Rosie is a Military Grade Embedded mini PC Powered by Nvidia Tegra X1 Processor

Rosie, who also goes under the less fancy name ESG501, is a rugged embedded computer made by Connect Tech, powered by Nvidia Tegra X1 octa-core 64-bit ARM processor, compliant with MIL-STD 810g and DO-160G certifications for shock and vibrations, and IP67/IP68 ingress protection ratings for dust- and water-proofness. Rosie ESG501 specifications: SoC – NVIDIA Tegra X1 octa core Cortex A57/A53 processor @ with  256-Core Maxwell GPU System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 16GB eMMC Video Output – 1x HDMI Type A Video Inputs – 4 x Parallel or CSI-2/MIPI camera sensor inputs via SMA connectors Connectivity – 2x Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000) RJ-45 ports, 802.11ac 2×2 WiFi, and Bluetooth 4.0 (up to 24Mbps) with two antennas USB – 2x USB 2.0 Type A port Serial – 1x RS-232 with Modem (TX/RX/RTS/CTS) Power Supply – +9V to +36V Dimensions 163.6mm x 108.0mm x 96.3mm (without mounting brackets) 163.6mm x 146.1mm x […]

Astro Carrier & XBG201 Breakout Boards Are Designed for Nvidia Jetson TX1 Module

Nvidia unveiled Jetson TX1 system-on-module powered by their latest Tegra X1 processor, as well as a carrier board that fits into a mini-ITX case at the end of last year. However, if you need something more compact  and lightweight, Connect Tech designed Astro Carrier baseboard for Jetson TX1 module with about the same size, as well as a breakout board with connectors that can be customized as needed. Astro Carrier (ASG001) board specifications: SoM Connector – Samtec “SEARAY” high density board to board connector for Jetson TX1 module Breakout board connectors – 3x 60-pin high density connectors with HDMI, SATA,  2x Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000), 1x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, 2x RS-232/RS-485, 2x camera (CSI4), 4x GPIO…… Storage – micro SD slot On-board connectivity – GbE magnetics + Intel 82574 GbE PHY + magnetics Video I/Os 8x u.FL video inputs GMSL (Gigabit Multimedia Serial Link) signaling via 2x MAX9286 deserializer […]

SPMC 16.1.1 (Kodi 16.1 Android’s Fork) Adds Bluray 3D ISO Playback, HD Audio Pass-through, and Other Improvements

You may remember SPMC (Semper Media Center), a fork of Kodi/XBMC, was released a few years ago to fix some issues with Rockchip processors that would not make it to Kodi mainline code. Koying, the project’s developer, has now forked Kodi 16.1 to add some bug fixes and experimental features, and released SPMC 16.1.1. Changelog compared to Kodi 16.1: Based on Kodi 16.1 HD Audio pass-through (Nvidia Shield AndroidTV + some Amlogic devices such as Minix U1 & Wetek Core at least) Autostart at boot (xbmc.autostart=true in xbmc_env.properties) GUI size setting (Allows 4K GUI on Nvidia Shield) Only give codec priority to Mediacodec (Surface) for 4K Only stop video on minimize for Mediacodec (Surface) “System” screensaver to enable daydream; all other screensavers disable daydream Get removable storage names from system Basic Bluray 3D iso playback (experimental; amlogic) Android TV recommendations and voice search (experimental) SSL enabled MySql Stop video playback […]

Kodi 16 “Jarvis” Release

This morning, I saw Kodi installed from Google Play get an update in one of my Android device, and that means that Kodi 16.0 “Jarvis” has now been released. As usual it’s available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Android, and iOS, with specific Linux ports for Raspberry Pi boards, and several Freescale/NXP i.MX6 boards such as Wandboard or EzeeCube. You can get the full Changelog in the Wiki, but some of the main changes against Kodi 15 include: Various new features for Live TV and PVR (Personal Video Recorder) Added RDS Radio, FM radio, scheduling recordings of TV shows… Various improvements such as speeding up EPG database access. Added, updated, and improved PVR backend clients addons for all popular third-party external PVR backend platforms: FilmOn, HDHomeRun, Enigma 2, Tvheadend HTSP Client, and so on. Add-ons Framework, API, and Manager improvements Platform Independent Playback improvements : software DTS-HD decode with libdcadec, […]

