Not-for-profit embedded specialist GizmoSphere has announced the launch of a next-generation development board featuring a 1GHz dual-core AMD system-on-chip with Radeon HD8210E graphics on-board.
The original Gizmo, the creation of a partnership between development specialist Sage and AMD, launched in January 2013 and was based around the AMD G-T40E dual-core 1GHz processor with Radeon 6250 on-board graphics. At the time, it was one of the only 64-bit x86 development boards available to the general public and while Intel countered with the launch of the MinnowBoard some months later it brought the device to market with a 32-bit Atom chip and UEFI - severely hampering operating system compatibility and losing out to the Gizmo on performance.
With Intel teasing a more powerful 64-bit MinnowBoard Max for impending release, it's no surprise that GizmoSphere - the not-for-profit company set up to create and support the Gizmo board - has a new model of its own. Imaginatively called the Gizmo 2, the new board swaps out the original processor for a more powerful AMD G-Series GX210HA system-on-chip paired with 1GB of RAM. While running at the same 1GHz clock speed and featuring two cores, the chip beats its predecessor with higher-performance Radeon HD8210E embedded graphics - continuing the OpenCL support for GPGPU offload with a claimed 85 gigaflops of single-precision floating-point performance. While that's a boost, it comes at the cost of power and heat: a 9W TDP to the original chip's 6.4W, although it's still low enough to be cooled passively in most scenarios despite a fan being bundled.
The board comes equipped with a copy of TimeSys Embedded Linux on a bdled micro-SD card, but its use of a standard 64-bit UEFI means it can boot any x86-compatible operating system - including, for those who should wish it, Windows. The compatibility extends to the graphics processor, which supports OpenGL 4.2, OpenCL 1.2 and DirectX 11.1. For hobbyists, the same low-speed and high-speed edge connectors are provided, giving access to GPIO capabilities as well as two SATA 6Gb/s ports, mSATA, mini-PCIe and integrated analogue-to-digital and digital-to-analogue converters.
Where the original Gizmo was available to purchase direct from GizmoSphere, its successor is being sold by electronics supply giant Element 14 world-wide, with UK pricing set at £149.26 - lower than rival high-performance embedded development boards like the £199.99 Tegra-based Nvidia Jetson TK1.
More details are available at the GizmoSphere website.
The original Gizmo, the creation of a partnership between development specialist Sage and AMD, launched in January 2013 and was based around the AMD G-T40E dual-core 1GHz processor with Radeon 6250 on-board graphics. At the time, it was one of the only 64-bit x86 development boards available to the general public and while Intel countered with the launch of the MinnowBoard some months later it brought the device to market with a 32-bit Atom chip and UEFI - severely hampering operating system compatibility and losing out to the Gizmo on performance.
With Intel teasing a more powerful 64-bit MinnowBoard Max for impending release, it's no surprise that GizmoSphere - the not-for-profit company set up to create and support the Gizmo board - has a new model of its own. Imaginatively called the Gizmo 2, the new board swaps out the original processor for a more powerful AMD G-Series GX210HA system-on-chip paired with 1GB of RAM. While running at the same 1GHz clock speed and featuring two cores, the chip beats its predecessor with higher-performance Radeon HD8210E embedded graphics - continuing the OpenCL support for GPGPU offload with a claimed 85 gigaflops of single-precision floating-point performance. While that's a boost, it comes at the cost of power and heat: a 9W TDP to the original chip's 6.4W, although it's still low enough to be cooled passively in most scenarios despite a fan being bundled.
The board comes equipped with a copy of TimeSys Embedded Linux on a bdled micro-SD card, but its use of a standard 64-bit UEFI means it can boot any x86-compatible operating system - including, for those who should wish it, Windows. The compatibility extends to the graphics processor, which supports OpenGL 4.2, OpenCL 1.2 and DirectX 11.1. For hobbyists, the same low-speed and high-speed edge connectors are provided, giving access to GPIO capabilities as well as two SATA 6Gb/s ports, mSATA, mini-PCIe and integrated analogue-to-digital and digital-to-analogue converters.
Where the original Gizmo was available to purchase direct from GizmoSphere, its successor is being sold by electronics supply giant Element 14 world-wide, with UK pricing set at £149.26 - lower than rival high-performance embedded development boards like the £199.99 Tegra-based Nvidia Jetson TK1.
More details are available at the GizmoSphere website.
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