Xiaomi Mi Box Gets Android 8 Oreo Firmware Update

Xiaomi Mi Box Android 8.1 Launcher

Xiaomi Mi Box US is one of the recommended TV boxes if you want a pure  – and official – Android TV experience at an affordable price. However, updates to the latest version of Android has been slow, and until recently the device was running Android TV 6.x (Marshmallow) only, despite Android 8 being released in August 2017, and Nougat a year ealier. But according to reports from reddit users, Xiaomi Mi Box has finally gotten an OTA upgrade to Android 8.x Oreo. Some of the changes include support for Google Assistant, the new Android Oreo launcher for Android TV,  and other new features introduce in Marshmallow and Oreo. More geeky users reported Linux has also been updated to version 4.9.54, and Project Treble is installed with should allow for more timely firmware updates in the future, although without seamless upgrade support. The Android Oreo upgrade has been reported in […]

SiFive Announces E20 and E21 RISC-V Cores for IoT and Wearables

SiFive has just announced the availability of their new E2 Core IP Series  low-area, low-power microcontroller cores designed for use in embedded devices. Two standards cores are currently part of the new family: E21 providing mainstream performance for MCUs, sensor fusion, minion cores and smart IoT markets E20, the most power-efficient SiFive standard core designed for microcontrollers, IoT, analog mixed signal and finite state machine applications SiFive E20 MCU Core SiFive E20 Standard Core IP Key Features: RISC-V ISA – RV32IMC Machine Mode only 2-stage pipeline System Port for external memory accesses Core Local Interrupt Controller (CLIC) with 32 interrupts Advanced debug with 4 hardware breakpoints/watchpoints Performance – 1.1 DMIPS/MHz;  2.4 CoreMark/MHz Power / Clock / Area 28nm HPC – 0.58 mW; 725 MHz and up; 0.023 mm2 55nm LP – 1.3 mW; 250 MHz and up; 0.064 mm2 The company compares E20 core to Arm Cortex-M0+ core in the […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC

$200 ACEPC GK2 Mini PC Features Intel Celeron J4105 Gemini Lake Processor

As expected after ACEPC GK1 announcement, the company has now launched ACEPC GK2 mini PC based on a slightly faster Celeron J4105 quad core processor. Beside the processor, the new computer has very similar specifications with  4GB RAM, 32GB flash, dual HDMI, SATA interfaces for M.2 and 2.5″ drives and so on. The enclosure design is however quite different. ACEPC GK2 specifications (highlights in bold show differences against ACEPC GK1): SoC – Intel Celeron J4105 quad core Gemini Lake processor clocked @ 1.50 GHz / 2.50 GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD Graphics 600; 10W TDP System Memory – 4GB DDR4 Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, 2.5″ SATA 3.0 drive support, M.2 SATA SSD socket up to 2TB, micro SD card slot Video Output – 2x HDMI 1.4 ports (Should it be HDMI 2.0 instead?) Audio – Via HDMI, 3.5mm audio jack Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, dual band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi, Bluetooth […]

Ugoos UP1 is a DLP Android Projector Powered by Rockchip RK3328 Processor

Ugoos is a TV box manufacturer, but like many others, they’ve decided to expand their products family to other Android devices with their Ugoos UP1 projector powered by a Rockchip RK3328 processor and equipped with a 854×484 DLP projector. Ugoos UP1 specifications: SoC – RockChip RK3328 Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.5GHz with Arm  Mali-450MP2 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, micro SD card slot  Projector DLP Display Technology Image Brightness – 150 ANSI Lumen Resolution – WVGA 854*480 Projection Distance – 0.5 – 8m Projection Size –  40” – 300” Lamp life – 10,000 hours Audio – 3 Watts built-in speaker, 3.5mm audio jack (output) Video Input – HDMI 1.4 supporting 480p, 576p, 720p and 1080p Connectivity – Dual band WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 1x USB 3.0 port, 1x USB 2.0 port User Input – Touchpad and touch buttons on […]

