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October 29, 2015March 13, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

Getting Started with NodeMCU Board Powered by ESP8266 WiSoC

Since ESP8266 is now so popular, I’ve recently bought a NodeMCU board to try it. I selected this board because the latest version of the board is breadboard-friendly, integrates a USB to serial chip, and it can be powered by a simple USB to micro USB cable. I also noticed a ESP8266 tutorial with NodeMCU firmware by SwitchDoc Labs the other day (using ESP-12 and Adafruit Huzzah), which I applied to my NodeMCU board, but since I encountered a few issues, I decided to report my findings, and write my own little getting started guide to switch on/off LED and GPIOs using a web interface. NodeMCU v0.9 and NodeMCU v1.0 If you are going to purchase a NodeMCU board it’s important to know there are two official versions: NodeMCU v0.9 with ESP-12 module NodeMCU v1.0 with ESP-12E module The main complain about NodeMCU v0.9 is that while it fits on […]

October 14, 2015February 12, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

Linux Quick Start Guide for Roseapple Pi Board based on Actions Semi S500 Processor

Roseapple Pi is a development board powered by Actions Semi S500 processor with 2GB RAM, a USB 3.0 port and more, that is based on Actions Semi Bubblegum-S500 reference design also used by Lemon Pi board. The team behind the project sent me an early sample to try it out. I’ll take some pictures, before explaining how to install and setup Debian 8.1, and how to build and run your own minimal image from source. These instructions should also work for Lemon Pi and LeMaker Guitar boards. Roseapple Pi Photos I received the board in a bubble envelope with a thank you letter, and the board itself in an anti-static bag. No other accessories were provided. Ports, connectors, and headers from top left counter-clockwise: 4-pin UART console, two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port, 10/100 Ethernet, a 40-pin Raspberry Pi comptabile header, a MIPI DSI connected, a micro USB […]

September 26, 2015November 3, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 44 Comments

Status of Orange Pi Boards GPIO Support

Yesterday, one person asked me to make a video showing GPIO control on Orange Pi 2 mini on YouTube, and since I have just completed a post about Orange Pi camera, I thought it might be fun to check GPIO support too. This post focuses on Allwinner H3 boards, but the instructions and status should be very similar for Allwinner A20 and A31s versions. One of the first things you want before starting playing with GPIOs is the expansion header’s pinout chart, and I could not find any until I had the idea to check for schematics, which are available on Orange Pi resources page. I downloaded the schematics for Orange Pi 2, which should be the same as for Orange Pi 2 mini as the only difference is the lack of WiFi module. Orange Pi PC is a little different, and the schematics are nowhere to be found, but […]

September 26, 2015July 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 40 Comments

How to Use Orange Pi Camera in Linux (with Motion)

Earlier this month, I wrote a Quick Start Guide for Orange Pi Allwinner H3 boards such as Orange Pi PC, and showed how to install and configure Debian on the boards. I’ve also received the $5.90 Orange Pi camera, which when combined an Orange Pi PC, costs around $27 including shipping. So today, I’ve attached the CSI camera to my Orange Pi 2 mini board, and used it with motion to transform for the board into an IP camera. First, you’ll need to insert the camera into CON1 connector with the camera facing the ceiling, and close the black clip to keep it in place. Now connect all cable and power on your board. First, I studied the steps described on that forum thread, and modified Allwinner configuration files, but after one or two hours, I found out some work at been done since May, and it was now much […]

September 25, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Android TV Box and OpenELEC Video Tutorials

WeTek has released several video tutorials explaining how to configure WeTek TV boxes such as WeTek Play or WeTek OpenELEC, as well as the upcoming WeTel Core. The tutorials includes instructions for both Android and OpenELEC available in 6 languages: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and German. Some tutorials are clearly specific to WeTek products, such as “How to Activate WeTek Play membership”, but many of the tutorials are more generic starting from simple configurations steps like configuring HDMI output resolution and framerate, or configuring the network, to more advanced tasks such as configuring a DVB-S2 tuner on TVHeadend in OpenELEC. I’ve embedded the latter video tutorial below for reference. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com

September 1, 2015March 13, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 66 Comments

Getting Started with Orange Pi PC, Pi 2 and Pi Plus Development Boards

I’ve recently received a kit based on Orange Pi mini 2 development board powered by Allwinner H3 quad core processor, but contrary to most other devices or boards I reviewed, this one what sent to me by one of my reader (thanks Jon!) as for various reasons he did not need to get it shipped to him. Today, I’ll start by showing off the kit I received, before writing a quick start guide showing how to install a Debian, and build your own Linux image. The instructions will work for all Orange Pi Allwinner H3 boards, including Orange Pi 2, Orange Pi Plus, and the recently launched Orange Pi PC, which has been rather popular thanks to its low $15 price tag. Orange Pi mini 2 Board Kit and CSI Camera This is what I got in the package… The board with a regulatory compliance and safety information sheet, as […]

