August 12, 2015 - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

August 12, 2015August 12, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Windows 10 on MeLE PCG03, PCG01 and Other Intel Atom Z3735F Devices

For some reasons, after installing Ubuntu 15.04 on MeLE PCG03 a while ago, I had to re-install Windows 8.1 on the device. The backup I used with dd did not work, so I had to download the firmware from MeLE forums, and it worked OK. Right after the re-installation was complete, it asked me if I wanted to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, and I have given it a try, especially a few days ago somebody asked about Windows 10 on MeLE PCG01. So I’ll describe the update process on PCG03, show benchmarks results, and write about my experience with Kodi 15.0 in Windows 10. Upgrading to Windows 10 Once you are ready to update to Windows 10, the system will check for updates, and ask whether you want to download and install Windows 10. The download is over 2GB large, so it may take a while. It took […]

August 12, 2015August 12, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 31 Comments

WiTi OpenWRT Router Board Features 6 Ethernet Ports, Dual Band WiFi, SATA and USB 3.0 Ports (Crowdfunding)

If you thought FireWRT router board had impressive features and but still wanted more, a new product is coming soon. WiTi is also a board powered by Mediatek MT7621A dual core processor @ 880MHz, but with 4 Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, 2 Gigabit WAN ports, 802.11 b/g/n and 802.11ac WiFi with up to 4 external antennas, two SATA ports, as well as a USB 3.0 port. WiTi board specifications: Processor – Mediatek MT7621A dual core (4 threads) MIPS 1004Kc processor @ 880Mhz System Memory – 256MB Memory (up to 512MB later) Storage – 16MB SPI NOR flash for firmware, 1x micro SD slot, and 2x SATA 3.0 ports supporting 3.5″ hard drives. There’s also an optional NAND flash (not included in any Indiegogo rewards) Connectivity 2.4 GHz WiFi 802.11b/g/n up to 300Mbps 5 GHz WiFi 802.11a/n/ac up to 867Mbps 2x Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports 4x Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports 4x RF Antenna […]

August 12, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

Ubuntu 14.04.3 Desktop Image for Intel Atom Z3735F mini PCs and Sticks

If you’ve been trying to run Ubuntu on Intel Atom Z3735F, chances are that you’ve come across Ian Morrison (Linuxium) work, even MeegoPad T02 is using one of its older Ubuntu image (without his direct knowledge / authorization), and the developer has now released an Ubuntu 14.04.3 Desktop image for Intel Atom Z3735F based devices around five days after the official Canonical release. The official Ubuntu 14.04.3 includes the newer 3.19 Linux kernel from Ubuntu 15.04, and a matching X.org stack, and has been upgraded that way for hardware enablement, i.e. to support more hardware platforms. Unfortunately, the image for Z3735F is still using a 3.16 kernel because some dynamic kernel modules only work with 3.16. The image supports 32-bit and a 64-bit bootloaders and includes WiFi, Bluetooth, and Audio support. If you’d like to update Ubuntu on your device, download and flash ubuntu-14.04.3-desktop-linuxium.iso to a USB drive with ‘Rufus’ […]

August 12, 2015August 12, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

$39 Beaglebone Green Loses HDMI and DC Jack, Gains Grove Connectors

The original BeagleBone launched in 2011 $89, then Beagleboard.org released an updated version with HDMI, a faster processor, and more RAM called BeagleBone Black for $45 in 2013, possibly as a competitor to the Raspberry Pi, and since then the price has bumped up to $55 because of a larger eMMC flash. There’s now a new version – and a different color – with BeagleBone Green selling for $39 on SeeedStudio with shipping starting on August 20, 2015. BeagleBone Green board specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments Sitara AM3358BZCZ100 Cortex A8 @ 1 GHz with NEON + PowerVR SGX530 GPU System Memory – 512 MB DDR3L @ 800 MHz Storage – 4GB eMMC + micro SD slot USB Access to USB0, Client mode via Micro USB Access to USB1, Type A Socket, 500mA LS/FS/HS Serial Port – UART0 via 6-pin 3.3V TTL header (populated) Ethernet – 10/100M Ethernet , RJ45 Expansion […]

August 12, 2015August 12, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Intel Skylake-U Processors Run as Low as 7.5W TDP. A Closer Look at Configurable TDP

I try to mostly cover low power systems on this blog, so when it comes to x86 processors I have a cut off TDP of 10 Watts. The next generation of Intel Skylake processors have a TDP of 15 Watts, but when I read Skylake-U lineup post on FanlessTech, I discovered Intel processors also have a configurable TDP option, and in the case of Skylake-U processor their configurable TDP (cTDP) can be as low as 7.5W or 10W depending on models. U-Processor family has Pentium and Celeron processors, but also Core i3, Core i5 and even Core i7 processors such as i7-6600U and i7-6500U clocked up to 3.4 GHz and all with a 15W TDP, but you’ll also notice a column called “cTDP Down” showing 7.5W and 10W values, which shows the great progress made by Intel with regards to low power design. So I decided to look into configurable […]