SAN BRUNO, Calif., Nov. 6, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MSC Embedded Inc., manufacturer of highly integrated standard board level products and customer-specific boards and systems, today introduced the new MSC Q7-SK-IMX6, a complete, out-of-the-box Starterkit for the company's Qseven modules based on the Freescale i.MX6 which contains a Cortex-A9 RISC CPU with one, two or four cores. Using the Starterkit, evaluating and testing the Q7-IMX6 module is very simple because the kit includes all necessary components for the immediate operation of the Qseven module: a compact Qseven baseboard with power supply, a Qseven Heatspreader, an SD Card with bootable Operating System and a Resource CD with drivers and documentation. Also, the Starterkit includes all parts required for the development of applications with the Q7-IMX6 module. An optional TFT kit can be provided including a suitable cable set to directly connect the LCD with the Qseven Baseboard of the Starterkit.
The new Qseven module MSC Q7-IMX6 based on the Freescale i.MX6, an ARM Cortex-A9 RISC Processor, is a family of fully compatible modules with one, two or four CPU cores. Clocked at up to 1.2GHz, they consume less than 5 Watts but provide high computing performance and powerful graphics. All models except the single-core feature the Freescale Triple Play graphics architecture which consists of decoder hardware for 3D videos (dual-stream) up to Full-HD resolution (1080p), up to four 3D graphics shaders with a combined power of up to 200MT/s, and a separate 2D BLT engine to take care of the acceleration of user interfaces along with an additional 2D OpenVG engine for vector-based graphics. Up to three independent graphics screens can be driven by one single Q7-IMX6 module.
The MSC Q7-SK-IMX6 Starterkit is available in versions for Linux and Windows Embedded Compact 7, with an Android version currently in discussion. The kit consists of a compact application baseboard (MSC Q7-MB-EP4) providing the most relevant interfaces such as DVI/HDMI and LCD graphics, LAN, USB, UART, CAN and SDIO. The suitable Heatspreader for the Q7-IMX6 module provides for basic cooling or adaptation of a dedicated cooling solution. A standard 12V power supply is enclosed connecting to the baseboard. The 8GB Flash SD Card contains the appropriate boot loader and bootable Operating System: either Linux based on the Yocto Project or Windows Embedded Compact 7. In all cases, the accompanying Resource CD includes all documentation and drivers required to immediately start working with the Q7-IMX6 module, plus sample schematics and a collection of technical notes.
Pricing and Availability
The MSC Q7-SK-IMX6 is available at a sample price of $275. Customers are asked to also order the Qseven module of their choice from MSC's range of Q7-IMX6 modules.