Nvidia Shield Android TV vs Apple TV vs Roku 3 vs Fire TV vs Nexus Player – Video Capabilities and Features Comparison

Since Nvidia released the Shield Android TV box, I’ve heard several people saying Nvidia raised the bar and even disrupted the TV box market by bringing a powerful HTPC and gaming console to the market for just $199. The company has now released OTA 2.0 firmware that improves HTPC capabilities, including under Kodi and Plex, and the box supports for 10-bit HEVC, H.264, and VP9 @ 4K, and audio pass-through for HD audio codecs such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master. As part of the release announcement, Nvidia also compared the Shield TV media capabilities to the ones of other US centric media players, namely Apple TV (2015), Roku 3, Amazon Fire TV (2015), and Nexus Player. Since it comes from Nvidia, it was also going to show the Shield TV in a good light, but I’m very surprised to see that Apple, Amazon, Google, and Roku would ship a […]

Pixel C is an Nvidia Tegra X1 Android 6.0 Tablet & Laptop with a 2560×1800 Display

Google has already announced their latest Nexus 5X & 6P smartphones, as well as ChromeCast 2.0 & Audio, but the most exciting product announcement might be the Pixel C tablet boasting an Nvidia Tegra X1 processor with 3GB RAM, 32 to 64GB storage, and a 10.2″ touchscreen display with a cool 2560×1800 resolution. The tablet can easily be converted into a laptop thanks to an optional magnetically attached Bluetooth keyboard. Google Pixel C preliminary specifications: SoC – NVIDIA Tegra X1 octa-core processor with 4x Cortex A57 cores, 4x Cortex A53 cores, and a 256-core Maxwell GPU System Memory – 3GB LPDDR3 Storage – 32 or 64 GB internal storage Display – 10.2″ capacitive touchscreen with 2560×1800 resolution; 500 nit brightness Audio – Stereo speakers, four microphones Camera – Rear and front-facing cameras USB – USB Type C connector Battery – Yes… Dimensions & weight – No idea… Nvidia mentions that […]

Nvidia SHIELD TV Benchmarks in Ubuntu Shows Core i3 Like Performance

Nvidia SHIELD Android TV was announced this March with Nvidia Tegra X1 octa-core Cortex A57 + A53 processor. So far, I had not seen any Ubuntu or other Linux distribution port, but Michael Mirabel of Phoronix got remote access to a Shield TV PRO – model with a 500GB hard drive – running Ubuntu 14.10. It’s not clear who provided access, either Nvidia or third parties, but somebody posted an Ubuntu 14.10 port on XDA Developers Forums recently so it might be that one. He obviously ran Phoronix Test Suite on the device, and compared to it some other ARM devices (Compule Utilite, Jetson TK1), MIPS Creator CI20, low power x86 devices (Compute Stick, Intel NUC with Celeron N2820), and an Intel Core i3-5010u NUC. The Tegra X1 platform easily beats all other low power platforms, and comes close to the Core i3 mini PC in most tests. In the […]

Kodi 15 Isengard Release

After several months of development, including H.265 hardware decoding in Android, Kodi 15 “Isengard” has recently been released by the developers. It’s available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Android, and for the first time a stable release can directly be downloaded from Google Play store with so far over 400,000 active installs from the app store. Key features and improvements of Kodi 15 include: Android specific changes – 4K, refresh rate switching and H.265 for hardware that support it including several Amlogic platforms, and Nvidia Shield Android TV. Android 5.0 and greater is required. New chapter selector window – Allows users to visually browse and select chapters from mkv videos and other containers that support chapters Adaptive seeking (aka Skip Steps) – The more times a user presses a button to seek in a period of time, the larger the jump forward or backward will be. Audio and […]