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March 1, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

CHUWI CoreBook Air Plus 16 review – Part 3: Ubuntu 25.10 on a mid-range AMD Ryzen 5 6600H laptop

CHUWI CoreBook Air Plus 16 Ubuntu 25.10 Linux review

We’ve already checked CHUWI CoreBook Air Plus 16 hardware in the first part of the review, before testing the AMD Ryzen 5 6600H laptop with Windows 11 Pro, and today I’ll report my experience using the CoreBook Air Plus 16 laptop with Linux using Ubuntu 25.10 distribution. The Ubuntu review will include system information, benchmarks, YouTube 4K and 8K video playback, feature testing, storage and WiFi 6 performance, and measurement of fan noise and power consumption/battery life. Ubuntu 26.04 vs Ubuntu 25.10 installation The initial plan was to install Ubuntu 26.04 (daily image) on the laptop in dual boot configuration with Windows 11 Pro. So I resized the Windows partition in Disk Management to leave a 125GB partition for Ubuntu. I downloaded a daily Ubuntu 26.04 ISO (February 28, 2026), and created a startup disk on my Ubuntu 24.04 laptop using an 8GB USB flash drive. I plugged the USB […]

February 28, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

ESP32-C5 bug advisory identifies and fixes PSRAM and sleep coexistence issues

Espressif Systems has just published a bug advisory for ESP32-C5 chips that identifies and fixes three bugs related to PSRAM and sleep coexistence stability. New microcontrollers often have issues when they are first released, leading companies to issue errata listing bugs and potential fixes, as we’ve previously seen with the Raspberry Pi RP2350 A4 stepping, which fixes the E9 GPIO Erratum with a new revision of the silicon. Espressif identified three issues with the ESP32-C5: PSRAM Reset Hang – When ESP32-C5 series chips run ESP-IDF v5.5.1 with PSRAM enabled, CPU or digital reset operations may hang. This triggers a secondary RTC WDT reset. If the rollback feature (CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_APP_ROLLBACK_ENABLE, disabled by default) is enabled, this sequence may result in an OTA rollback. AES and SHA Access to PSRAM – When ESP32-C5 chips run ESP-IDF v5.5.1, PSRAM data may be corrupted when AES or SHA hardware accesses buffers that are not aligned […]

February 27, 2026February 28, 2026 by Debashis Das - 2 Comments

M5Stack Unit PoE-P4 – A tiny PoE-powered ESP32-P4 development kit with MIPI DSI/CSI and USB-C connectors

The M5Stack Unit PoE-P4 is a tiny, PoE-powered development kit built around the ESP32-P4NRW32 SoC. The module integrates a 10/100Mbps Ethernet PHY, supports IEEE 802.3at PoE for single-cable power and data, and provides MIPI DSI/CSI display and camera interfaces. It’s designed as a network-enabled node with built-in PoE (up to 6W output), a USB Type-C host port, and a separate USB Type-C OTG/download interface, along with an RGB LED, IR transmitter, user button, Grove (HY2.0-4P) port, Hat expansion header, and SDIO/ISP expansion interfaces, making it suitable for industrial HMI panels, PoE smart terminals, camera/vision acquisition nodes, smart home controllers, and edge computing devices. M5Stack Unit PoE-P4 specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-P4NRW32 CPU Dual-core 32-bit RISC-V HP (High-performance) CPU @ up to 400 MHz with AI instructions extension and single-precision FPU Single-RISC-V LP (Low-power) MCU core @ up to 40 MHz Memory 768 KB HP L2MEM (for dual-core CPU), 32 KB […]

February 27, 2026February 28, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Rockchip RK3588 and RK3576 H.264 and H.265 video decoders gain mainline Linux support

Rockchip RK3588 RK3576 main linux H.265 H.264 video decoders

VDPU381 and VDPU383 video decoders are found in Rockchip RK3588 and RK3576 SoCs and variants like the RK3588S and RK3576J. So far, we had to rely on the Rockchip BSP to support hardware video decoding, but Collabora has just announced upstream/mainline Linux support for H.264 (AVC) and H.265 (HEVC) video decoding for RK3588 and RK3576 SoCs. Highlights of H.265/H.264 video decoder implementation on mainline Linux: A 17-patch series adding decoder support, in addition to dt-bindings and device tree nodes New V4L2 HEVC UAPI controls for explicit short-term and long-term RPS (Reference Picture Set) handling Fixing a non-obvious IOMMU restore issue caused by decoder-embedded IOMMU resets Struct-based register programming model to enforce completeness, ordering, and future multi-core readiness The new V4L2 UAPI controls for HEVC long and short-term Reference Picture Set (RPS) are required for the VDPU381 (RK3588) and VDP383 (RK3576) video decoders, contrary to some other decoders (e.g., VeriSilicon) that […]

