Category: Linux

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on Receive Android SMS & Call Notifications in Ubuntu 16.04 with KDE Connect (or Not?)

Receive Android SMS & Call Notifications in Ubuntu 16.04 with KDE Connect (or Not?)

I often miss calls, and I may be slow to answer SMS on my Android phone, but I’m often in front of my computer, so I decided to look for solutions to show SMS and call notifications on my computer running Ubuntu 16.04. I first found LinConnect, but it does not seem to be developed anymore, and after some more research I discovered that KDE Connect should do the job. The developer just released KDE Connect 1.0 a few weeks ago with add encryption, the ability to reply to SMS from your computer and more… One person posted instructions for Kubuntu 16.04. There’s just a problem it won’t work with Unity desktop, only KDE Plasma, due to a lack of support for Qt 5.6. You can still use the older version without encryption and other new features by “simply” running:

However the installation failed for me:

An “apt […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on Widora-NEO OpenWrt WiFi IoT & Audio Board is Based on Mediatek MT7688 SoC, WM8960 Audio DAC

Widora-NEO OpenWrt WiFi IoT & Audio Board is Based on Mediatek MT7688 SoC, WM8960 Audio DAC

A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed ReSpeaker board combining MediaTek MT7688 WiFi SoC with WM8960 audio DAC, running OpenWrt, and allowing you to perform tasks using text-to-speech and speech-to-text thanks to the built-in microphone (or optional microphone array), and a 3.5mm audio jack to connect speakers, as well as several I/O pins. It turns out there’s been board with similar features, minus the built-in microphone, available in China for a while. Meet Widora-NEO. Widora-NEO board specifications: SoC – Mediatek MT7688AN MIPS SoC @ 580 MHz with built-in WiFi System Memory – 128 MB RAM Storage – 16MB SPI flash, micro SD card Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 1T1R up to 150 Mbps with PCB antenna, or IPEX connector Audio – 3.5mm jack for stereo headphone and mono microphone, WM8960G audio codec USB – 1x micro USB port for programming via CP2104 chip, 1x micro USB host (or […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on $20 pcDuino4 Nano is Yet Another Allwinner H3 Development Board (Sort of)

$20 pcDuino4 Nano is Yet Another Allwinner H3 Development Board (Sort of)

We already have plenty of low cost Allwinner H3 development boards thanks to several Shenzhen Xunlong Orange Pi boards and FriendlyARM NanoPi boards among a few others. Here comes another one with pcDuino4 Nano. pcDuino4 Nano (preliminary?) specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.2 GHz with an ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU up to 600 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 SDRAM Storage – micro SD card slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI and 3.5mm jack for CVBS (composite + stereo audio) Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB OTG port Camera – DVP Interface Expansions – 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible header with UART, SPI, I2C, PWM, GPIOs, etc… Debugging – 4-pin header for serial console Misc – Power and reset buttons; 2x LEDs; IR receiver; on-board microphone. Power Supply – 5V/2A via micro USB port; 5V via VDD_5V pin […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Borg Lets You Search for Bash Commands within the Terminal

Borg Lets You Search for Bash Commands within the Terminal

There are so many commands available in bash that it’s impossible to know them all, and some commands are rarely run. Usually, you have to switch to your web browser to search for a solution or spending time reading through the manpage. In case you’d like to search for a specific command line you can now do so with borg script. If you want to give it a try, you can install it in Linux as follows:

Then run the script with your search query in quotes. Some explanations for the output: () denotes hits for your query [] denotes possible solutions … under a [] means more lines to display a “–” in a solution means separate code examples extracted from the same source Some queries are returning useful results such as “list all files in dir” as show in the screenshot above, but others not so, as […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on Hisilicon Hi3798M V200 SoC to Allow for Cheaper 4K TV Boxes with Gigabit Ethernet, SATA, and/or USB 3.0

Hisilicon Hi3798M V200 SoC to Allow for Cheaper 4K TV Boxes with Gigabit Ethernet, SATA, and/or USB 3.0

