperature range for demanding Smart Home and industrial IoT (IIoT) applications. The FCM365X module exposes GPIO, SDIO, UART, USB, JTAG, I2C, I2S, ADC, LCD, and PWM interfaces through its LCC+LGA package. Quectel FCM365X specifications: SoC – NXP RW612 CPU Core – Arm Cortex-M33 core @ 260 MHz with Arm TrustZone-M Memory – On-chip 1.2 MB SRAM Wireless Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 Target wake time (TWT) support Integrated Wi-Fi PA/LNA, and T/R switch Tx power – Up to 19 dBm ±2 dB Rx sensitivity – Down to -96 dBm ±2 dB AP/STA modes Security – WPA-PSK/ WPA2-PSK/ WPA3-SAE/ AES-128 Bluetooth 5.4 […]

June 25, 2026June 25, 2026 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

OpenC6 BIOS project brings PC-like firmware to ESP32-C6 MCU with network boot and OTA update support

OpenC6 BIOS is an open-source project by Rompass that takes a different approach to MCU development. It adds a BIOS-like system to the ESP32-C6, so the system part and application code can run separately rather than being combined into a single firmware image. In traditional development, hardware setup, networking, and application code are combined into a single firmware image. But the OpenC6 BIOS operates differently: it runs as the base system on the ESP32-C6 and handles hardware initialization and system functions. Instead of flashing a full application each time, it can load small payload programs separately. These payloads can run from RAM or flash (XIP) and use system functions through a simple Application Binary Interface (ABI), without needing the full firmware. In some ways, it operates like AkiraOS, but with a BIOS-like interface. Key features of the OpenC6 BIOS architecture: Dynamic CPU scaling – Adjusts CPU frequency based on load […]

June 25, 2026June 25, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

NeoEyes NE503 – A $1199 Edge AI Camera based on Hailo-15H 20 TOPS SoC

Camthink NeoEyes NE503 is a 4K Edge AI camera platform powered by the Hailo-15H quad-core Cortex-A53 SoC with a 20 TOPS AI accelerator, and paired with 8GB of LPDDR4 memory and a 64GB eMMC flash. The camera also features a Sony IMX678 4K sensor and an 8–32mm F1.6 AF auto-zoom lens for high-quality monitoring, low-light imaging, and long-range recognition. The camera directly handles high-resolution video input, local multi-model inference, containerized applications, and event-driven workflows on the device, without relying on the cloud or a local server. NeoEyes NE503 specifications: SoC – Hailo-15H CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.3 GHz VPU – H.265/H.264 encoding ISP – Supports up to 12 MP resolution, 600 Mpixel/s pixel rate, HDR, and noise reduction AI performance – Up to 20 TOPS; < 50 ms target inference latency System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4 @ 4266 MT/s; 8.5 GB/s single-channel bandwidth Storage 64 GB eMMC flash 8 […]

June 24, 2026June 25, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Graperain GR1126MB development board features solder-on 3 TOPS Rockchip RV1126B AI Vision module

GrapeRain GR1126MB Ai VIsion development board

Graperain GR1126MB development board is based on a 42x42mm GR1126B 160-pin stamp-hole system-on-module powered by a Rockchip RV1126B AI camera SoC with a 3 TOPS NPU designed for AI vision, machine vision, and edge AI applications. Graperain GR1126 AI Vision system-on-module GR1126 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RV1126B CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 up to 1.6 GHz with 32KB L1 I-Cache and 32KB L1 D-Cache, unified 512KB L2 Cache GPU – 2D Graphics Engine VPU Video Decoder – H.265/H.264 up to 4K @ 30 FPS Video Encoder – H.265, H.264, JPEG up to 4K @ 45 FPS JPEG Decoder ISP – Built-in 12M ISP and 8M AI-ISP AI accelerator – Rockchip NPU engine up to 3 TOPS (INT8); supports INT4, INT8, INT16, and FP16 models; TensorFlow, ONNX, PyTorch, and Caffe frameworks. System Memory – 1GB or 2GB DDR3 by default, customizable up to 4GB LPDDR4/LPDDR4x Storage – 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, […]

June 24, 2026June 25, 2026 by Debashis Das - 3 Comments

RP2350B bells&whistles development board features on-board RP2040 debugger, HDMI, and microSD card slot

While searching Tindie for a new project, I found a new Raspberry Pi RP2350B-based development board called “Bells&Whistles,” which is interesting because it also features an onboard RP2040-based debugger running Picoprobe firmware, removing the need for a separate debug probe. Other than that, it has an HDMI output, a MicroSD card slot for storage, an optional 8 MB of PSRAM, and since it uses the Raspberry Pi RP2350B variant, it supports up to 46 GPIO pins. The board also features two USB Type-C ports, one for the RP2350B and the other for the RP2040 debugger, and is especially useful for clutter-free rapid prototyping and development workflows. RP2350B bells&whistles board specifications: SoC – Raspberry Pi RP2350B CPU Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 @ 150 MHz with Arm TrustZone Dual-core RISC-V Hazard3 @ 150 MHz Only two cores can be used at any given time Memory – 520 KB on-chip SRAM Package – QFN-80 Memory – […]

June 24, 2026June 24, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Visualize radio signals with Raspberry Pi 5-based QuadRF 4×4 MIMO software-defined radio tile (Crowdfunding)

QuadRF is a 4×4 MIMO software-defined radio (SDR) tile powered by a Raspberry Pi 5 SBC that functions as a real-time RF camera, allowing users to visualize radio signals in their environment using a phone or computer running an augmented reality app. QuadRF measures differences in signal arrival time using four coherent antennas and renders a live RF overlay directly on your phone or laptop at 30 FPS, letting you see RF signals from Wi-Fi devices, wireless cameras, smartphones, drones, beacons, and lab transmitters. QuadRF specifications: Compute & Signal Processing Raspberry Pi 5 SBC for onboard computation and control. Lattice ECP5 FPGA (LFE5U-45F-7BG256I) for distributed DSP and beamforming. Analog Devices MAX2850 (Upconvert) & MAX2851 (Downconvert) Mixers. 5.6 Gbit/sec MIPI data path between the RF FPGA and the Pi 5 Direct local processing on Pi 5 or network streaming for external processing. RF & Wireless 4x Rx / 4x Tx full-duplex […]