The charging kit provides a single USB-A port, and a single USB-C port that supports normal USB-C charging, as well as USB-C PD (Power Delivery), allowing it to charge nearly any modern device, including mobile phones, tablets, and laptops. One could even power a Raspberry Pi or similar single-board computer.

What’s In the Box?

The DeWalt Charging Kit ships with a battery adapter, wall wart, USB-C cable, and even a belt hook. These items all come in traditional DeWalt colors, all the way down to the braided USB-C cable. The wall charger chargers up to 65W, and allows users to recharge DeWalt batteries, which saves a considerable amount of space when compared to DeWalt’s traditional chargers.

The braided USB-C cable feels particularly durable, and the included belt clip allows you to use the charger while mobile, which well… is conventient since I’m not sure I own a pocket that any DeWalt battery would fit in.

DCB094K’s Specifications

The charging kit is compatible with nearly any 20V DeWalt battery, and will probably work with aftermarket batteries as well. The USB-A port is rated at 12W (2.4A @ 5V), and and the USB-C PD port is rated at 3A @ 5-15V and 5A @ 20V. The battery port input and output are rated at 6A @ 20V.

The USB-C PD port supports Power Delivery 3.0, Qualcomm QC3.0/2.0, Samsung AFC, and BC 1.2. Meanwhile, the USB-A port supports BC 1.2, Apple FastCharge, and Samsung FastCharge (AFC).

The included USB-C cable is rated for up to 100W, and the charging kit will support charging from 100W AC chargers.

Charging DeWalt Batteries with the DCB094K, and Charging Devices with DeWalt Batteries

DeWalt’s DCB094K Charging Kit provides clear and concise LED indicators with unique light patterns convey charging status and operational state. A battery capacity gauge is missing, so it’s advisable to use battery packs with built-in indicators. All DeWalt 20V Max batteries, except for the 1.3Ah and 1.5Ah models, feature built-in charge indicators.

Charging Stage 1: A flashing red light signifies that the connected DeWalt 20V Max battery is currently charging.

Charging Stage 2: A solid red light on the left and a flashing red light on the right indicate that the connected Dewalt 20V Max battery has reached at least 80% charge.

When both LEDs are solid red, the connected battery is fully charged. Charging a 5Ah battery with the included AC charger took roughly 90 minutes, and upgrading to a 100W AC charger dropped the time down to about an hour.

With the same DeWalt 5Ah battery loaded in and fully charged, I was able to charge my Steam Deck roughly twice over with the included USB-C cable. Similarly, a recharged battery also charged my Pixel 8 Pro twice and still had a little juice left over.

It’s certainly enough to power the 8.8″ Ultrawide Display from MScreen.

Find it on Amazon

DEWALT Battery Charger and USB Wall Charging Kit (DCB094K)

$84.14 at Amazon

DEWALT Portable Charger, Power Bank, 10,000 mAh Battery Pack with USB-C Port for iPhone 15/15 Plus/15 Pro/15 Pro Max, iPhone 14/13, Samsung Galaxy

$48.99 at Amazon

Anker Prime Power Bank, 9,600mAh Battery Pack with 65W Output, Built-in AC Plug, Supports PD 3.0 and PPS, 30W Fast Recharging, Sleek Portable Charger for MacBook Pro, iPhone 15 Series, Galaxy, iPad

$89.99 at Amazon

Final Thoughts

Most DeWalt power tool owners, like myself, tend to own more than a single DeWalt battery, and also own several batteries that are no longer useful in powering said power tools. In either case, these batteries tend to sit idle or (incorrectly) on a charger for long periods of time. The DCB094K Charging Kit opens a new use for DeWalt batteries by allowing users to power or charge their mobile devices, portable speakers, and more — even single-board computers.

DeWalt includes a belt clip with the charging kit, making it easy to use the batteries while staying mobile. I’m not sure how I’d feel with a 15Ah battery dangling from my belt, but at least they make it possible.

While the included AC charger only provides 65W charging, the DCB094K is capable of 100W charging using other chargers. The DeWalt-branded USB-C cable is rated for the full 100W the charging kit is capable of, but it is limited to being a meter in length. A longer cable would have been a welcome addition, but at least the included one feels quite durable.

Charging DeWalt batteries with the DCB094K is also a slight improvement over DeWalt’s traditional battery chargers in that the setup uses less surface space and provides additional methods of charging the batteries than from an AC outlet. The DCB094K can charge DeWalt batteries from other USB-C PD devices, but the fastest method is going to be upgrading to a 100W AC charger.

Overall, it’s easy to recommend this to DeWalt power tool owners. For anyone else, it’s a tough purchase unless they’re planning on purchasing a DeWalt tool in the future or were able to pick up a DeWalt battery on the cheap during a sale

The post Charge Devices with the DeWalt DCB094K USB-C Charger first appeared on BIOSLEVEL.

Monitors continue to get bigger and bigger, with the biggest stretching all the way up to 55” and 57” in various form factors. Personally, I feel constrained working on a single monitor and believe I’ve adapted well to working with two or more monitors for the past two decades. Sometimes, however, I still wonder how additional screens may further improve my productivity. After reviewing MScreen’s Kickstarter campaign, I was certainly enamored by what they were building.

The Kickstarter campaign’s primary product was a 14” display featuring a 32:9 display ratio with a 1920×550 resolution, and the MScreen Mini isn’t really mentioned until about halfway through their campaign description. Both displays feature IPS screens, aluminum enclosures, USB-power, and mini-HDMI for display.  The 14” display is VESA mount compatible, while the 8.8” mini has T-tracks for mounting purposes.

The Kickstarter campaign was quite successful, pulling in nearly 1,500 backers and over $300,000 in funding.  Unfortunately due to continued COVID outbreaks in China and other undisclosed reasons, the company failed to meet their original delivery timeline of October 2022 and it wasn’t until several months into 2023 that units began to ship to backers. While the Mini 8.8” models were eventually delivered to backers, MScreen was unable to secure enough of the 14” IPS panels to meet backer demand.

Rather than abandon the 14” product, MScreen was able to obtain 12” panels and ship these to backers.  While not the product they backed, at least they received a product for their monetary support. When backing any Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign, always remember there is zero guarantee that a Kickstarter campaign will be successful, and you are not entitled to a refund.

Features & Specifications

It is important to note that the manufacturer did swap out the micro-USB port with a USB-C port after feedback from backers.

Packaging and Appearance

The MScreen Mini arrived in a very basic brown cardboard box, with printed black text. Despite this relatively generic packaging, the display was very well protected inside with packing foam. The foam provided more than ample protection for the display, and the display itself was wrapped in a soft-plastic wrapper. 

Under the display was another layer of packaging foam, this time containing the cables and accessories for the unit. It looked like this piece of foam may have been re-used from another product, as the cables were simply placed in the largest area. It looks like this piece of foam was meant to ship with some kind of USB or display dongle.

The screen itself comes with a peel-off protector. The top and sides of the display are smooth, lacking any connectors or buttons. On the rear, there are two rails for mounting the display, and the USB-C and mini-HDMI are in a recessed cubby, allowing for the cables to be hidden instead of sticking out of the side.

Usage

The MScreen Mini requires two cables to operate. While the original project promised power via micro USB, the company upgraded this to USB-C due to the comments on the campaign. The comments were actually calling on them to enable video and power over USB-C, so this wasn’t so much an upgrade as just a port change. Video will always be delivered through a separate mini HDMI port.

The display is detected on Windows and Linux without any problems. The dimensions of the screen limit what the screen can be used for, especially considering it doesn’t follow any standard form factor. Full-screen video will leave black bars on both sizes, and it is far too small for any kind of serious gaming. Using the screen to monitor the system it’s connected to may be the best usage case for the display.

Conclusion

As an 8.8” ultra-wide display, the MScreen Mini belongs in a very specific niche of displays. Unfortunately it lacks a standard mounting system (such as VESA), and is quite thick for what it is. For a display that is essentially any oversized phone screen, it would have been nice to have a more streamlined enclosure.  This unit feels like a display and control board that could be purchased off Aliexpress which was put in the simplest enclosure possible. 

I feel it’s too small to assist with any kind of productivity, and would be best suited for showing system health, or some other kind of widget like a “Currently Playing” widget. It would be phenomenal for the original Winamp music player, or Xmms or gkrellm2 on Linux.

