Category: Ubuntu

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on CX-803 II Android mini PC Features 2GB RAM, an External Antenna

CX-803 II Android mini PC Features 2GB RAM, an External Antenna

Several mini PCs have been claimed to come with 2GB RAM (e.g. S21H,  MK812), but it turned out the sellers simply made a mistake, or possibly lied to sell a few more sticks. To date, the only HDMI TV dongle which you can buy and expect it to really come with 2GB RAM is the PQ Labs iStick A200, but we’ve now got another option with the CX-803 II (aka CX-803B or FX5) powered by Rockchip RK3066 with 2GB RAM, 8GB flash and a short external antenna. If the picture below looks similar, it’s because it’s an upgrade of CX-803 / AVS-TV603 with more RAM, more flash and built-in Bluetooth. Here are CX-803 II specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3066 @ 1.6 GHz + Mali-400 MP4 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 8GB NAND flash + micro SD slot (up to 32GB) Video Output – HDMI 1.4 Connectivity: […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Wandboard Releases Updated Android and Ubuntu Linux Images and Source Code

Wandboard Releases Updated Android and Ubuntu Linux Images and Source Code

Since I’ve received my previous short review of the Wandboard Dual development board, there has been more work on done the platform with new Android and Ubuntu images, Jelly Bean source, Linux SDK release, and git repo setup. I’ve tried the binary images, and had a quick look at the source code and corresponding documentation. Android 4.1.2 Image and Source Code Wanboard has release an improved Android image on the 14th of March which you can download for both Solo and Dual version of the development board with the following Changelog: Fix HDMI audio/playback issue with certain monitor. Add support for wifi on wandboard-dual. Known issue: Might need to turn off “Avoid poor connections”  in Wi-Fi ->Advanced to keep connection alive. I’ve given it a try in Wandboard Dual, and it seems Ethernet support is gone (Sorry my mistake, Ethernet IS working, but there’s no indication when it’s connected, and […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Undistract-me Sends An Alert For Time-Consuming Commands in Linux

Undistract-me Sends An Alert For Time-Consuming Commands in Linux

In Linux, some commands executed in the terminal such as make, wget, dd may take a while, so usually you’d just let them run in the background, and do some other work, drink tea, go for nap… while they are running, and come to check from time to time if the command has completed. Sometimes I even forget I run a particular command, and realize it has completed a few hours ago… It’s possible to add some command at the end of your command line, but it can be cumbersome, and you may forget to do it. The best would be automatic alerts for commands that take a long time, and undistract-me just takes care of that by sending an alert for commands that take more than 10 seconds (by default). In Ubuntu 12.04 and 12.10, you can install undistract-me as follows:

Undistract-me is part of Ubuntu 13.04 or […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Linaro 13.03 Release with Linux Kernel 3.9 and Android 4.2.2

Linaro 13.03 Release with Linux Kernel 3.9 and Android 4.2.2

Linaro 13.03 is now available, and features Linux Kernel 3.9-rc3 and Android 4.2.2. This month, Linaro has released their first Origen Quad Android image, as well as Tiny Android build for Arndale. The ALIP image listed in the download page is still based on Ubuntu 12.11, but as doc Bormental noticed earlier this month, the latest ALIP Quantal 13.03 image is available for download at https://releases.linaro.org/latest/ubuntu/quantal-images/alip. Some development tools (gcc, g++, vi, make..) are now included in Android, so you can develop and build natively from your Android device. Linaro has kept on cleaning the Linux kernel ARM tree for Exynos and ST Ericson SoCs. More work has been done on big.LITTLE for both IKS and HMP, as well as ARMv8 OpenEmbedded, and an initial GRUB port on ARM UEFI is now available. Here are the highlights of this release: Automation and Validation A simple CLI tool for communicating with […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments on Mini PCs (MK802+, UG802, GK802 & iStick A200) Linux Performance Comparison

