Category: Operating Systems

Operating Systems used in Embedded Devices

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on Firefly-RK3288 Development Board is Now Available for $189

Firefly-RK3288 Development Board is Now Available for $189

Three days ago, a T-chip representative informed me privately that Firefly development board (Rockchip RK3288) would not be available on foreign websites, and that it was unclear when the board would be selling in China. So either I’ve been lied to, or there’s poor internal communication within the company, as they’ve now listed Firefly-RK3288 board on Taobao for 800 CNY (~$130), and it’s also available on GeekBuying for $159 including shipping, possibly by somebody unrelated to T-chip, especially there are only 3 units for sale. Let’s go the specifications that have slightly changed since the original announcement: SoC – Rockchip 3288 quad core ARM Cortex A12 / A17 up to 1.8 GHz with Mali-T764 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 /3.0, and OpenCL 1.1 System Memory – 2G DDR3 Storage – 16 GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot Video I/O HDMI 2.0 up to 3840×2160@60p VGA out (D-SUB connector) Dual MIPI, Dual LVDS and and EDP […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Linaro 14.09 Release with Kernel 3.17 and Android 4.4.4

Linaro 14.09 Release with Kernel 3.17 and Android 4.4.4

Linaro 14.09 has just been released with Linux kernel 3.17-rc4 (baseline), Linux 3.10.54 & 3.14.19 (LSK), and Android 4.4.2 & 4.4.4. Linaro has kept working on their member boards such as IFC6410 (Qualcomm), D01 (Huawei/Hisilicon), Ardnale (Samsung), and Juno (ARM). They’ve also announced they’ll change the tools to build GCC by using cbuild2 instead of cbuild1 for next release, and they’ve enabled a build with gcov (for code coverage analysis) which may mean they’ll work on reducing the kernel size by getting rid off unused code. I’ve also noticed the Arndale and Arndale Octa Ubuntu images are now based on Linux LSK with Mali GPU support since last month. Here are the highlights of this release: Linux Linaro 3.17-rc4-2014.09 GATOR version 5.19 updated topic from Qualcomm LT (ifc6410 board support) and HiSilicon LT updated Versatile Express ARM64 support (FVP Base and Foundation models, Juno) from ARM LT. updated Versatile Express […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments on Test Your 4K Device True Resolution With a 4K UHD / 2160p Video Test Pattern

Test Your 4K Device True Resolution With a 4K UHD / 2160p Video Test Pattern

4K_Test_Image_Crop

Now many products are sold on the market advertising 4K video output, but how to test and check if it just a lie with only part of the system support 4K (e.g. physical video output), but the rest of the system makes you lose quality? When I worked on DVD players, we had some special DVDs with video pattern allowing us to test different video quality. You can read about different video test patterns in “AVSHD 709 DVD document“. There are also some expensive equipments such as DVDO AVLab TPG – 4K Test Pattern Generator that generate test patterns to calibrate video equipments, but if all we want to do is to check the resolution has not been tempered with there must be a cheaper and easier way. After having a discussion about this issue on Google+,  Dan Car decided to create a 2160p (3840×2160) test pattern image with some […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Toradex Colibri i.MX6 SoM with Freescale i.MX6 Solo and DualLite Processors

Toradex Colibri i.MX6 SoM with Freescale i.MX6 Solo and DualLite Processors

Toradex has added a new system-on-module to its Colibri family with Colibri IMX6 SoM powered by either Freescale i.MX 6Solo singl core processor, or i.MX 6DualLite dual core core processor. The SoMs are available in both both commercial and industrial temperature grade, come with up 4GB eMMC, 256 to 512MB RAM, and support Linux or Windows Embedded operating systems. Specifications listed for the Toradex Colibri i.MX6 module include: SoC – Freescale i.MX6 Solo single core or DualLite dual core Cortex-A9 core @ 800MHz (Industrial temp.) or 1GHz (Commercial temp) with Vivante 2D/3D GPUs. System Memory –  256MB (Solo) or 512MB (DualLite) DDR3 Storage – 4GB eMMC flash I/Os available via the 200-pin SO-DIMM connector: 3x 8-bit SDIO/SD/MMC 10/100M Ethernet (Micrel KSZ8041NL PHY) USB 2.0 host, USB 2.0 OTG Video Output HDMI 1.4a up to 1080p resolution RGB up to 1920×1200 (24bpp) Camera – 2x Camera Parallel inputs Audio – Audio line-in […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Pyboard MicroPython ARM Cortex M4 Board is Now Available for $45

