Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft), Author at CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

June 11, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Texas Instruments Releases Zigbee Home Automation Gateway Reference Design Based on BeagleBone Black

Texas Instruments has recently release a complete Linux based Zigbee home automation gateway based on BeagleBone Black development and CC2531 Evaluation Module Kit hardware which you can purchase for about $100 in total, and including Z-STACK Ubuntu gateway installer, as well as Z-STACK Home, a ZigBee Home Automation (ZHA 1.2) compliant protocol stack for the company’s CC2530 and CC2538 SoCs. I won’t go into details about the BeagleBone Black as I have already covered it into details previously. However, the hardware has slightly changed since the initial release, as the 2GB eMMC has now been replaced by a 4GB eMMC, and price has been increased to about $55. CC2531 evaluation module kit is comprised of CC2531 USB Dongle which you can connect to the USB port of a PC, or in this case a BeagleBone Black, for 802.15.4 / ZigBee applications. TI also provides CC2531 USB Firmware Library on their site to let developers […]

June 11, 2014June 11, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

Teclast P98 3G Tablet is Powered by Mediatek MT8135 big.LITTLE SoC

Several companies have announced processors with big.LITTLE processing technology, but until recently only some Samsung Exynos 5 processors (Exynos 5420, 5422, and 5260) are found in products available for purchase. Available a few weeks ago, Teclast P98 3G tablet changes that as it is powered by Mediatek MT8135 quad core processor featuring big.LITTLE processing. Teclast P98 3G specifications: SoC – Mediatek MT8135 (aka MTK8135) with two ARM Cortex A15 cores @ 1.5 GHz (1MB L2 cache), two ARM Cortex A7 cores @ 1.2 GHz (256KB L2 cache) in big.LITTLE configuration, and Imagination PowerVR GC6200 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 32GB eMMC (UP to 120 MB/s) + micro SD slot Display – 9.7″ 2048×1536 IPS screen Video Output – HDMI Audio – Earphone jack, and AAC stereo speakers Connectivity – WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, FM Cellular – Built-in 3G WCDMA modem and one SIM card slot (Not for Wi-Fi only version) USB – 1x […]

June 10, 2014June 10, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

1TB Seagate Expansion Portable Drive USB 3.0 Benchmark

Many upcoming ARM based board and device will support better connectivity with Gigagit Ethernet and USB 3.0 port, and Wi-Fi 802.11ac support. Since my media files are stored in a USB 2.0 hard drive, and my network is still using fast Ethernet and 802.11n, I had to go shopping. I’ve already purchased a 5-port Gigabit switch (D-Link DGS-1005A), and an an external USB 3.0 hard drive (Seagate Expansion 1TB Portable External Hard Drive), but I’m still looking for a decent and reasonably priced 802.11ac router (Suggestions welcomed). I’ll plan to use the USB 3.0 drive both to test file transfers over Gigabit, USB 3.0 performance, and file systems compatibility. So I’ve partitioned the drive using four common filesystems: NTFS, EXT-4, FAT32, and BTRFS, and both to make sure the drive is suitable for Gigabit transfer, and as a reference point, I’ve also performed some benchmarks. There are several tools to test […]

June 10, 2014June 10, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

Mele F10 Deluxe Air Mouse with Improved Gyroscope, IR Learning Function Sells for $29.99

In most of my reviews, I don’t use the IR remote control that comes with the device but instead Mele F10 air mouse, because it’s just more convenient for Android as it features one side with a standard remote, one side with a QWERTY keyboard, and a gyroscope that let you move the mouse pointer like a magic wand. Last year Mele released the Pro version with microphone and headphone support, but I’ve heard some people complain as it would just take over the audio output by default, and you’d get no audio via HDMI, until you change the setting manually. Nevertheless, Mele has now another version called Mele F10 Deluxe, without microphone nor headphone support, but instead it’s an improvement over the original Mele F10 air mouse with a better gyroscope and the ability to record some IR codes from another remote control. The 6-axis gyroscope is said to be good enough […]

