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

April 4, 2014April 25, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 34 Comments

M8 Android TV Box Powered by AMLogic S802 (Unboxing)

Shenzhen Tomato Technology has send me a sample of their M8 Android TV Box based on the latest quad core AMLogic S802 processor which is said to run Android 4.4 Kitkat. In this post I’ll go through the specs, and show some pictures of the device, and internals. Later, I’ll write a full review with XBMC 13, which I’ve been told is pre-installed. I’ll also receive Tronsmart Vega S89 next week for unboxing and review. M8 Specifications M8 has more or less the same specs as other S802 Android TV boxes: SoC – AMLogic S802 quad core Cortex A9r4 processor @ 2GHz with Mali‐450MP6 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND flash + SD card slot Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, dual band Wi‐Fi (2.4GHz/5GHz), Bluetooth Video Output – HDMI 1.4b, AV. HDMI supports 1080p, 4K2K 30fps Audio Output – HDMI, AV, and optical S/PDIF Video Codecs and […]

April 4, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

MYIR MYD-AM335X Development Boards & MYC-AM335X CPU Modules

MYIR has recently introduced MYD-AM335X development boards and MYC-AM335X CPU modules powered by Texas Instruments Sitara AM335x ARM Cortex A8 SoCs, (AM3352, AM3354, AM3356, AM3357, AM3358, and AM3359) that come with 512 MB RAM, 512 MB Flash, and a Gigabit Ethernet PHY. The boards and modules target home automation, industrial automation, enterprise/educational tablets, portable navigation devices and networking applications. MYC-AM335X CPU Modules MYC-AM335X CoM specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments AM3352, AM3354, AM3356, AM3357, AM3358, AM3359 ARM Cortex-A8 up to 1GHz with SGX530 GPU (AM3354/AM3358/AM3359 only) System Memory – 512MB DDR3 SDRAM Storage – 512MB NAND Flash Connectivity – On-board Gigabit Ethernet PHY Headers: 2x 2.0mm pitch 60-pin expansion connectors to connect the SoM to a baseboard with the following signals: 2x USB2.0 OTG ports, 6x Serial ports, 2x I2C, 1x SPI, 7x ADC, 2x PWM, 3x SDIO 1x 2.0mm pitch 26-pin expansion interface 1x 2.54mm pitch 10-pin expansion interface Misc – […]

April 4, 2014June 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Novena Open Source Hardware ARM Laptop Gets Crowdfunded for $1995

In 2012, Andrew Huang (“Bunnie”) decided to build an open source hardware and software laptop codenamed Novena powered by Freescale i.MX6 as a side project. The goal of the project was to be fully open source, both in terms of hardware and software, and the components have been selected so that the datasheets can be downloaded without NDA. Design has now been completed, and a crowdfunding campaign has now been launched on Crowd Supply, but since finding low cost part was not priority, you’ll have to fork $1,995 to get the complete laptop, $1,195 will get you the desktop version, and $500 the motherboard only. There’s also a version of the laptop called “Heirloom Laptop” with a hand-crafted wood and aluminum case that goes for $5,000. Let’s go through the board specs first: SoC – Freescale iMX6 Quad-core Cortex A9 CPU with NEON FPU @ 1.2 GHz. – NDA-free datasheet […]

April 4, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

New ARM Set-Top Box SoCs – Sigma Designs SMP8734 / SMP8756, STMicro STiH312 / StiH412, and Entropic EN7310 (Videos)

Broadcom and STMicro has the two companies that dominate the set-top box SoC market with respectively 44.7% and 34% market share by revenue in 2012, followed by Ali, a distant third at 6.9%. Other companies include Entropic, who has acquired Trident Systems, (4.4%) and Sigma Designs (1.4%) which has suffered in recent years. MIPS was the predominant architecture in the STB SoC market, but with the advent of Android, most companies have announced ARM based STB SoC for better compatibility with Android apps. TV Connect 2014, an event gathering stokeholder involved in Connected TV such as STB manufacturers, content providers, and SoC vendors, took place on March 18-20 in London, and Charbax, armdevices.net, interviewed three companies who promoted their latest ARM based STB SoCs: Sigma Designs with their SMP5734 & SMP8756/58 SoCs featuring single or dual cores Cortex A9 and a Mali-400 GPU STMicro with their STiH312 Cannes and STiH412 Monaco […]

