Samsung Exynos Category - Page 28 of 35 - CNX Software

February 20, 2013February 20, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Canonical Unveils Ubuntu on Tablets

Yesterday, Ubuntu.com displayed a time counter for an announcement reading “Tic Toc Tablet Time” that ended being about Ubuntu on Tablets, and not an HTC Tablet running Ubuntu as some blogs speculated, as both companies had a timer counter set to expire at the same time for separate, and unrelated, announcements. The interface looks very much like Ubuntu for Phones with a similar “Welcome Screen”, except multiple users are supported, no icons (except for apps), and you can swipe around the 4 edges to access the dash, opened applications, notifications, and more. Canonical highlights 5 key features for Ubuntu on Tablets: Real multitasking – Run mobile and tablet apps at the same time on the same screen Secure multi-user Voice controlled HUD productivity Edge magic for cleaner apps – As I said previously no buttons, you control eveything from the edges. Content focus – Messages and media are easily accessible […]

February 19, 2013February 19, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 37 Comments

Ubuntu Linaro 12.11 with 2D/3D Mali-400 GPU Acceleration on ODROID-X Development Board

A few days ago, Hardkernel released the first version of Ubuntu 12.11 (Linaro) with Mali-400 GPU support for their ODROID boards (ODROID-X/X2, ODROID-U/U2). This is still WIP (Work in Progress), but this is one of the few boards together with Pandaboard, Origen and Snowball that can support 2D/3D GPU acceleration in Ubuntu Quantal. Since I have an ODROID-X development board, I decided to give it a try. There are different ways to install it. I chose the way that is most convenient for me (LCD display instead of HDMI), and likely to yield more performance (eMMC instead of SD Card). The current installation instructions to eMMC are extremely cumbersome and you have to go through 5 main steps: Install Android (yes, seriously) in the eMMC Install Ubuntu in the SD Card Install Ubuntu to the eMMC Upgrade Ubuntu to the latest version Install the Mali drivers In this post I’m […]

February 16, 2013February 16, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

ARM big.LITTLE Processing Demo (HMP) on ARM TC2 Test Chip

Samsung launched Exynos 5 Octa at CES 2013. This processor comes with 8 cores: 4 Cortex A15 cores and 4 Cortex A7 cores, and it’s the first processor that’s been announced to work in big.LITTLE configuration, where the big cores (A15) handle demanding tasks, and the LITTLE cores (A7) handle simpler tasks such as audio playback or background tasks. This is all done to optimize power consumption. There are 2 big.LITTLE software implementations: In-kernel switcher (IKS) and heterogeneous multi-processing (HMP). The first one is easier to implements but can only use 4 cores (in Exynos 5 Octa) at a time, and the second is more complex, but can handle all 8 cores, and assign individual tasks to a particular core. For more technical details about big.LITTLE implementations, you can read my previous post. ARM and Samsung recently uploaded a video providing an overview of big.LITTLE (but instead of IKS and […]

February 14, 2013July 21, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Open ARM GPU Drivers FOSDEM 2013 Video and Call to ARM Management

As I previously wrote, FOSDEM organizers are slowly uploading FOSDEM 2013 videos. One of the most interesting talk “Open ARM GPU Drivers” is now available. I’ve also uploaded it to YouTube (embedded below) to give it more exposure. Luc Verhaegen has also written a recent blog post entitled “Hey ARM!” where he announces the release of the modified source for Quake 3 Arena demo, and asks ARM to join them in making an open source driver. Open ARM GPU Drivers @ FOSDEM2013 This session covers the following key points: Problem – Binary drivers are mainly designed to run in Android, and it’s very difficult to have proper GPU drivers for Linux, and companies are not interested to release open source drivers or even just documentation, as they are not convinced it will benefit them in any way. Legal – This is actually the main issue, as open sourcing existing driver […]

February 13, 2013February 17, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 27 Comments

