AMD G-Series Vehicle Computer: Portwell PCS8277

Portwell announced a vehicle PC (The PCS-8277) that features an AMD G-Series processor (T56N), 2 bays for SATA devices, 2 gigabit Ethernet ports, 2 USB port, support for wireless networking (3G, Wifi etc..) and a GPS receiver. This type of device is well suited for applications such as digital signage in public transport (subway, buses). PCS-8277 In-Vehicle PC has the following system and I/O specifications: CPU: AMD G-T56N Dual Core 1.6GHz System Memory: 2 x DDR3 1066MHz SO-DIMM up to 8GB Chipset: AMD A55E Controller Hub lrDA: IrDA (SIR, Consumer IR) with TTL level Audio: Realtek ALC662 HD Codec onboard Expansion: 2 x 2.5” drive bay for SATA Type Hard Disk Drive / SSD SIM Card Socket: 1 x SIM Card socket supported onboard with eject MIO: 3 x RS-232 (2 with RS-422/485) DIO: Port 4 in and 2 out with Relay 12V / 80mA USB: 4 x USB 2.0 […]

AMD G-Series based Ximea Currera-G Smart Camera running Linux

Ximea, a company based in Germany,  announced a new version of its Currera Smart Camera: the Currera-G based on AMD G-Series APU. Here’s an excerpt of the press release: The CURRERA-G Smart Camera from XIMEA GmbH, manufacturer of industrial, smart camera, and scientific imaging equipment, sets a new standard for machine vision smart camera processing power. The CURRERA-G Smart Camera houses a single-board-computer built around AMD’s new Fusion accelerated processing unit (APU), which combines the power of both CPU and GPU cores on a single die. “AMD’s Fusion processor means the CURRERA-G can deliver 90Gflops of processing power to tackle the toughest machine vision system applications,” says Vasant Desai, XIMEA Co-Founder and Managing Director. “Combining GPU cores on the same die as the CPU enables the heterogeneous system to offload computation intensive pixel data processing from the CPU to the GPU. Released form this task, the CPU can serve I/O […]

What is GENIVI ? A Software Standard for the Automotive Industry

I’ve recently read in the news that a few operating systems had achieved GENIVI compliance. So let’s see what Wikipedia says about the GENIVI Alliance: The GENIVI Alliance was founded on March 2, 2009 by BMW Group, Delphi, GM, Intel, Magneti-Marelli, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Visteon, and Wind River Systems with the goal of establishing a globally competitive, Linux-based operating system, middleware and platform for the automotive in-vehicle infotainment industry. Since then, the alliance has expanded to more than 100 members who are working together to deliver an open and globally consistent software platform based on Linux for use by the whole car industry. So the clear goal here is to have some set of software specifications and standards (Currently GENEVI 1.0)  in the automotive industry in order to speed time to market and reduce the cost of developing Infotainment applications. GENIVI comes from a concatenation of Geneva and IVI (In-Vehicle […]

Pandaboard Benchmark: Android (Pandroid) vs Linaro Android

Here’s a video with two Pandaboards (powered by TI OMAP 4) running Android. On the right, there’s Google’s Android, built with the gcc 4.4 toolchain provided by Google and the Pandroid kernel. On the left, there is a Linaro build, using Linaro’s gcc 4.5 toolchain and Linaro’s 3.0 kernel for the Panda board. There is a noticeable difference in the time taken by both boards to execute the demo. (Android Linaro being faster). The demo (Benchmark by 0xlab) uses software decode on both boards. They also showcase the Freescale i.MX53 and ST Ericsson Snowball development boards. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com

