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

March 5, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

DATA MODUL mini-ITX Board Supports Freescale i.MX6 & Intel Bay Trail-I QSeven Modules

DATA MODUL, a specialist supplier of display technology, has recently unveiled eDM-mITX-CB-Q7-Info, a mini-ITX Baseboard for ARM & x86 Qseven modules optimized to drive large panels for digital signage applications. In theory, the board should support any Qseven modules, but for now only Data Modul’s Freescale i.MX6, and Congatec conga-QA3 Intel Atom E3800 series modules have been optimized and officially certified to work with the motherboard. Precisely, the board is optimized and certified for the following modules: DATA MODUL ARM Qseven SoMs: eDM-QMX6 (i.MX6Quad) eDM-DMX6 (i.MX6Dual) eDM-DLMX6 (i.MX6Dual lite) Congatec x86 Qseven SoMs: Conga-QA3 with Atom E3845 (Quad core) Conga-QA3 with Atom E382x (Dual core). Three models: Atom E3827, E3826 or E3825. Conga-QA3 with Atom E3815 (Single core) You may have heard about EDM, a competing module standard, previously, but the eDM prefix in the ARM modules or the mini-ITX board names has nothing to do with this standard, as […]

March 5, 2014November 23, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

The New $50 Roku Streaming Stick Drops MHL, Gets a micro USB Port, and a Wi-Fi Remote

The first Roku Streaming Stick was announced early 2012 with an HDMI/MHL port. It turns out MHL did not take as Roku and others, including myself, expected, and even today MHL is not a prominent feature in new TVs, and seldom listed in the specifications. So they’ve just announced a new Roku Streaming Stick, HDMI version, that can be powered via the USB port of your TV, or a standard USB power adapter. The processor and memory have not been disclosed, but we can assume it’s probably based on a Broadcom processor. The rest of the specs are as follows: Video Output – HDMI (720p or 1080p) Audio Output – HDMI with 7.1 and 5.1 surround pass-through support Connectivity – 802.11 dual-band (a/b/g/n compatible) with WEP, WPA, and WPA2 support Misc – Status light, reset button Power Consumption – Less than 2W (typical) when streaming HD video Power Input – […]

March 4, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

AMLogic to Unveil M805 & S805 Quad Core Cortex A5 SoCs with Mali-450 GPU

As we are still waiting for retail availability of Android TV boxes and mini PCs based on AMLogic S802 quad core processor, rumors have started to surface about another quad core processor by the company called S805 to be used in media players, and probably it’s equivalent M805 for tablets. M803 and M805 were already part of AMLogic roadmap and were said to feature quad core CPU and GPU. It turns out M805 and S805 will feature four ARM Cortex A5 cores @ 1.5 GHz combined with a quad core ARM Mali-450 GPU (Mali-450MP2 ?). That means S805 will be cost down version of S802 with four cortex A5 cores instead of four Cortex A9r4 cores, and Mali-450MP2 instead of Mali-450MP6. The new processor will also support hardware decoded of H.265 @ 1080p, and embed a Gigabit Ethernet controller. If the features listed in the roadmap are still correct, we […]

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

BroadLink SP2 Wi-Fi Smart Socket for iOS and Android Adds Support for Energy Monitoring, Motion Sensing

Broadlink SP1, a low cost Wi-Fi smart socket released last year, allows you to control your electric appliance with your mobile device running iOS or Android. You could turn it on or off, set timers, and so on. An updated model is now available, Broadlink SP2, that adds energy monitoring to the features found in the previous model, to track your historic and live power consumption on your smartphone or tablet, as well as a motion sensor to automatically turn off the lights, for instance, if you are away (Auto Home / Auto Away feature). The hardware specifications are very similar to SP1 except it’s using a case made of polycarbonate plastic instead of ABS, and the device is a bit bigger: Material – PC Wi-Fi – 802.11 b/g/n Power Plug – Three flat-pin plug (Australia type) Voltage – 100~265V @ 50-60 Hz Output Current – 10A Output Power – […]

