Category: Testing

QA & Testing procedure, software and more.

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 50 Comments on Amlogic S905 Source Code Published – Linux, U-Boot, Mali-450 GPU and Other Drivers

Amlogic S905 Source Code Published – Linux, U-Boot, Mali-450 GPU and Other Drivers

Amlogic has an open linux website where they regurlarly release GPL source code, and with Amlogic S905 devices coming to market, they’ve released a few tarballs at the beginning of the month including Linux 3.14 source code, U-boot source code, and Mali-450MP GPU kernel source code (obviously not userspace), as well as some other drivers for WiFi, NAND flash, PMU, TVIN, etc… Let’s get to the download links: Linux 3.14.29 source code U-boot 2015.01 GPU drivers for ARM Mali-450MP Broadcom and Realtek Wifi drivers and firmware (November 4, 2015) can be found @ http://openlinux.amlogic.com:8000/download/ARM/wifi/. Other kernel modules (November 4, 2015) @ http://openlinux.amlogic.com:8000/download/ARM/modules/. I quickly tried to build the Linux source. If you’ve never build a 64-bit ARM kernel or app before, you’ll fist need to install the toolchain. I installed the one provided with Ubuntu 14.04:

Now extract the tarball and enter the source directory:

At first I […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 38 Comments on Videostrong K1 Plus Amlogic S905 Android TV Box Unboxing and Teardown

Videostrong K1 Plus Amlogic S905 Android TV Box Unboxing and Teardown

Many Amlogic S905 TV boxes have been announced, and thanks to Videostrong, I’ve received my first Amlogic S905 device for review with their K1 Plus media player (aka KI Plus). Today, I’ll start by listing the specifications, before taking a few pictures of the device and its board. with the full review following up in a few days. Videostrong K1 Plus Specifications K1 Plus is one of the entry level models with 1GB RAM and 8GB storage by default: SoC –  Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with  penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND flash (4 to 32GB optional) + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60Hz with HDCP 2.2 support, and 3.5mm AV jack Audio – HDMI, AV (stereo), optical S/PDIF Video Codecs – 10-bit H.265 up to 4K60, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Converting H.264 Videos to VP9 In Linux / Ubuntu

Converting H.264 Videos to VP9 In Linux / Ubuntu

1080p videos are all good, but my Internet connection’s upload speed is limited to 512 Kbps, so for example uploading a 20 minutes H.264 video shot at 1080p30 may easily take 10 hours, even after some processing with Handbrake. So this week-end I investigated how I could reduce the upload size, and going with H.265 codec appeared to be a good idea at first. So I tried again H.265 encoding in Handbrake in Ubuntu 14.04, and discovered that adjusting CRF (constant quality factor) to 25 with H.265 was roughly equivalent to 20 with H.264, and both the compression ratio and encoding speed were greatly improved compared to default settings with a minor degradation in quality. If you happen to have a second generation Nvidia Maxwell graphics card you may want to check Nvidia Video Encoding SDK for speedier encoding. All was good until I decided to upload a test video, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 31 Comments on TBS5520 Multi-Standard Tuner Box and Linux Drivers

TBS5520 Multi-Standard Tuner Box and Linux Drivers

TBS Technologies is a company that specializes in digital TV tuner cards for PC, and recently they’ve also worked on ARM based boards or devices such as the Matrix 2. The company has sent me one of their TBS5520 USB tuner board and box supporting DVB-T2, DVB-S2, DVB-C and ISDB-T for evaluation, as well as some Linux drivers. Today, I’ll provide some specifications, take some pictures, and show how I compiled and installed the drivers in my Ubuntu 14.04 computer. TBS 5520 Tuner Box specifications TBS5520 is a multi-standard USB tuner with the following features: USB – USB 2.0 device port Antenna connectors – 1x LNB IN, 1x RF IN Standards DVB-S2/S Symbol rate: 1~45Msps; FEC  DVB-S2: 8PSK: 3/5, 2/3, 3/4, 4/5, 5/6, 8/9, 9/10; DVB-S:  QPSK: 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8 DVB-T2/T  Receiving channel: VHF band, UHF band; Bandwidth: 1.7,5, 6, 7, 8 MHz; FEC: QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, 256QAM […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Ambiq Micro Apollo Low Power MCUs Promise Cortex M4F Performance at Cortex M0+ Energy Efficiency