Mini PCs (MK802+, UG802, GK802 & iStick A200) Linux Performance Comparison

Ian MORRISON (linuxium) has tested Linux with several mini PCs powered by different processors. The main point of his tests was to evaluate the performance difference between running Ubuntu 12.04 natively, or in a chroot in Android using tools such as Complete Linux Installer. I previously tried Linux on Android in ODROID-X, and found the applications start time when running from an low-end SD card pretty dismal, and the graphics performance poor.  Ian had a different approach, and decided to use a subset of Phoronix Suite benchmarks to compare different hardware / software combination and posted the results in “mini PCs” G+ community. There’s a lot of data, and analyzing the results is not really straightforward without spending some time looking at the data. In this post, I’ll explain how the tests have been conducted, explain the results and try to draw a conclusion. Mini PCs and other Hardware Under […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on Zealz GK802 Is (Temporary?) Available for $69.99 on GeekBuying

Zealz GK802 Is (Temporary?) Available for $69.99 on GeekBuying

Zealz GK802 is a mini PC based on Freescale i.MX6 Quad processor, with 1GB RAM, 8 to 16 GB internal memory (internal micro SD card). The main selling points of this HDMI dongle is that it’s the only currently available quad core processor (about to change), it’s hackable and unbrickable with easy access to the serial console, full support for Linux with hardware video decoding and 2D/3D acceleration (work in progress), and Freescale has released proper software and hardware development resources for the i.MX6 processor. As mentioned in my review of Hi802 mini PC, the downside is that Vivante GC2000 GPU performance is lower than the Mali-400 MP4 found in Rockchip RK3066 mini PC, and its price (usually above $90) is about double the price of Rockchip RK3066 mini PCs. We can’t do anything for Vivante GC2000 performance, but Roman found a coupon code “FVKIWVAG” on a Russian forum that […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 29 Comments on Ubuntu 11.10 Image for Hi802 / GK802 is Now Available for Download

Ubuntu 11.10 Image for Hi802 / GK802 is Now Available for Download

About 2 weeks ago, Jasbir released an Ubuntu 11.10 image and installation instructions for GK802 and Hi802 mini PCs based on Freescale i.MX6. I could only find time to give it try yesterday and today. I’ll provide the steps I followed to install the image, and my quick first impressions of the stability and performance of this image. Installation Instructions I mainly followed the instructions provided by Jasbir, and run GParted to increased the partition size on my micro SD card. The image is for a 8 GB micro SD, but those instructions should work on 4GB SD card and greater, as the rootfs partition is only 3GB large. Download the Ubuntu 11.10 image, uboot, as well as the kernel image and modules in a Linux PC:

Copy the image, uboot and the kernel to the micro SD card by typing the commands below:

Replace /dev/<sd_device> by your […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on SECO mITX GPU DevKit Features Nvidia Tegra 3, Supports CUDA 5

SECO mITX GPU DevKit Features Nvidia Tegra 3, Supports CUDA 5

SECO mITX GPU DEVKIT is a GPU computing development kit that provides a Mini-ITX Qseven 2.0 carrier board (SECO mITX Carrier Board) with a Nvidia Tegra 3 powered Qseven SoM (QuadMo747-X/T30). The carrier board provides a PCI-e x16 connector (PCI Express x4) intended to allow the connection of CUDA 5 enabled desktop graphics boards. Embedded Control Europe reports that the platform will support Nvidia Kayla platform. The main specifications of the platform are as follows: CPU – Nvidia Tegra 3 Quad-Core ARM Cortex A9 GPU – TBD. But you should be able to insert Nvidia graphics card via the PCI-e x16 connector (PCI Express x4) on the mini-ITX board Memory – 2 GB Storage – 4 GB eMMC + 1x SATA 2.0 Connector Network – 1x Gigabit Ethernet USB – 3x USB 2.0 + 1 OTG port Display – HDMI The platform will support Linux Ubuntu , as well as […]