Android, Chromium OS, and Ubuntu on Intel Atom x5 Compute Stick. What Works, What Doesn’t.

The latest “STK1AW32SC” Intel Compute Stick, also called Sterling City, is powered by an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor with 2GB RAM and 32GB storage, and pre-loaded with Windows 10. There’s also a version with operating systems dubbed STK1A32SC, but currently only the Windows version is available on Amazon US. That doesn’t not mean you can’t try to install other operating systems on the TV stick, and that’s exactly what Ian Morrison has done with Android 4.4 & 5.1, Phoenix OS, Remix OS (alpha), Chromium OS, and Ubuntu.   If you want to know how to install the operating systems, you can follow the instructions for Ubuntu , Chromium OS, or Android/ Remix OS/ Phoenix OS. Bear in mind that installing Android also require that you install Ubuntu first, and there are quite a lot of steps, and once you’ve installed Chromium OS, you could also run Ubuntu using Crouton. So […]

Rho Board $35 Mstar MSO9280 Development Board Supports an Optional DTV Tuner (Crowdfunding)

Futarque A/S, a Danish company specializing in digital TV (tuners, IPTV), DVD and Blu-ray solutions, has developed the Rho Board powered by Mstar MSO9280 quad core ARM Cortex A7 processor with 1GB RAM and 4GB NAND flash, and featuring HDMI 2.0 output, a Raspberry Pi 2 compatible expansion header, and  a TV tuner connector for an optional DVB-T2/C tuner. Rho board specifications: SoC – Mstar MSO9280PBM quad core Cortex A7 processor with an hexacore (4+2) Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3-1666 Storage – 4GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot up tp 128GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0 and AV ports Audio Output – HDMI, AV and optical S/PDIF Video Codec – MPEG 1/2, 4K @ 60 fps AVC and 4K @ 30 fps H.265 Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports, 1x micro USB port Expansion 40-pin “Raspberry Pi” header TV tuner connector SDIO expansion […]

Intel Showcases Mobile & Desktop “Convergence” with Android and Debian Linux on an Atom x3 Smartphone

MaruOS is an operating system combining Android and Debian Linux that – until recently – was developed by a single developer for Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (ARM) based Nexus 5 smartphones, and use Android on the go, while switching to Debian when the phone is connected to a larger display and a keyboard and mouse. It turns out Intel had the same idea, and they worked on an Intel Atom x5 smartphone with 2GB RAM running both Android Lollipop in mobile mode, and Debian Linux as desktop mode when connected to a keyboard dock. Intel does not talk about convergence, but instead calls it “Big Screen Experience”. Based on the picture above taken by WinFutures.de at Mobile World Congress 2016, it appears you can also display both Debian and Android operating systems side-by-side if you wish to. They’ve also shot a video (in German) showing the smartphone run Android, and after […]

Hexiwear is an Open Source Wearable Development Kit Expandable with Add-on Boards (Crowdfunding)

MikroElektronika has designed Hexiwear, a wearable development kit that you can wear and hack as a smartwatch thanks to an (optionally) included wristband, or use a an IoT development kit thanks to its docking station taking up to three “Click” boards among a choice of over 180 modules. . Hexiwear hardware specifications: MCU – NXP Kinetis K64x ARM Cortex-M4 MCU @ 120 MHz with 1MB Flash and 256KB SRAM Storage – 8 MB Flash memory Display – 1.1” full color OLED display with capacitive touch Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0 LE and 802.15.4 via NXP Kinetis KW4x Cortex-M0+ wireless MCU Sensors -3D accelerometer and magnetometer (NXP FXOS8700CQ), 3-Axis gyroscope (NXP FXAS21002), pressure sensor (NXP MPL3115A2R1), light-to-digital converter, humidity and temperature sensor, heart-rate sensor (HRM) USB – micro USB cable for power and charging Misc – RGB LED, haptic feedback engine, docking connector Battery – 190 mAh 2C Li-Po battery; 600 mA […]

Makibes F69 IP68 Smartwatch & Fitness Tracker is Designed for Swimming

The market is flooded with wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers that all track activities (walking/running) with more or less accuracy, and while some offer good IP67 or IP68 ingress protection rating, or even better 5ATM rating, allowing them to be used in water, I have not found many that can actually track swimming patterns, especially among the cheaper ones. But that’s exactly what Makibes F69 sports smartwatch promises. Makibes F69 specifications: MCU/Memory/Storage – TBD Display – 1″ round capacity touchscreen display, 128×128 resolution, always on Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0 LE Sensors – 3-axis accelerometer and gyroscope, heart rate monitor Battery – 180 mAh charged via magnetic dock good for 6 days in power saving mode, 4 days in “healthy” hear rate mode, and 30 hours using the HRM in sports mode. Dimensions – 38 x38 x 10 mm (stainless steel case, silicon band) Weight – 34 grams IP […]

How to Configure DVB-S2 and DVB-T2 Tuners in K1 Plus Android DTV Receiver

I have previously reviewed VideoStrong K1 Plus Android TV box, but the company also has another model with the exact same name “K1 Plus” that includes a combo DVB-S2 & DVB-T2 tuner. That’s rather confusing, but nevertheless, since I now have the tuner version of the device, I’ve installed the latest firmware, started to play with it, and today I’ll explain how to configure DTV app for both satellite and terrestrial digital TV reception. Hardware Setup and DTV App The first step is to connect both your satellite dish and indoor or outdoor TV antenna to the device, as well as all necesarry cables, and possibly a USB hard drive if you want to use PVR function. Now go to the list of apps start DTV app, or press the DTV button on the remote control. Each time the app starts you’ll be asked to select DVBT2 or DVBS2, and […]

Samsung Unveils Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge Smartphones with Exynos 8890 or Snapdragon 820 Processor

As Mobile World Congress 2016 is about to start,  Samsung has officially announced Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones powered by either Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 in the US, or the company’ own Exynos 8890 in the rest of the world. Let’s see if beside faster and more efficient processors, the company has brought some other innovation, or if it is just another boring smartphone release. Both smartphones basically share the same specifications, and the main difference is that Galaxy S7 edge has a curved screen. SoC Samsung Exynos 8 Octa (Exynos 8890) octa core processor with four Exynos M1 core @ 2.3GHz + four Cortex A53 cores @ 1.6Ghz, and Mali-T880MP12 GPU, manufactured using 14nm process. Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad core Kryo processor with two cores @ up to 2.2GHz, and two cores @ up to 1.6GHz, an Adreno 530GPU, an Hexagon 680 DSP, and a 14-bit Spectra ISP. System […]

Kodi 16 “Jarvis” Release

This morning, I saw Kodi installed from Google Play get an update in one of my Android device, and that means that Kodi 16.0 “Jarvis” has now been released. As usual it’s available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Android, and iOS, with specific Linux ports for Raspberry Pi boards, and several Freescale/NXP i.MX6 boards such as Wandboard or EzeeCube. You can get the full Changelog in the Wiki, but some of the main changes against Kodi 15 include: Various new features for Live TV and PVR (Personal Video Recorder) Added RDS Radio, FM radio, scheduling recordings of TV shows… Various improvements such as speeding up EPG database access. Added, updated, and improved PVR backend clients addons for all popular third-party external PVR backend platforms: FilmOn, HDHomeRun, Enigma 2, Tvheadend HTSP Client, and so on. Add-ons Framework, API, and Manager improvements Platform Independent Playback improvements : software DTS-HD decode with libdcadec, […]