ARMBRIX Zero Cortex A15 Development Board Unboxing Pictures

I’ve just received an early sample of ARMBRIX Zero (aka ARMBRIX-5250-A), a development board based on Samsung Exynos 5250 dual cortex A15 processor with 2GB RAM, a microSD slot, 1x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0 Host, 1x USB Device, 10/100 Ethernet, HDMI output, SATA 3.0, some Audio I/O ports, and 3 expansions headers. This is basically a low cost version of the Arndale board, with things such as eMMC 4.5 (Sorry I’ve missed the eMMC socket at the back of the board) sensors missing. Today, I won’t turn the board on (I’ll explain why at the end of the post), but instead show some pictures of the development and debug boards. If you had previously seen the board picture before, you’ll noticed it has a grown a heatsink. The heatsink is probably here to stay, but may be slightly different (e.g. lower) when you receive your board. The bottom acrylic […]

February 1, 2013February 1, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Linaro 13.01 Release with Linux Kernel 3.8 and Android 4.2.1

Linaro has just announced release 13.01 which includes Linux Kernel 3.8-rc4 and Android 4.2.1. A lot of work seems to have gone in Arndale board and OpenEmbedded ARMv8. It’s the first time an Ubuntu image is released for Arndale Cortex A15 development board. One the kernel side some Android upstreaming work has been done, as well as some fixes for eMMC, and code for ST Ericsson Novathor 8500 SoC has been reorganized. Version 14 of the big.LITTLE MP (Multi Processing) has been released. The LEG has done further work on Linaro UEFI and GRUB. Here are the highlights of this release: Android Platform Work The first step of the android-build front-end update for new build program has been landed. Origen and Versatile Express manifests have been consolidated into a single manifest. linaro-android-tools were developed to improve development time for kernel developers. See Kernel Update Tools for details. The android-build scripts […]

January 16, 2013January 19, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

DaVinci Movile Kite Full-HD Tablet Boots Android and Ubuntu

DaVinci Mobile, an Italian company, has just announced a Samsung Exynos 4412 quad core tablet running Android 4.0 (ICS) and Ubuntu 12.04 Precise that should sell for 373 Euros in Italy, or just 29 Euros with a subscription. The specifications of this tablet are as follows: SoC – Samsung Exynos Quad-Core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.4 Ghz + Quad-Core Mali-400MP GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 32GB flash + microSD card socket Display – 10.1 “IPS Multi-touch Capacitive Panel (1920×1200) with a viewing angle of 178 ° Connectivity Wi-Fi – 82.11 b/g/n Bluetooth 4.0 GPS- A-GPS Sensors – Gyroscope Camera – VGA front camera, 2.0 MP rear camera USB – miniUSB port Audio I/O – 3.5 mm jack for headphones Battery – 5400mAh 3.7V Weight – 539g Dimensions – 258.3x164x9.5mm The hardware specifications appear to perfectly match Ramos W30HD tablet, sold for less than $300 on Chinese websites […]

January 10, 2013January 10, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Samsung Exynos Octa big.LITTLE 8 Cores SoC Announced at CES 2013

Samsung Electronics unveiled the very first big.LITTLE Cortex A7/A15 SoC at CES 2013. Exynos Octa will feature 4 Cortex A15 cores together with 4 Cortex A7 cores, and make use of big.LITTLE processing to optimize energy using In-Kernel Switching (IKS), where the kernel uses Cortex A15 or Cortex A7 cores depending on the load, or Heterogeneous MultiProcessing (HMP), where different tasks are assigned to different cores, and both Cortex A15 and A7 can be used simultaneously. Check my earlier post “Big.LITTLE Processing Implementations and Current Status” for an overview on how this all works. The new Intel processors for smartphones/tablets are now very close to ARM when it comes to power consumption, and ARM may regain a clear lead thanks to big.LITTLE processing technology, which is currently shown to consume about 40% less power than equivalent tasks run on Cortex A15 (only) processors. Samsung claims it may offers up to […]