Author: 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 full time later in 2011.
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on DragonBoard 410c Development Board Quick Start Guide and Android Benchmarks

DragonBoard 410c Development Board Quick Start Guide and Android Benchmarks

Linaro’s 96Boards initiative was announced in February with the introduction of Hikey board, and while progress has been rather slow, there are now two boards available for sale: Lemaker Hikey and Qualcomm Dragonboard 410c. The main advantage of these board is that 96Boards is not only an hardware specification, but also a software specifications that mandate most code to be open source, with recent versions of Linux and U-boot, and in the case of Dragonboard 410c work is being done with Freedreno open source GPU drivers. Now that I’ve got a board I’ll explain my experience with the purchasing process, take a few pictures, and show how to get started with Android, and install the latest version, before running a few benchmarks. Ordering DragonBoard 410c Development Board I normally don’t like purchasing from North American and European distributors, because of the potential documentation involved to comply with silly laws, high […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Amlogic S912 Processor Could Feature an ARM Mali-T830 GPU

Amlogic S912 Processor Could Feature an ARM Mali-T830 GPU

Amlogic S912 launch has been delayed by a few months, and if we are to believe the data from GFXBench (test 1; test 2), the reason could be that they switched the design from a Mali-T7xx GPU to a more powerful Mali-T830 GPU. S912 processor is still based on four Cortex A53 core @ up to 2.0 GHz like in S905, but the GPU will be much more powerful. One person noticed these results and wrote an analysis and comparison (in Korean) against the Mali-860MP2 GPU found in Mediatek MT6755 SoC (Helio P10) SoC.  Offscreen  Manhattan 3.1  Manhattan  T-Rex  ALU  ALU2  Fillrate  Texturing  MT6755  4.8  7.2  17.2  6.0  1012  S912  4.4  7.0  16.3  34.7  5.3  1283  1000 So while Mali-860MP2 is faster for all listed benchmark the advantage is not that great. His analysis  compared benchmarks (read post for details) concludes that the GPU in S912 could be clocked at […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on OpenEmbed SOM6360 is a $69 Freescale i.MX6 SoloX System-on-Module

OpenEmbed SOM6360 is a $69 Freescale i.MX6 SoloX System-on-Module

Apart from UDOO Neo development board, which is currently shipping Kickstarter backers, I hadn’t seen many Freescale i.MX 6SoloX based hardware so far. But Shenzhen OpenEmbed has now launched a system-on-module powered by Freescale Cortex A9 and Cortex-M4 SoC with their SOM6360 CPU module. OpenEmbed SOM6360 Rev. A computer-on-module specifications: SoC – Freescale i.MX 6SoloX ARM Cortex-A9 core @ 1GHz with ARM Cortex-M4 Core @ 200 MHz, and 2D and 3D multimedia accelerators System Memory – 512MB DDR3L (1GB optional) Storage – 4GB to 32GB eMMC flash, 32MB QSPI  flash Video Input/Output 18-bit digital RGB 24-bit LVDS (up to WXGA) Analog/digital camera interface (YUV4:2:2 CCIR-656) Connectivity – 2x Gigabit Ethernet interfaces (2x on-board AR8033 PHYs) Other I/Os via 2x 120-pin connectors: 1x USB 2.0 host, 1x USB 2.0 device 5x serial,2x CAN 2.0 2x I2C, 2x SPI 2x SDIO PWM Optional 12-bit ADC PCIe 2.0 Misc – Watchdog Power Supply – […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments on Amlogic S805 vs S905 Benchmarks Comparison

Amlogic S805 vs S905 Benchmarks Comparison

After publishing a benchmark comparison between Amlogic S905 and Rockchip RK3368 yesterday, I was asked to do the same with Amlogic S805 and Amlogic S905. Since I already had the data, I just went ahead to write this post. Bear in mind that Amlogic S805 TV boxes run Android 4.4, while Amlogic S905 devices all feature Android 5.1. So while the table below should give a good estimate of the actual performance improvement between the two generation devices, Amlogic S905 performance will be amplified thanks to optimizations in Android 5.1, for instance the use of ART runtime instead of Dalvik. With that in mind here are the results comparing the results I got with Videostrong K1 Plus (Amlogic S905) and MXQ S85 (Amlogic S805) TV boxes. Amlogic S905 Amlogic S805 Ratio CPU Quad core Cortex A53 @ 2.02 GHz Quad core Cortex A5 @ 1.488 GHz GPU ARM Mali-450MP ARM […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 25 Comments on GeekBox is a Hackable Android and Linux TV Box Powered by Rockchip RK3368 SoC

