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

July 11, 2012July 11, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

$99 OUYA Android 4.0 Open Source Hackable Video Game Console

More and more new games are targeted to mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets running Android and iOS, and less games are developed for standard gaming console. To work around this issue, OUYA is working on a gaming console based on Android ICS called .. well… OUYA, and posted the project on Kickstarter to complete development and start manufacturing. Here are OUYA Specifications: Nvidia Tegra3 quad-core cortex A9 processor 1 GB RAM 8 GB of internal flash storage HDMI port (up to 1080p HD) WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth LE 4.0 USB 2.0 port Wireless controller with standard controls (two analog sticks, d-pad, eight action buttons, a system button), a touchpad Android 4.0 Although you may just think it will just run existing Android games, the company expects the device to bring higher end games such as the ones available on console. Each box will be a development kit, and developers […]

July 11, 2012July 11, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

HardKernel ODroid-X: Low Cost Exynos 4412 Quad Core Cortex A9 Development Board

HardKernel unveiled the ODROID-X development board based on Samsung Exynos 4412 quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 with quad core Mali-400 GPU, 1 GB Low Power DDR2 and storage is done via SD card and/or eMMC flash. Here are ODROID-X development board specifications: Processor Samsung Exynos4412 Cortex-A9 Quad Core 1.4Ghz with 1MB L2 cache Memory 1024MB(1GB) LP-DDR2 800MB/s data rate GPU Quad Core Mali-400 Video supports 1080p via HDMI cable (H.264+AAC based MP4 container format) Video Out micro HDMI connector / RGB-24bit LCD interface port Audio Standard 3.5mm headphone jack and microphone jack HDMI SPDIF LAN 10/100Mbps Ethernet with RJ-45 Jack (Auto-MDIX support) USB2.0 Host High speed standard A type connector x 6 ports USB2.0 Device ADB/Mass storage(Micro USB) UART System console monitoring for development (1.8volt interface) IO PORTs 50pin IO expansion port for LCD/I2C/UART/SPI/ADC/GPIO interfaces Display (Option) HDMI monitor / LCD panel with RGB or LVDS interface Storage (Option) Full size SDHC […]

July 10, 2012July 10, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Boston Ships Viridis ARM Server Based on Calxeda EnergyCore Cortex A9 SoC

At the end of 2011, Boston, a British IT company, announced plans for an ARM server based on Calxeda Quad Core Cortex A9 Server-on-Chip, and now the company recently announced they started to ship the server (called Viridis) to their first customers. We now have further details about the server including the key features: Ten times the performance at the same power in the same space Cut energy and space by 90% Easily scalable to thousands of nodes 48 SoC devices delivered across 12 Calxeda EnergyCard modules Each EnergyCore SoC contains an ARM quadcore processing unit, providing a total of 192 cores per 2U enclosure Low power consumption: <300W with each SoC consuming between 0.5 to 5W depending on the load. Up to 24 SATA HDDs or SSD devices Up to 192GB of RAM per 2U enclosure A Calxeda EnergyCard (pictured below) features 4 Calxeda EnergyCore ECX-1000 SoC which can […]

July 10, 2012July 10, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Ramos Miumiu W1 Android 4.0 Tablet Based on Actions ATM7019 MIPS SoC

Ramos Miumiu W1 is a tablet running Android 4.0 (ICS) and powered by Actions Semiconductor’s ATM7019 SoC that integrate a MIPS32 74Kf core running at 1 GHz. Actions Semiconductor is a Chinese fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Zhuhai (like AllWinner). Here are the specs of the devices: SoC – Actions Semiconductor ATM7019 MIPS32 74Kf Core @ 1GHz System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 RAM Storage – 4GB or 8GB Flash depending on model + microSD slot Display – 7″ WSVGA (1024×600) capacitive touch screen. Connectivity – Wifi 802.11b/g/n USB – micro USB 2.0 Video Output – HDMI The processor can support 1080p HD video playback and the tablet can record 640×480 video via the front camera. Actions Semiconductor does not provide information about ATM7019 SoC on their website, but I found a 2011 presentation hosted on MIPS website that explains some details about MIPS32 74Kf based processors by Actions SemiConductor […]

