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

April 20, 2014April 20, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Xunity Eclipse Android XBMC TV Box Can Stream Live TV, TV Shows, and Movies

There are many Android TV Box based on Rockchip RK3188 that are pre-loaded with, or least claim to support, XBMC. Xunity Eclipse goes further as it promises to replace your satellite dihj or aerial TV with the ability to stream live TV, watch movies or TV shows thanks to their Stream platform which they integrated into XBMC. Here are the hardware specifications of the device: Soc – Rockchip RK3188 (not RK3188T) quad core Cortex A9 processor with Mali 400 MP4 GPU System memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage- 8 GB NAND flash Video Output – HDMI v1.4. Resolutions: True 720p, 1080p, experimental 1440p Audio Output – SPDIF Optical out, 5.1 DTS over HDMI Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11 n/g/b , 10/100M Ethernet Port USB – 3x USB 2.0 ports Power supply – Data N/A Dimensions – N/A The device runs Android 4.2 (Jelly-Bean), supports NAND recovery via dedicated recovery button & CWM […]

April 19, 2014April 19, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Vivante Unveils Details About GC7000 Series GPU IP Family

Earlier this month, Vivante Corporation has announced several silicon partner integrations (but no names given) of its GC7000 Series GPU IP into SoCs targeting wearables, mobile, automotive, and 4K TV products, and provided some more details about its GC7000 family which supports features such as OpenGL ES 3.1 API, and hardware TS/GS/CS (tessellation / geometry / compute shader) extensions for Android. According to the company, they key benefits of their GC7000 GPU IP can be summarized as follows: True GPU Scalability – GC7000 Series products support limited silicon area to match form factor and market requirements. Products can snap to grid starting at 3.0 mm2 (28 nm) for the smallest single GPU GC7000 instance and grow in simple modular fashion for high end implementations to achieve what the company’s claims to be the the industry’s best PPA (power/performance/area). Smallest Licensable OpenGL ES 3.1 Cores with Geometry, Tessellation, and Compute Shaders […]

April 19, 2014November 23, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Embedian SMART MEN and SMART BEE SBCs Feature a TI Sitara SMARC CoM

Embedian, an embedded company specialized in computers-on-module and single board computers, has recently unveiled SMART MEN and SMART BEE single board computers powered by their SMARC-T335X computer-on-module, compliant with the SMARC (Smart Mobility Architecture) standard, and based on Texas Instruments Sitara AM335x SoCs. SMART MEN SBC SMART MEN single board computer specifications: SoC – Texas Instrument Sitara AM335X ARM Cortex-A8 at 600MHz, 800MHz or 1GHz System Memory – 512MB DDR3 (303Mhz x 2) Storage – 4GB eMMC Flash (eMMC 5.0), 4MB SPI NOR Flash, AT24C32 EEPROM, and SDHC/SDIO slot Connectivity – 2 x 10/100 Mbps Ethernet (vertical RJ45) Display – single channel LVDS 18-bit color depth, single channel LVDS 24-bit color depth. LCD LED backlight driver onboard USB – 2 x USB 2.0 Host, 1 x USB 2.0 OTG, 1 x Serial-to-USB (Client) Additional Interfaces: 6 x RS232s (transceiver onboard, two with handshaking and one can be configured as RS422/RS485), […]

April 19, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Asus C200 & C300 Chromebooks Feature Intel N2830 “Bay Trail-M” SoCs

Asus is about to launch two ChomeBooks, Asus C200 Chromebook and C300 Chromebook, for respectively around $250 and $350 according to listing from various online retailers, as NetbookItalia has recently reported. Let’s go through the specs available for both laptops. These are unconfirmed and incomplete, as I just gathered some information from multiple sites. Asus C200 Chromebook: SoC – Intel Celeron N2830 dual core processor @ 2.16 Ghz (Burst mode: 2.41 GHz ) with Intel HD graphics up to 750 MHz. (7.5 W TDP). System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 16 GB eMMC Display – 11.6″ display (1366×768) Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 1x USB 2.0 port, 1x USB 3.0 port Video Output – HDMI port Webcam – HD Battery – 48WHrs, 3S1P, 3-cell Li-ion Polymer Battery Pack up to 10 hours Weight – 1.15kg There appears to be at least three variants, namely C200MA-EDU, C200MA-DS01 and […]

