Category: Allwinner A-Series

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Xibo for Android on Mele A1000 Set-top Box & WM8850-MID Tablet

Xibo for Android on Mele A1000 Set-top Box & WM8850-MID Tablet

Earlier this month, Xibo developers announced the beta version Xibo for Android was available for testing. Contrary to the Linux & Windows clients and servers which are open source, Xibo for Android is developed by Spring Signage and will available commercially. This sponsorship will help finance the development of Xibo open source software: the 2 clients (.net in Windows, Python in Linux), the server and API. The current beta version supports the most important features of the Windows client, but lacks support for Adobe Flash, Microsoft PowerPoint, Datasets, Microblog, Stats, Counter Media, Socket Listener, Lift/Serial Interface Support, Offline Update via USB Drive, Full Compositing (overlapping regions) and Video Transparency. If you want to test the Xibo client for android, you can register for the private BETA and download an APK (Xibo_Android_Clientv1.0.12.apk) to install on your Android devices. Being part of the BETA program will also guarantee you a price of […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 27 Comments on Jesurun Xplus H25 Mini PCs with Rotating HDMI Port, DLNA Support

Jesurun Xplus H25 Mini PCs with Rotating HDMI Port, DLNA Support

Jesurun Xplus H25 mini PCs are typical Android 4.0 AllWinner A10 and Rockchip RK3066 mini PCs, expect for one slight mechanical difference: The HDMI male port can rotate and possibly allow the mini PC to be inserted directly into the TV in case where other may not. Of course, one option could always be to buy a cheap HDMI rotating adapter or an HDMI cable to connect the device, but I find having this option within the device is neater. Let’s look at the specs of the single core version: SoC – AllWinner A10 with Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 4GB NAND Flash + TF card slot USB – 1x USB 2.0 OTGX + 1x  USB HOST + 1x mini USB HOST WiFi – 802.11b/g/n Video Container Formats – AVI, MKV, TS, TP, TRP, M2TS, MPG, MP4, M4V, MOV, VOB, MVC(3D) ISO, IFO, DAT, WMV, ASF/RM, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on XBMC for Linux on AllWinner A10 Devices? It Works! (Sort of)

XBMC for Linux on AllWinner A10 Devices? It Works! (Sort of)

Following the lack of support by AllWinner for the video engine libraries (CedarX), I had more or less given up on hope XBMC for Linux would ever run properly on AllWinner A10/A13 hardware. But recently, I found out some progress had been made using existing libs, and saw the Pengpod Tablet video showing XBMC running in Linux fairly smoothly. So I decided to cross-compile XBMC by following the instructions available at http://linux-sunxi.org/XBMC and trying to run it in Linaro ALIP 12.04 rootfs in my Mele A1000. Finally, I managed to cross-compile XBMC, but the performance was very poor in the GUI (6 to 12 fps) and I was unable to play videos and my serial console was flooded with messages like:

[Update: I managed to have XBMC Linux running & playing videos on Mele A1000 by using j1nx image (rootfs + kernel). I would first exhibit the exact same […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments on $100 Mele A1000G / A2000G Android Media Players with 1GB RAM and 8GB Flash

$100 Mele A1000G / A2000G Android Media Players with 1GB RAM and 8GB Flash

I’ve been asked by several people when there would be a Mele with 1GB RAM, well the time is now, with the Mele A1000G and Mele A2000G. Both appear to be based on the previous Mele A1000 and Mele A2000 set-top boxes, but feature 1 GB RAM and 8 GB Flash instead of 512 MB RAM and 4 GB Flash. Here are Mele A1000G & Mele A2000G Specifications: SoC – AllWinner A10 Cortex A8 processor @  1GHz System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage: 8GB NAND Flash  SD card slot (up to 32 GB) Connectivity: Wi-Fi – 802.11 b/g 10/100 MB Ethernet USB – 3 USB Host ports SATA Interface for 2.5″ HDD Video Output – HDMI, composite and VGA. Audio Output –  RCA stereo output and optical out (SPDIF) Audio Formats – MP3 / WMA / WAV / OGG / FLAC / MKA Video Formats – TS / M2TS […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on PengPod 700 & 1000 – Linux Tablets Based on AllWinner A10