That being said, the screen is small enough that it could be placed inside a PC case and configured to place a movie, pattern, or show system health statistics.  Despite these shortcomings, it is quite bright and everything on it looks crisp. 

I do wonder if the original 14” MScreen display, had it shipped, would have been a better product and lived up to the promise from the crowdfunding campaign of improved multitasking. While I am happy the product was funded and the company was able to deliver on some of their promises, this 8.8” MScreen Mini feels more like a novelty than an assistive product.

Find it on Amazon

ASRock Intel ARC A380 Challenger ITX 6GB OC GDDR6 96-bit DisplayPort HDMI 0dB Silent Cooling 2250 MHz 7680 x 4320 PCI Express4.0 Graphics Card

$119.99 at Amazon

Maxfree L1 12.1" Portable Touch Screen Monitor with Dual Loudspeakers, 10-Points Touch IPS 60Hz FHD for Windows/Mac Laptop, PC, Switch, Android Phone, Xbox, PS4/5

$104.99 at Amazon

Keychron K5 Pro Wireless QMK/VIA Custom Mechanical Keyboard, 100% Full Size Layout 108 Key Programmable, Ultra-Slim RGB Backlit Low Profile Gateron Brown Switch Bluetooth/Wired for Mac Windows Linux

$114.99 at Amazon

The post MScreen Mini, An 8.8 Inch Ultrawide Display first appeared on BIOSLEVEL.

Kickstarter saw a number of portable displays in different sizes in 2022. While not every project on Kickstarter succeeds, this one did… albeit several months behind schedule.  This 12.3” display from domyfan not only comes in a unique form factor, but also provides stereo speakers and touch functionality.

Packaging and Contents

The DomyFan L1 came nicely packaged in a black box with golden embossed text and graphics. The outer box feels sturdy and well-constructed.  The box opens by lifting the front flap, which is secured by two magnets.  Upon lifting the top open, the monitor is presented in its full size, with only a protective film on the screen. The sizes of the package are hard, but protective foam.

Lifting the monitor from its space reveals a cavity containing the L1’s user guide and a handful of cables: HDMI, USB-A to USB-C, and USB-C. The cables are all braided, which is a nice touch since most products simply include the typical black rubber cables – if they even provide them.

Specifications and Features

I backed the L1 on Kickstarter. I was drawn in by the promise of a wide IPS screen, USB-C connectivity, and VESA mount compatibility. The IPS screen brings the promise of vibrant colors and good viewing angles, while the USB-C connectivity will allow the screen to connect to multiple devices, such as Nintendo Switch, laptop, or even desktop computer.  While the L1 does ship with a stand on the back for portability, I’m more excited about the ways it can be mounted with its VESA mount.

In addition to the USB-C connectivity, the monitor also has a mini-HDMI port.  External power via USB may be required depending on the output USB-C port of the connected device, or will always be required when using the mini-HDMI input.

DomyFan claims the unit supports up to 172 degree viewing angles, 300 nits of maximum brightness, and 100% sRGB color gamut.

Appearance

After removing the L1 from its packaging, I was a little shocked at just how big this unit was.  The speakers significantly increase the size of this display. While not unwieldy, the speakers increase the thickness of the body significantly when compared to other portable monitors. The speaker grills almost – almost – give it a retro look, as if it were made in the 80s or 90s.

On the top right of the unit is the power toggle combined with a volume toggle, along with a little LED to show when the unit is powered on.

On the back of the device, a stand is mounted in the center of the L1.  It can be used to set the tablet up in portrait or landscape mode. Directly behind the bracket are VESA-compliant mounting with options for 100*100mm, 75*75mm, and 50*50mm. Finally, to the right of the stand are the device inputs: two USB-C 3.1 ports, two USB-A ports, and a single mini-HDMI port.

Usage

The DomyFan L1 works out of the box with both Windows (10 and 11), as well as Linux (tested on Ubuntu 22.04 – 23.10).  The screen, speakers, and touchscreen input are all detected automatically.

Initially I believe that touchscreen support wasn’t working on Linux, but found that the touchscreen input was affecting the default screen (in this case, my laptop’s built-in screen) rather than the L1’s display. This behavior can be corrected with the xinput command, with some information out of xrandr.  First, get a list of devices from xinput:

xinput
⎡ Virtual core pointer                          id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad                id=10   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ TPPS/2 Elan TrackPoint                    id=11   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ BJYP-L1 Device BJYP-L1-V1.09              id=13   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ BJYP-L1 Device BJYP-L1-V1.09              id=14   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                         id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard               id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                 id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                              id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard              id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ ThinkPad Extra Buttons                    id=12   [slave  keyboard (3)]

Note the ID’s for any of the BJYP-L1 devices, then find the L1 in xrandr:

xrandr
HDMI-1 connected 1920x860+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 278mm x 124mm
   1920x860      59.99*+
   1280x720      60.00    59.94

Then use xinput to confine the L1 input(s) to the external display:

xinput map-to-output 13 HDMI-1

xinput map-to-output 14 HDMI-1

Now the touchscreen input will be limited to the external display.  Once Wayland replaces X, this will all change.  Wayland may handle this out of the box without any issues, however.

Conclusion

First and foremost, this is not a portable monitor you take to the coffee shop as a second screen. The speakers create too much of a gap between the monitors, which seriously hurts productivity. Placing the screen in portrait mode may improve the situation, but the 860 pixel width of the screen limits what the screen can be used for.  Maybe a dedicated chat or social feed screen would be the best use in a mobile setting.

That said, the speakers of the L1 provide a better audio experience than probably any other portable monitor on the market. This comes at the price of having a bulkier unit than most, along with the other downsides I spelled out previously.

The VESA mounting capability is extremely nice to have, meaning the unit could easily be mounted to the wall as a sma
ll display, or even on a monitor arm on a desk. Ideally I’d like to find some kind of gas-piston arm that would allow me to freely reposition the screen, but that’s a product for another day.

The most limiting feature of the L1 is the 60hz refresh rate. For a portable monitor being marketed to be used with the Nintendo Switch, mobile phones, and other game consoles, the 60hz refresh rate simply isn’t sufficient. 120hz or greater would have created a much more vibrant product. The screen itself does look great for a portable unit, and it is plenty bright for indoor use.

Overall, the DomyFan L1 is a nifty extra display.  It will do great as a portable display for game consoles or media playback from a mobile device, however I think its use as an external display for office work is a bit limited.

Find it on Amazon

ASRock Intel ARC A380 Challenger ITX 6GB OC GDDR6 96-bit DisplayPort HDMI 0dB Silent Cooling 2250 MHz 7680 x 4320 PCI Express4.0 Graphics Card

$119.99 at Amazon

Maxfree L1 12.1" Portable Touch Screen Monitor with Dual Loudspeakers, 10-Points Touch IPS 60Hz FHD for Windows/Mac Laptop, PC, Switch, Android Phone, Xbox, PS4/5

$104.99 at Amazon

Keychron K5 Pro Wireless QMK/VIA Custom Mechanical Keyboard, 100% Full Size Layout 108 Key Programmable, Ultra-Slim RGB Backlit Low Profile Gateron Brown Switch Bluetooth/Wired for Mac Windows Linux

$114.99 at Amazon

The post DomyFan L1 12.3” Portable Monitor and Touchscreen first appeared on BIOSLEVEL.

Packaging & Aesthetics

ASRock’s packaging doesn’t leave much room for imagination: an image of the card, almost to scale, is plastered on the front of the box, along with some of Intel’s branding: Intel Arc 3, XeSS AI Upscaling, and DirectX XII Ultimate support.

The rear of the packaging lists some of the card’s features, such as its compact design, silent cooling, and quality electronic components. The bottom speaks about some of the technologies Intel built into these cards, such as XeSS AI Enhanced Upscaling.

For a modern GPU, the Challenger ITX A380 is certainly compact. A massive, finned heatsink sits on top of the GPU, and an over-sized shroud and fan on top of that heatsink. On the rear, the card offers up three DisplayPort ports, and a single HDMI port – all of their respective 2.0 specifications.

