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

December 20, 2013May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

XBMC ARM News – AllWinner A20 / A31 Apk Released – $10 Discount on OUYA Console

I’ve just been informed that VidOn.me has released XBMC for Android apks for their AV100 (based on AllWinner A20) and AV200 (powered by AllWinner A31) media players with accelerated hardware video decoding. It’s not clear yet whether these will run on any AllWinner A20 / A31 devices, or have been locked to VidOn players, but you can give it a try and download them for your platform(s): android42-Vidon.me-release-a20-AV100-free.apk – For AllWinner A20 android42-Vidon.me-release-a31-AV200-pro.apk – For AllWinner A31 VidOn does have a github repo for XBMC, but it hasn’t been updated for nearly a year, so the recent releases are not there (yet). I had never personally heard about this company, but an article on Wikipedia gives the following description with regards to XBMC: VidOn.me (or VidOnMe) is a company that maintain a commercial fork and derivative of XBMC media center software, and other than offering non-XBMC based media player software […]

December 19, 2013December 19, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Mentor Embedded ARM Hypervisor Automotive Demo on Freescale i.MX6 Board

Virtual machines are usually run on server or desktop PC to run several operating systems simultaneous. About 2 years ago, I wrote about an embedded hypervisor running Linux and Android on the Pandaboard develompent board, with the goal of separating home and enterprise operating systems in mobile devices so that enterprise data is safe. Since then, virtualization extensions are now part of ARM Cortex A15 / A7, and as well as the new Cortex A53 / A57 ARMv8 64-bit cores, but in my mind at least, those where mostly designed to address the server market. It turns out hypervisors are also useful in the automotive field, where for example, the dashboard and In-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems runs in two separate virtual machines controlling two different displays from one processor. Mentor Embedded showcased such automotive system at ARM Techcon 2013, where they showed a Freescale i.MX6 quad core board, which looks […]

December 18, 2013December 18, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Droid Translator Performs Live Translation of Skype and Mobile Calls and Chats

When you go to a foreign country, you may end up staying in places where nobody can speak the languages you know. TIW (Technology Improves the World), an IT company based in Czech Republic, is trying to problem a solution to this problem with Droid Translator, an Android that leverages Google’s Android speech-to-text, voice recognition, and translation technology to translate live text or audio chats or even Skype or mobile calls. I gave it a quick try. First you need to have Skype installed on your device, and a Skype, as Droid Translator will import your Skype contacts. There’s the Free version linked above, and a PRO version for about $6.5. The free version only support DT chat (text and audio chat), and the paid version adds Mobile, and Skype calls (Audio and Video) support. The following language are said to be supported: English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Czech, Chinese Simplified, […]

December 18, 2013May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Q88Pro / Q88H Tablet Featuring AllWinner A23 Processor Goes for $50 and up

Yesterday, I wrote a post about what may be the cheapest Android tablet currently: SF-M703A. This single core Cortex A8 tablet based on AllWinner A13 could be actually based on the same platform as Q88, one of the best selling tablet from China, and it costs as low as $44. Today, I’ve found out that tablets based on AllWinner A23 dual core Cortex A7 SoC are starting to hit the (virtual) shelf including Q88Pro, aka Q88H, tablets, which sells for as low as $49.88 including shipping, or just $6 more than the single core version. Today, I’ll compare the specifications between the cheapest single core tablet to the cheapest dual core tablet. SF-M703A / Q88 Q88Pro / Q88H SoC AllWinner A13 cortex A8 @ 1.0 GHz with ARM Mali-400 GPU AllWinner A23 dual core Cortex A7 @ 1.0 GHz with ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU System memory 512 MB RAM Storage 4GB […]

December 18, 2013December 18, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Fedora 20 “Heisenbug” Release Makes ARM a Primary Architecture

Fedora has been supporting ARM architecture for a while now, but it was only as a secondary architecture without official support. With the recent Fedora 20 release, nicknamed “Heisenbug”, the ARM architecture, more exactly ARMv7 hard float and greater, is promoted to a primary architecture meaning ARMv7 will have the same status as x86 and x86_64 architectures with packages officially build and supported by the Fedora community. What it does not mean however, due to the nature of ARM architecture, is that you can simply download an ISO to install on any ARM platforms, like you would do on an Intel or AMD computer. It’s a little more complicated than that, as it is platform specific, but instructions are available for the Beaglebone Black, Compulab Trimslice, the Wandboard, Calxeda Energycore Midway and Highbank, and Versatile Express in QEMU. You can download images with MATE, KDE, XFCE, LXDE, SOAS desktops, as […]

December 18, 2013December 18, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

LG Announces Chromebase, an All-in-one PC running Chrome OS

LG has put out a press release announcing the company will unveil the first-ever Chromebase, an all-in-one computer powered by Google Chrome OS, at CES 2014. So after the Chromebooks and Chromeboxes, we now have a new category of Chrome OS device: Chromebases. LG computer will come with an Intel Celeron CPU, but future Chromebase computers might also run on ARM platform. Technical specifications: Processor – Intel Celeron CPU System Memory – 2 GB Storage – 16GB iSSD Display: 21.5″ Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS monitor Video – HDMI-in USB – 3x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0 Connectivity – LAN Camera – 1.3MP 720p Audio – 5W speakers + microphone The computer will come with a keyboard, a mouse, and a cable organizer. LG will showcase their Chromebase in Las Vegas Convention Center, Central Hall #8204, during CES 2014, from Tuesday, January 7 through Friday, January 10. There’s no […]

December 18, 2013April 24, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

TBS Matrix ARM mini PC Features Freescale i.MX6Q, Supports USB DVB Tuners

TBS, a producer of digital TV tuners for PC, has decided to launch their own ARM mini PC called Matrix to interface with their USB DVB tuners. The board is based on Freescale i.MX6 Quad ARM Cortex A9 SoC with 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC flash, and costs about $150. The company also claims to have XBMC, VDR, Tvheadend software running on the platform. Here are the specifications for this quad core ARM board / computer (Codename: TBS2910): SoC – Freescale i.MX6 Quad (MCIMX6Q5EYM10AC) quad core ARM Cortex A9 processor @ 1.0 GHz with Vivante GC2000 3D GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR Storage – 16GB eMMC, SD card slot, micro SD card slot, and SATA interface USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x USB OTG Video Output – HDMI Audio Output – HDMI and 3.5mm audio jack Connectivity – 10/100/1000M Ethernet, and Wi-Fi 802.11n/b/g Expansion – 16-pin header for […]

December 17, 2013December 20, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Jynxbox Android M6 and Jynxbox Live Android TV Players Unboxing Pictures and Videos

I’ve just received two new devices from theatertvbox.tv, namely Jynxbox Android M6 and Jynxbox Live. Both are Android media player, with the former being a more traditional AMLogic AML8726-MX based Android TV Box with XBMC, and the later being an Internet media streamer based on Rockchip RK3066 that focuses on playing online content from services such as Hulu or Netflix. Today, I’ll start with listing specifications, and showing some unboxing pictures and videos for both players, and write a complete detailed review, at least for the M6, in a few days. Jynxbox Android M6 The device’s specifications are somewhat similar to other AML8627-MX boxes such as Matricom G-Box Midnight MX2 or Tronsmart Prometheus: SoC – AMLogic AML8726-MX dual core ARM Cortex A9 @ 1.5GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 4GB NAND flash + microSD/SDHC slot (up to 32GB) Video Output – HDMI 1.3 and CVBS […]