Allwinner framework for their Video Processing Unit (VPU) in their Cortex A8 processors (A10, A13, etc..) is called CedarX. It relies on a binary blob that is working just fine for Android, but not so well for Linux. So several developers started to reverse-engineer CedarX a while back, to fix issues with Linux, and provide an open source driver. Yesterday, they upload a video to show the development progress, and show Big Buck Bunny 1080p H.264 playback using libvdpau-sunxi open source driver with mplayer, and without any binary blobs. The video resize function are not been implemented yet, which is why we can only see the left corner of video, but nevertheless it shows an open source hardware video decoder is on the way. That means once the Lima driver for Mali-400 GPU, and libvdpau-sunxi driver for AllWinner VPU are implemented (which may still take a while), AllWinner A10 SoC […]
Fedora 19 ARM Remix R1 Release With Support for AllWinner A10, A10s, A13 and A20 SoCs
After releasing a stable version of Fedora 18 for AllWinner A10 and A13 in February, Hans de Goede, working at Red Hat and a Fedora contributor, has recently announced “Fedora 19 ARM remix for Allwinner SOCs” on linux-sunxi community mailing list. This released based on Fedora 19 for ARM together with linux-sunxi kernel and u-boot, adds support for A10s and A20 based devices, and 38 boards and devices are now supported. To give it a try, download the 665MB image:
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wget http://scotland.proximity.on.ca/contrib-images/hansg/Fedora-19-a10-armhfp-r1.img.xz |
then write it to an SD card (8GB or greater):
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xzcat Fedora-19-a10-armhfp-r1.img.xz > /dev/[device] sync |
Where you have to replace [device] with your actual SD card device, e.g. sdc.Since u-boot is board/product specific, you’ll also have to update u-boot for your hardware. Remove the SD card, re-insert it, and run:<
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sh <uboot-part-mount>/select-board.sh |
to display a graphical menu (if dialog is installed on your Linux PC), or a list supported boards and products:
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Available boards: a10_mid_1gb A10 tablet sold under various names (whitelabel) a13_mid A13 tablet sold under various names (whitelabel) a10s-olinuxino-m A10s-OLinuXino-MICRO (Olimex) a13-olinuxino A13-OLinuXino (Olimex) a13-olinuxinom A13-OLinuXino-MICRO (Olimex) a20-olinuxino_micro A20-OLinuXino-MICRO (Olimex) auxtek-t003 Auxtek T003 hdmi tv stick auxtek-t004 Auxtek T004 hdmi tv stick ba10_tv_box BA10 TV Box coby_mid7042 Coby MID7042 tablet coby_mid8042 Coby MID8042 tablet coby_mid9742 Coby MID9742 tablet cubieboard_512 Cubieboard development board 512 MB RAM cubieboard Cubieboard development board 1024 MB RAM cubieboard2 Cubieboard 2 (A20) development board dns_m82 DNS AirTab M82 tablet EOMA68-A10 EOMA68 A10 CPU card gooseberry_a721 Gooseberry development board h6 H6 netbook hackberry Hackberry development board hyundai_a7hd Hyundai a7hd tablet inet97f-ii iNet-97F Rev.2 (and clones) tablet mele_a1000 Mele a1000/a2000 512 MB RAM mele_a1000g Mele a1000g/a2000g 1024 MB RAM mele_a3700 Mele a3700 (a1000g without sata) mini-x Mini-X 512 MB RAM mini-x-1gb Mini-X 1024 MB RAM mk802 mk802 (with female mini hdmi) 512 MB RAM mk802-1gb mk802 (with female mini hdmi) 1024 MB RAM mk802_a10s mk802 with A10s (s with a circle around it on the barcode label mk802ii mk802ii (with male normal hdmi) 1024 MB RAM pcduino pcDuino development board pov_protab2_ips9 Point of View ProTab 2 IPS 9" tablet pov_protab2_ips_3g Point of View ProTab 2 IPS tablet with 3g r7-tv-dongle r7 hdmi tv stick uhost_u1a UHost U1A hdmi tv stick wobo-i5 Wobo i5 TV Box xzpad700 XZPAD700 7" tablet |
Select […]
Rockchip RK3066 is Now Part of Mainline Linux Kernel
After AllWinner A10/A13 SoCs, it’s time for another Chinese SoC to be included into mainline kernel, with Rockchip RK3066(a). A few hours ago, Heiko Stuebner’s commit for basic support in Linux kernel 3.11 has been accepted. This is the commit message: This adds a generic devicetree board file and a dtsi for boards based on the RK3066a SoCs from Rockchip. Apart from the generic parts (gic, clocks, pinctrl) the only components currently supported are the timers, uarts and mmc ports (all DesignWare- based). Don’t get too excited though, as it may take a little while until you can actually build a kernel for Rockchip RK3066 or AllWinner A10 from mainline linux source code. But this is definitely another step in the right direction, and hopefully, Chinese SoC companies will eventually get involved, instead of relying on the community, as it is in their best interest. To access the full list […]