The shroud that covers the heatsink and card is absurdly oversized. Maybe this assists with the promise of 0dB silent cooling, but for a card aiming to fit in some mini-ITX cases, this size of the shroud seems very unnecessary. The card does require a single 8-pin PCI Express power connector, which is something not typically seen in entry-level, compact GPUs.

No cover plates of fancy RGB lights here: the back of the PCB is relatively plain.

Features & Specifications

The Intel Arc A380 features 8 Xe cores, 2 Render Slices, 8 Ray Tracing Units, and 128 Xe Vector engines.  These cores and engines makes up the core of Intel’s Arc “Alchmeist” line, with the counts of these increasing as the model number increases. The card is rated at 75W TBP.

While the stock A380 GPU is clocked at 2000MHz, ASRock has overclocked this model to 2200MHz. The 6GB of onboard GDDR6 memory clocks in at 15.5 Gbps and has 186 GB/s of bandwidth. The card was designed to run on a PCI-Express 4.0 x8 interface, however an x16 slot is required. While the card can be used on PCI-Express 3.0 and lower, it’s important to note that resizable BAR is highly recommended when using any of the Intel Arc GPUs, otherwise performance will suffer greatly.

On the video side of things, the A380 supports H.264 Hardware Encode/Decode, H.265 (HEVC) Hardware Encode/Decode, AV1 Encode/Decode, as well as VP9 Bitstream & Decoding. The Arc A380 is one of the first entry-level GPUs to support hardware AV1 encoding and decoding, which is incredibly exciting for the open, royalty-free format. At the time of writing, ffmpeg 6.0 has hardware-accelerated AV1 encoding for the Intel Arc GPUs, however this version is not yet available as a package for the current Ubuntu LTS (22.04), but can be found in the current release, 23.10.

Installation

With such a small and compact design, installation was a breeze. There’s no need to worry about the card hitting any cables coming from the motherboard, or removing harddrive cages to make room for a card’s extended length. With its massive shroud and fan, the A380 does take up two PCI slots.

Quite frankly, the size of this card was a bit of a relief as I can actually fit my hand in to use the PCI-Express release lever.

On the software side of things, most Linux distributions aren’t ready to support the Intel Arc “Alchemist” GPUs out-of-the-box. Intel released pre-packaged “drivers” in the form of a PPA for Ubuntu
22.04, however these didn’t work for me on a vanilla installation of 22.04 – it resulted in corrupted colors and effects. Similarly, I couldn’t even get the Ubuntu 22.10 installer to load the GUI installer.

I was finally able to get the card running smoothly on Kubuntu 22.04 after installing Kernel 6.0, the latest Mesa drivers, and a handful of other utilities.  Desktop performance and audio were still glitchy, but at least the card was working on the current Long-term Support (LTS) release of Ubuntu. With the release of Ubuntu 23.04, out-of-the-box support was finally here for the Intel Arc GPUs, and nearly all of the features of the card were now available.

Gaming Benchmarks

Frankly, the Intel Arc A380 isn’t going to perform well with today’s modern titles. Playing many of the games available through Steam, or open source games such as Xonotic, however, are a sweet spot for the sub-$200 GPU. At the time of writing, some Vulkan features still missing for the entire Arc line on Linux, limiting the games that can be tested.

First, let’s look at the system we’ll be testing the Arc A380 with:

The following benchmarks were completed using the Phoronix Test Suite.

Xonotic

Xonontic, arguably the best open source FPS game, is more than playable on the Arc A380.  Every other card we tested with did score around 2-3 times higher, but that’s the difference you’ll have between low-end and mid-range cards.

Portal 2

Valve’s first person shooter meets puzzler is also incredibly playable.

Unigine

The Arc A380 performs admirably in these two benchmarks from Unigine.

Left 4 Dead 2

The results start to show the lack of optimization or support for the entire Intel Arc line.  This should be expected considering the game was released in 2009 and is no longer a “modern” game.  Future driver updates may improve these scores, but I would not expect any patches to the game itself for the Intel Arc GPUs.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

The ASRock ITX Challenger Intel Arc A380 makes for a compelling workstation video card, whether for running multiple monitors, or performing video encoding and decoding. The built-in AV1 encoder should be a great asset for content creators, and overall form factor of this card would make it great for a compact or low-powered media server with transcoding capabilities.  Given this card’s form factor and power consumption, this card would also make an excellent choice for media transcoding in a Plex or Jellyfin server.

The card’s 3D and gaming performance certainly leaves something to be desired as it barely keeps up with entry level cards from six years ago.  While it certainly shouldn’t be considering a gaming card, there are many games available in Steam’s library that should be playable with this card, and small performance improvements may come as the drivers continue to mature.

Given my issues with Intel’s pre-packaged drivers for Ubuntu 22.04, it has to be said that Mesa 23.x and the Linux Kernel 6.2 are the minimum requirements for stable performance when using any of the Intel Arc GPUs.  Ubuntu’s next long-term support release should be released next year, and should make these cards much more attractive for users who tend to stick to LTS releases. I’m hopeful the sales of these cards meet Intel’s expectations so they continue to develop and improve the platform. Based on these initial benchmarks and tests, it would be a true shame to lose a third GPU brand so soon. A second or third generation of Intel’s platform could have models competitive with that of nVidia and AMD’s flagship GPUs.

ASRock Low Profile Arc A310 4GB GDDR6 PCI Express 4.0 ITX Video Card A310 LP 4G 64-bit 0dB Silent Cooling Super Alloy Graphics Card

$99.99 at Amazon

ACER | Predator BiFrost Intel Arc A770 Overclocking Graphics Card | 16GB GDDR6 256-bit 18 Gbps | PCIe 4.0 | Dual Fan | Customize RGB Lighting Color & Effect | TPD 250W | 1xHDMI 2.1 & 3xDisplayPort 2.0

$331.80 at Amazon

ASRock Intel ARC A380 Challenger ITX 6GB OC GDDR6 96-bit DisplayPort HDMI 0dB Silent Cooling 2250 MHz 7680 x 4320 PCI Express4.0 Graphics Card

$119.99 at Amazon

The post ASRock Challenger ITX Intel Arc A380 Graphics Card first appeared on BIOSLEVEL.

The latest SATA revision still operates at a theoretical maximum speed to 600 Mbps or .6 Gbps, while USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt speeds begin at 5 Gbps. To begin to saturate a 5 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 20 Gbps, or higher connection, a faster storage medium is needed – enter NVMe. Faster, lighter, and more power efficient than its SATA counterparts, NVMe is incredibly fast storage. While it took some time for NVMe to USB adapters to hit the consumer market, there are now plenty of options available, with prices ranging from $15 to $50 and up.

Specific to my needs, I needed a portable drive with faster speeds to house virtual machines and do HD video editing while away from home. These aren’t tasks I regularly do away from my workstation, so keeping these things on a separate drive makes more sense than taking up space on the  single drive of my Thinkpad T15. 

I found the Mokin M.2 NVMe to USB Adapter on Amazon, noting that it supported 2242, 2260, and 2280 size drives. Thankfully I already had an unused 2280 drive sitting on my shelf – the Western Digital 250GB WD Blue SN550. Supporting speeds up to 2,400 MB/s, this drive should be able to theoretically take full advantage of USB 3.2’s “SuperSpeed USB 20Gbps”. While it is unlikely to see those speeds under production loads, these speeds will be ideal for video editing and running a small handful of virtual machines while on the road.

Packaging and Assembly

The Western Digital Blue SN550 NVMe drive came in the ever-familiar NVMe packaging: a familiar-sized cardboard exterior with Western Digital’s Blue branding, and a plastic container inside safely protecting the NVMe drive. A window is visible on the back showing the NVMe drive inside.

True to the Blue branding, the SN550 is built on a blue PCB.

The Mokin enclosure comes in much simpler packaging, and without much protection. This isn’t entirely needed, as the body of the enclosure is sturdy, milled aluminum. The rear of the packaging lists some features of the production, such as support for “Windows XO” and “Windows Visa”. Deviating from Linux for a moment, I recall Windows XP being very driver-dependent. Despite the packaging’s claims of being “plug and play, no drivers required”, I simply can’t imagine what it would actually take to make this device work on Windows XP – USB 3.0 drivers have to be rare enough, but a PCI-Express to USB bridge device? I just can’t see it happening.

Inside the box sits the enclosure itself, as well as two USB cables: USB-C to USB-C and USB-C to USB-A.

