I uploaded several Embedded Linux Conference Europe videos in 2011 and 2012 that were hosted by Free Electrons and/or the Linux Foundation for download, but this year, it seems the Linux Foundation has discovered a new (to them) online video service called YouTube, and created a playlist with (for now) 18 sessions of ELCE 2013. I’ve embedded the playlist below starting with the “Status of Embedded Linux (2013)“, by Tim Bird, Sony Mobile which takes place every year, and is among the most popular presentations. Most of ELCE 2013 presentation slides are already available from eLinux.org. You can also have a look at the list of ELCE 2013 talks I featured before the event took place. [Update: I’ve just watched the Status of Embedded Linux video, and I though it may be interested to list the topics (and keywords) used for what has happened in embedded linux in the last […]
Gumstix Announces Solution Kits for their CPU Modules and Boards
Gumstix has recently unveiled several solution kits featuring their Overo and DuoVero Computer-on-Modules (CoMs), Pepper single board computer, and several expansions boards, together with required accessories, and software packages, in order to help their customers getting started more easily. All these solutions are based on Texas Instruments OMAP3, OMAP4, and/or Sitara processors, and run Linux (Ubuntu or Yocto), and sometimes Android for the kits with displays. The solutions kits target 6 different types of applications and/or markets: Robotics Robotic Development Kit (Pictured above) with one Overo AirSTORM CoM (OMAP3703), and RoboVero expansion board. The kit is better suited for motor control applications. Mobile Robotic Development Kit with one Overo AirSTORM CoM, and Turtlecore expansion board to be used with iRobot Create. The kits ship with a Linaro (Ubuntu for Overo) system card and Robot Operating System (ROS) pre-installed. Handhelds 3.5″ Handheld Development Kit featuring Overo AirSTORM CoM with Alto35 cutomizable […]
How to Flash Rockchip RK3066 / RK3188 Firmware in Linux
Rockchip provides 2 tools to update the flash: RkBatchTool – Used to upgrade firmware with a single file RkAndroidTool – Used to flash the NAND flash with image corresponding to particular partition, e.g. system.img. kernel.img, boot.img. recovery.img. etc… One problem is that the company only provides these tools for Windows, so if you’re using a Linux based operating systems, you’d have to run a Windows XP or 7 virtual machine in VirtualBox or VMWare, which is an inconvenience, and requires a license in theory. To work around this issue, I’ve tried to use ReactOS, an open source operating systems compatible with Windows XP, but although the USB drivers appeared to install properly, RKAndroidTool failed to recognized my device (MK908). But a member of Mini PCs community informed me about a tool called RkFlashKit, written in Python and using GTK, that can flash firmware to Rockchip RK3066 and RK3188 devices in […]
iMX6 Rex Open Source Hardware SoM and Baseboard Designed to Teach Schematic and PCB Layout Design
Voipac, a Slovakian manufacturing company, has recently unveiled iMX6 Rex module and iMX6 Rex development baseboard, which have mainly been developed in order to support FEDEVEL Academy Schematic Design and Advanced PCB Layout courses, but can also be used for other purposes. The module is powered by Freescale i.MX6 Dual (Solo and Quad also available on request), and comes with 512MB RAM (upgradeable to 4GB), and up to 32MB SPI flash. The complete hardware will be released under an open source hardware license, but with some caveats as I’ll explain later. iMX6 Rex module specifications (basic configuration): SoC – Freescale iMX6 processor up to 1.2GHz / 2 cores (1 and 4 cores also available) System Memory – 512MB DDR3-1066 (533MHz), up to 4GB Storage – 2MB On board SPI Flash, up to 32MB 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet PHY 2 high speed board to board connectors (only one required) with signals for HDMI, […]
Binwalk Utility Helps You Analyze and Reverse-Engineer Firmware Files