March 4, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Alps Electric Magnetic Field Sensor Measures 1.15 x 1.15 mm, Software Algo Adds Gyroscope Function

I’m really impressed with the recent miniaturization of boards and components. Back in the days (in 2012), many people were amazed at the credit card size of the Raspberry Pi ARM Linux computer. Since then, we’ve seen many other ARM Linux board with similar or even smaller sizes, and on a broader scope, many smaller and smaller hardware and components: Olimex launched OLIMEXINO-85S Arduino compatible board about the size of a micro SD Card, eConais unveiled WiSmart EC19D Wi-Fi module measuring 8×8 mm, Freescale recently announced Kinetis KL03 Cortex M0+ MCU measuring 1.6 x 2.0 mm in its smallest package, etc… Today, I’ve come across another tiny chip, the world smallest magnetic field sensor by Alps Electric that measures only 1.15 x 1.15 x 0.56 mm. Height does matter too. It’s about 60% smaller than previous product by the company, but only slightly smaller than Asahi Kasei Microdevices’ AK09911C which measures 1.2 x […]

March 4, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Linux Kernel Upstreaming How-To – Linaro Connect Asia 2014

I’ve already written a post about submitting kernel patches to mainline based on a 2011 presentation by Greg Kroah-Hartman, but Matt Porter, Broadcom Landing Team (LT) Technical Lead at Linaro, has given two updated talks entitled “Upstreaming 101” and “Upstreaming 201” at Linaro Connect Asia 2014. There are many planned talked during LCA 2014, and you can get the list as well as links to presentation and videos, as they become available on LCA 14 resources page. The first session “Upstream 101” starts with some definitions such as “upstreaming” (basically getting your code to kernel.org), “mainline”, etc, explains how to get information about the (912) maintainers (tip: it’s in the MAINTAINERS file), how to deal with the 2-week merge windows occurring every 10 weeks or so, but the bulk of the talk detailing the work flow required to upstream code to the Linux kernel. There are basically 5 steps: Preparation – Read […]

March 4, 2014March 4, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

$37 GK328 Android mini PC Powered by Rockchip RK3028 Dual Core Processor

Rockchip RK3028 is a low cost dual core Cortex A9 processor pin-to-pin compatible with RK2928 single core Cortex A9, I first heard about at Hong Kong Electronics Fair 2013. It’s now found in a few kids tablets, as well as GK328, an Android 4.2 HDMI TV dongle, that sells for about $37, or a few dollars cheaper than similar AllWinner A20 or Rockchip RK3066 based devices. GK328 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3028 dual core Cortex A9 @ 1.0 GHz with Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 512MB RAM Storage – 4GB NAND flash + microSD card slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI Connectivity – 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi USB – 1x USB HOST 2.0, 1x micro USB OTG, 1x micro USB for power Misc – Fn button (for recovery?) Power – 5V/1A via micro USB port The device runs Android 4.2 and sells with a power adapter, a USB cable, an HDMI […]

March 4, 2014March 4, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

Samsung Chromebook 2 Features Exynos 5 Octa SoC, Comes with either 11.6″ or 13.3″ Display

Samsung has just launched the Chromebook 2 Series with two models based on on Exynos 5 Octa SoC, available in 11.6″ (1366×768) and 13.3″ (1920×1080) configurations, and featuring 4GB RAM, 16GB eMMC, and a longer battery life thanks partially to big.LITTLE processing technology. Samsung expects the new Chromebooks to be used for work, education, and entertainment. Thanks to strong hardware specifications, these new ARM based Chromebooks will certainly offer performance similar to, or even outperforming, existing many Intel Celeron based Chromebooks, and at the same time offer a longer battery life. It’s a nice upgrade to the Exynos 5250 powered Chromebook launched in 2012, especially the addition of a model with a 13.3″ display with FHD resolution. The 13.3″ model has an Exynos 5 Octa processor clocked at 2.1GHz which should be the latest Exynos 5422, whereas the 11.6″ model might use Exynos 5420 instead (TBC). The company also mention […]