PengPod 700 & 1000 – Linux Tablets Based on AllWinner A10

There are plenty of tablet based on AllWinner A10 and A13 processors, but all of them run Android, and you are out of luck if  you want to run Linux on your tablet, unless you hack this yourself. But this is about to change as PengPod will launch 2 tablets and 1 mini PC running Linux from NAND flash or micro SD card: PengPod 700 – 7″ tablet with Allwinner A10, 1GB RAM and 8GB Flash PengPod 1000 – 10″ tablet with AllWinner A10, 1GB RAM and 8GB Flash PengStick – AllWinner A10 mini PC with 1GB RAM and 4 GB Flash The table below gives more detailed specifications and comparison of the three devices. Device PengPod1000 PengPod700 PengStick Type Tablet Tablet TV Stick CPU Allwinner A10 AllWinner A10 AllWinner A10 Android 4 4 4 Linux 3.0.42 3.0.42 3.0.42 Screen 10” 7” External Resolution 1024×600 800×480 1080i Ram 1GB 1GB […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 29 Comments on Building Kernel Modules for AllWinner A10 Android Devices (e.g. Joystick Support)

Building Kernel Modules for AllWinner A10 Android Devices (e.g. Joystick Support)

Reader JP has enabled Joystick support in Android 4.0.4 on its Mele A1000, this now works with a Playstation2 joystick via USB adapter, a Huskee PC joystick, and 2 other unbranded joysticks. In order to enable Joystick support he had to build a kernel module, and encountered a few issues, so he wrote an how-to which shows what challenges he went through and what solutions he found to those issues.I’m sharing today a slightly edited version of this how-to. This How-to assumes that you have a valid Linux environment where you can build allwinner A10 kernel. The toolchain used was “Sourcery CodeBench for ARM GNU/Linux Lite“ which can be downloaded here: http://www.codesourcery.com/sgpp/lite/arm/portal/package7853/public/arm-none-linux-gnueabi/arm-2010.09-50-arm-none-linux-gnueabi.bin To install it, simply run:

You’ll also need the latest Allwinner A10 kernel source:

Then follow the usual procedure:

I then selected the modules needed for different kind of joysticks namely:

I saved the […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 27 Comments on $49 Cubieboard: AllWinner A10 Open Hardware Development Board

$49 Cubieboard: AllWinner A10 Open Hardware Development Board

The Cubieboard is a development board for the AllWinner A10 Cortex A8 processor. Contrary to some other AllWinner A10 “development board” that are simply based on a tablet  or mini PC PCB, the cubieboard has been designed specifically as a development platform and provides access to I/O pins. Here are the specs of this development board: SoC – AllWinner A10 1GHz ARM cortex-A8 processor with Mali400 GPU System RAM – 1GB DDR3 @400MHz Storage – 2 MMC slot Video Output – HDMI 1080p Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet USB – 2 USB Host, 1 USB OTG 1 IR sensor 96 expansion pins including i2c, spi, lvds, sata… Wi-Fi and Bluetooth can be supported via external USB dongle(s). The prototype above is the first revision of the hardware, and final hardware may look different. Some connectors (e.g. SATA) are not soldered in the picture above. The cubieboard is expected to be an […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Olimex A13-OLinuXino-WIFI Developer Edition is Now Available

Olimex A13-OLinuXino-WIFI Developer Edition is Now Available

Olimex has announced that they started shipping A13-OLinuXino-WIFI-DEV, an AllWinner A13 development board with 512 MB, 4GB and a Realtek RTL8188CU Wi-Fi module that costs 55.00 Euros with free shipping by courier for a limited time. They announced the start of this project late April, so it took them just 3 months to bring this board to to market. The board has the following specs: SoC – AllWinner A13 Cortex A8 processor at 1GHz, 3D Mali400 GPU Memory – 512 MB RAM Storage – 4GB NAND flash + SD Card slot Power – 6-16VDC input power supply, noise immune design USB – 3 + 1 USB Host, 3 available for users and 1 for Wi-Fi module + 1 USB OTG port Wi-Fi – WIFI RTL8188CU 802.11n 150Mbit module on board Video output –  VGA video output +  LCD signals available on connector. Audio Output / Input RTC – PCF8536 on […]