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

February 14, 2016February 14, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

CTL NL6x Rugged Chromebook Doubles as a Whiteboard

Chromebooks are used by all kind of people, but they appear to be especially popular in classrooms. However, pupils can be “brutal” with their toys and tools, so that’s probably why CTL designed NL6x rugged Chromebook which can basically be walked on as the top cover resists up to 365 pounds pressure, includes anti-peel keys and a water-resistant keyboard, as well as reinforced ports, hinges, and power plug ports. It can also withstand 70cm high drops, and the back of the screen also doubles as a whiteboard. CTL NL6x Chromebook specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N2940 quad core processor @ 1.83 GHz / 2.25GHz (Burst freq.) with Intel HD graphics (7.5W TDP; 4.5W SDP) System Memory – 4GB Storage – 16GB eMMC + 2-in-1 SDHC/MMC card reader Display – 11.6″ LED LEC with 1366 x 768 resolution Video Output – HDMI Audio – HDMI output, 3.5mm combo jack for microphone […]

February 13, 2016February 19, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 30 Comments

Received Your Orange Pi One Board? You’ll Need to Tweak Your FEX File / script.bin

[Update: I’ve been informed that for some unknown reasons the voltage regulator outputs 1.3 and 1.5V instead of 1.1 and 1.3V on Orange Pi One with the settings and FEX file below, which could lead to overheating, and possibly damage the board under heavy load. A workaround is available here] [Update2: And the temperatures reported by the kernel are wrong (too low), so it’s better not to use the higher voltage at all. More details and tests @ http://forum.armbian.com/index.php/topic/617-wip-support-for-the-upcoming-orange-pi-one/page-4#entry5261] Orange Pi One is arguably the cheapest ARM Linux development board with networking available today for $9.99 plus shipping. It is very similar to Orange Pi PC with an Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 processor, Ethernet, and HDMI, but has less memory as it comes with 512MB RAM instead of 1GB, and comes with a few less features too. The bad news is that Shenzhen Xunlong did not release any […]

February 13, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Isurki IRIS Industrial Embedded Computer Takes Nvidia or NXP System-on-Modules

Isurki is a Spanish company providing electronics & IT services to hydraulic resources management companies, and one of their products is IRIS industrial embedded computer based on Toradex Iris carrier board that supports Toradex Colibri ARM system-on-modules based on either Nvidia Tegra 2/3 or NXP Vybrid VF50/VF61 processors. Main board connectors and features: Video – DVI-I LCD Interface – RGB / LVDS with 4/5 resistive touch interface Audio – Line-In, line-Out, Mic-In Storage – Micro SD Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet USB – 1x USB host, 1x USB OTG Expansion – 24 GPIOs, 3x UART ports Misc – 1x IrDA, RTC Power Supply – 6 to 27V DC, reverse polarity and short circuit protected Then you can choose among several variations of ARM based Colibri system-on-modules: Colibri T20 Nvidia Tegra 2 dual core Cortex A9 processor with 256 to 512MB DDR3, and 512MB to 1GB flash Dual independent displays 2D/3D hardware […]

February 12, 2016February 18, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Two Contests for Makers with BeagleBone Green (ARM) and Creator CI20 (MIPS) Boards

I’ve noticed Hackster hardware community has helped organizing several challenges for makers, and the most two recent one are sponsored by Imagination Technologies with their Creator CI20 MIPS board, and SeeedStudio and Beagleboard.org with BeagleBone Green board. “Terminate the competition with Creator Ci20!” That’s the title for Imagination Technologies contest, who basically wants you to create our robot overloads using their MIPS board, or at least design a Terminator inspired robot or hack using the board. You’ll need to submit your idea by March 4, 2016, and the company will give 50 Creator Ci20 to the best 50 ideas, aftwer which you have until April 29, 2016 to complete your project, and write about it on Hackster with photos, code and schematics. Three winners will be selected by May 6, 2016 to get one of the three prizes: 1st place (worth $400) – A bag of Imagination-powered goodies, including a Meizu […]

