The Raspberry Pi was launched 2 years ago, and for its birthday, Broadcom decided to release documentation and open source OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0 driver for the Videocore IV GPU. You may remember the Raspberry Pi Foundation already release an open source GPU driver in 2012, but this was only for the part running on the ARM11 core for Broadcom BCM2835 SoC, which is just a few hundred lines of code long, and communicates with a binary blob which does all the work in the GPU itself. This new release however goes much further with a 111 page document entitled “VideoCore IV 3D Architecture Reference Guide“, and open source driver for the 3D System of the GPU. Strangely the release is however not for BCM2835, but instead BCM21553. Broadcom clearly has the source for BCM2835 too, so this must have been made for legal reasons. VideoCoreIV packs a lot […]
$11 Ewell Cubietruck Case Supports 2.5″ SATA Hard Drive and Battery
We’ve already seen a way to make your own HDD enclosure with the Cubieboard, but if you’ve got the latest CubieTruck (aka Cubieboard 3) board with the dual core Cortex A7 AllWinner A20 and 2GB RAM, there’s an easier, and cheaper, way to achieve the same thing with Ewell case that supports 2.5″ SATA Hard drives and SSD, as well as a 5300 mAh lithium battery if you want your system to be portable. The setup is quite interesting as there are few full ARM Linux systems supporting an hard drive on the market, especially at this price point: $11 for the case, and $95 for the Cubieboard. You can either add a 2.5″ Hard drive (320GB / 500GB), or if you are more after performance than storage capacity, a SATA SDD (60 GB) for about $60. Alternatives to this setup would be Compulab Utilite Standard for $159 (Freescale i.MX6 […]
Linaro 14.02 Release with Linux Kernel 3.14 and Android 4.4.2
Linaro 14.02 has just been released with Linux Kernel 3.14-rc3 (baseline), Linux Kernel 3.10.30 (LSK), and Android 4.4.2 r2. There are been a lot of patches for Linaro members boards, and including the latest GTS big.LITTLE processing patch, as well as speeds up to Android 4.4 performance. There’s also a Linux image (password protected) for Huawei D01 board with a 16-core ARM Cortex A15 @ 1.5 GHz SoC with up to 64 GB memory, that must be an unannounced SoC for base stations or other network equipment. This month Linaro also made two important announcements: Qualcomm is now a Linaro member, and the Linaro Security Working Group (SWG) has been setup to develop open source secure software for the ARM architecture. The first projects will be reference implementations of the W3C Embedded Media Extension (EME), and secure boot for the 64-bit ARM Cortex-A series processors. They’ll also work on security […]
Congatec Announces Low Power x86 SoMs based on AMD G-Series and Intel Atom E3800 SoCs
Congatec has announced two new low power x86 computer modules for embedded systems: Qseven modules based on AMD G-Series GX-210HA, GX-209HA and GX-210JA (6 to 9W TDP), and COM Express modules powered by Intel Atom “Bay Trail-I” E3800 series SoC (5 to 10W TDP), a well as Celeron N2930. conga-QG Qseven SoM Powered by AMD G-Series SoCs Congatec conga-QG Qseven modules specifications: SoC AMD Embedded GX-210HA (2 x 1.0 GHz, L2 cache 1MB, 9 W) with AMD Radeon HD 8210E Graphics AMD Embedded GX-210JA (2 x 1.0 GHz, , 6W) with AMD Radeon HD 8180E Graphics AMD Embedded GX-209HA (2 x 1.0GHz, , 9W) with AMD Radeon HD 8180E Graphics System Memory – max. 8GB ECC with up to DDR3L-1333. 2GB by default Storage – Silicon Motion FerriSSD up to 64G Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet I/O Interfaces Up to 4 x PCI Express 2.0 2 x SATA 2.0 3Gb/s 1 […]
Marvell ARMADA Mobile PXA1928 SoC Features Four Cortex A53 Cores, Vivante GC5000 GPU, and LTE
