Category: Android

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on GV-17 Android 4.2 Set-Top Box Features Allwinner A20 SoC, a 2.0MP Webcam

GV-17 Android 4.2 Set-Top Box Features Allwinner A20 SoC, a 2.0MP Webcam

After Clousto A20 Media PC, and Mele A100 Dual, here’s another set-top box powered by AllWinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 SoC. GV-17 Android TV Box comes with 1GB RAM, 8GB Flash, and contrary to the other previous hardware also adds 2.0MP front camera. If you’ve heard about this model before, it’s because it’s an update of GV-17 set-top box based on AllWinner A10. GV-17 (A20) Specifications: SoC – AllWinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 + Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 8G NAND Flash + SD card slot Video Output – HDMI, composite and VGA Audio I/O – HDMI, stereo jack, and S/PDIF – Integrated MIC Video Codecs – MPEG-1/2,MPEG-4 ASP, DivX 3/4/5, H.263, H.264, XviD, VC-1, WMV Audio Codecs – MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, FLAC, ALAC, APE, ACC-LC, ACC-HE, AC-3, DTS, Real Audio Connectivity: WiFi 802.11b/g/n  (RALINK 8188) 10/100M Ethernet USB – 2x USB Host […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 29 Comments on BeagleBone Black vs Raspberry Pi – Features and Price Comparison

BeagleBone Black vs Raspberry Pi – Features and Price Comparison

The Beagleboard community officially announced the BeagleBone Black and its $45 price tag on the 22nd of April. Many blogs and news sites touted it as a Raspberry Pi killer, and R-Pi vs BBB fanboys fights ensued, and many articles with incorrect information or heavily biased were published. There’s however one decent BeagleBone Black vs Raspberry Pi comparison from a robotic point of view, so I’ll build from there with some corrections and additions. I’ll compare both the features and the price differential between the Raspberry Pi Model B and BeagleBone Black boards depending on use cases. BeagleBone Black vs Raspberry Pi – The Features BeagleBone Black Raspberry Pi Model B Comment Processor TI Sitara AM3359AZCZ100 Cortex A8 @ 1GHz(will be changed to AM3358BZCZ100 in future versions) Broadcom BCM2835 ARM11 @ 700 MHz (Overclockable to 1GHz) Even thoughboth processors can run at the same frequency (after overclocking the R-Pi), but […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on PlayJam GameStick Devkit Unboxing (Video)

PlayJam GameStick Devkit Unboxing (Video)

PlayJam GameStick is a video game console comprised of an AMLogic powered mini PC and a wireless game controller. They had a successful kickstarter campaign with 5,691 backers, and the company started to ship developer’s kits earlier this month. Those kits are designed for developers, and is not the final hardware which, as Liliputing reports, will be available in June for $79. The retail version of the GameStick will feature a smaller stick with mini USB port (instead of a full USB port in the devkit), and a controller with a better finish. In the meantime, PlayJam has uploaded an unboxing video of the development kits, showing the mini PC, controller and accessories (cables, power supply, etc..), as well as a quick demo. The demo shows the first boot setup (language, display layout, ethernet, Wi-Fi settings),  the Gamestick store, and they play a RipideGP. If you’re a game developer, you can […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Using ARM Development Studio 5 (DS-5) Streamline with MK802II mini PC

Using ARM Development Studio 5 (DS-5) Streamline with MK802II mini PC

MK802-II is an Android 4.0 mini PC powered by AllWinner A10 (ARM Cortex A8) with 1GB RAM and 4GB flash. Instructions are also available to run Ubuntu, or other Linux distributions. ARM Development Studio 5 (ARM DS-5) is software development tool suite for ARM processors that can be used for both Linux and Android debugging, and available in 2 versions: professional edition and community edition, the latter being free of charge. I’m writing about both today, because Bob Peng, Technical Marking Engineer for ARM China, recently wrote a blog post in Chinese [Update: An English version is now available] showing how to use MK802-II, preloaded with the required drivers and daemon, with DS-5 Streamline Performance Analyzer with is part of both versions. The community edition may be missing some features of Streamline however. Streamline Performance Analyzer allows you to: Find out which modules or functions to take up most of […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 28 Comments on $149 Inforce Computing IFC6410 Board Features Qualcomm APQ8064 Quad Core SoC