Pyboard MicroPython ARM Cortex M4 Board is Now Available for $45

MicroPython is both a lightweight implementation of Python 3.4 programming language, and a board, aka pyBoard, based on STMicro STM32F4 ARM Cortex M4 micro-controller running Micro Python. The project had a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2013, and they’ve completed shipment of the perks to their backers last June. The company has now launched its own store, so let’s see the progress of the project. The board has been re-designed since Kickstarter campaign, but the specifications remains the similar, but with some extra I/Os exposed: MCU – STMicro STM32F405RG micro-controller @ 168 MHz with 1MB flash, 192KB RAM, and an FPU. External Storage – Micro SD card slot, supporting standard and high capacity SD cards Expansion Headers: 24x GPIO on left and right edges and 5x GPIO on bottom row, plus LED and switch GPIO available on bottom row 3x 12-bit analog to digital converters, available on 16 pins, 4 with […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments on Rikomagic Announces MK902II LE Ubuntu Mini PC Powered by Rockchip RK3288 SoC

Rikomagic Announces MK902II LE Ubuntu Mini PC Powered by Rockchip RK3288 SoC

Rikomagic announced their MK902II mini PC based on Rockchip RK3288 in May, and which has started shipping recently for about $130. The company have now announced MK902II LE (Linux Edition) based on the same hardware, but instead of running Android 4.4, it’s running Xubuntu 14.04 with some virtualization technique that allows it to run x86 Linux programs such as Skype, and it can even support Wine to run Windows programs. MK902II LE specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3288 Quad Core Cortex A12/A17 up to 1.8GHz with ARM Mali-T764 GPU supporting OpenGL ES1.1/2.0/3.0, Open VG1.1, OpenCL, DirectX11 System Memory – 2GB (Dual channel 64 bit DRAM controller) Storage – 16GB Internal eMMC with Xubuntu 14.04 preinstalled + micro SD card slot Video Output- HDMI (1080p), and AV output Audio Output – HDMI, AV output, optical output, or external USB audio card (not included) Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi. USB – […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments on Performance Comparison of Amlogic S805 and S802 Processors

Performance Comparison of Amlogic S805 and S802 Processors

Amlogic S805 is a quad core Cortex A5 processor for entry levels Android media players, S802 is a quad core processor with faster Cortex A9 cores clocked @ 2.0 GHz, and S812 is an upcoming upgrade of S802 with HEVC/H.265 hardware video decoding, and Gigabit Ethernet support. I’ve already written about the features differences between AML8726-MX, S802, S805, and S812, but since I now have some devices I can make direct comparison between S802 and S805. It’s quite clear on paper than S802 should be significantly faster than S805, so the only question to answer is by how much, but I’ve been asked to do it, and it could be a fun exercise.  The hardware devices used for the comparison are two Android media players: EM6Q-MXQ for S805 and Probox2 EX for S802, and I used the results from three Android benchmarks: Antutu 5.1, Vellamo 3.x, and 3Dmark Ice Storm […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Howchip Introduces ExSOM-4412 Module and Development Kit Powered by Samsung Exynos 4412 Quad Core SoC

Howchip Introduces ExSOM-4412 Module and Development Kit Powered by Samsung Exynos 4412 Quad Core SoC

Howchip, the company that normally distribute Insignal Origen and Arndale boards, has just introduced ExSOM-4412 system-on-module, and a corresponding development kit called ExSOM-4412-DVK. ExSOM-4412 module specifications: SoC – Samsung Exynos 4412 quad core Cortex A9 CPU with Mali-400MP4 GPU System Memory – N/A (TBC) Storage – Up to 8GB eMMC + SD/SDIO interface Connectivity – 10/100Mbps Ethernet, optional  Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module Video Output – HDMI(1080p) for TV, 2-ch LVDS for TFT LCD Camera – 2x parallel camera interfaces Audio – Line in/out  and Headphone out. USB – 4x USB 2.0 Host ch and OTG Configurable GPIOs, Analog inputs, PWMs and Serial interfaces such as I2Cs, SPIs,  and UARTs SoM Connector – 213-pin MXM connector Dimensions – 70mm x 70mm The dimensions and connector used points to the module following Qseven standard, but the company does not mention anything about Qseven, so the pin assignment may be different. Software support […]