Sliding down the latch on the “bottom” side of the enclosure releases the sled inside where the NVMe card will be placed. The primary interface for the enclosure is USB-C.

The NVMe card connects to the top of the sled much like it would on a motherboard, and the enclosure also comes with a rubber plunger that is meant to hold the NVMe card in place, making for a tools-free installation.

Once the card has been secured, the sled slides back into the enclosure and the end cap can be placed back and switched into locking mode to secure the sled in place.

Usage and Testing

A blue LED at the top of the enclosure indicates that the enclosure is powered, and will also blink to indicate drive activity. When I first connected this drive to my workstation, no new drives were found – the LED indicator would come on for about 30 seconds, then shut off.  Checking dmesg on the workstation seemed to indicate that the USB-C to USB-C cable that had shipped with the drive was bad. Swapping the cable out for a premium USB-C cable from my collection resolved this issue:

sudo dmesg

[1033954.164476] usb 1-3.4.4: new high-speed USB device number 23 using xhci_hcd[1033954.164476] usb 1-3.4.4: new high-speed USB device number 23 using xhci_hcd[1033954.315473] usb 1-3.4.4: New USB device found, idVendor=152d, idProduct=0583, bcdDevice= 2.09[1033954.315477] usb 1-3.4.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3[1033954.315478] usb 1-3.4.4: Product: USB to PCIE Bridge[1033954.315479] usb 1-3.4.4: Manufacturer: JMicron[1033954.315480] usb 1-3.4.4: SerialNumber: 0123456789ABCDEF[1033954.316523] scsi host11: uas[1033954.316949] scsi 11:0:0:0: Direct-Access     JMicron  Generic          0209 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6[1033954.317673] sd 11:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0[1033955.832859] sd 11:0:0:0: [sde] 488397168 512-byte logical blocks: (250 GB/233 GiB)[1033955.832862] sd 11:0:0:0: [sde] 4096-byte physical blocks[1033955.832977] sd 11:0:0:0: [sde] Write Protect is off[1033955.832979] sd 11:0:0:0: [sde] Mode Sense: 6b 00 00 08[1033955.833216] sd 11:0:0:0: [sde] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA[1033955.833416] sd 11:0:0:0: [sde] Optimal transfer size 33553920 bytes not a multiple of physical block size (4096 bytes)[1033955.867675]  sde: sde1[1033955.897095] sd 11:0:0:0: [sde] Attached SCSI disk

A little more information can be gained from lsusb, showing the device is a PCI-Express 3.0 x2 bridge, meaning speeds will be limited to around 2 Gbps. This is still faster than what a SATA-based drive can offer.

lsusb | grep -i ‘jmicron’

Bus 001 Device 023: ID 152d:0583 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp. JMS583Gen 2 to PCIe Gen3x2 Bridge

To test write speeds on the disk, I used dd to write both 1GB and 2GB files:

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/test/bench bs=1024 count=1000000

1000000+0 records in1000000+0 records out1024000000 bytes (1.0 GB, 977 MiB) copied, 1.34255 s, 763 MB/s$ sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/test/bench bs=1024 count=20000002000000+0 r
ecords in2000000+0 records out2048000000 bytes (2.0 GB, 1.9 GiB) copied, 2.78332 s, 736 MB/sIn both instances, a sustained write speed of over 700 MB/s was achieved. This 2GB file consisting of zeroes can now be used to test read speeds of the drive by reading the file and outputting the file to /dev/null:$ sudo dd if=/mnt/test/bench of=/dev/null4000000+0 records in4000000+0 records out2048000000 bytes (2.0 GB, 1.9 GiB) copied, 1.31863 s, 1.6 GB/s

1.6 GB/s is much closer to the theoretical 2000 MB/s (2 GB/s) speeds offered by the PCI-Express x2 interface. Even at seven-eighths the theoretical speed, this is still blazingly fast storage.

Random reads are also going to be important for virtual machine and video editing performance, and these can be simulated using a utility such as fio.

fio --name=random-write --ioengine=posixaio --rw=randwrite --bs=4k --numjobs=1 --size=4g --iodepth=1 --ru

ntime=60 --time_based --end_fsync=1random-write: (g=0): rw=randwrite, bs=(R) 4096B-4096B, (W) 4096B-4096B, (T) 4096B-4096B, ioengine=posixaio, iodepth=1fio-3.28Starting 1 processrandom-write: Laying out IO file (1 file / 4096MiB)Jobs: 1 (f=1): [w(1)][100.0%][eta 00m:00s]                         random-write: (groupid=0, jobs=1): err= 0: pid=3662310: Sat Oct 15 20:55:49 2022 write: IOPS=9334, BW=36.5MiB/s (38.2MB/s)(4096MiB/112336msec); 0 zone resets   slat (nsec): min=250, max=1684.1k, avg=943.81, stdev=2165.05   clat (nsec): min=170, max=3200.6k, avg=5123.71, stdev=10250.08    lat (usec): min=3, max=3201, avg= 6.07, stdev=10.49   clat percentiles (usec):    |  1.00th=[    4],  5.00th=[    4], 10.00th=[    4], 20.00th=[    4],    | 30.00th=[    5], 40.00th=[    5], 50.00th=[    5], 60.00th=[    6],    | 70.00th=[    6], 80.00th=[    6], 90.00th=[    7], 95.00th=[    7],    | 99.00th=[   11], 99.50th=[   14], 99.90th=[   65], 99.95th=[   87],    | 99.99th=[  265]  bw (  KiB/s): min=300952, max=652016, per=100.00%, avg=599186.29, stdev=87476.01, samples=14  iops        : min=75238, max=163004, avg=149796.57, stdev=21869.00, samples=14 lat (nsec)   : 250=0.01%, 500=0.01%, 750=0.01% lat (usec)   : 4=24.32%, 10=74.47%, 20=0.91%, 50=0.16%, 100=0.11% lat (usec)   : 250=0.02%, 500=0.01%, 750=0.01%, 1000=0.01% lat (msec)   : 2=0.01%, 4=0.01% cpu          : usr=1.11%, sys=2.98%, ctx=1125327, majf=0, minf=29 IO depths    : 1=100.0%, 2=0.0%, 4=0.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, >=64=0.0%    submit    : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.0%, >=64=0.0%    complete  : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.0%, >=64=0.0%    issued rwts: total=0,1048577,0,0 short=0,0,0,0 dropped=0,0,0,0    latency   : target=0, window=0, percentile=100.00%, depth=1Run status group 0 (all jobs): WRITE: bw=36.5MiB/s (38.2MB/s), 36.5MiB/s-36.5MiB/s (38.2MB/s-38.2MB/s), io=4096MiB (4295MB), run=112336-112336msecDisk stats (read/write): sde: ios=0/10690, merge=0/147, ticks=0/638431, in_queue=639474, util=94.96%

The result of fio shows random write speeds of around 36 MB/s, whereas a native PCI-Express 3.0 x4 NVMe drive is more in the realm of 230 MB/s or higher. This can likely be attributed to the USB interface, however these speeds are still more than acceptable for production use.

Final Thoughts

NVMe drives offer much higher performance than traditional SATA solid state drives, and the ability to package an NVMe drive in a USB enclosure opens the door to significantly faster portable storage. While the Mokin M.2 NVMe to USB Adapter only offers a PCI-Express 3.0 x2 interface, the theoretical maximum performance is still much higher than that of any SATA-based USB drive. Pairing the Mokin enclosure with a Western Digital Blue SN550 NVMe drive shows significant performance gains, and for me, provides a fantastic portable storage medium for video editing and running virtual machines on the road.

As USB 4 becomes more widely adopted, it is inevitable that PCI-Express 4.0 and perhaps even PCI-Express 5.0 x2 and x4 bridges will enter the consumer market at wildly affordable pricing, further increasing the potential speeds of portable storage.

Western Digital 250GB WD Blue SN550 NVMe Internal SSD - Gen3 x4 PCIe 8Gb/s, M.2 2280, 3D NAND, Up to 2,400 MB/s - WDS250G2B0C

$34.99 at Amazon

NVMe M.2 Duplicator Dual-Bay Offline Clone Tool-Free, 40Gbps NVMe Docking Station with Cooling Fan,NVMe M.2 SSD Enclosure for NVMe PCIe Size 2230/2242/2260/2280 -Gray

$ at Amazon

The post Mokin M.2 NVMe to USB Adapter with Western Digital 250GB WD Blue SN550 Drive under Linux first appeared on BIOSLEVEL.