April 19, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Embedded Linux Conference 2014 Schedule

The Tenth Embedded Linux Conference (ELC 2014) will take place on April 29 – May 1, 2014 at the San Jose Marriott in San Jose, California. The event will feature 90+ sessions on embedded Linux, Android and IoT with over 450 attendees expected to attend. It will also be co-located with Android Builders Summit and the AllSeen Alliance Hackfest. Even if you can’t attend it’s still interesting to see what will be discussed at the event to get a grasp of on-going developments, learn a few things about different optimization techniques, and so on. So I’ve gone through the sessions’ description, and I’ve designed my own virtual schedule with sessions that could be of interest. April 29 9:00 – 9:30 – Keynote: The Paradox of embedded and Open Source by Tim Bird, Sony Mobile Linux has taken the embedded world by storm. Billions (with a ‘B’) of devices have now shipped […]

April 18, 2014April 18, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

BeagleBone Black Gets 4GB Flash, a Price Increase, and Better Availability

The BeagleBone Black has been launched about a year ago, and this low cost ARM Linux board has become pretty popular with hobbyists, robotics courses at universities, and even people making products. The downside is that it has been difficult for CircuitCo, the manufacturer, to keep producing enough boards to match the demand while keeping the price at a low $45 with very little margin, and there are currently about 150,000 boards on distributor back-orders. To improve availability, Beagleboard.org has announced Revision C of the BeagleBone Black with a 4 GB eMMC, which may be easier to source over time than the original 2 GB eMMC, and that will sell for about $5 to $15 more than the previous version, or between $50 and $60. The rest of the hardware specifications remain identical. There’s also a change on the software side, as the board will be pre-loaded with Debian, instead […]

April 18, 2014April 18, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Intel Announces its First “Bay Trail” Fanless NUC Kit

Intel already announced a Bay Trail NUC selling for $140 earlier this year, but despite the low power dissipation (7.5W TDP) of the Intel N2820 processor, it requires a fan for cooling. The company has now unveiled its first fanless mini PC with Intel NUC Kit DE3815TYKHE powered by Intel Atom E3815 Bay Trail-I processor with 5W TDP. This NUC is destined for industrial and enterprise solutions such as digital signage, point-of-sales, kiosks, and thin clients. Here are the specs of this tiny x86 computer: SoC – Intel Atom E3815 single core processor @ 1.46GHz single core with 512KB cache and 5W TDP, coupled with Intel HD Graphics up to 400 MHz. System Memory – Up 8 GB 1.35V, 1333/1600 MHz (down clocked to 1066 MHz) DDR3L SO-DIMM Storage – 4-GB eMMC, support for one internal 2.5″ SATA HDD or SDD (up to 9.5mm thick) Video Output: 1x HDMI 1.4a 1x […]

April 18, 2014April 18, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS Released

Every two years, Canonical releases Long Term Support (LTS) version of Ubuntu Linux based operating systems. The previous version was Ubuntu 12.04 LTS “Precise Pangolin”, and the latest Ubuntu 14.04 LTS “Trusty Tahr” has just been released with a 5 year support commitment for bug fixes and security patches. The company also releases other version every 6 months without long term support. There has not been major changes to this version, at least compared to Ubuntu 13.10, with the development team focusing on performance and stability improvements. For the first time, this LTS release also includes Kubuntu, Edubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, Ubuntu Kylin, and Ubuntu Studio. It is also the first long-term support release to support “arm64” architecture for 64-bit ARM systems. Some notable others changes for Ubuntu Desktop include: Support for High-DPI screens and desktop scaling New screen saver and lock screen New window decorations, with improved appearance […]