$149 Inforce Computing IFC6410 Board Features Qualcomm APQ8064 Quad Core SoC

I’ve only seen Qualcomm SoC in smartphones and tablets, as well as their own development boards, but Inforce Computing has just changed that thanks to IFC6410 single-board computer powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 quad core krait processor @ 1.7GHz. This Pico-ITX SBC comes with 2GB RAM and 4GB eMMC flash, HDMI out, Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi and more. Here are the specifications of this board: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 Quad Core Processor (1.7GHz) + Adreno 320 GPU System Memory – 2GB on-board PCDDR3, up to 533MHz Storage – 4GB eMMC + μSD card connector + SATA interface Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (Atheros QCA6234) Bluetooth 4.0 (Atheros QCA6234) 10/100/1000bps Ethernet (Atheros 8151) Video and Audio Interfaces: μHDMI (1080p) LVDS MIPI-CSI2 (4-lane, up to 20MP camera) HD Audio and Mic-in USB – 2x USB 2.0, 1x USB OTG Misc I/O – 1x I2C, 1x SPI, 1x UART, UIM, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on STMicro STiH416 Dual Core Media Processor and Linux SDK

STMicro STiH416 Dual Core Media Processor and Linux SDK

STMicro announced STiH416 SoC for media players at CES 2012 with very few details, but we’ve still known that it is a dual core Cortex A9 @ 1.2 GHz coupled with a quad core Mali-400 manufacturer and an hardware video decoder supporting commonly used codecs such as H.264, VC-1, AVS and MPEG2. Yesterday they put out a press release about a STB development platform based on this solution, and I found out we’ve got much more information now. Key features include: ARM Cortex-A9, dual core CPU, SMP NEON SIMD engine yielding up to 6000 DMIPS ARM Mali-400 quad core GPU yielding up to 1600 Mpixels/s fill rate and supporting up to 1080p60 or 1080p30 stereoscopic 3D graphics Dual HD H.264/VC-1/AVS/MPEG2 video decoder or SVC video decode MVC video decode for 3DTV: supports up to 1080p60L/60R, 3D video formats Dual HD internet video decoding: real video 8/9/10, DivX, Xvid, MP4p2, Adobe […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments on How to Use Libhybris and Android GPU Libraries with Mer (Linux) on the Cubieboard

How to Use Libhybris and Android GPU Libraries with Mer (Linux) on the Cubieboard

You may have heard about libhybris, a library that cleverly loads Android HW adaptations and convert calls from bionic to glibc. One of the greatest achievement of this library is to allow Android GPU drivers to be used with Linux, and is notably used by Canonical, although they did not write it, for Ubuntu 14.04 which will be compatible with any recent Android smartphones or tablets. One way to get started with libhybris is to port a device to Ubuntu Touch, but this may take a while. However, I’ve found a faster and easier way to play with libhybris thanks to Martin Brook (vgrade) who wrote a tutorial on how to use libhybris with Mer on the Cubieboard. Mer is an open source mobile Linux distribution powered by Qt/QML and HTML5, that’s born from the ashes of Meego, and is now used in the upcoming Sailfish OS. You’ll need to […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on Watch and Record Live TV on Android or iOS Mobile Devices with Geniatech WiTV

Watch and Record Live TV on Android or iOS Mobile Devices with Geniatech WiTV

If you’ve ever wanted to watch live digital TV on your tablet or smartphone, there’s now a solution. Geniatech WiTV is a tiny battery powered DVB receiver also acting as Wi-Fi access point in order to stream live TV to your mobile devices. You can use this device within your house or on the go, but it has to be within 5 to 7 meters from your tablet or smartphone to work properly. The specifications released are limited, but we still know the following: Frequency range – 177.5 – 226.5MHz (VHF); 474 – 858MHz (UHF) Digital TV standards – DVB-T Mpeg 2, Mpeg 4 and H.264; ISDBT oneseg 802.11 b/g/n WiFi Standard Support Micro USB for recharging Up to 3 hours of TV viewing (TBC) iOS devices must run IOS 5.0 or IOS5.1, and Android 3.0 or greater is supported. You’ll need to install SianoTV for Android or iOS, scan […]