When KDE Connect was initially announced, I jumped on getting a USB Bluetooth dongle for my workstations at home and at work so I could pair my Android phone with my desktops. Since I now had Bluetooth on my workstations, I tried other Bluetooth-enabled devices over the years such as headphones, mice, and keyboards.  I still use a Bluetooth mouse for my daily work, so having a Bluetooth dongle for my workstation has been a necessity.

When they work, these dongles have been great. Unfortunately, I’ve got quite the poor track record with these dongles, as they’ve all had major issues over the years. I typically end up purchasing about one dongle a year, as they all eventually stop working for me. I’m not sure if it’s something about Linux’ USB power management that fries these dongles over time, or if they’re simply built to withstand about a year of use, but they ALWAYS stop working for me.

Another major issue I’ve had across multiple workstations and machines is that the dongles will frequently lose connection with my devices, making my mouse or keyboard unusable from anywhere between 10 to 60 seconds, several times through a work day. Additionally, after a random period of inactivity, the dongles will (assumingly) power down, which means when I sit down at my workstation after lunch, I again need to wait 10 to 60 seconds for the dongle to re-establish a connection with my mouse.

After my most recent dongle failed, an Edimax, I went on the hunt for a new dongle. I wanted a USB Bluetooth dongle that supported Bluetooth 5.1, and also wasn’t a brand I’d purchased in the past (Kensington, Logitech, Edimax, the list goes on…). I eventually came across the EVEO Bluetooth Adapter on Amazon and decided to give it a shot after a handful of the reviews stated it worked for them in Linux. I hammered the “Buy It Now” button and anxiously awaited for it to arrive the next day (does anyone else remember the days of waiting 10-17 days to receive their PC parts from NewEgg back in the day?).

Once I had the dongle out of the package, my workstation recognized it immediately and I was able to re-pair my mouse with the new dongle immediately. The EVEO adapter uses a Realtek chipset. While I can’t check them, I do recall many of my past dongles using a Broadcom chipset. W

lsusb | grep -i "bluetooth"

Bus 001 Device 005: ID 2550:8761 Realtek Bluetooth Radio

Here are the full capabilities as seen by my workstation:

inxi -Eaz

Bus 001 Device 005: ID 2550:8761 Realtek Bluetooth Radio
Bluetooth:
 Device-1: Realtek Bluetooth Radio type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
   bus-ID: 1-3.4.1:5 chip-ID: 2550:8761 class-ID: e001 serial: 
 Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: 
   bt-v: 3.0 lmp-v: 5.1 sub-v: 8a6b hci-v: 5.1 rev: 9a9
 Info: acl-mtu: 1021:6 sco-mtu: 255:12
   link-policy: rswitch hold sniff park link-mode: peripheral accept
   service-classes: rendering, capturing, object transfer, audio, telephony

The output above shows the dongle being compatible with devices up to Bluetooth 5.1, and the adapter is compatible with just about any service I would have a use for: audio, file transfer, external calls.

After using this adapter for a little over a month, I can safely say this is the best USB Bluetooth dongle I’ve come across. At least under Kubuntu 22.04, the adapter “just works”, and I’ve yet to experience any of the cons I mentioned above: I have yet to lost connection with any of my Bluetooth devices, and it immediately reconnects to my devices after a period of inactivity or after unlocking my screen.

Initially I had no intention of writing a review around a Bluetooth adapter, but I felt like the quality of the EVEO adapter I’ve experienced over the past month made a brief review necessary.

Bluetooth Adapter for Pc - Plug and Play: EVEO USB Bluetooth 5.1 Adapter for Windows 11/10 Devices - Bluetooth Dongle

$9.99 at Amazon

The post The Best USB Bluetooth Dongle for Linux first appeared on BIOSLEVEL.

I first started mounting my monitors on stands about ten years ago, and I haven’t looked back since. Particularly in the early days of LCD monitors, and of course with CRT monitors, I never really took the time to realize how much I had to look downwards to see the monitor on my desk.  Mounting monitors on stands raises them significantly higher and brings the monitor in-line with line-of-sight. This is not only a more comfortable view, it’s much more ergonomic for long sessions on a computer.

In addition to  the ergonomics, using monitor mounts frees up a significant amount of space on my desk, and provides a great way to conceal any cables going into the monitors or webcams and ring lights.

Unfortunately my previous monitor mounts weren’t able to deal with the shear weight of the 34” Gigabyte M34WQ I purchased earlier this year. I basically had to put some placeholders under the monitor to keep it high enough on these arms to make it usable until I found a solution.

After browsing through products on Amazon for a few hours, I decided upon the Vivo V100H. Promising support for up to 49” monitors, I figured this mount would have no issues supporting my 34” monitor.

Features and Specifications

The Vivo V100H is a versatile monitor mount that will create a great viewing experience no matter how you mount or angle it. Let’s look at the specifications first:

• Weight: 17.51 pounds

• Screen Size: Ultrawide screens up to 49" (weighing up to 39.6 lbs)

• Screen Types: Curved and Flat

• VESA Standard: 75x75mm, 100x100mm, 200x100mm

• Articulation: +45° to -45° tilt, 180° swivel, 180° rotation

• Height Adjustment: 5.9” to 25.5” (center of screen)

In addition to wide-range of mounting options, the V100H also comes with several innovative features:

• Smooth Pneumatic Lift – The counterbalance spring adjusts to the weight of your monitor and smoothly raises or lowers the screen with ease.

• Integrated Cable Management – The arm’s cable cover routes power and AV cords, keeping them out of sight for a clean and organized workspace.

• Hardware Included – All hardware and instructions are provided so you can get your new stand assembled in no time!

Thankfully the Gigabyte M34WQ uses the standard VESA 100x100mm pattern for mounting, and weighs well under the maximum 39.6lbs that this mount can support.

Unboxing and Assembly

The Vivo V100H arrived in a fairly standard brown cardboard box, with some basic branding and a diagram of the stand itself. Inside, the stand and accessories are packaged in plastic and what appears to be a recycled cardboard container.

Once unpacked, I was left with a collection of mounting plates, instructions, various screws and washers, and the arm mount itself. All of the parts appear to be very well manufactured and structurally sound. It was also nice to not find any sharp edges on any of the manufactured aluminum.

There were two options for mounting the stand to the desk: clamps or drilling.  I opted to go with clamping the stand, as it makes it easier to adjust and that I intend to replace my current desk in the near future.

Once the top portion was on the desk, I was able to begin tightening the bolts on the underside to lock everything in place. While this proved to be a solid mounting solution, I wasn’t initially comfortable with it because the plate that clamps on the underside isn’t physically attached to the mount itself.  There are two holes that the ends of the tightening bolts bit into, so this was a little loose until it became tight against the desk.

With the base secured, the next step was to place the bottom of the arm into the top of the stand. These parts fell into place with a little jiggling, and they felt very secure once in place. A tiny screw in the back of the stand then had to be tightened to help lock the arm in place.

My favorite feature of this mount was the detachable mounting plate for the monitor. Once the plate was screwed into the monitor, it simply clipped into a retaining bracket on the pneumatic arm. Applying pressure to the bracket would then allow it to be detached. This is a solid mount, and makes it so much easier to mount a monitor without the need to hold the monitor in the air while fiddling with the screws in the back.

Once the monitor was attached, the final step of assembly was adjusting the tension on the pneumatic arm to support the weight of the Gigabyte M34WQ. When adjusting, it’s important not to over-adjust – the arm should be able to freely hold the monitor no matter how much height is applied to the monitor. If the monitor falls or rises from the position it is placed in, the tension still needs further adjustment.

Final Thoughts

This one of the best monitor mounts I’ve come across in the sub-$100 category. It is very well-built and feels very solid once installed. I wasn’t prepared for how big this mount was going to be, despite the support for 49” screens. When working with multiple monitors, I’m not sure how many of these could be used together to support more than two monitors on an average-sized desk.  I had to move the mounts for my other two monitors to fix everything in place on this desk.