July 10, 2012July 29, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

iPPea TV Android 4.0.3 HDMI Stick Based on Ingenic JZ4770 (MIPS) Sells for 50 USD

iPPea Inc announced iPPea TV, an Android 4.0 dongle based on Ingenic JZ4770 MIPS SoC that “brings the ‘smart’ Android experience to any HDMI-enabled DTV for $50 US”. This is the first MIPS based Android mini PC that I’ve seem among all the ARM based floating around. Here are iPPea TV specifications: Ingenic JZ4770 applications processor (MIPS-Based XBurst CPU) @ 1.2 GHz. 2GB storage with support for up to 32 GB external storage via a microSD slot. 512 MB of DDR2 RAM HDMI ouput (up to 1080p) 802.11b/g/n Wifi USB 2.0 port and micro USB 2.0 OTG port Video format – AVI,MKV(XVID/px/H.264),MOV,TS,M2TS, RM/RMVB,FLV,3GP,MPEG,DAT,MP4 Audio format – AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, QCP, MP3, WMA, WAV, MIDI, M4A Picture format – GIF, BMP, JPEG, PNG Ebook format: PDF,EPUB,HTML,TXT Dimensions – PCB: 80 mm x 20mm x 6.5 mm | mini PC: As small as 95.5 mm x 31.5 mm x 12 […]

July 10, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean Source Code Released

Jean-Baptiste Queru, Android Open Source Project lead, announced that Android 4.1.1, Jelly Bean has been released to AOSP and uses the android-4.1.1_r1 tag. Proprietary binaries are available for Nexus 7 and Galaxy Nexus right now, and Nexus S (GSM and CDMA) and Xoom will be available later. If AOSP repo has not changed since the first Android 4.0 release, you should be able to get the source as follows:

repo init -u https://android.googlesource.com/platform/manifest -b android-4.1.1_r1
repo sync

1 2	repo init -u https://android.googlesource.com/platform/manifest -b android-4.1.1_r1 repo sync

There is also a development branch (jb-dev) with the latest improvements and features. Once you get the code, you may want to build and run it. Instructions to build and run Android 4.0 (not yet updated to Android 4.1.1 with Galaxy Nexus 7) are available at http://source.android.com/source/building.html. Factory images for Android 4.1.1 for Nexus devices will eventually show up at https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering […]

July 10, 2012May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments

72.90 USD AK802 Android Mini PC with AllWinner A10 and 1GB RAM

No, it’s not a typo in the title, and I did not mean to write “MK802”, but a company (which does not appear to be Rikomagic) released a product called AK802 which looks very similar (not to say exactly) the same, but comes with 1GB by default. Here are the specifications of the device partially taken from Dealextreme, so there must be an error somewhere, we just need to find out where ;). CPU AllWinner A10 @ 1.5GHz + Mali 400 GPU Memory 1 GB RAM Storage 4 GB Flash microSD slot (Up to 32 GB) Connectivity WiFi 802.11b/g USB micro USB 2.0/OTG port USB 2.0 Host port Video output HDMI (up to 2160p) Video Codecs & Containers WMV, ASF, MP4, 3GP, 3G2M4V, AVI, MJPEG, RV10, DivX/VC-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.263, H.264/1280*720P HD 30 fps, 1080P/720*480 D1 30fps Audio Codecs AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, QCP, MP3, WMA, WAV, MIDI, M4A […]

July 9, 2012July 9, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Jolla Smartphones To Run Meego (Born Again) Operating System

I saw a tweet about Jolla 2 days ago, but did not pay much attention because there was no info available. And to some extend, there isn’t much more info now, but a lot of hype about Jolla, a Finnish company recently founded and composed of ex-Nokia employees that aims to design, develop and sell smartphones based on the (thought-to-be-dead) Meego operating system. Jolla’s Meego will be based on the Mer Project & Qt and will feature a “brand new UI” designed by Jolla. The company has been working on the phone since late 2011 and a demo will be available later this year. You can follow the company on LinkedIn or Twitter, as it does not have a website yet. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews […]