Allwinner H-Series Category - Page 31 of 34 - CNX Software

September 17, 2015September 22, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 35 Comments

Zidoo Releases Kodi Source Code Modifications for Rockchip RK3368 and Allwinner H3

Kodi is a popular open source media center, but many companies will not simply install the version released on Kodi.org, and instead modify the source code to bring their own improvements. However most companies never release the source as they ought to as per the GPL license used by Kodi. The good news is that Zidoo released their modifications for Rockchip RK3368 and Allwinner H3. Their modifications include support for 3D MVC,7.1 Channel HD Audio pass through, and HW decoding for Rockchip RK3368, and 5.1 audio pass-through, 4K @ 30 fps, and H.265 hardware video decoding for Allwinner H3. You can read the announcement on Kodi forums for RK3368 (Kodi 15.1) and H3 (Kodi 14.2). Kodi 15.1 source code for Rockchip RK3368 can be found on github (make sure to use zidoo-15.1 branch, and not master). In order to build Kodi yourself, you’ll however need the latest version of Rockchip […]

September 8, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

pcDuino8 Uno is an Allwinner H8 Octa-core Development Board with Arduino Headers

H7 Hummingbird development board powered by Allwinner H8 octa-core Cortex A7 processor with support for 1080p H265 video decoding launched this summer, but Merrii does not usually provide much support to individual developers. Linksprite is about to launch a new H8 development board that also comes with Arduino compatible headers. pcDuino8 Uno board specifications: SoC – AllWinner H8 octa-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor @ up to 2.0GHz with PowerVR SGX544 GPU @ up to 700MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 1.4 up to 1080p with HDCP support Audio I/O – HDMI, 3.5mm analog audio jack Connectivity – Ethernet (100M LAN shown on board, but “Gbps” listed in specs) USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 2x micro USB ports (1x OTG, 1x power only) Camera – 1x MIPI CSI header Expansion Headers – Arduino Uno headers with 14x […]

September 2, 2015September 2, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Debian 8 on Orange Pi mini 2 Board (Video)

Yesterday, I wrote a quick start guide for Orange Pi PC / 2 / Plus showing how to install Linux distributions on the board, and build your own image. With the launch of the $15 Orange Pi PC, Xunlong Software has taken over 1,500 orders for the board on their Aliexpress store, and probably sold a few hundreds or thousands in China via Taobao. So the board got relatively popular in a short time, considering it’s only selling via these two channels. I tested my tutorial with Orange Pi mini 2 ($23), a very similar board also based on Allwinner H3, but just a little larger and with an extra USB hosty port, but apart from that it’s similar to Orange Pi PC, and software compatible. I had already wrote about my test results in the previous article, where I did not recommend using the board in Linux as a […]

September 1, 2015March 13, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 66 Comments

Getting Started with Orange Pi PC, Pi 2 and Pi Plus Development Boards

I’ve recently received a kit based on Orange Pi mini 2 development board powered by Allwinner H3 quad core processor, but contrary to most other devices or boards I reviewed, this one what sent to me by one of my reader (thanks Jon!) as for various reasons he did not need to get it shipped to him. Today, I’ll start by showing off the kit I received, before writing a quick start guide showing how to install a Debian, and build your own Linux image. The instructions will work for all Orange Pi Allwinner H3 boards, including Orange Pi 2, Orange Pi Plus, and the recently launched Orange Pi PC, which has been rather popular thanks to its low $15 price tag. Orange Pi mini 2 Board Kit and CSI Camera This is what I got in the package… The board with a regulatory compliance and safety information sheet, as […]

August 26, 2015August 26, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 72 Comments

Orange Pi PC Allwinner H3 Board Is Now Available for $15

Orange Pi 2 is a board powered by Allwinner H3 quad core processor that sells for $25. Shenzhen Xunlong Software has now launched a lower cost version with Orange Pi PC, still based on Allwinner H3 SoC, but getting ridiculously cheap at $15 + shipping ($3.43 in my case). Orange Pi PC specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.6 GHz (likely 1.2 GHz instead) with an ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU up to 600 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot (up to 64GB) Video Output – HDMI with CEC and HDCP support, AV port Audio I/O – HDMI, AV port, on-board microphone Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB OTG port Camera – CSI Interface Expansions – 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible header with 28 GPIOs, UART, I2C, SPI, PWM, CAN, I2S, SPDIF, LRADC, ADC, LINE-IN, […]

August 13, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Zidoo X1 Android Firmware 1.0.7 Fixes Critical Kodi Playback Issues

I was quite disappointed when I wrote Zidoo X1 review, as Zidoo provided decent firmware with their Zidoo X9 recorder (albeit with some caveats), but Zidoo X1 with firmware 1.05 was a disaster while playing videos in Kodi either from the network or a USB hard drive, as even most H.264 videos could not play smoothly… I recommended prospective buyers to skip the box for now, as Kodi was not acceptable when Zidoo’s ZDCodec hardware decoding implementation was enabled. But the developers have quickly worked to fix critical bugs in Kodi, and provided a test APK that indeed fixed H.265, H.264, and MPEG2 videos, and improved greatly 4K video playback in Kodi with ZDcodec implementation. Since then, they’ve also fixed some other playback issues for video using VC1 codec, and released firmware 1.0.7 with the following changes: Kodi Fixed choppy video problems with online videos, such as YouTube Fixed choppy […]

August 6, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

How to Install and Run Linux on Zidoo X1 TV Box

Now that I’ve completed Zidoo X1 review, I’ve decided to try out Ubuntu on the mini PC following a tip from one reader that Orange Pi 2 images can run on the platform since it’s based on the same Allwinner H3 processor, but with some limitations such as WiFi not working. There are three Linux firmware images for Orange Pi 2 on the download page: Lubuntu, Raspbian, and Debian server. I decided to go with Lubuntu image. First you need to download Lubuntu_1404_For_OrangePi2-mini2_v0_8_0_.img.xz image from Google Drive or Baidu, uncompress it, and then flash the image to a Class 10 micro SD card in Windows or Linux. I ran the following command line in a computer running Ubuntu 14.04:

sudo dd if=Lubuntu_1404_For_OrangePi2-mini2_v0_8_0_.img | pv | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=16M

1	sudo dd if=Lubuntu_1404_For_OrangePi2-mini2_v0_8_0_.img \| pv \| sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=16M

Where X in sdX is the letter of your micro SD card, which you can find with lsblk. In some platforms, it might be /dev/mmcblkX instead of /dev/sdX. Once it’s […]

August 4, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 34 Comments

Zidoo X1 Android Media Player (Allwinner H3) Review

In theory, Allwinner H3 is supposed to be a better alternative to Amlogic S805 processor thanks to more powerful Cortex A7 cores, and support for 4K video output and playback, while Amlogic S805 only features four Cortex A5 cores, and support H.265 up to 1080p60 only. Zidoo X1 is one of the TV boxes recently released with H3 processor. If you’ve not read my two previous posts yet, you may want to check out Zidoo X1 specifications, as well as the unboxing and tear-down post. In this post, I’ll focus on testing performance, stability, and video playback capabilities with Kodi. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions I’ve connected an Ethernet cable, an HDMI cable, a USB hard drive, and a USB hub with a USB webcam, an two RF dongles for an air mouse and a wireless gamepad. The box will boot automatically as you connect the power adapter. Boot […]