Assembly was a breeze, and I’m incredibly thankful for the detachable mounting plate for the monitor – this makes attaching the monitor to the stand so much easier than stands I’ve dealt with in the past. I still need to utilize its cable-management features to route some of my cabling, but that might wait until I’ve replaced the desk.

Overall, this stand is a must-have for ultrawide monitors. It frees up the desk space that stock monitor stands take up, and has a fantastic range of height  and tilt that will allow users to adjust it to their specific viewing angle.

VIVO Aluminum Ultrawide Monitor Stand, Classic, Fits up to 49 inch Computer Screens, Single Articulating Pneumatic Arm, C-Clamp and Grommet Desk Mount, Max VESA 200x100, Black, STAND-V100H

$99.99 at Amazon

4.5 / 5.0

OVERALL RATING

5.0

Compatibility

5.0

Features / Purpose

4.0

Ease of Use

4.0

Aesthetics

Pros:

• Very

Cons:

• Bottom

The post Vivo Aluminum Mount V100H first appeared on BIOSLEVEL.

At the time of writing this article, Gigabyte’s M34WQ monitor can be found on Amazon and Newegg for around $400, making it very affordable compared to even a few years ago when a 34” monitor could go for a 50% or even 100% higher price. I was looking to replace my 29” ultrawide that was limited to a 1080p resolution, so I pulled the trigger. We filmed a brief unboxing video and I’ve now been using the monitor for about a week.

Features & Specifications

I’ve become spoiled by IPS screens, so that was my first requirement for upgrading one of my existing monitors. The Gigabyte M34WQ is a 3440×1440 IPS panel featuring a 144Hz maximum refresh rate, VESA Display HDR400, and a 1ms MPRT response time. Given these features, the monitor does fall into a mid-range bucket, however there are many additional features that bring additional value to the monitor.

Let’s look at the overall specifications for this monitor.

* The entire materials provided herein are for reference only. GIGABYTE reserves the right to modify or revise the content at anytime without prior notice.
* Advertised performance is based on maximum theoretical interface values from respective Chipset vendors or organization who defined the interface specification. Actual performance may vary by system configuration.
* All trademarks and logos are the properties of their respective holders.
* Due to standard PC architecture, a certain amount of memory is reserved for system usage and therefore the actual memory size is less than the stated amount.

The monitor includes dual HDMI 2.0 ports, a single DisplayPort 1.4 port, and a single USB-C port for input. Unfortunately HDMI 2.1 was not included, however given this monitor’s specifications, it isn’t necessary. There’s also a high-speed USB 3.0 “B” port that powers two USB 3.0 ports.

Connecting a mobile device such as a laptop or desktop-capable phone to the USB-C port, and another port and the USB “B” port to another PC will allow the user to use the M34WQ as a KVM – that is, switch between displays, and the built-in USB hub will switch over to the device currently active on the monitor. This will allow users with a secondary PC, server, Raspberry Pi, or other device to share their primary monitor and keyboard and mouse with a primary computer without the need of a second monitor and/or keyboard/mouse.

AMD Freesync Premium powers the M34WQ’s 144Hz refresh rate, and the monitor has a few more surprises in store for gamers. In addition to the ability to adjust the color and black levels, the monitor also includes “aim stabilizer sync”, as well as built-in crosshairs that can be enabled and disabled through the on-screen display using the controls on the rear of the monitor.

Important to my particular usage, the monitor has a 100×100 VESA mounting pattern on the rear for wall or arm mounts.

Assembly & Setup

The M34WQ came well packed, and I was impressed that Gigabyte included both HDMI and DisplayPort cables with the monitor, however I was then disappointed by the lack of a USB-C cable. Also included were three different power cords for the major electrical receptacles in the world – but let me claim some joy over the fact the monitor uses a standard PC power cord and not an external transformer.

Compared to previous monitors I’ve owned, I was surprised by the lack of protective plastic around the bezel and rear of the monitor – sometimes it has taken me years to remove all that plastic because it simply blends in. There was a very minimal amount of plastic to remove from the base of the stand and rear of the monitor.

With the plastic removed, assembly was a breeze. The neck was attached to the base via a thumbscrew on the bottom of the stand – no need for a screwdriver here.  With the stand complete, several “teeth” are noticeable on the top, which help guide the monitor into place. Once situated, the monitor snaps into place with a satisfying “click” from a locking mechanism on the stand.

At the bottom of the monitor’s rear, all the ports are housed facing downward. This becomes useful when mounting the monitor on an arm or wall mount, or when space is tight. The power port sits to the right, while to the left (in order) a
re the dual HDMI ports, DisplayPort, USB-C port, USB 3.0 “B” port, and finally the dual USB 3.0 “A” ports.

The only other “feature” on the rear of the monitor is the “joystick” for activating and navigating the on-screen display. Pressing the joystick once will bring up the main menu. The directional presses on the joystick can also be assigned for quick-actions, such as switching between KVM-enabled displays.

Overall, the stand functions very well. The monitor can be raised and lowered with minimal effort, and it can also be angled to the left, right, and up and down. Once I’ve completed my testing, however, this monitor will be mounted on a gas-piston monitor arm.

Usage

There are a number of reasons to be excited for this monitor, but I was most looking forward to trying out a direct USB-C to USB-C.  I’ve used plenty of USB-C display adapters, so there technically isn’t anything special here – or so I thought. Unfortunately my Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga wasn’t able to get a working picture on the monitor over USB-C, and I haven’t had the chance to test with another USB-C or Thunderbolt-capable system yet. While digging through the OSD menu, I did find a “USB-C” compatibility mode, however this didn’t resolve the problem either.

Despite one feature not working out of the box, the remainder of testing was smooth sailing. The HDMI ports and DisplayPort worked without any issues. The M34WQ’s resolution and refresh rates were detected, even when hotplugged to a running system. As expected from an IPS panel, the colors on the monitor are bright and vivid. I did scroll through some of the preset calibrations in the OSD menu, and found that the “gaming” preset gives me an ideal brightness that matches my other monitors.

Booting up some of my favorite games on Steam such as The Witcher 3, CS:GO, or Deus Ex all resulted in extremely smooth gameplay, even when the system isn’t quite rendering 144 frames per second. 

I didn’t have an opportunity to test the M34WQ’s built-in KVM (keyboard-video-mouse) switch, nor do I have much need for the functionality. The KVM functionality allows you to share the built-in USB 3.0 hub and display between two devices: one using the USB “A” port and an HDMI or DisplayPort, and a second device using the USB-C port for both display and USB.  Using the bundled Windows software, or joystick on the rear of the monitor, users can switch between the two devices seamlessly and not have to switch between different keyboards, mice, or swap any cables.

Another function of the monitor I was unable to test was the Windows software which allows you to navigate the monitor’s OSD menu with a keyboard and mouse, as well as show some of the system’s statistics such as temperature and CPU speed on a special dashboard built into the monitor. This is a feature I need even less than the KVM, but I’m certain there are users who use it daily.

The only negative feature, possibly complaint, I have found for this monitor is that the built-in audio is not good. It works, it can be loud, it can be quiet, but it just doesn’t sound good. My previous primary monitor had “Sound by Bang & Olufsen”, so I may just be spoiled.

Final Thoughts

I couldn’t be happier with this purchase. For $400, this monitor is a fantastic addition to my workspace – front and center, at that. With a resolution of 3440×1440, maximum refresh rate of 144Hz, and assortment of display inputs, this monitor is hard to beat in the mid-range market.  The built-in USB 3.0 hub is sure to be handy for plugging in a keyboard, mouse, flash drive, or perhaps even a discrete microphone for video conferencing.

The audio quality of the built-in speakers does leave something to be desired, however this is hardly ever a selling point of a gaming monitor.  While there are some features that don’t work out-of-the-box with Linux, such as the OSD assistant, this monitor shines in nearly every other aspect. 

I think I may need a second one.

GIGABYTE M34WQ 34" 144Hz Ultrawide-KVM Gaming Monitor, 3440 x 1440 IPS Display, 1ms (MPRT) Response Time, 91% DCI-P3, HDR Ready, 1 Display Port 1.4, 2 HDMI 2.0, 2 USB 3.0, 1 USB Type-C

$349.99 at Amazon

The post Linux at 1440p with the Gigabyte M34WQ Ultrawide Monitor first appeared on BIOSLEVEL.