Binwalk is a “firmware analysis tool designed for analyzing, reverse engineering and extracting data contained in firmware images”. This tool written in python supports Linux, and somewhat Mac OS X, can scan firmware files for files signature, and can be useful for hacking firmware files, and finding hidden information. Let’s install binwalk first. It’s very easy in a Debian or Ubuntu machine, as you just have to download the package, and run a script for installation:
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wget https://binwalk.googlecode.com/files/binwalk-1.2.2-1.tar.gz tar xzvf binwalk-1.2.2-1.tar.gz cd binwalk-1.2.2-1/src sudo ./debian_quick_install.sh |
If you have another Linux ditributions, it’s just a little more complicated. You still need to download and extract the release package as above, but you’ll have to install the following package depending on the features your need: Minimal installation – python 2.6 or greater, and python-magic To generate entropy plot graphs – python-matplotlib For automated extraction: Packages – mtd-utils zlib1g-dev liblzma-dev gzip bzip2 tar unrar arj p7zip p7zip-full openjdk-6-jdk Build and install […]
Olimex Announces 30 Euros A10-OLinuXino-LIME Development Board for December
The Raspberry Pi, Beaglebone Black and Cubieboard are probably the best selling ARM Linux boards in the sub $50 category, but they’ll soon be joined by Olimex A10-OLinuXino-LIME powered by AllWinner A10 ARM Cortex A8 SoC with 512MB RAM that will sell for 30 Euros (About $40) when it becomes available in December. Another version of the board based on AllWinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 SoC, called A20-OLinuXino-LIME will also be sold, adding Gigabit Ethernet, and scheduled for Q1 2014. Pricing has yet to be disclosed for the A20 version. A10-OLinuXino-LIME specifications: SoC – AllWinner A10 ARM Cortex-A8 @ 1GHz with Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 512MB DDR3 Storage – microSD card slot, SATA, and optional 4GB NAND Flash Video Output – HDMI 1080p USB – USB-OTG + 2x USB Hosts Connectivity – 10/100Mbit Ethernet Expansions – 200 GPIOs on 0.05″ connectors Misc – Lipo battery management and connector, […]
$90 JynxBox M1 Pure Linux XBMC Network Media Streamer
After The Little Black Box (TLBB), there’s now another ARM based media player that comes pre-installed with XBMC Linux: Jynxbox M1 Pure Linux. The device is based on AMLogic AML8726-M1 single core Cortex A9 processor @ 800MHz, and comes with 2GB flash, Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity, HDMI output, and more. Jynxbox M1 Pure Linux specifications: SoC – AMLogic AML8726-M1 single core Cortex A9 @ 800MHz with ARM Mali-400 GPU System Memory – N/A (but likely 512 MB) Storage – 2 GB Nand Flash + micro SD/SDHC memory slot (Up to 32GB) Video Output – HDMI 1.3 Audio Output – HDMI Video container formats – AVI, RM/RMVB, MKV, WMV, MOV, MP4, WEBM, DAT(VCD format), VOB(DVD format), MPEG, MPG, FLV, ASF, TS, TP, 3GP Audio formats – MP3, WMA, WMV, APE, OGG, FLAC, AAC, etc… Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet + 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports Misc – […]
Terasic’s Altera DE1-SoC Board Based on Cyclone V Dual Cortex A9 + FPGA SoC Sells for $150 Up
A few months ago, Terasic unveiled its SoCKit powered by Altera Cyclone V dual Cortex A9 + FPGA. They’ve now announced a cheaper version will a less powerful Cyclone V SoC and lower specs (e.g. less RAM, only one sensor, etc…) that sells for as low as $150 for educational or academic purposes, and $199 for the rest of us. Altera DE1-SoC Board specifications: FPGA Device Cyclone V SoC 5CSEMA5F31 Device Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 (HPS – Hard Processor System) 85K Programmable Logic Elements 4,450 Kbits embedded memory 6 Fractional PLLs 2 Hard Memory Controllers Configuration and Debug Quad Serial Configuration device – EPCQ256 on FPGA (EPCQ = Erasable Programmable Configurable Quad-SPI device) On-Board USB Blaster II (Normal type B USB connector) Memory Device 64MB (32Mx16) SDRAM on FPGA 1GB (2x256Mx16) DDR3 SDRAM on HPS 128MB QSPI Flash on HPS (QSPI Flash does not come pre-installed out of factory) Micro SD […]