February 27, 2026February 27, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Lepton XDS dual-camera module combines 160 x 120 thermal imager with 5MP RGB camera

The Teledyne FLIR Lepton XDS dual-camera module combines a factory‑aligned radiometric 160 × 120 Lepton 3.5 thermal camera with a 5 MP visible camera. Its size, weight, and power (SWaP)‑optimized design makes it suitable for mobile devices, compact electronics, smart buildings, fire detection, occupancy analytics, and equipment‑condition‑monitoring applications. The company highlights that the Lepton XDS module is International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)-free, which reduces development risk and accelerates time‑to‑market, since it’s easier to export or integrate into products sold globally. Lepton XDS specifications: EO Camera Optics – EFL 1.57 mm, 98.2° HFOV, F/1/2.2 Sensor – 2592 x 1944 pixels (5 MP), 1.4 µm pitch Video – 640×480 @ 30Hz IR Camera Optics – 57° HFOV, f/1.1 Video – 8.7 Hz (commercial application exportable, since it’s below 9 FPS) Thermal Imaging Detector Lepton 3.5 160 x 120 pixels, 12 µm pitch Thermal Sensitivity – <50 mK (0.050 °C) Temperature Accuracy […]

February 26, 2026 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

Arduino Matter Discovery Bundle educational kit combines Arduino Nano Matter with three Modulino modules

Arduino has just announced the Arduino Matter Discovery Bundle (AKX00081), an all-in-one development kit designed to help users learn, prototype, and build Matter-over-Thread smart home devices quickly. The kit is based on the Arduino Nano Matter development board and works with the Matter ecosystem, including compatible platforms such as Apple HomeKit, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Home Assistant. The bundle also includes a Nano Connector Carrier with Grove and Qwiic interfaces, a microSD slot, and various IO options. The kit features three Qwiic-based Modulino nodes, namely a Latch Relay, a Distance module for presence detection, and a Thermo module for temperature and humidity sensing. Arduino Matter Discovery Bundle specifications: Main board – Arduino Nano Matter MCU – SiLabs MGM240SD22VNA MCU core – 32-bit Arm Cortex-M33 with DSP (digital signal processing) instruction and FPU (floating-point unit) @ 78 MHz Storage/Memory – 1536 KB flash program memory, 256 KB RAM data memory […]

February 26, 2026February 26, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

TECNO unveils thin modular smartphone concept with magnetic cameras, battery, and gamepad add-ons

The TECNO will showcase its modular smartphone concept at Mobile World Congress 2026. The company’s “Modular Magnetic Interconnection Technology” aims to enable thin modular smartphones with magnetic hardware expansion add-ons. This idea is not new. Motorola’s Project Ara open-source hardware platform attempted that in 2013, and Google (ATAP) took over the project in 2015, before the modular phone project died in 2016. The Fairphone is the closest we have to a modular smartphone nowadays, but while it’s repairable, its modularity is more limited. But maybe time was not just right for a full modular smartphone, and TECNO is giving it another try. Ten magnetic modules have been designed so far. Those include camera modules (ACTION CAMERA and TELEPHOTO LENS), a game pad module, an off-grid communication module (mmWave is mentioned, but maybe a LoRa/Meshtastic will also be provided), and a 4.5mm thick “POWER BANK” battery module to double usable power […]

February 26, 2026February 26, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Raspberry Pi CM5 mini-ITX-compatible carrier board features up to nine Ethernet ports for NVR, Smart Home, and Edge AI applications

EXAVIZ Cruiser is a mini-ITX-compatible carrier board for the Raspberry Pi CM5 featuring up to nine Ethernet ports (one 2.5GbE port, and up to eight GbE PoE+ ports) designed for Network Video Recorders (NVRs), Smart Home gateways, and edge AI applications. The board also features two 4K-capable HDMI 2.0 video outputs, two SATA ports, an M.2 PCIe Gen2/3 x1 socket for an NVMe SSD, an AI accelerator, or a SATA expansion module, three USB 3.0 ports, and four USB 2.0 interfaces. It also supports 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.4 LE, and Zigbee connectivity through an ESP32-C6 module, and you can also add eight extra 10/100Mbps PoE+ RJ45 interfaces through an additional expansion board for up to sixteen PoE-capable Ethernet ports in total. EXAVIZ Cruiser specifications: Supported SoM – Raspberry Pi CM5 and CM5 Lite. note: Raspberry Pi CM4 and Banana Pi CM4 are explitly not supported Storage M.2 Key-M […]