Category: Chrome OS

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Top 10 Posts of 2013 and Stats on CNXSoft Blog

Top 10 Posts of 2013 and Stats on CNXSoft Blog

This is the last day of the year, and just like in 2012, I’ll look back on the main trends of this year,  post a list of the top 10 posts of 2013 on cnx-software.com, and add some fun stats about the site and my visitors. 2013 has been the year of quad core media players and mini PCs, especially those based on Rockchip RK3188, XBMC is now featured in many Android STBs, “big.LITTLE” and “Octa-core” have been the buzz words on the application processor front, Google has entered the HDMI TV sticks market with the ChromeCast, and is competing with Miracast / DLNA TV dongles, we’ve gotten more and more low cost Linux development boards, crowdfunding has almost gone mainstream, and the Internet of things has started to take off thanks to new technologies such as Bluetooth Low Energy. I’ve compiled the list using data from Google Analytics, filtered […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on LG Announces Chromebase, an All-in-one PC running Chrome OS

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 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Developers Are Working on Chromecast Functionality From Any Android Apps via Any Android Devices

Developers Are Working on Chromecast Functionality From Any Android Apps via Any Android Devices

If you don’t just come back from (too long) holidays, you should know Google has released the Chromecast, a $35 HDMI TV Stick that uses a protocol called DIAL to let users stream online videos on the TV via your mobile device or mirror your Chrome browser on the TV. However, there are currently quite a few limitations. It can only be used with apps specifically designed for Chromecast (e.g. YouTube, Netflix,…), and Chromecast is the only available receiver, and can only be purchased in the US. Luckily these may not be an issue soon… Koushik Dutta (Kouch) has taken care of the first issue by modifying Cyanogenmod to allow any video or audio app to stream the media files via the TV, using Android notifications. Perfect. Moving to the second issue. If you don’t live in the US, you’re still stuck, and if you do live in the US, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments on Google Unveils $35 Chromecast HDMI TV Stick

Google Unveils $35 Chromecast HDMI TV Stick

For over a year now, we’ve seen many Android HDMI TV Sticks (which I often call mini PCs), a few Linux ones, but Google has just announced its own stick based on a strip down version of Chrome OS. It’s not as versatile as others as it only streams video and music, but it make sharing media easy, and is controlled via your Android or iOS mobile device, or your Windows PC or Mac via Chrome web browser. The connection is just the same as other HDMI dongles. Connect it to the HDMI port of your TV, power it via USB, and setup Wi-Fi. When I first saw the demonstration, I was disappointed as it just seemed like you could do the same thing with a DLNA dongle, but it’s actually quite different. First, Chromekey only works with online services such as YouTube, Netflix, Google Play Movie & TV and […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Tuxera FAT Embedded Boasts Faster and Better FAT32 Implementation for Embedded Linux and Android

Tuxera FAT Embedded Boasts Faster and Better FAT32 Implementation for Embedded Linux and Android

Tuxera has announced their “FAT Embedded” implementation of the FAT file system specifically optimized for embedded Linux and Android. The company claims their commercial solution delivers much faster data transfers than competing FAT implementations. Beside providing better performance, it also includes features such as fail-safe operation, and lower power consumption. They’ve benchmarked different file systems including Tuxera FAT Embedded with different I/O buffer sizes on two embedded hardware: Marvell 6192 @ 800 MHz with 512 MB RAM and a 120 GB Corsair Force GT SSD (SATA 3) The write speed of Tuxera exFAT and FAT appears to clearly outperform even ext-4 in this particular system. As a side note, I also evaluated 2 embedded systems based on the same low-end CPU: one using NTFS-3G, and the other Tuxera NTFS back in 2010, and there’s was a massive performance difference at the time. NTFS-3G is a different beast as it uses […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on Rockchip Unveils RK3168 Dual Core Processor, Showcases $10 Miracast Adapter

Rockchip Unveils RK3168 Dual Core Processor, Showcases $10 Miracast Adapter

Rockchip is currently at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair showing off their RK3188 quad core processor, and corresponding products such as tablets, gamepads, HDMI TV dongles, etc… Business seems good as they already received orders for 800k pieces in about a month, and they expect to sell 10 to 15 millions over the course of the year. The company had also a few RK3066 devices on display, but more interestingly they announced RK3168, which also a dual core Cortex A9 processor, but with lower power consumption thanks to 28nm HKMG process, instead of the 40nm process used for Rockchip RK3066. They have a tablet prototype without battery connected to a power supply to show the power consumption, and the tablet under test consumes 280mA @ 3.8V (About 1 Watt) when decoding 1080p videos with the display brightness set to about 50%. Chen Feng, Vice President at Rockchip, explains that with […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Google Unveils $199 Acer C7 Chromebook Powered by Intel Celeron 847

Google Unveils $199 Acer C7 Chromebook Powered by Intel Celeron 847

After the new (ARM based) Samsung Chromebook released last month, Google announced the Acer C7 Chromebook based on an Intel Celeron processor at a cheaper price ($199 vs $249), but at the cost of shorter battery life and the addition of a fan. Beside the Celeron processor @ 1.1 GHz, the new Acer C7 Chromebook comes with 2 GB RAM, a 320 GB hard drive, features a 11,6″ display, weights 1.3 kg and the 37Wh battery can last for  over 3.5 hours. Other features include Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth. The Acer Chromebook comes with 3 USB 3.0 ports, HDMI & VGA video outputs, a 2-in-1 card reader, a webcam, built-in stereo speaker and audio jacks for headphones and microphones. Whereas the Exynos 5250 can boot in less than 10 seconds (Thanks partialy to the SSD), the new Acer Chromebook boots up in 18 seconds which is not too bad.  Google will […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments on Google Unveils $249 Samsung Exynos 5 (Cortex A15) Chromebook

Google Unveils $249 Samsung Exynos 5 (Cortex A15) Chromebook

Back in April, we already knew Google was working on a Chromebook codenamed ‘Daisy’ based on the latest Samsung Exynos 5 Dual Cortex A15 processor, and finally, Google officially announced their first ARM based Chromebook yesterday. The specifications of the new Chromebook are as follows: SoC – Samsung Exynos 5 Dual Core Cortex A15 Processor @ 1.7 GHz with Mali T-604 GPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR3L SDRAM Storage: 16 GB SSD SD Card slot 100 GB Google Drive Cloud Storage (Free for 2 years) Display – 11.6″ LED panel (1366×768) Video Out – HDMI Connectivity Dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n Bluetooth 3.0 compatible (But Bluetooth does not seem to be present in the device) USB – 1x USB 3.0 and 1x USB 2.0 host ports Camera – Front VGA camera Battery – 6.5 hours typical use (No capacity info) Weight – 1.1 kg There’s no Ethernet contrary to […]