April 3, 2014April 3, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

Amazon Launches $99 Fire TV Android Media Player Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon Quad Core SoC

After few months ago, news broke that Amazon was working on an Android STB. The company has now launched Amazon Fire TV media player featuring Qualcomm Snapdragon 8064 quad core Krait processor with 2GB RAM, and supporting Amazon Prime Video, as well as a host of other popular online video and audio streaming services such as YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Vimeo, Pandora, and more. Let’s go through the specifications first: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 8064 quad core Krait 300 processor @ 1.7 GHz with Adreno 320 GPU. (Part of Snapdragon 600 family) System Memory – 2GB LPDDR2 @ 533 MHZ Storage – 8 GB internal Video Output – HDMI 1.4b output, w/HDCP. Resolution: 720p and 1080p up to 60fps Audio Output – HDMI, optical SPDIF Video Codecs – H.263, H.264, MPEG4-SP, VC1 Audio Codecs – AAC, AC-3, E-AC-3, HE-A, PCM, MP3, Dolby Digital Plus, 5.1 surround sound, 2ch Stereo and HDMI […]

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

Ingenic Newton Platform for Wearables is Powered by MIPS Based JZ4775 SoC

Imagination Technologies has published a blog post about Newton, a tiny reference design for wearables based on Ingenic JZ4775 MIPS SoC found in some recent smartwatches such as SmartQ Z1 (The CPU not the module). This module targets wearables, IoT, healthcare, home appliances, security, industrial control, consumer electronics and more. Newton Specifications: SoC – Ingenic JZ4775 MIPS Xburst processor @ 1 GHz with 2D GPU, and VPU supporting 720p@30fps for MPEG-2, MPEG-4, VC-1, H.264, VP8, and RV9 codecs. System Memory – Up to 3GB mobile DDR3/DDR2/LPDDR1 Storage – Up to 32 GB eMCP eMMC flash Display Support – LCD or EPD, with touch panel and backlight Audio – Digital MIC and Speaker Connectivity – 4-in-1 combo with Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n at 2.4/5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.0 + EDR (including Bluetooth LE support), NFC, and FM Sensors – 3-axis gyroscope, accelerometer magnetometer, pressure, humidity and temperature, bio-signal detection and processing USB – USB […]

April 2, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

pcDuino3 Development Board Features AllWinner A20 SoC, Arduino Headers

The first pcDuino board powered by AllWinner A10 has been available for about a year, later last year pcDuino V2 was released with a built-in Wi-Fi modules and mechanically and software compatible Arduino headers, and now pcDuino3 has been announced in a form factor similar to pcDuino V2 board but replacing AllWinner A10 Cortex A8 SoC with AllWinner A20 dual core Cortex A7, and improving overall specs such as faster Ethernet, the addition of a SATA port, and LiPo support. pcDuino3 specifications: SoC – AllWinner A20 dual core ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.0 GHz, with Mali 400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DRAM Storage – 4GB NAND Flash, SATA connector, and microSD card slot (up to 32GB) Video Output – HDMI 1.4 with HDCP support, LVDS header Audio Out – 3.5mm analog audio interface, I2S stereo digital audio interface Connectivity – WiFi, 10/100M Ethernet USB – 1x USB host, 1x […]

April 1, 2014April 1, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

$99 MinnowBoard MAX Development Board Powered by Intel Bay Trail-I SoC

When Intel released the original MinnowBoard which was a step in the right direction, but there were some complains, as the company had chosen to use an older Intel processor, and the price was much higher than most high performance low cost ARM development boards. MinnowBoard MAX (aka Minnow2 Board) fixes all that, as it features the latest Intel Bay Trail-I (E3800 series) processor, and costs as low as $99 for the single core version, and $129 for the dual core version. Let’s jump directly to the specifications: SoC – 64-bit Intel Atom E3815 (single-core, 1.46 GHz) or Atom E3825 (dual-core, 1.33 GHz) both with integrated Intel HD Graphics coming with Open Source hardware-accelerated drivers for Linux OS System Memory – 1GB ($99 model) or 2GB ($129 model) DDR3 RAM Storage – 1x Micro SD card slot, 1x SATA2 3Gb/sec, 8 MB SPI Flash for firmware (UEFI) Video Output – micro […]