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

May 13, 2014May 13, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

GainSpan Introduces Full HD Video Application Development Kit for Wi-Fi IP Video Streaming Applications

GainSpan, a company providing low-power Wi-Fi solutions for the Internet of Things, and GEO Semiconductor, a semiconductor and software company specializing in camera and video solutions, have recently announced a Full HD resolution Video Application Development Kit (ADK) targeted at Wi-Fi video streaming applications in the surveillance, security and automotive markets such as battery or line powered IP cloud cameras, door bell cameras, baby monitors, toy cameras and automotive backup/drive recorder cameras The development kit features GainSpan GS2011MIZ low power IEEE 802.11b/g/n module, and GEO Semi MAX64380 1080p30 H.264 Camera CODEC, as well as MAXIM MAX9860 mono audio codec, and MAX98300 Class D amplifier. GainSpan Full HD Video ADK (GS-ADK-VideoGeo1080p) key features include: GS2011MIZ module with low power IEEE 802.11b/g/n compliant module with PHY rates up to 72 Mpbs. Supports Limited AP, Wi-Fi Direct with concurrent mode, WPS2.0. Wi-Fi Security – 802.11i, WPA/2, Personal and Enterprise, legacy WEP, TLS Full […]

May 13, 2014May 13, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Asus MeMo Pad 7 ME176C Android Tablet Powered by an Intel Quad Core Bay Trail SoC to Sell for $170

Until now, most Intel “Bay Trail” based tablets sold were running Windows 8.1, unless you checked on Aliexpress. It now appears Asus will soon sell an Android Kitkat tablet, ASUS MeMO Pad 7 ME176C, powered by Intel Atom Z3745 quad core SoC, and featuring a 7″ IPS display, 1 GB RAM and 8GB flash, for as low as $166. ASUS MeMO Pad 7 ME176C specifications: SoC – Intel Baytrail-T Z3745 quad core processor @ 1.33 GHz (Burst frequency: 1.86GHz) with Intel HD graphics. 2W SDP. System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 or 16 GB NAND Flash depending on model + microSDXC card slot Display – 7″ IPS display (1280 x 800 pixel) Camera – 5.0MP rear camera + 2.0MP front camera Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS Audio – 1x Head phone/ Mic-in USB – 1x micro USB (OTG?) Battery – 3910mAh, 15 Whr […]

May 12, 2014May 12, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 57 Comments

How to Extract a Device Tree File from Android Firmware Files

Up to now, all our cheap Android devices were based on older Linux kernel (3.0.x, 3.4.x) that still used board files (arch/arm/board, but we’ve recently seen companies like Amlogic and Rockchip release source code with Linux kernel 3.10.x. One of the key differences between these version are the move from board files to flattened device tree and multi-platform support. If it is fully implemented, a single kernel image should be able to boot multiple hardware platforms, and all low level configuration handled by the device tree file. Since I’ve connected the serial port of Tronsmart Vega S89 for debugging, and it’s a slow news day, I thought I might try to boot the Linux kernel I compiled myself, but one of the challenge was to get the device tree file. I’ll show how to extract it from the firmware. It should also be possible to get it directly from the […]

May 11, 2014May 12, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Upcoming MeLe and Egreat A-Series 4K Android Media Players to Feature Realtek RTD1195 SoC

AndroidPC.es has reported that Mele is preparing to launch a new set-top boxes based on Realtek RTD1195 STB SoC with a dual core ARM Cortex A7 (or A9) and a Mali GPU (TBC), and Egreat will also launch their A-Series STB based on the same SoC according to a video by charbax which also features older Realtek and Rockchip Android TV Boxes, and an RK3188 based game console (Egreat K3). RTD1195 supports 4K, H.265 video decoding, and products usually come with USB 3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet ports, and in some cases, even a SATA drive bay. Here are the preliminary specifications from the the upcoming (and unnamed) Mele boxes: SoC – Realtek RTD1195 dual core ARM Cortex A7/A9 @ 1.2GHz with Mali-400 GPU (TBC) System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4GB flash (8GB optional), internal bays for 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA drives up to 3TB Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n WiFi, and Bluetooth […]

May 10, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

VidOn.me Updates XBMC Source Code for their AllWinner A20 and A31 based Android Media Players

Just at the end of last year, VidOn.me released XBMC apks for their AV100 and AV200 media players, respectively powered by AllWinner A20 and AllWinner A31 SoCs. The company already had an XBMC repository on github, but at the time it hadn’t been updated for a year. Things have changed since then, as they’ve committed several changes, some of them related to AllWinner SoCs to their XBMC repository. I haven’t look into details, but it could be VidOn.me is now in compliance with the GPLv2 license which XBMC is licensed under. If the code is complete, another “side effect” could be there’s finally support for AllWinner A20 (and A10) for XBMC Android. Previsouly, some people tried the AV100 APK on other AllWinner A10/A20 devices, but it did not work, most probably because they locked the binary to their devices, something that would be more difficult to do if the code […]

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

Kairos High-End Mechanical Smart Watch Features a Transparent OLED Display

Many companies have now launched their own smartwatch, and with the exception of models such as Motorola Moto 360, they are not always the most stylish you can find. Kairos, a Korean start-up, is about to change that, as it has designed an interesting and good-looking watch that, most of the time, just looks like a standard mechanical watch. But it can actually connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth LE?, and receive notifications for SMS, emails, WhatsApp, Line, WeChat etc… just like any other smartwatch via a thin 1.1m transparent OLED (TOLED) display that can turn 60% opaque. This type of watch also have some practical advantages. The Kairos watch will make use of either a Japanese (Miyota) or Swiss (SOPROD) automatic movement, which will still work, even if the battery is depleted. Since the OLED display is only used to show notifications, the battery is expected to last about […]

May 9, 2014May 9, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

ANTVR is a Full HD Virtual Reality Kit that Connects to Your PC or Game Console via HDMI or WHDI (Crowdfunding)

I must have heard about virtual reality for many years, even since I was a kid. But during that time, progress was slow, but it seems the time is ripe for virtual reality kits targeting consumers. The cheapest way to get started is with a smartphone adapter such as vrAse or Opendive, but if you want a possibly better experience using the power of your PC or game console you’ll want a more expensive kit such as Oculus Rift, or for developers, Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 that sells for $350. One possible downside of such kit is that it requires USB, HDMI and power cables, so it limits your mobility. ANTVR, a Beijing startup, will soon launch a virtual reality kit of the same name that will be available either with an HDMI cable, either without cable using WHDI (Wireless Home Digital Interface) with less than 1ms lag. The […]

May 9, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 33 Comments

Hummingbird A31 Is a $70 Feature-packed Development Board Powered by AllWinner A31

Merrii Technologies introduced the Hummingbird development kit powered by AllWinner A20 last year. Since then they’ve sold 10,000 pieces, and have been working on another development board based on AllWinner A31 with lots of different ports and options, including an optional 7″ capacitive touch screen. “Quad Core” Hummingbird specifications: SoC – AllWinner A31 quad core ARM Cortex-A7 with PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU compliant with OpenGL ES2.0, OpenCL 1.x, DX 9_3 System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB Flash + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI, VGA, LVDS Video Input – 3.5mm jack for CVBS (or YPbPr?) In (TV IN) Audio I/O – HDMI, 3.5mm jack for stereo audio, 3.5mm jack for Line IN (Same as TV IN). 2x 15w amplifier on-board. Camera – MIPI interface Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (AP6210 module) Cellular Connectivity – SIM card slot + mini PCIe connector for 3G […]