How-to Upgrade Firmware on AllWinner A31 mini PCs
I’ve just received a mini PC powered by AllWinner A31, and I had to (re-)install the firmware, so I’ll explain the steps I followed in this post. The procedure is for CS868 mini PC, but it should be similar for all Android HDMI TV dongles, and media players based on AllWinner A20 or A31.The procedure below only works in Windows, and has been tested in Windows XP. I’ll mention a possible method in Linux at the end of the post. Download the latest CS868 firmware and tools, and extract “cs868 firmware and update tool 20130507.rar” file Download PhoenixUSBPro tool in English, and extract This is optional as the Chinese version is included in rar file above. Double-click on PhoenixUSBPro/PhoenixUSBPro.exe to start the program Click on Update to upgrade the tool to the latest version if need be. Click on Key to to load the key file (AW_LCTOOLS.key), on Image to […]
N70-A and N70-B AllWinner A20 and A31 Based Android Netbooks with 13.3″ Display
Last year, H6 Android Netbook featured AllWinner A10 Cortex A8 processor, 1GB RAM, 4GB Flash, and came with a 10.1″ display with 1024×600 resolution, and people who tried did not seem very satisfied with their purchase. This year however, we should get more better hardware thanks to devices like N70-A and N70-B, respectively powered by AllWinner A20 with 1GB RAM, and AllWinner A31 with 2GB RAM, that both come with a 13.3″ display (1280×800). There’s also N101-A model powered by AllWinner A20, but it comes with a 10.1″ display with 1024×600 resolution. All models are available with 8, 16 or 32GB flash, feature Wi-Fi 802.11n and Ethernet connectivity, a 0.3MP front camera, an SD card reader, 2 USB ports, 1 HDMI output, as well as mic IN and headphone jacks. For some reasons, AllWinner A20 models runs Android 4.2.2, but AllWinner A31 still runs Android 4.1.2. You should be able […]
Allwinner Showcases A20, A31 and A31s Devices: Tablets, Phablets, Mini PCs, Projectors, Laptops, Development Boards…
Charbax is now at the China Sourcing Fair in Hong Kong, meeting and interviewing lots of Chinese companies. One of the companies I’ve been following is AllWinner because of their low-cost ARM Cortex processors, found in many Android devices, which somewhat support Linux. In the video below, we first learn they have shipped 1 million A31 in the last 4 months, A31s and A20 processors have been available since the end of March for phablets, and A20 price is supposed to be very close to A10. So products based on AllWinner A10 could be upgraded to AllWinner A20 for just a few dollars more as both SoC are (nearly) pin to pin compatible. By the way, if you’re interested in the Cubieboard, you may want to see this. We then go through lots of devices based on AllWinner SoC, albeit too fast to get many details, but the list may […]
AllWinner A20 Linux Source Code, EVB Schematics and Product Brief
Hardware based on AllWinner A20 such as Cloudsto Media PC PRO DRIVEDOCK, should start to be available soon, and resources for developers have been slowly released (or leaked) to the community. AllWinner A20 Source Code The source code for AllWinner A20 and A31 has been released to sunxi-linux a while back, and they have started to clean up the code before hardware becomes available. The code apparently hasn’t made it to sunxi-linux github account just yet, but Linux for A20 has been imported into github at https://github.com/amery/linux-allwinner/tree/import/lichee-3.3/a20-dev. AllWinner A20 is known as sun7i in the code. AllWinner A20 Evaluation Board Schematics and Product Brief Olimex received A20 EVB schematics and product brief from AllWinner earlier this week, and as usual, they promptly uploaded those documents to their github account. The 3-page product brief does not bring anything new, and the data sheet does not seem to be available right now. […]
DH108A Android 4.1 Media Player Powered by AllWinner A31
DH108A (aka K-A37) is the first AllWinner A31 Android set-top box I’ve ever come across. This full-sized media player comes with 2 GB RAM, 8 or 16 GB flash, and provides both Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity. This Android 4.1.1 STB has the following specifications: SoC – AllWinner A31 quad core Cortex A7 + PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 8 or 16GB NAND Flash + microSD slot Video Output – HDMI 1.4 Connectivity: Ethernet – 10/100 Mbps (RJ45 port) WIFI – 802.11 b/g/n USB – 4x USB Host* ports + 1 USB Device port (*Note: The specs on Alibaba indicate 4x USB OTG ports instead) Power supply – 5V/2A Weight – 110g Dimensions – 115x115x23 mm The device comes with a power adapter, a remote control, an HDMI cable, and a user manual. It may also be sold with a 2.4 GHz wireless mouse and keyboard […]