Build a Raspberry Pi 2 Minimal Image with The Yocto Project

The Yocto Project is a build system that allows developers to make custom Linux distributions matching their exact needs. I’ve already shown how to build a 12MB Compressed image for the Raspberry Pi with Yocto, but the Raspberry Pi 2 has recently been added to the project, so I’ve tried to build it too in a machine running Ubuntu 14.04. I’ll use poky since it’s the default, but you could also build the system for Angstrom or without distributions (OpenEmbedded Core only). The steps to get the code is just the same as for the Raspberry Pi:

You just need to checkout master, and not any branch (like dizzy) since R-Pi 2 is not yet supported in any release. Initialize some environment variables and the build directory:

Now edit conf/local.conf with vim or nano to set the machine to raspberrypi2 instead of qemux86:

There are more Raspberry […]

SoundMate WM201 Wi-Fi Music Streamer (EZMusic) Review

Last year I reviewed SoundMate M2 Wi-Fi audio streamer, and Uyesee has sent me a sample of their new SoundMate WM201 powered by Actions Semi AM8253, and based on EZCast app for audio calld EZMusic (EZCast Music). SoundMate WM201 Unboxing Pictures That’s the package for the device. The device comes with two audio cables, a micro USB to USB cable for power, and “SoundMate WiFi Music Streamer” user manual. Let’s have a closer look at the tiny box. Two LEDs are located on the front for power and connection, a micro SD slot can be found on the side, and the rear panel has most of the connection: micro USB port for power, reset pinhole, optical SPDIF, 3.5mm stereo jack, and USB 2.0 host for mass storage. SoundMate WM210 Teardown Take out of four sticky rubber pad on the bottom of the case, and loosen four screws to remove the […]

Nvidia Tegra X1 Gets About 75,000 Points in Antutu

Nvidia Tegra X1 was expected to outperform the competition, but based on Antutu results provided by Mydrivers, the performance leap might be greater than expected, as Nvidia Tegra X1 reference tablet gets 74,997 points in Antutu 5.6.1. As usual caution is warranted with Antutu results, as the benchmark is easily cheated, which explains why Allwinner A80T devices can get over 140,000 points. But let’s assume Tegra X1 result is representative and compare it to its predecessor the Tegra K1. Surprisingly I struggled to find a detailed Antutu 5.x score for the Nexus 9, and I had to get the scores from that video with Antutu 5.2.0. Nexus 9 (Tegra K1 64-bit) Tegra X1 Reference Platform Ratio Antutu 57040 74977 1.31x Multitask 11817 9217 0.78x Runtime 4146 4758 1.15x CPU integer 3038 11295 3.72x CPU float-point 1939 7274 3.75x Single-thread integer 2920 3206 1.10x Single-thread float-point 2831 2878 1.02x RAM operations […]

HPH NT-V6 Firmware V1.4.4 (Rockchip RK3288) Fixes Ethernet Performance, Adds Smartphone App

When I first started to review Rockchip RK3288 based TV boxes I noticed several had critical issues with Ethernet including Nagrace HPH NT-V6 and Kingnovel K-R6. The main cons of the Nagrace media player included: XBMC has too many issues: VC1 not supported, H.265 support only partial, audio/video sync issue, some MPEG-2 and XVID videos are skipping frames, some of the 4K videos I used could play properly, etc… Some MPEG-2 file won’t play smooth in either XBMC or MX Player Potential Ethernet issues, confirmed with my Gigabit switch (D-Link DSG-1005A) and 10/100Mbps D-Link router (configured as a switch). Since then SPMC and Kodi must have improved video playback issues, but as late as last month I still got feedback from one person (Mr. B.) complaining about Ethernet on HPH NT-V6, but he finally got an email with a new firmware that is said to fix the Ethernet issues and […]

Android 4.1 vs Android 5.0 Performance Comparison

Most of the time people compare the performance of different hardware platforms, but since Wandboard released an Android 5.0 image in the last few days, I wondered what difference two years of software development may make by comparing benchmark results. So I ran both Antutu 5.6.1 and Vellamo 3.1 on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean (android-4.1.2-wand-dual-20130411.zip) and the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop firmware for Wandboard Dual (Freescale i.MX6 Dual) development board. Android 4.1.2 Benchmark Results Antutu 5.6.1 Vellamo 3.1 You’ll notice the yellow triangle on the top right corner of the multicore and browser results due to some warning related to missing CPU frequency information, and a DOM timeout. Android 5.0 Benchmark Results Antutu 5.6.1 The 2D graphics looked weird at some point as it zoomed out on1/4 of the display. The screenshot did not show the total score, so I added it manually to the picture above. Vellamo 3.1 Vellamo […]

Power Consumption of Amlogic S812 and Rockchip RK3288 TV Boxes

The recent post comparing the power consumption of ODROID-C1 vs Raspberry Pi boards, as made me want to give another try at power consumption measurements. Regular reader already know I made a power measurement board and cables capable of hading different connectors (micro USB, mini USB, power barrels,  etc..), but eventually it failed to deliver enough current to the boards for any meaning testing. But since I now have a better power supply, and multi-meter, it was worth another try, especially since I could draw some pretty charts. I decided to test the three most popular Chinese SoCs for mini PCs namely Amlogic S812 (4x Cortex A9), Rockchip RK3288 (4x Cortex A17), and Allwinner A80 (4x Cortex A15 + 4x Cortex A7) using respectively Eny M8S, Open Hour Chameleon, and A80 OptimusBoard. If you are paying attention, you must have noticed Allwinner A80 is not part of the title, that […]

HD18T Android DVB-T2 Receiver Mini Review

I’ve had HD18T Android TV box with a DVB-T2 tuner for several months, but I’ve only installed a roof antenna recently, so I’ve decided to give it another try since my indoor antenna did not pick-up any signal with that box. The set-top box is also known as EM6-T2 or HD18T2, and features Amlogic AML8726-MX dual Cortex A9 processor which has been used in numerous boxes in the past, so I will only focus on my experience with the DVB app in this mini review. If you want to use DVB-T2 go straight to the right and click on DVB app. Where you’ll then be greeted with a pop-up windowsasking if if you want to scan channels. You can do autoscan, manual scan (for one frequency), select the area (France/Taiwan/UK/Italy/Australia only), and enable/disable LCN (Logical Channel Numbering). At first I selected “Australia”, and the system did not find any channels, […]

How To Install Ubuntu 15.04 on MeLE PCG03 Intel Mini PC

I’ve already spent some time to test MeLE PCG03 Bay Trail-T mini PC in Windows 8.1, including a detailed video and audio review in Kodi 14.1. Since I don’t have anything else to do with Windows on the machine, I’ve decided to install Ubuntu instead, completely wiping out Windows 8.1. Since you pay around $30 for the Windows license, MeLE PCG03 is not the ideal platform computer for this little exercise due to the extra cost, but it should also work with other Intel Atom Z3735F based computer that may not come with a license. At first I planed to go with Ubuntu 14.10 Mate ISO image, and it boots fine, but was curious to try from “scratch” with another ISO, so I went with Ubuntu 15.04 Alpha 2 (64-bit) image. I just went to the first link Google Search provided me and did not pay attention enough, and ended-up […]