GeekBox is a Hackable Android and Linux TV Box Powered by Rockchip RK3368 SoC

There are many Android TV boxes on the market based on Rockchip RK3368 processor, while I’m not aware of any development board based on the latest Rockchip octa-core processor, and Linux support is basically inexistent. One device may fill both gaps: GeekBox. This TV box can run both Android and Ubuntu Linux, while it’s easily disassembled to access expansion headers. The hardware specifications are a little higher-end than most Rockchip RK3368 TV boxes we’ve seen so far: SoC – Rockchip RK3368 octa core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2 GHz with PowerVR G6110 GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3@1600Mbps Storage – 16GB Samsung eMMC v5.0 flash + micro SD slot Video Output / Display I/F HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60Hz with CEC support Display + touchscreen headers Audio Output – HDMI Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 a/b/g/n + 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO @ 867 Mbps (AP6354 module), Bluetooth 4.1 USB […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments on NO.1 D3 Smartwatch Specs, Unboxing and Teardown

NO.1 D3 Smartwatch Specs, Unboxing and Teardown

There are now many wearables, including fitness bands and smartwatches, on the market, but to me many fail on battery life, visibility, and price. The one that would match my requirements the best would be SMA-Q smartwatch, but in the meantime, I’m also interested in testing some more wearables at different price points. Tinydeal sent me NO.1 D3 smartwatch that sells for just $22.99 shipped. I’ll go first through the specifications, before checking of the watch more closely, and in a few days writing a review of the device. NO.1 D3 Smartwatch Specifications You should not expect much for this price, but the watch is surprisingly feature-packed (as taken from tinydeal website): SoC – Mediatek MT6261 processor with 32Mbit RAM, 32Mbit Flash Storage – Internal micro SD slot up to 16GB Display – 1.22″ capacitive touchscreen IPS display with 128×128 resolution Connectivity – Bluetooth 3.0 Cellular – 1x micro SIM […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments on Amlogic S905 vs Rockchip RK3368 Benchmarks Comparison

Amlogic S905 vs Rockchip RK3368 Benchmarks Comparison

The first Amlogic S905 TV boxes have started to ship,  and I received Videostrong K1 Plus a few days ago, but due to some issues with Google Play Store, I’ve decided to postpone the review. In the meantime, I’ve side-loaded popular benchmark apps including Antutu, Vellamo, and 3Dmarks to the device to compare it to its main 64-bit ARM competitor: Rockchip RK3368. I used benchmark results from Beelink i68 review and compared them to K1 Plus, both devices running Android 5.1. A ratio greater than 1 (green) mean S905 is better, while a ratio lower than 1 (red) means RK3368 fares better. Amlogic S905 Rockchip RK3368 Ratio CPU Quad core Cortex A53 @ 2.02 GHz* Octa core Cortex A53 @ 1.2GHz GPU ARM Mali-450MP PowerVR G6110 Antutu 5.x Overall 28,027 34,171 0.82 Multitask 4,260 4,041 1.05 Runtime 2,721 2,949 0.92 RAM Ops 1,960 2,346 0.84 RAM Speed 2,420 2,601 0.93 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 50 Comments on Amlogic S905 Source Code Published – Linux, U-Boot, Mali-450 GPU and Other Drivers

Amlogic S905 Source Code Published – Linux, U-Boot, Mali-450 GPU and Other Drivers

Amlogic has an open linux website where they regurlarly release GPL source code, and with Amlogic S905 devices coming to market, they’ve released a few tarballs at the beginning of the month including Linux 3.14 source code, U-boot source code, and Mali-450MP GPU kernel source code (obviously not userspace), as well as some other drivers for WiFi, NAND flash, PMU, TVIN, etc… Let’s get to the download links: Linux 3.14.29 source code U-boot 2015.01 GPU drivers for ARM Mali-450MP Broadcom and Realtek Wifi drivers and firmware (November 4, 2015) can be found @ http://openlinux.amlogic.com:8000/download/ARM/wifi/. Other kernel modules (November 4, 2015) @ http://openlinux.amlogic.com:8000/download/ARM/modules/. I quickly tried to build the Linux source. If you’ve never build a 64-bit ARM kernel or app before, you’ll fist need to install the toolchain. I installed the one provided with Ubuntu 14.04:

Now extract the tarball and enter the source directory:

At first I […]

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