It’s fun to report about the latest gadgets, but sometimes it can be a good idea to look back at older devices to find if there are any good deals out there. TV boxes and sticks based Rockchip RK3188 quad core Cortex A9 processors were clearly the most popular in 2013 and early 2014, and in many respects their performance is still quite similar to the one of recent 64-bit platforms barring new features such as H.265 and 4K video capabilities. The good news is that you can now get RK3188-T TV sticks such as CX919 or MK809IV with 2 GB RAM for about $30 shipped. CX919 and MK809IV are very similar specifications, except CX919 comes with an external antenna [Update: MK809IV also has a retractable antenna, see red slider on picture above]: SoC – Rockchip RK3188-T quad core Cortex A9 @ 1.4Ghz + Mali-400MP4 GPU System Memory – 2GB […]
Tronsmart BJ19 Mini PC based on Intel Celeron J1900 Sells for $60 (Promo)
Tronsmart BJ19 is a barebone mini PC powered by Intel Celeron J1900 quad core “Bay Trail-D” processor with SO-DIMM slots for memory, and a SATA interface for a 2.5″ hard drive or SSD in a form factor similar to Intel NUC. It was launched last year, but GeekBuying is probably getting rid of stock, as it is selling it for just $59.99 shipped. Let’s remind us of the specs: SoC – Intel Celeron J1900 Quad core processor @ 2.0 GHz (base) / 2.41 GHz (burst) with Intel HD graphics (10W TDP) System Memory – DDR3L 1333/1666 MHz SO-DIMM slot Storage – 2.5″ SATA hard drive or SSD Video Output – mini HDMI + mini DisplayPort Audio – mini HDMI, 3.5 mm jack for headphone and MIC-in Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, mPCIe Wi-Fi (2.4GHz) and Bluetooth 4.0 module USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x USB 3.0 port. Misc – […]
Ugoos AM1 Android TV Box Giveaway
I reviewed Ugoos AM1 TV box based on Amlogic S905 processor a few weeks ago, and while the hardware was rather good, and found the firmware lacking with some bugs such as the remote control and one USB port not port, some instability issues with Google play and Kodi, Bluetooth transfer corruption, etc… The company has now released a firmware update (v 0.0.4) that will fix most of the issues I reported, and also sent me a new remote control as the one I had was an early model, and we’ve decided to giveaway one Ugoos AM1 to one lucky winner, the same way we had done for Ugoos UT4. The Rafflecopter form below has three options, each optional, but if you do all three you’ll get more chances to win. The contest will run for 4 days until March 16 10am (GMT+7), I’ll select the winner randomly through RaffleCopter, […]
96Boards Hikey Development Board is Now Officially Supported in AOSP
Hikey is a one of the first 96Boards compliant development board manufactured by either LeMaker in China and CircuitCo in the US, and while the hardware requirements of 96Boards specifications are rather easy to meet, the software requirements including “bootloader (open source), accelerated graphics support (binary or open source), a Linux kernel buildable from source code based from mainline, or the latest Google-supported Android kernel version” are much harder to comply with. Linaro had a very good news for Linaro Connect Bangkok as they announced Hikey board was supported in Android Open Source Project (AOSP). So that means Hikey board will run the latest version of Android like Google Nexus devices, with the advantage of also getting more recent devices. If you want to build an Android image from AOSP just retrieve the source code:
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repo init -u https://android.googlesource.com/platform/manifest repo sync -j8 |
Grab & extract vendors binaries for Hikey from Google.com. and complete the build:
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source build/envsetup.sh lunch hikey-userdebug make -j8 droidcore |
[…]
Unuiga S905 TV Box Runs Remix OS 2.0 on Amlogic S905 Processor (Crowdfunding)