5 New Atmel SAM9 Processors: SAM9G15, SAM9G25, SAM9G35, SAM9X25, and SAM9X35

Atmel recently announced five new embedded processors for its SAM9 family all running at 400MHz,  featuring 100mW consumption,  support for DDR2 and NAND flash memory, with some models offering LCD touchscreen support and CAN interfaces: SAM9G15 based on ARM926EJ Embedded Microprocessor Unit with LCD, Touchscreen, HS USB and LPDDR/DDR2/MLC NAND support. SAM9G25 based on ARM926EJ Embedded Microprocessor Unit with Ethernet, HS USB and LPDDR/DDR2/MLC NAND support. SAM9G35 based on ARM926EJ Embedded Microprocessor Unit with  LCD, Touchscreen, Ethernet, HS USB and LPDDR/DDR2/MLC NAND support. SAM9X25 based on ARM926EJ Embedded Microprocessor Unit with Dual Ethernet, Dual CAN, HS USB and LPDDR/DDR2/MLC NAND support. SAM9X35 based on ARM926EJ Embedded Microprocessor Unit with LCD, Touchscreen, Ethernet, Dual CAN, HS USB and LPDDR/DDR2/MLC NAND support. The 3 new SAM9G processors are basically a lower cost version of the SAM9G45 with less cache, no video decoding support, etc… The 2 SAM9X processors are similar but feature […]

OMAP3 / OMAP4 Based Android Reference Designs for Smartphones and Tablets

Elektrobit (EB) announced their Specialized Device Platform (SDP), a reference design based on the Android operating system, targeted to Public Safety, Security and Defense, sectors with stringent compliance and regulatory requirements. The platform consists of form factor hardware that can be tailored to customer requirements. The current SDP has a TI OMAP 3 application processor, a high resolution touch-screen enabled display, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, 2G and 3G modems – LTE for Band 14 being an option and runs Android 2.2 (Froyo).  A version with TI OMAP 4 processor running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) will be available in H1 2012. Linux Angstrom will also be provided for the platforms. Here are the details specifications of both reference platforms: OMAP3xxx ARM Cortex-A8 core up to 1 GHz ARM TrustZone compatible security engine NEON™ SIMD coprocessor POWERVR™ SGX graphics accelerator TMS320C64x+™ DSP up to 600 MHz OMAP4xxx Dual ARM Cortex-A9 cores up to 1.5 […]

Low Cost Development Board Samsung Origen based on Exynos 4210

Late May, Samsung and Linaro announced Samsung Origen, a low cost development board (199 USD) based on Samsung Exynos 4210, that will use Linaro software and related development tools. This development board is mainly targeted for the development of products such as tablets, smartbooks, IVI, smartphone and other consumer products. Here are the technical details of the board: Cortex-A9 1.0 GHz Dual Core & NEON with leading GHz ARM Technology Samsung Exynos 4210 Advanced Low Power 45nm Application Processor Lower-BOM cost access to Exynos4210 processor with 1GB DDR3 RAM Multimedia Core with H/W Multi Format Codec provides 1080p@30fps HDMI, LCD / Touch screen support, WLAN/Bluetooth and camera. Extreme 3D Graphics Performance accelerated by Mali400 MP4. Wider Memory Bandwidth for Smartphone and Tablet Scenario. Richer Peripherals & High Speed Interface for system: 8ch I2C, HDMI, SATA, PCI Express, USB 2.0 HOST/OTG, 2x SD/MMC Card Slot Debugging Interfaces: JTAG, Serial/RS-232 port Dimensions: […]

Archos 80 and 101 G9 are now available on Amazon France

Archos Gen9 Android 3.1 Tablets are now available for pre-order on Amazon France. They come in four versions: Archos – 101 G9 – Tablet PC 10″ – OMAP 4 ARM Cortex Dual Core A9 – 250 Go Turbo – Wifi – Android – 399.99 Euros Archos – 101 G9 – Tablet PC 10″ – OMAP 4 ARM Cortex Dual Core A9 – 16 Go Turbo – Wifi – Android – 349.99 Euros Archos – 80 G9 – Tablet PC 8″ – OMAP 4 ARM Cortex Dual Core A9 – 8 Go – Wifi – Android– 249.99 Euros Archos – 80 G9 – Tablet PC 8″ – OMAP 4 ARM Cortex Dual Core A9 – 8 Go Turbo – Wifi – Android – 279.99 Euros If you are not yet familiar with the generation 9 products, have a look at the official Archos G9 presentation video below. There are also a […]