June 10, 2014June 10, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

HP to Sell Leap Motion Enabled Keyboard for $99

Leap Motion is a tiny device tracking your hands, fingers, and joints movements to control a computer, device, and even a quadcopter. The product was announced in 2012, and HP started selling computers with the technology in 2013. But later this month, you’ll be able to buy a gesture control keyboard from HP for $99, instead of just the Leap Motion USB device for $75. HP featured Leap Motion in notebooks such as “HP ENVY17 Leap Motion Special Edition”, and this keyboard was actually available previously, but only with some of Hewlett Packard’s desktops, and all-in-one PCs, and you’ll be able to purchase it separately. The company says the keyboard can be use with any Windows 7 or 8 computers or tablets as long as you install the software. Leap Motion software is also supported on Linux and Mac OS, so I’d assume it might also work with these operating systems (TBC). Via […]

June 10, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Cypress PSoC 4100/4200 (ARM Cortex M0) Prototyping Kits Sell for $4

I just wrote about Cypress Semiconductor PSoC 4 ARM Cortex M0 MCUs last week, as well as their $25 PSoC 4 pioneer development board. I’ve just found out there are cheaper, albeit very basic, evaluation boards called PSoC 4100 Prototyping Kit (CY8CKIT-049-41xx) and PSoC 4200 Prototyping Kit (CY8CKIT-049-42xx) that sell for only $4. PSoC 4×000 boards specifications: MCU PSoC 4100 ARM Cortex M0 MCU @ 24 MHz with up to 32 kB of flash, Up to 4 kB of SRAM PSoC 4200 ARM Cortex M0 MCU @ 48 MHz with up to 32 kB of flash, Up to 4 kB of SRAM USB – USB port using CY7C65211 USB-serial controller for PC connectivity and serial interfaces such as USB-UART, USB-I2C, USB-SPI, and USB-GPIO Onboard CMOD capacitors to enable CapSense development A bypass capacitor to ensure the high quality ADC conversions Prototyping – Breadboard compatible through holes for access to power, GPIOs, UART, USB etc… Misc – User and power […]

June 9, 2014June 10, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

QNAP TS-x51 NAS Supports Up to 16 Drives, On-the fly HD Video Transcoding, HDMI Output, Virtualization and More

QNAP has introduced their latest TS-x51 NAS family at Computex 2014 with four NAS supporting between 2 to 8 drives, expandable to a total of 16 drives via expansion enclosures. The storage devices powered by an Intel Celeron J1800 dual core processor boast video transcoding capability that’s 18 times faster than earlier Atom based solutions, feature an HDMI port, and support virtualization to allow you to run two operating systems such as Linux and Windows 8. QNAP TS-x51 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J1800 dual core processor @ 2.41 GHz (burst frequency: 2.58) with Intel HD graphics System Memory – 1GB SO-DIMM DDR3L-1333 or 4GB SO-DIMM DDR3L-1333 (Each model listed above has 1GB or 4GB RAM options), expandable to 8GB RAM via a second RAM slot Storage 512 MB flash (DOM – Disk On Module) Hot swappable 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA drives @ 6Gb/s, 3Gb/s. Expansion enclosures – UX-800P, or UX-500P RAID […]

June 8, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

$37 Shenzhen Visson V5 Android TV Box Features AllWinner A20 SoC

If you’re looking for a low cost dual core Android or Linux TV box or mini server, it won’t get much cheaper than Shenzhen Visson V5 powered by AllWinner A20 dual Cortex A7 SoC with 512 MB RAM, 4GB flash, as well as various port such as HDMI, Ethernet, and USB. Shenzhen Visson V5 specifications: SoC – AllWinner A20 dual core ARM Cortex A7 @ 1 GHz + Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 512 MB Storage – 4GB flash. Video & Audio Output – HDMI and AV Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n USB – 2x USB host ports Misc – IR receiver, power button Power Supply – 5V/2A According to the specifications on Aliexpress, there’s also a (micro?) SD card, but I can’t find it on any of the pictures, so it’s safe to assume there isn’t any. This Android 4.2.2 box ships with a remote control, a 5V/2A […]