So here we are with another 64-bit ARM SoC for mobile device thanks to Marvell ARMADA Mobile PXA1928 with four ARM Cortex A53 cores, Vivante GC5000 GPU, and a 5-mode modem with LTE TDD/FDD, HSPA+, TD-HSPA+, and EDGE. The SoC will be used in conjunction with the company’s Avastar 88W8887 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 + FM + Near Field Communication (NFC) single chip solution, as well as 88L2000 Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) hybrid location processor, and the new 88NV1088 eMMC 5.0 NAND Flash controller. Key features of Marvell ARMADA Mobile PXA1928 include: 5-Mode Cellular Modem Solution for LTE Cat 4, UMTS Release 7, TD-HSPA+ Release 8, and class 12 GSM/EDGE, and supports multi-radio, CSFB, and VoLTE voice solutions for LTE networks 3G/4G protocol stacks certified on major carrier networks and validated via extensive IOT, GCF and field trial testing Quad-core ARM Cortex A53MP Application Processor Subsystem Support for […]
Rikomagic MK902 LE (Linux Edition) mini PC Comes Preloaded with PicUntu 4.5
Rikomagic has been selling MK802III LE and MK802IV LE dual and quad core HDMI TV sticks based on RK3066 and RK3188 running Linux (PicUntu) for a little over half a year. The company has now announced a full size box with MK902 LE powered by Rockchip RK3188 with 2GB RAM and up to 16 GB Flash. The specifications appear to be the same as MK902 Android TV box: SoC – Rockchip RK3188 quad core ARM Cortex-A9 processor with Mali-400MP4 System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 8GB or 16GB NAND Flash + microSD slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI, AV out Audio – HDMI, AV, optical S/PDIF Connectivity – 802.11n WiFi, 10/100M Ethernet Camera – 5MP USB – 4x USB host ports The device is sold with HDMI and AV cables, a power adapter, and a user’s manual. The 8GB version costs £94.99 (~$158), and the 16GB version […]
Compulab Fit-PC4 Fanless mini PC Powered by AMD GX-420CA Quad Core G-Series SoC
CompuLab has just announced fit-PC4, a miniature fanless PC based on AMD GX-420CA G-Series SoC with four “Jaguar” cores clocked 2.0GHz,and Radeon HD 8400E graphics, and supporting up to 16 GB RAM, and storage via SATA, mSATA or a micro SD card. This if for the Pro version, but there’s also a Value version powered by A4-1250 APU. Fit-PC4 specifications: SoC / APU fit-PC4 Pro – AMD GX-420CA quad core processor @ 2.0 GHz with AMD Radeon HD 8400E Quad-core (25W TDP) fit-PC4 Value – AMD A4-1250 dual core APU @ 1.0 GHz with amd Radeon HD 8210 (8W TDP) System Memory – Up to 16 GB DDR3/DDR3L/DDR3U (2 SODIMM) Storage – Internal 2.5” HDD/SSD + mSATA + micro-SD Display – 2x HDMI 1.4a up to 1920 x 1200 + CEC support Audio – S/PDIF 7.1 input/output + stereo line-out / MIC in Connectivity 2x Gbit Ethernet (Intel i211 Ethernet controllers) […]
VIA VAB-1000 Pico-ITX Board Features VIA Elite E1000 Dual Cortex A9 SoC, Targets Embedded Android and Linux
Via has introduced VAB-1000 Pico-ITX board at Embedded World 2014. This new embedded board features VIA Elite E1000 dual Cortex A9 SoC together with 2GB DDR3 SDRAM, 4GB eMMC Flash memory, and numerous I/Os. The board targets interactive kiosk, digital signage and HMI (Human Machine Interface) applications running Android or Linux. VIA VAB-1000 Specifications: SoC – VIA Elite E1000 dual core Cortex A9 SoC with unnamed 2D/3D GPU with Unified Shader Architecture featuring 64 stream processors System Memory – 2GB DRR3 Storage – 4GB eMMC + microSD slot Back panel I/O 2x HDMI connectors for HDMI-in and HDMI-out 2x mini-USB 2.0 port 1x MicroSD slot 1x Gigabit Ethernet port 1x DC-in Jack. Front panel I/O 1x pin header for two additional USB ports 1x pin header for SPI and 8-pin GPIO 1x pin header for three I2C and two COM ports 1x pin-header for front audio (Line-in/Line-Out/Mic-In). Internal I/O 1x […]