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

March 24, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

ITEAD Studio IBOX AllWinner A20 mini PC Review

ITEAD Studio IBOX is an AllWinner A20 based mini PC currently running Android or Linux distributions currently featured on Indiegogo. I’ve already written about IBOX in a separate post, where you can get all the specifications, but the company has also sent me a unit (engineering sample) for review. Since the system is still in development, and it’s mostly a development platform, I won’t do a review with video testing, system performance, etc… as usual, but rather show the progress and current issues in terms of hardware and software, and I’ll also mention documentation, and shortly try Android 4.2 (pre-installed) and the Debian 7.0 image released by the company. IBOX Unboxing Pictures I’ve received the device in a cartoon box containing the device itself and a 9V/2A power supply. If you are or become a backer on Indiegogo you’ll also receive an add-on board providing access to a SATA connector, […]

March 24, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Avalue ECM-DX2 3.5″ Single Board Computer Features DM&P Vortex86DX2 SoC

Avalue Technology, a company specialized in industrial and embedded single board computers, has recently announced ECM-DX2 3.5” single board computer (SBC) micro module powered by DM&P Vortex86DX2 SoC with up to 1GB RAM, support for LVDS, TTL, and VGA video outputs, SATA, dual Ethernet, and more. The board targets embedded applications such as industrial controls & automation, the railway industry, cleantech, transportation/vehicle construction and aviation applications. Avalue ECM-DX2 specifications: SoC – DM&P Vortex86DX2 single core @ 800 MHz with integrated graphics and chipset System Memory – 1GB DDR2 Memory Storage – 1 x SATA II, 1x CompactFlash Type I/II socket, and 2MB SPI (Flash BIOS). Expansion – PC/104 Expansion (8/16-bit ISA), 1 x Mini PCIe Card I/O MIO – 2 x RS-232, 2 x RS-232/422/485, 1 x PS2 K/B & Mouse USB – 2 x USB 2.0 DIO – 4-bit GPI, 4-bit GPO Display Resolution – VGA Mode: 1280 x 1024 […]

March 23, 2014March 23, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Mele Cast S1 EZCast / Miracast / DLNA / Airplay Dongle Review

EZCast is a Wi-Fi display protocol that allows you to display local and online media and office files from your Android/iOS smartphone or Mac/WIndows computer onto your TV. It requires an app and an hardware EZCast dongle to connect to your HDMI enabled TV. I’ve already reviewed two EZcast dongles: Tronmart T1000, and WiDiCast EC-E2. Mele sent me their own version, Mele Cast S1, together with Mele X1000 Blu-ray Navigation Android TV box, which I’ll review another day. Today, I’ll go through Mele Cast S1 specs, show some pictures including a comparison with T1000, and try it with an Android smartphone. Mele Cast S1 Specifications Unsurprisingly the hardware specs are the same of the other EZCast dongles, and the only thing that changes is the enclosure. SoC – Action Semi AM8251 @ 600MHz (MIPS) System memory – 128 MB DDR3 RAM Storage – 128 MB NAND Flash Video output – […]

March 21, 2014March 21, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

iRobot Ava 500 Telepresence Robot Roams Autonomously, Recharges Itself

Earlier this week, I watched Edward Snowden interview at TED2014 in Vancouver. For obvious reason he was not physically in Canada, but instead used some telepresence robots that could be controlled remotely, and allowed Snowden to move around and see the audience. I thought I may have to look into this type of solutions to write in CNX Spftware, but I eventially did not need to as Linux Gizmos wrote about a similar product called iRobot Ava 500. This robot will automatically learn about its environment, roam the office or factory floor as needed for meetings, and even go back to a docking station to recharge itself when it’s needed. The pictures above show Ava 500 with Cisco Telepresence EX60 solutions that comes with the following specifications: Cisco TelePresence EX60 display 21.5″ LCD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 aspect ratio, 1000:1 contrast ratio 170° viewing angle 5ms response time Cisco TelePresence […]

March 21, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

USB2Go ARM Cortex M3 Development Board for Android Smartphones (Crowdfunding)

Many MCU based development boards such as Arduino or mbed platform connect to a computer via USB for power and programming, at least during the development stage. USB2Go, however, is designed with a micro USB port to connect directly to your Android smartphone, although it can also be used for standalone project, and an Arduino compatible baseboard is also available. This board powered by an STM32 ARM Cortex M3 MCU is however mainly destined to interface hardware such as LED, servos, sensors to your smartphone via micro USB providing both power and a communication channel with your Android device. USB2Go hardware specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32 ARM Cortex M3 MCU @ 72 MHz with 128 KB Flash, 64 KB SRAM USB – Micro USB for power and programming Headers – 2x 12 pin headers giving access to GPIO, ADC, PWM, UART, I2C, SPI… Debugging I/F – JTAG 20-pin to SWD […]

March 21, 2014March 21, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Bluetooth Slide-out Keyboard Cases for Android Smartphones and iPhones

Yesterday, one reader told me he wished manufacturers would release high-end smartphones with a slide-out keyboard, something similar to what Asus has done with Eee Pad Slider SL101 or Archos with their 101 XS Tablet. So I had a look in case some Chinese manufacturers had done a phablet with a slide-out keyboard and Mediatek MT6588 or MT6592 SoC, but all I could find are some old 2011 or 2012 smartphones with Android 2.3 and low specs by today standards. If you own a best selling phone however such as the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S5 or iPhones, there are some cases with a Bluetooth slide-out keyboard that can add this functionality to your phone. The one pictured above is “QQ-Tech Ultra-Slim Slide-Out Detchable Multifunction Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard Case” for Samsung Galaxy S4 which you can find on Amazon for $23. The case comes with a micro USB cable to charge […]

March 20, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Giayee P105 is a Wall-Mountable Rockchip based Android / Ubuntu mini PC with a VGA Output

There are plenty of Android TV Boxes or HDMI TV dongles based on Rockchip RK3066 or RK3188. What makes Giayee P105 computer different is that they completely got rid of the HDMI port and replaced it with a VGA port, and the mini PC, and they also added mount option to attach the device to a wall or the back of your monitor. There are two versions of Giayee P105: P105-D with a dual core RK3168 SoC, and P105-Q with RK3188 quad core processor. Giayee P105 Specifications: SoC P105-D – Rockchip RK3168 dual core ARM Cortex A9 @ 1.2GHz with PowerVR SGX540 GPU P105-Q – Rockchip RK3188 quad core ARM Cortex A9 @ 1.6GHz with Mali-400 MP4 GPU @ up to 600MHz System Memory – 1 to 2GB DDR3 Storage – 1 to 32G NAND Flash Video Output – VGA – Resolution: 800×600 up to 1920×1080 Audio I/O – 1x Audio […]

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

OpenCL Accelerated SQL Database with ARM Mali GPU Compute Capabilities

We’ve previously seen GPU compute on ARM could improve performance for mobile, automotive and consumer electronics application. GPU compute offload CPU task that can be parallelized to the GPU using APIs such as OpenCL or RenderScript. Most applications that can leverage GPU compute are related to media processing (video decoding, picture processing, audio decoding, image reconigion, etc…), but one thing I did not suspect could be improve is database access. That’s what Tom Gall, Linaro, has achieved in a side project by using OpenCL to accelerate SQLite database operations by around 4 times for a given benchmark. The hardware used was a Samsung Chromebook with an Exynos 5250 SoC featurig a dual core Cortex A15 processor and an ARM Mali T604 GPU. CPU compute is only possible on ARM Mali T6xx and greater, and won’t work on Mali 400 / 450 GPUs. Other GPU vendors such as Vivante and Imagination […]