Ten years have passed since Via announced the Mini-ITX form factor, and I've been a fan of the compact motherboard platform since.  To mark the 10 year anniversary, Via announced their latest product based on the Mini-ITX standard, the VE-900.  Sold for only an affordable $89 USD, it promises to deliver a high-performance multimedia experience in a small package.

Powering the VE-900 is Via's own dual-core Nano X2 processor clocked in 1.4GHz.  The Nano X2 is Via's first 64-bit dual-core processor, and it is meant to compete against Intel's Atom CPUs in both performance and power consumption.  Intel's family of Atom processors are known for their low power consumption, but they aren't known for their performance nor their ability to deliver high-definition content unassisted. The VE-900 also houses Via's latest VX900 chipset, allowing this board to support up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and provide excellent hardware acceleration for the latest video formats in resolutions up to 1080p.  

Via has been very friendly with the Linux community in the past, and most of their products tend to work in Linux out-of-the-box. Will Via's latest offering follow suit, and does it in fact provide superior performance against Intel's family of Atom Processors?

Packaging

The Via VE-900 came to me in a fairly standard Mini-ITX cardboard package. The outside of the box is reminiscent of Apple's brushed aluminum interface. The front of the packaging has a thin-strip of the motherboard displayed in the center, hinting at what's inside.  Under this are a list of the features the VE-900 offers.

The rear of the packaging has Via's logo front-and-center, and top or bottom are additional product / packaging information.

Inside, I first found two SATA cables, the backplate, a manual, and a driver CD for Windows.  Under these was the VE-900 itself wrapped in an anti-static bag.

Features and Specifications

Key Features

• High-performance 64-bit VIA Nano™ X2 dual core processor
• Hardware acceleration for VC1, H.264 and WMV9 HD video
• On board HDMI and VGA ports
• Support for up to 8GB of DDR3 1066 DIMM
• Support for 2 SATA
• PCI slot expansions slot

Specifications

Appearance

At first glance, the Via VE-900 looks like any other Mini-ITX board built on a blue PCB board.  However, upon closer examination, there are several things to notice. First, the size of the CPU and the heatsink and fan.  I'm not sure I've seen a heatsink-fan this small since the days of the original Pentium CPUs.  The overall size of the CPU is also impressive, appearing in a form factor similar to that of the Intel Atom CPUs.

The chipset controller has a similar, small heatsink attached to it. To the right are also two full-size DDR3 slots. The only unsatisfactory item I found during my initial inspection was the inclusion of a PCI slot, rather than a PCI-Express slot.

The other features of the board include two SATA2 headers, expansion for an additional four USB 2.0 slots, and HD Audio headers.

On the rear, the board has more than enough connectors for any media center, including HDMI.

Installation

After situating the board and components inside a suitable case, I downloaded the latest DVD or Kubuntu (11.10 at the time of the writing), burned it to a DVD, and began installation.  Kubuntu's installation process ran without a hitch, but I was still a little skeptical that there still going to be something I needed to install on the system after installation.

After booting into KDE for the first time on the machine, I was greeted by a pleasant surprise: Desktop Effects had already been enabled, and my desktop was being rendered by way of OpenGL.  This was the most promising discovery yet!  And, of course, all in magnificent 1080p on a 24" Asus Monitor via the VE-900's HDMI connection.  The onboard high-definition audio also was picked up by Ubuntu without an issue.

With everything working out of the box, I went about installing a few desktop applications, as well as the software I intended to benchmark the board with.

Test Setup

While setting the VE-900 up for testing, I catered to its Mini-ITX form factor, but also made sure that the mainboard would be used to the fullest. I'm not sure I know anyone else who has paired 8GB of RAM up with a Mini-ITX motherboard.

The main recommended use of the VE-900 is in the home theater, so one of the things I really want to check with this board is whether or not it has the ability to play back 1080p video without any stuttering. I also wanted to briefly examine the VE-900's 3D abilities, power consumption, and the number crunching behind the Nano X2 CPU.  Below is the components I used for teseting:

• Via VE-900
• 8GB (2x4GB) Patriot DDR3-1066 RAM
• Gigabyte GZ-SPIM51-P0B Mini-ITX Case and 65W Power Supply
• Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA Hard Drive
• Asus 24x DVD+/-RW SATA Drive

Movie Playback

I decided to use VLC as my movie player for these tests, as it has support for most video formats out-of-the-box. I figured the best formats to test high-definition video playback would be MKV, H.264, and YouTube.  I've had poor experiences with video playback on low-power processors in the past, but was really hoping that the VE-900 would pull through.  The unfortunate part about these playback tests is that during the time of this writing, the only video recorder I had access to was currently broken.  With that, trust us
on these!

I started with an H.264 file I found at this website. Like most high-definition clips, it was rather large in size (roughly 120MB for about two minutes of video). After the download completed, I queued the file up in VLC and hit play. While VLC wasn't in fullscreen mode, the video looked a little choppy. After switch to fullscreen so that video was no longer scaled, playback smoothed out and looked just as good as it would on my Core i7 machine.

I moved on to the MKV file next, choosing a movie trailer from those available on DivX's website. The results mimicked those of the H.264 playback: slightly choppy when the video was scaled, but smooth sailing in fullscreen mode.

I honestly wasn't sure what to expect while attempting to play a 1080p video from Youtube. Flash has always had performance issues in Linux (amongst other operating systems), so I didn't have high hopes for being able to play a 1080p clip. Two of my favorite trailers that can be found in 1080p on Youtube are Tron: Legacy and the Dark Knight.  Unable to choose which I wanted to play back, I opted to play both.

Youtube defaults to 360p playback, which worked as expected. Switch to 1080p and fullscreen lead to a little more buffering, but sure enough video playback was smooth. I will note here that I had programs installing in the background, and the video did get a little choppy whenever there was a reasonable amount of hard drive activity occurring.

I was impressed. I never would have been able to play these files on an Intel Atom-powered system without the help of a discrete graphics solution (read: higher power consumption!).  We'll post an update on this as soon as we get our grubby hands on a working video camera!

Gaming Performance

My obsession with computers goes back to the days when I was child and just had to play another game of Tanks on Atari.  Every time I get my hands on a new piece of hardware, I have to know if I can play games on it!  Our typical gaming benchmark here at BIOSLEVEL.com used to be Unreal Tournament 2004, as it was at one point of the most technologically advanced gaming engines available on Linux.

Fast-forward a few years, and now there are several newer gaming engines that do things a little better than the Unreal Engine 2 did.  Nexuiz and Unigine-based games make up for a fair portion of the market.  With my preference being first-person shooters, I decided to test Nexuiz first…

…or not.  While the game loaded to the menu screen relatively quickly, the VE-900's GPU just couldn't handle the game.  It took me about two minutes to move the cursor from the center of the screen over to the "Close" button. I was hoping for a little more luck after the 1080p playback success, but this board is being marketed towards multimedia uses rather than gaming. Of course, one can always load up a game of chess or solitaire.

Via's Nano X2 Processor – Performance and Power Consumption

Intel and AMD have been playing the multi-core game for years now, and the 64-bit game for even longer.  However, the Nano X2 marks Via's first foray into both of these markets.  I've owned a few Via products over the years, and I've always enjoyed being able to build a capable NAS or router that also consumed far less power than the computers I built for gaming.

Truly, Intel's Atom processors invaded a space that Via has always catered to in the past. Judging by what I've seen up to this point, it looks like the Nano X2 is ready to take that market back.  To test the processing power of the Nano X2, VX900 chipset, and RAM, I tested with SuperPi, calculating Pi to a little over a million decimal places. I was very surprised by the result, so I included several other processor's scores to show where the Nano X2 stood in the grand scheme of things.

The VE-900 held its own ground in our SuperPi testing, beating a desktop-class 64-bit single-core CPU with a higher clock frequency. To look at this a little closer, I also used the Phoronix Test Suite to look at how fast the Nano X2 was able to compress different types of files.

Again, the VE-900's Nano X2 holds up against the Atom. The question no one thinks about when it comes to computing power deals with who's going to pay the electricity bill.  Unless you're playing the latest 3D games on your HDTV, there's little need to purchase multi-core CPUs and dual-bay videocards. I was impressed while monitoring the VE-900's power consumption through these tests.