One year after Hisilicon Hi3798C V200 processor was unveiled at IBC 2015, Hisilicon has now introduced a cost down version named Hisilicon Hi3798M V200 at IBC 2016 with a lower-end Mali-450 GPU, only 2 TS input interfaces, one less USB 3.0 interface, and only 1x GMAC (Gigabit Ethernet MAC) or 1x Fast Ethernet PHY, instead of two GMAC interfaces. The processor also adds 1080p30 H.265 video encoding. Hisilicon Hi3798M V200 key features: CPU – Quad core Cortex A53 processor (15K DMIPS) GPU – ARM Mali-450 + Hisilicon dual-core GPU Memory I/F – 32-bit DDR3/3L/4 Storage I/F – eMMC/NAND/SPI, 1x SATA 3.0, 2x SDIO Video Engine (VPU) HiVXE 2.0 video engine supporting 4Kp60 10-bit H.265 and VP9 decoding, 4Kp30 H.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, VC1, VP6/VP8, Real Media 8/9/10 Encoder – H.264/H.265 @ 1080p30 or dual 720p30 Imprex 2.0 processing engine with support for HDR10 & HLG high dynamic range, BT.709/BT.2020, etc.. Peripherals: […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Dune HD SOLO Lite is a Cheaper Sigma Designs SMP8758 based 4K Media Box

Dune HD SOLO Lite is a Cheaper Sigma Designs SMP8758 based 4K Media Box

Launched at the very end of  last year, Dune HD SOLO 4K media player and NAS with Sigma Designs SMP8758 processor, a 2.5″ SATA bay, and a DVB-T2 tuner has high end specifications, but the price is also steep at 349 Euros inc. VAT. So the company has come up with a newer and cheaper version, Dune HD Solo Lite without the SATA bay, Z-wave support, nor the tuner card, but that keeps many of the same features, and sells for 199 Euros inc. VAT (MSRP). Dune HD Solo Lite specifications: SoC – Sigma Designs SMP8758 dual core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.2 GHz with an ARM Mali-400 GPU and VXP image processing engine System Memory – 1GB Storage – 4GB flash for firmware, SD card reader Video Output – HDMI 1.4b up to 1080p60 / 4K30 (including 23.976, 25, 29.97, 50, 59.94Hz refresh rates), and composite video Audio Output […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Rockchip RV1108 Cortex A7 + DSP SoC is Made for Audio & Video Conference and Recording Applications

Rockchip RV1108 Cortex A7 + DSP SoC is Made for Audio & Video Conference and Recording Applications

[Update May 2017: Rockchip has renamed RK1108 to RV1108.] Rockchip has introduced RV1108 ARM Cortex A7 SoC with a 600 MHz DSP targeting visual communication, consumer electronics, automotive DVR, and security applications thanks to its 8-channel I2S audio codec and 1440p H.264 video encoder and decoder. Detailed specifications can be found on the official Rockchip Wiki: CPU – Single-core ARM Cortex-A7 Core processor with NEON and FPU,  32KB/32KB L1 I-Cache/D-Cache, Unified 128KB L2 Cache, and Trustzone Video/Image DSP – Up to 600 MHz, 32KB I-TCM and 32KB I-cache, 128KB D-TCM Memory 12KB internal SRAM DDR3/DDR3L interface – 16 Bits data width, 1 ranks (chip selects), up to 512 MB RAM NAND Flash Interface – 8-bit async NAND flash, 16-bit hardware ECC eMMC Interface – Compatible with standard iNAND interface, eMMC 4.51 standard. SD/MMC Interface – Compatible with SD 3.0, MMC 4.41 System Component 2x 64-bit timers with interrupt-based operation 8x […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Espotek Labrador is s $25 5-in-1 Lab-on-a-Board with Oscilloscope, Waveform Generator, etc… (Crowdfunding)

Espotek Labrador is s $25 5-in-1 Lab-on-a-Board with Oscilloscope, Waveform Generator, etc… (Crowdfunding)

We’ve already seen ultra cheap (and low end) electronics lab tools like DSO138 oscilloscope kit for $23, or the $5 USB123 USBee AX logic Analyzer, but EspoTek Labrador combines 5 electronics lab equipments into a single board that claims to act as an oscilloscope, a waveform generator, a variable power supply, a logic analyzer and a multimeter for just $25. EspoTek Labrador specifications and key features: MCU – Atmel ATXMEGA32A4U 8-bit AVR MCU @ 32 MHz with 32KB flash, 4KB SRAM, and 1024 bytes EEPROM Functions 2 channels oscilloscope up to 750ksps, ~100kHz bandwidth, -20 to +20 V range 2 channels waveform generator up to 1 MSPS supporting sinusoidal, square, triangular, sawtooth, and arbitrary waveforms 4.5 to 15V power supply up to 1.5W max 2 channels logic analyzer up to 3 MSPS per channels Multimeter with voltage, intensity, resistance, and capacitance functions USB – micro USB port to connect to […]