SDK Released for Steam Link Based on Marvell ARMADA 1500 Mini Processor

Steam Link is a small $50 device that streams PC Games played from Steam PC or Steam Machine to your TV up to 1080p resolution through your home network, and Valve has recently released an SDK to allow developers creating their own apps. But before getting into the SDK features, let’s check out the hardware. The company (Valve) did not provide many details, but some users torn it down, so the hardware specs are not a secret anymore. SoC – Marvell DE3005-A1 ARMv7 processor @ 1.0 GHz with OpenGL ES2.0 capable GPU System Memory –  512MB RAM (Micron MT41K256M16LY-107) Storage – 4GB NAND flash (Micron MT29F32G08CBAC) Video Output – HDMI up to 1080p60 Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.0 LE via Marvell 88W8897 wireless chip USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports Power Supply – 5V via power barrel Dimensions – N/A Marvell DE3005-A1 is also […]

Orange Pi One Quad Core ARM Linux Development Board Launched for $9.99

Orange Pi One board was unveiled at the end of last year as a cheaper alternative to Orange Pi PC with Allwinner H3 quad core processor, 512 MB RAM, an Ethernet Port and HDMI output. I’ve already compared it to C.H.I.P and Raspberry Pi Zero, and found that it was both much more powerful and cheaper to use as an Internet connected board with HDMI output than the two more well-known competitors. The good news is that Orange Pi One is now selling for $9.99 + shipping on Aliexpress, which in my case would be $13.38 in total. Orange Pi One technical specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.2 GHz with an ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU up to 600 MHz System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI with CEC support Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet USB -1x […]

OpenAMP Open Source Framework Provides the Glue between Linux, RTOS, and Bare Metal Apps in Heterogeneous SoCs

SoCs becoming more complex, and go beyond homogeneous multicore systems by mixing different type of cores such as high performance cores, low power real-time cores, or even FPGA fabric. Examples include NXP i.MX6 SoloX with an ARM Cortex A9 core for Linux apps, and an ARM Cortex M4 core for real-time tasks, or Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC with Cortex A53 core for higher level apps, Cortex R5 cores for real-time processing, and Ultrascale FPGA logic. All these different cores are running their own Linux based OS, real-time operating system or bare metal application, and all this makes software development an even greater difficult tasks. In order to reduce the complexity, and address some of the issues, the Multicore Association has launched a new working group targeting the management, expansion, and standardization of  OpenAMP (Open Asymmetric Multi Processing), an open source framework that allows operating systems to interact within a broad […]

Rhombus Tech 15.6″ Libre Laptop is User-Upgradeable with EOMA68 CPU Cards

When the first Raspberry Pi model launched, there was just not enough boards to fill the demand, and as people kept waiting they were also investigating alternatives, and a growing community worked on Allwinner based platforms. At the time (2012), the main hardware project  was EOMA68 CPU card using a PCMCIA connector, with ended up inside Improv development board, and aimed at providing user replaceable and upgradeable CPU cards. Sadly the initiative got some issues, and things did not quite work out as expected, but the person who launched the whole project, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton (LKCL), did not give up on the idea, and has kept on working on EOMA68 standard with CPU cards from Allwinner and other SoC vendors. Recently, he’s been working on a Libre Laptop based on an Allwinner A20 EOMA68 CPU module, and will showcase the prototype at FOSDEM 2016 in Brussels this coming week-end. […]

Zsun Wifi Card Reader Can Now Run OpenWrt

Zsun Wifi card reader is a tiny micro SD card reader with WiFi connectivity, and while people managed to access the device serial console a few months ago, the plan was to eventually run OpenWrt since it’s based on the popular Atheros AR9331 WiSoC combined with 64MB RAM and 16MB SPI Flash. It would also be one the smallest OpenWrt capable device with dimensions of 30 x 33 mm. A team of Polish managed this feat, and have now posted instructions to install OpenWrt, as well as other documentation, for example a description of the board’s GPIOs. There are four methods to flash OpenWrt: Solder on an Ethernet jack and flash from the original uboot (hard but safe) Reflash the bootloader from the original firmware to one that supports upload over serial (less soldering but fatal if you mess up) Reflash the firmware from the original firmware using mtd_write (easy […]

Autonomous Deep Learning Robot Features Nvidia Jetson TK1 Board, a 3D Camera, and More

Autonomous, a US company that makes smart products such as smart desks, virtual reality kits and autonomous robots, has recently introduced a deep learning robot that comes with a 3D camera, speaker and microphone, Jetson TK1 board, and a mobile base. The robot appears to be mostly made of the shelves parts: 3D Depth camera – Asus Xtion Pro 3D Depth Camera Speaker & Microphone Nvidia Jetson TK1 PM375 board – Nvidia Terra K1 quad-core Cortex A15 processor @ 2.3 GHz with a 192-core Kepler GPU, 2GB RAM, 16 GB flash Kobuki Mobile Base –  Kobuki is the best mobile base designed for education and research on state of the art robotics. Kobuki provides power supplies for external computer power as well as additional sensors and actuators. Its highly accurate odometry, amended by calibrated gyroscope, enables precise navigation. The robot is designed for research in deep learning and mobile robotics, […]

NanoPi 2 Fire Board Adds Gigabit Ethernet and Power Management, Drops WiFi and Bluetooth

NanoPi 2 board, based on Samsung S5P4418 quad core Cortex A9 processor with WiFi and Bluetooth, has now gotten a brother, called Nano Pi 2 Fire, with wireless connectivity replaced by Gigabit Ethernet, and a power management IC (PMIC) for software power-off, sleep and wakeup. NanoPi 2 Fire specifications: SoC – Samsung S5P4418 quad core Cortex A9 processor @ up to 1.4GHz System Memory – 1GB 32bit DDR3 Storage – 1x Micro SD Slot Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet port Video Output / Display I/F- 1x HDMI 1.4a, 0.5 mm pitch SMT FPC seat for full-color LCD (RGB: 8-8-8) Camera – 24-pin DVP interface; 0.5mm pitch USB – 1x USB Host port; 1x micro USB 2.0 OTG port for power and data Expansions Headers – 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible header with UART, I2C, SPI, GPIOs… Debugging – 4-pin header for serial console Misc – User and reset buttons, power and user […]

JaguarBoard is a $65 Single Board Computer Powered by Intel Atom Z3735G Processor (Crowdfunding)

While we have recently started to see low Intel Atom x5 “Cherry Trail” development boards such as UP Board and LattePanda, we have not really seen any Intel Atom Z3735F/G “Bay Trail” boards despite their popularity in mini PCs and TV sticks. JAGUAR ELECTRONIC H.K. aims to fill that avoid with their JaguarBoard single board computer powered by an Intel Atom Z3735G processor coupled with 16GB flash and 1GB RAM. JaguarBoard specifications: SoC  – Intel Atom Z3735G quad core processor @ 1.33GHz / 1.83GHz (burst) with Intel HD graphics @ 311 MHz / 646 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3L RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, 1x micro SD card slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 1.4 @ up to 1080p Audio – HDMI, Line In and Line Out (stereo) 3.5mm jacks Connectivity – 10/100Mbps USB – 3x USB 2.0 Expansion Headers 8-pin header with 2x UART and I2C 4-pin […]