Ambiq Micro Apollo Low Power MCUs Promise Cortex M4F Performance at Cortex M0+ Energy Efficiency

Ambiq Micro is a US company founded in 2010 that focuses on “extremely low power” semiconductors leveraging their patented Subthreshold Power Optimized Technology (SPOT) platform. Earlier this year, they announced their first low power Cortex-M4F MCU Apollo family with claims of 5 to 10 times lower power consumption compared to other micro-controllers with the same performance. According to an EETimes article, they’ve at least partially backed their claims with a live demonstration at ARM TechCon 2015.   Before checking out the test results, let’s have a look at the main features of Apollo MCU family: 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4F processor @ up to 24 MHz, with FPU, and wake-up interrupt controller with 12 interrupts Up to 512KB flash, 64-KB low-leakage RAM “Rich set of timing peripherals” Peripherals I2C/SPI master; I2C/SPI; UART; 10-bit, 13-channel, 1MS/s ADC Temperature sensor with ±2°C accuracy Voltage Range –  1.8 to 3.8V Power Consumption: active mode: 30µA/MHz (executing […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on Run x86 Linux and Windows applications in Raspberry Pi and other ARM Linux Devices with Exagear

Run x86 Linux and Windows applications in Raspberry Pi and other ARM Linux Devices with Exagear

A few weeks ago, I finally decided to buy a Raspberry Pi 2 board as it could always be useful for some testing, at least for comparison purposes. I ended up buying it from Ebay for $40, as it’s $3 to $5 more expensive locally. Nevertheless, I was not sure what I’ll use it first for, but after seeing a tweet for Exagear Desktop software that allows ARM boards to run x86 Linux or Windows applications, the latter through wine. The program is available for Raspberry Pi, Raspberry Pi 2, and ARMv7 devices for $19.95 to $29.95. I asked for a version for testing purposes, and I was given a Google Drive link to download Exagear for Raspberry Pi 2, as well as a 3-month trial key. Installation is very easy. I started by downloading and installing Raspbian Jessie the usual way on a 32GB micro SD card. It went […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on Intel Quark D1000 Customer Reference Board and Intel System Studio for Microcontrollers

Intel Quark D1000 Customer Reference Board and Intel System Studio for Microcontrollers

Intel unveiled Intel Quark D1000, D2000 and SE micro-controllers last week, with Intel Quark D1000 available now for $2.5 to $4 depending in quantities, and to my knowledge the first Intel MCU that can be considered ultra low power. I could not see a development board at the time, but Intel does have an Intel Quark D1000 Customer Reference Board with a familiar Arduino form factor. Intel Quark D1000 board specifications: MCU – Intel Quark D1000 32-bit CISC micro-controller @ 32 MHz Storage – 4MB SPI flash (Microchip ) Connectivity – Bluetooth LE radio, Wi-Fi (Inventek Systems Serial to Wifi module) Sensor – 3-axis accelerometer Expansion – Arduino compatible headers with GPIOs, I2C, SPI, UART, analog inputs, and 5V, 3.3V and GND. Debugging – mini USB port for programming and debugging; JTAG pins Power – 5V via mini USB port, or LiPo / Li-ion battery Dimensions – N/A Information about […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments on Ugoos AM1 TV Box and Some Amlogic S905 Benchmarks

Ugoos AM1 TV Box and Some Amlogic S905 Benchmarks

A few TV boxes based on Amlogic S905 processor are currently up for pre-order such as MXQ Pro and Beelink MINI MX mini PCs with 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, and which are due to ship later this month.  Ugoos is also working on their own AM1 TV box and AM2 TV stick based on Amlogic S905 processor, with some better specs, and today released a few more details about Ugoos AM1. Ugoos AM1 specifications: SoC –  Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 (Samsung);  4GB version likely later on Storage – 16GB eMMC flash + SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0 Audio – HDMI, optical S/PDIF Connectivity – 10/100/1000M Ethernet (Realtek RTL8211F), 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 (AP6335 module) USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports Misc – IR receiver Power Supply –  […]

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