There are many Android TV boxes based on Amlogic S905 processor on the market selling for as low as $40 shipped, and hardware-wise Unuiga S905 and S905+ TV boxes look quite similar to their competitors with respectively 1GB RAM and 16GB flash, and 2GB RAM and 32GB flash, but the main differentiating factor is official support for Remix OS 2.0. Unuiga S905 and S905+ specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – S905: 1GB RAM; S905+: 2GB RAM Storage – micro SD slot; S905: 16GB flash, S905+: 32GB flash Video Output – HDMI 2.0, AV Audio – HDMI, AV, coaxial S/PDIF Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet WiFi – S905: 802.11 b/g/n; S905+: dual band 802.11 b/g/n/ac Bluetooth 4.1 (according to comment on YouTube) USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports Misc – IR receiver, touch button for power on/off and […]
Axiomtek ICO310 Din-rail Industrial IoT Gateway Supports Power over Ethernet (PoE)
Axiomtek ICO310 is a din-rail IIoT (Industrial IoT) embedded platform powered by Intel Celeron Braswell processors supporting up to 8GB RAM, PoE, and featuring two Gigabit LAN ports, RS-232/422/485 ports, USB 2.0 & USB 3.0 ports, one VGA port, and one DIO interface. It also support mSATA and SATA drives, and wireless module via mPCIe interfaces. Target applications include smart energy, smart factory automation, facility monitoring systems and more. Axiomtek ICO310 Specifications: SoC Intel Celeron N3060 dual core processor @ 1.6GHz / 2.48 GHz (Turbo) with Intel HD graphics 400 with 12EU @ 320/600 MHz OR Intel Celeron N3160 quad core processor @ 1.6GHz / 2.24 GHz (Turbo) with Intel HD graphics 400 with 12EU @ 320/640 MHz System Memory – 204-pin SO-DIMM DDR3L-1600 socket up to 8 GB Storage – 1 x mSATA, 1x SATA SSD (or HDD) Video Output – VGA Connectivity 2x 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet, including 1x PoE PD […]
BeagleBone Enhanced Adds Gigabit Ethernet, More Memory & USB Ports, and Sensors (Crowdfunding)
It’s nice to see BeagleBone Black‘s open source hardware being leveraged by third parties, as we’ve already seen designs such as BeagleBone Green and BeagleBone Black Industrial 4G in the past, and now UK based SanCloud has decided to launch BeagleBone Enhanced on Indiegogo (flexible funding). BeagleBone Enhanced board specifications with bold highlights showing improvements over the BeagleBone Black Rev. C: SoC – Texas Instruments Sitara AM3358 Cortex A8 @ 1 GHz + PowerVR SGX530 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 RAM @ 800 MHz Storage – 4GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot, optional 1MB SPI NOR flash USB – 2x USB 2.0 host port (A type), mini USB OTG port, 2x USB interfaces via expansion header Serial Port – UART0 via 3.3V TTL header Ethernet – Gigabit Ethernet Video Output – micro HDMI with EDID support, up to 1280×1024 resolution. Audio Output – Via HDMI Sensors Optional 6 […]
Amlogic 2016 Roadmap Reveals Upcoming S905D Processor, Android 6.0 for Amlogic S905 and S912 SoCs
A new Amlogic roadmap reveals the company will release at least three new processors this year: Amlogic S905X, Amlogic S912 and Amlogic S905D all based on four to eight ARM Cortex A53 cores, and that Android 6.0 support is coming to Amlogic S905 X/D and S912 processors. Since the processors are in development, there are always some tweaks and new information about the specifications, as now Amlogic S905X and S912 quad and octa core processors will be clocked at 2.0 GHz (instead of just 1.5GHz as previously reported), and S905X will support 2-layer PCB, while all other recent Amlogic processors require 4-layer, which promises some very cheap 4K TV boxes with H.265 and VP9 support. Amlogic S912 will apparently not support USB 3.x since the new document only shows 3x USB 2.0 interfaces for the SoC. Amlogic S905D is similar to S905X except it supports Gigabit Ethernet (RGMII), TS video […]