February 12, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Crowdfunded Projects Use Raspberry Pi and ODROID Boards into Home Theater PCs and Retro Game Consoles

I’ve been tipped about two separate projects launched on Indiegogo and Kickstarter that integrate Raspberry Pi or ODROID boards into their products. indieGO! retro gaming console and distribution leverages Raspberry Pi 2, ODROID-C1+, or ODROID-XU4 to play older games, while Pi2Media HT1 relies on either Raspberry Pi2, and later the upcoming UP Board or ODROID-C2 boards in order to offer a Surround 7.1 Home Theater PC. indieGO! Retro Game Console Beside the development board, indieGo! also includes a DVD-RW drive, an SD card reader, a mini-ITX case, a 3D-Printed I/O-shield and ARM board holder, a USB joypad, and two USB ports. indieGO!-OS is also a Linux distribution based on AEROS running Exagear which means both ARM (native) and x86 (emulation) executables will run on the device. Pre-isntalled programs include Wine, Kodi, Moonlight, AmiCloud, and EmuLA. The many emulators installed allow support for games running Playstation, C64, Dreamcast, Game Boy, Atari, Sega, PC, […]

February 12, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon Wear 2100 for Smartwatches, 3 New Cortex A53 Mobile SoCs

Qualcomm has unveiled four new Snapdragon processors with three quad and octa core Cortex A53 processors for smartphones with 4G LTE connectivity, and a new wearables SoC with lower power and, area compared to Snapdragon 400 series processor often used in smartwatches. Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC is the first processor part of Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear, of new platform targeting wearable devices, with the company listing the following highlights: Quad core Cortex A7 processor @ up to 800 MHz or 1.2 GHz Adreno 304 GPU 30% smaller than Snapdragon 400 25% percent lower power than Snapdragon 400 Integrated, ultra-low power sensor hub Available in both tethered (Bluetooth and Wi-Fi) and connected (4G/LTE and 3G via X5 LTE modem) pin-to-pin compatible versions The SoC supports Android Wear, and Android, and should be found in smart watches, smart bands, smart eyewear and smart headsets. Snapdragon Wear 2100 and other Snapdragon Wear products are […]

February 12, 2016February 12, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 164 Comments

Ugoos UT4 TV Box Giveaway

Ugoos UT4 is an actively cooled Android TV box powered by Rockchip RK3368 octa-core processor, and I did notice a better overall performance in my review compared to other RK3368 mini PCs I tested. However, I did find some issues, such as power off not working properly, a lack of DRM support, Kodi video and audio capabilities could be improved and so on. Since the review, Ugoos released two firmware updates fixing several of the issues I noticed during my testing, and the company has asked me if I could organize a giveaway for one Ugoos UT4, so here it is. I’ve organized the giveaway a little differently, as I’ll use Rafflecopter form below with three options, each optional, but if you do all three you’ll get more chances to win. The contest will run for 4 days until February 15 10am (GMT+7), I’ll select the winner randomly rthrough RaffleCopter, […]

February 11, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Congatec Introduces Intel Atom x5-E8000 Thin mini-ITX Board, COM Express & QSeven Modules

Following Intel’s announcement of their new Atom x5-E8000 quad core processor with 5W TDP/4W SDP and 7-year availability earlier today, Congatec published a press release for four new platforms based on the processor with conga-QA4 Qseven module, conga-MA4 COM Express Mini & conga-TCA4 COM Express Compact modules, as well as conga-IA4 industrial-grade Thin Mini-ITX board. All four products are actually variation of existing Braswell platforms, but Intel Atom x5-E8000 brings 64-bit computing even cheaper thanks to its $39 recommended customer price. So I’ll just look at the QSeven module specifications in details: SoC – Intel Atom x5-E8000 quad core “Braswell” processor @ 1.04 GHz / 2.00 GHz (Burst) with 2MB L2 cache, and Intel HD Gen8 graphics @ 320 MHz; 5 W TDP. System Memory – Up to 8GB onboard DDR3L with 1600 MT/s On-board Storage – Up to eMMC 4.5.1 onboard flash (optional), 8 MB serial SPI firmware flash […]