Via manages to pull ahead of Intel again.  While idle, the VE-900 uses nearly 50% less power than the Atom-based system. Considering the Netbook and Desktop-class Atoms can sometimes use as much power as early dual-core processors, the VE-900's power consumption is even more impressive.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Where was Via when the netbook craze started? AMD came late to the game, but still profitted overall.  Its a shame that Via's "OpenBook" never took off when originally announced.  It would be phenomenal to see netbook competitors based off of Via's Nano X2 CPU.

During my testing of Via's VE-900, I was slightly blown back.  I'm not sure I've ever seen a Via chip outperform a competitor from Intel, but the VE-900's 1.4GHz Nano X2 processor accomplishes this without breaking a sweat or needing overclocked.  Paired with 8GB of RAM, I found the performance from the VE-900 to rival that of desktop systems from only a few years ago, all while using a fraction of the power.

Via's marketing the VE-900 towards the enthusiast or do-it-yourself multimedia crowd, and thats where I see it fitting in perfectly.  The gaming performance isn't quite there, but I was able to watch a variety of video clips in a full 1080p without a problem — granted that I didn't have many other applications running in the background.

At $89, there are plenty of applications that go above and beyond movie playback for this mainboard. With plenty of USB ports and a single PCI slot, there's room to add additional ethernet ports, TV tuners, and more. The VE-900 may make for a perfect base unit for a low-powered router or DVR. Alternatively, it would make for a great computer for someone that just casually checks their e-mail and browses Youtube.

The biggest issue I have with the VE-900 is the lack of a PCI-Express port.  This may simply be my own pet peeve, but PCI-Express has been out for years, and yet motherboards are still manufactured with PCI slots.  If the VE-900 had come with a PCI-Express slot, it would be easy to add a low-power, discrete graphics card to help with gaming performance, amongst other areas. But the lack of the PCI-Express slot definitely is not a deal killer for the unit.

Via has a fantastic enthusiast product on their hands with the VE-900. And for the Linux enthusiast, its supported out-of-the-box by Ubuntu and probably many other distributions. While you're not getting amazing performance from this unit, it is more than enough for the day-to-day computer usage, and would make for an ideal, low-power home theater PC.

The post VIA VE-900 Mini-ITX Mainboard Review first appeared on BIOSLEVEL.

Face it, PCI- and PCI-Express-based soundcards don't always cut it for professional-quality recording. Despite offering digital, optical, line-ins, and microphrone inputs, soundcards simply can't accommodate every piece of high-end audio equipment. Many companies have solved this issue by building external break-out boxes with a variety of additional inputs and outputs, but these boxes lack mobility. Where are the break-out boxes for laptop recording studios?

This is where the MicPort Pro from CEntrance comes in. The MicPort Pro bridges the gap between XLR connections and USB, bringing a wide range of audio options to the table. While promising true 24-bit / 96KHz audio, the MicPort Pro is no bigger than the handle of a microphone, so can it really deliver the audio quality we'd like to see?

The MicPort Pro acts as a microphone preamp, meaning it increases the voltage coming from a microphone. The more important idea behind the MicPort Pro is that it allows the mobile artist, musician, or even podcaster to easily record from almost any location with minimal equipment movement.

Packaging & Contents

The MicPort Pro came to us in simple black-and-white packaging, prominently displaying the name of the product, CEntrance's logo, and the product itself visible through a plastic window.

The rear of the packaging gives a full product description, as well as some of the key uses of the MicPort Pro. I think the big winners here are: "No drivers. No batteries. No latency. No headaches!" Below the description are the MicPort Pro's specifications.

Inside the packaging is the unit itself, an instruction manual, a USB cable, and a felt bag to carry the unit in.

Appearance

As I stated earlier, the MicPort Pro is no larger than the handle of a handheld microphone. There's an XLR female connection on one side. The body of the MicPort Pro is made from anodized aluminum for ruggedness, meaning it won't crush easily.

On the side opposite the XLR connection, there is also a 1/8" jack for hooking up headphones and a small button used to activate the MicPort Pro's phantom power.

On the side of the unit are two dial controls, one to control the input volume of the microphone itself, and one to control the output level of the headphones.

Before testing the MicPort pro, let's look at the unit's features and specifications.

Features & Specifications

The MicPort Pro was created with the mobile artist in mind, featuring an impressive and fully loaded feature set.

Features

• 24-bit/96kHz performance
• 48V phantom power
• USB bus-powered
• Loud stereo headphone output
• 6’ (1.83m) USB cable included
• Microphone gain knob
• Headphone volume knob
• Rugged, anodized aluminum chassis
• Windows XP and Vista compatible
• Mac OS X 10.5 compatible
• USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 connectivity

What I'd really like to look at that isn't a feature of the MicPort Pro is Linux support. Since the MicPort Pro is supposed to be recognized in both Mac OS X and Windows without having to install a driver, I wonder if it will work the same in Linux.

Before testing this thought, let's look at the specifications of the unit and see what powers the capabilities of the unit.

Specifications

Phantom power sends voltage from the MicPort Pro (or other preamp-like devices) to the microphone, often giving the microphone a little more power, or enabling it to pick up a little more sound. Phantom power is mostly used with condenser microphones, and not the typical dynamic microphones such as the one I'll be using later to test the device. As the name suggests, however, the power is rather invisible and shouldn't damage a microphone not supporting it.

Setup & Usage

Having some of the BIOSLEVEL.com writers over to my house for this review, we connected the MicPort Pro up to my AMD Phenom-powered computer hosting Kubuntu 11.10. Using the supplied USB cable, connecting the MicPort Pro was easy. On top of a simple installation, the clear acrylic band near the top of the unit lights up via a white LED when plugged in.

Linux Usage

CEntrance advertises Linux as a supported operating system, and they live up to this claim.  Upon plugging the MicPort Pro into a free USB hub, I noticed the device was instantly picked up by checking dmesg.

[10532.972026] usb 8-1: new full speed USB device number 2 using uhci_hcd
[10533.394408] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio

Seeing that the device is picked up as snd-usb-audio is promising, but it is still necessary to test whether or not the device does indeed work in Linux.  “Working” being defined as both the input and output of the MicPort Pro are fully functional.

To verify both the input and output are functional, I'll begin by checking my system settings in KDE and ensuring I'm able to select the MicPort Pro as a valid multimedia input and output device.

Sure enough, the device appears for both input an output. I selected the MicPort Pro as default device for both input and output duties. Now the real testing begins.

I started Audacity next, and selected the MicPort Pro as the preferred input.  When I tested recording, everything worked exactly as if I'd been using my internal soundcard.  The quality of recording?  Read on!

Audio Quality

I don't claim to be an audiophile or audio engineer, but I do know a thing or two about audio quality, and I like to think I have a good ear. Additionally, the MicPort Pro can be limited in audio quality depending on the microphone in question. I happen to be in possession of two rather pricey Shure microphones. The microphones I tested the MicPort Pro with were the the Shure SM58-LC Vocal Microphone and Sennheister e815S.  Neither of these microphones required phantom power.

As I had several writers at my house while the MicPort Pro was in my possession, I decided to let one of our more vocally-endowed members take the microphone.

Aside from having the microphone a little close to his mouth, I found the audio to be rather crisp and clear. There should be little stopping artists from utilizing the MicPort Pro to record while on-the-go.

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

I know several individuals who record podcasts and music on the go, whether from locales such as Panera and Borders Book Stores, friend's houses, or school. After bringing their attention to the MicPort Pro, I had them all intrigued by the device. CEntrance's own tagline for the unit, "No drivers. No batteries. No latency. No headaches!", highlights the MicPort Pro's ease-of-use.

The latest iteration of Ubuntu, 11.10, had detected the MicPort Pro without any issues. We easily were able to use the MicPort Pro with a variety of applications, from Banshee for music, to Audacity for recording.  Audio recorded from the MicPort Pro on Ubuntu is crisp and full, while output is as clear as you'd expect from your onboard audio.

With phantom power as a major feature, as well as the ability to record in stereo using two of the units, the CEntrance MicPort Pro is a win-win product for the mobile artist, amateur, and professional that needs to make recordings. Who knows, maybe BIOSLEVEL will have a podcast in its future.

The post CEntrance MicPort Pro first appeared on BIOSLEVEL.