August 10, 2015August 10, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

ps_mem Shows Programs RAM Usage in Linux

There are several ways to see how much RAM is used in a Linux system with tools like free, vmstat, top, etc…, but today I’ve come across ps_mem which displays the RAM used for each program in a neat way. The post on lintut.com explains how to install it on Centos / Fedora:

yum install ps_mem -y

1	yum install ps_mem -y

As a Ubuntu user, I immediately tried apt-get install ps_mem, but there isn’t such package. After running apt-file search, I found it in w3af-console package:

sudo apt-get install w3af-console
sudo chmod +x /usr/share/w3af/core/controllers/profiling/ps_mem.py
sudo ln -s /usr/share/w3af/core/controllers/profiling/ps_mem.py /usr/sbin/ps_mem

sudo apt-get install w3af-console

sudo chmod +x /usr/share/w3af/core/controllers/profiling/ps_mem.py

sudo ln -s /usr/share/w3af/core/controllers/profiling/ps_mem.py /usr/sbin/ps_mem

Another way to install the script is to simply get it from Github. Running the command without options will list of programs with RAM usage from the smallest to the largest:

sudo ps_mem
 Private  +   Shared  =  RAM used	Program 

  4.0 KiB +  33.0 KiB =  37.0 KiB	inetutils-inetd
  4.0 KiB +  35.0 KiB =  39.0 KiB	rpc.idmapd
  4.0 KiB +  39.5 KiB =  43.5 KiB	rpc.mountd
  4.0 KiB +  48.5 KiB =  52.5 KiB	rpc.statd
  8.0 KiB +  62.0 KiB =  70.0 KiB	atieventsd
 44.0 KiB +  46.5 KiB =  90.5 KiB	rtkit-daemon
 96.0 KiB +  18.5 KiB = 114.5 KiB	cat
............
150.5 MiB +   5.1 MiB = 155.6 MiB	gimp-2.8
186.5 MiB +   9.5 MiB = 196.0 MiB	plugin-container
270.8 MiB +  12.1 MiB = 282.9 MiB	compiz
348.5 MiB +  19.0 MiB = 367.5 MiB	nautilus
409.3 MiB +   3.4 MiB = 412.7 MiB	thunderbird
393.8 MiB +  28.0 MiB = 421.8 MiB	Xorg
  2.1 GiB +  11.0 MiB =   2.1 GiB	firefox
---------------------------------
                          5.0 GiB
=================================

sudo ps_mem

Private + Shared = RAM used Program

4.0 KiB + 33.0 KiB = 37.0 KiB inetutils-inetd

4.0 KiB + 35.0 KiB = 39.0 KiB rpc.idmapd

4.0 KiB + 39.5 KiB = 43.5 KiB rpc.mountd

4.0 KiB + 48.5 KiB = 52.5 KiB rpc.statd

8.0 KiB + 62.0 KiB = 70.0 KiB atieventsd

44.0 KiB + 46.5 KiB = 90.5 KiB rtkit-daemon

96.0 KiB + 18.5 KiB = 114.5 KiB cat

............

150.5 MiB + 5.1 MiB = 155.6 MiB gimp-2.8

186.5 MiB + 9.5 MiB = 196.0 MiB plugin-container

270.8 MiB + 12.1 MiB = 282.9 MiB compiz

348.5 MiB + 19.0 MiB = 367.5 MiB nautilus

409.3 MiB + 3.4 MiB = 412.7 MiB thunderbird

393.8 MiB + 28.0 MiB = 421.8 MiB Xorg

2.1 GiB + 11.0 MiB = 2.1 GiB firefox

---------------------------------

5.0 GiB

=================================

You can also check the full command line for the programs: sudo ps_mem -s Private + Shared = RAM used Program 4.0 KiB + 31.5 KiB = 35.5 KiB /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty5 4.0 KiB + 32.0 KiB […]

August 6, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

How to Install and Run Linux on Zidoo X1 TV Box

Now that I’ve completed Zidoo X1 review, I’ve decided to try out Ubuntu on the mini PC following a tip from one reader that Orange Pi 2 images can run on the platform since it’s based on the same Allwinner H3 processor, but with some limitations such as WiFi not working. There are three Linux firmware images for Orange Pi 2 on the download page: Lubuntu, Raspbian, and Debian server. I decided to go with Lubuntu image. First you need to download Lubuntu_1404_For_OrangePi2-mini2_v0_8_0_.img.xz image from Google Drive or Baidu, uncompress it, and then flash the image to a Class 10 micro SD card in Windows or Linux. I ran the following command line in a computer running Ubuntu 14.04:

sudo dd if=Lubuntu_1404_For_OrangePi2-mini2_v0_8_0_.img | pv | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=16M

1	sudo dd if=Lubuntu_1404_For_OrangePi2-mini2_v0_8_0_.img \| pv \| sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=16M

Where X in sdX is the letter of your micro SD card, which you can find with lsblk. In some platforms, it might be /dev/mmcblkX instead of /dev/sdX. Once it’s […]