VisionSOM-RT is an Industrial System-on-Module based on NXP i.MX RT Arm Cortex-M7 Processor

VisionSOM-RT NXP i.MX RT SoM

It’s hard to keep up with all the systems-on-module based on Arm Cortex-A “application class” processors, but so far I can’t remember seeing any Arm Cortex-M “microcontroller class” SoM. However, SoMLabs is currently working on VisionSOM-RT, a system-on-module based on NXP i.MX RT 1050 Arm Cortex-M7 processor clocked at 600 MHz. NXP i.MX RT series processors are actually promoted as a “crossover” processor delivering application processor performance with real-time capabilities right at the edge between the two classes of processors. VisionSOM-RT (SLS12Rx) module preliminary specifications: SoC- NXP i.MX RT Arm Cortex-M7 processor @ up to 600MHz with NXP PXP 2D graphics accelerator, and Graphics Engine PXP PiXel processing pipeline for imagine resize, rotation, overlay and color space conversion. Memory – 512kB on-chip RAM memory, up to 32MB SDRAM Storage – Up to 16MB QuadSPI flash, optional 4GB eMMC flash 200-pin SO-DIMM edge connector with Display Interface – 8/16/24-bit Parallel RGB […]

Tri-Panel Waterproof Solar Power Bank Sells for $25

A few years ago, I purchased a power bank with a solar panel, but it only came with a 1.5W panel, and I found it took around 10 to 20 days to charge the 8,000 / 10,000 mAh battery in sunny Thailand, allowing me to charge the phone 4 times. So the rate of charge was not quite enough for self-sufficiency, and while I placed the power bank on a roof outdoors, it was not ideal since it was not waterproof, and I forgot to remove it sometimes when it rained, but it still survived for over two years… Solar power bank are mostly useful if you go outdoors in places without electricity for a few days, or if you have a project that would benefit from being powered that way. Depending on your requirements, a faster rate of charge and waterproofness may be useful features to have and that’s […]

UP 7000 SBC

ODROID-N1 Canceled due to RAM Supply Issues, ODROID-N2 Coming Later this Year

ODROID N1 Cancelled

Rockchip RK3399 powered by ODROID-N1 board was unveiled earlier this year with two SATA interfaces, up to 4GB RAM, HDMI 2.0 4K UHD output, Gigabit Ethernet,  and more. The plan was to launch the board in May or June for around $100. Sadly, the board has been canceled for reasons we’ll explain below, but the silver lining is that a more powerful ODROID-N2 should become available by the end of the year. The reason for the cancellation is all explained in a forum post in ODROID forums: After announcing the N1 board in February, we started to prepare all the components for the mass production. But Samsung and Hynix suddenly informed us 1GB DDR3 chip was End-of-Life phase and we couldn’t place any order. It meant we could not make 4GB model since there must be four DRAM chips mounted on the board. We could make a 2GB model only […]

Tail it is a Family of WiFi & Cellular GPS Trackers for Things, Pets, and Bicycles (Crowdfunding)

Tail It Cellular GPS Tracker

We’ve previously written about Ping, a tiny Cellular GPS tracker that promised to last 3 months on  a charge. The raising money part of the crowdfunding campaign itself was successfully with over one million dollars raised, but as with many such campaigns there have been delays, and some people still have to receive theirs, not to mention people complaining about poor battery life and other issues. But there seems to be another option now with Tail It Technologies now offering four different “Tail it” cellular GPS trackers (with WiFi too) for things, pets, and even one designed specifically for bicycles. The company has already sold their devices to thousands of customers in Norway, so they should be working, and on-time delivery should hopefully not be an issue. All four GPS trackers come with 2G, 3G, 4G, and WiFi connectivity,  a 5-meter accuracy, and share the same electronics and firmware. Here’s […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC