How to Convert Your HDTV into a Massive Touchscreen Enabled Android Tablet

Thanks to Android mini PCs, it’s now very easy and cheap to run Android on your HDTV, but most of the time touchscreen functionality is missing. There are already full products such as AIO Android PCs, and Smart Displays that brings Android to large display with touchscreen, and PQ Labs iStick A200 HDMI TV stick supports directly their overlay touch frames so you can “touchscreenize” your TV with their mini-PC and correct frame connected via USB. If you’d rather use another model of infrared touch frame for your TV and own Android device, Hardkernel has just explained how to do in the February edition of ODROID magazine using their ODROID-XU development board. In the magazine, they explain some details about the difference between capacitive and infrared touchscreens, and provide instructions to choose the right IR touch frame, how-to modify the software if necessary, and how to connect the touch frame to […]

Radxa Rock and ODROID-U3 Quad Core Development Boards Comparison

If you want a quad core development board for less than $100, you only have two choices right now: Radxa Rock powered by Rockchip RK3188, and Hardkernel ODROID-U3 powered by Samsung Exynos 4412 prime. There are also a few Freescale i.MX 6Q boards such as Wandboard Quad and UDOO Quad for around $130 which you could consider because of potentially better software support and features like SATA, but in this post, I’ll compare Radxa Rock and ODROID-U3 to help you decide which one may be right for your application or project. Let’s get right to the subject, with a side-by-side comparison table. Radxa Rock Hardkernel ODROID-U3 Comments Processor Rockchip RK3188 ARM Cortex-A9 quad core @ 1.6Ghz Samsung Exynos 4412 Prime quad core Cortex A9 @ 1.7 Ghz Slight advantage for ODROID-U3, but it’s basically a draw. GPU ARM Mali-400 MP4 GPU ARM Mali-400MP4 GPU @ 440MHz Same GPU, that’s a […]

Hardkernel Unveils $59 ODROID-U3 Board Powered by Exynos 4412 Prime Quad Core SoC

Hardkernel ODROID board family already features of the most cost effective development / hobbyist boards in the market. But the company has done it again, with ODROID-U3 a quad core board, software compatible with ODROID-U2, that sells for just $59 + shipping. ODROID-U3 specifications: SoC – Samsung Exynos 4412 Prime @ 1.7 Ghz with ARM Mali-400MP4 GPU @ 440MHz System Memory – 2GB @ 880MHz Storage – microSD slot, eMMC module socket USB – 3x USB 2.0 Host ports, 1x USB 2.0 device for ADB/mass storage Ethernet – 10/100Mbps (LAN9730) Video Output – micro HDMI Audio Output – 3.5mm Jack, micro HDMI System Console – UART (1.8Volt) DC Power – 5V/2A PCB Dimension – 83 x 48mm Weight – 48g with heatsink The company provides images and source code for Xubuntu 13.10, Android 4.x with u-boot 2010.12 and kernel 3.8, as well as the schematics (PDF). Support is available on […]

Hardkernel ODROID-XU Lite Development Board Features Exynos 5410 @ 1.4GHz for $139

Hardkernel ODROID-XU development board launched for $149, and now costs $169. Hardkernel has recently announced a cost-down version named ODROID-XU Lite, with almost exactly the same specifications: Samsung Exynos 5410 Octa Core big LITTLE Cortex A15/A7 processor, 2GB RAM, eMMC storage, etc.. The only differences are that the Cortex A15 cores are clocked up to 1.4GHz instead of 1.6GHz, and you’ll save $30, as the Lite version costs $139. Here’s a reminder of the specifications: SoC – Samsung Exynos5 Octa Cortex-A15 @ 1.4GHz and Cortex-A7 big.LITTLE processor with PowerVR SGX544MP3 GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 RAM Storage – micro SD slot, eMMC 4.5 connector Video Output – micro HDMI + MPI LCD interface and Touch screen I2C ports (IPEX-40PIN) Audio – micro HDMI, headphone jack, MAX98090 Audio Codec Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet via USB 2.0 (LAN9730) USB – 1x USB 3.0 Host, 1x USB 3.0 OTG, and 4x USB […]

Hardkernel ODROID-XU2 Development Board with Exynos 5420 Coming Up in Q1 2014

Insignal recently announced that Arndale Octa with an Exynos 5420 was available for pre-order with shipping expected in December 2013, making it the first company providing a low cost big.LITTLE development board. But there will be some competition as Hardkernel will launch ODROID-XU2 also based on Samsung Exynos 5420 octa-core processor according to a tweet by SamsungExynos official twitter account. The board is also briefly mentioned in an article in Samsung website as it was showcased at ARM Techcon 2013. That’s actually all the information I have. There’s a brochure on ARMFlix’s video, but it’s unreadable. However, we can derive (guess) some of the specifications based on the picture above and ODROID-XU specs: SoC – Samsung Exynos 5420 octa core SoC with 4x Cortex A15 cores up to 1.8 GHz, 4x Cortex A7 cores up to 1.3 GHz in big.LITTLE configuration, and ARM Mali T-628 MP6 GPU System Memory – […]

$149 Hardkernel ODROID-XU Octa Core big LITTLE Development Board

Just a few days after noticing code for ODROID-XU in hardkernel repository, the company has now launched ODROID-XU development board powered by Exynos 5410 octa core processor with 2GB RAM, USB 3.0, and more for just $149 (as long as you order in August, $169 after that). Here are ODROID-XU hardware specifications: SoC – Samsung Exynos5 Octa Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A7 big.LITTLE processor with PowerVR SGX544MP3 GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 RAM Storage – micro SD slot, eMMC 4.5 connector Video Output – micro HDMI + MPI LCD interface and Touch screen I2C ports (IPEX-40PIN) Audio – micro HDMI, headphone jack, MAX98090 Audio Codec Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet via USB 2.0 (LAN9730) USB – 1x USB 3.0 Host, 1x USB 3.0 OTG, and 4x USB 2.0 Host Expansion Header – 30 pins (GPIO/IRQ/SPI/ADC) Misc – PWM connector for Cooler, Power Supply – 5V/4A (Plug specification is inner diameter 2.1mm and […]

Hardkernel is Working on ODROID-XU Development Board Based on Exynos 5410 Octa Core Processor

Hardkernel have already done a good job at bringing low cost, high performance development boards based on Exynos 4 Quad processor with boards such as ODROID-X, ODROID-U2, or ODROID-X2. But it appears they are not stopping here, and have recently committed code to support ODROID-XU development board based on Exynos 5410, the 8-core big.LITTLE SoC from Samsung, used in devices such as Galaxy S4. The committed code linked above point the device tree files in arch/arm/boot/dts/ (exynos5410-odroidxu.dts and exynos5410-pinctrl.dtsi) where we can see the board will have 2 GB RAM, and the Cortex A15 cores with be clocked at 1.6 GHz. Exynos5410-odroidxu.dts has been removed from 3.11 branch, so the link above points to an earlier commit. Exynos 5410 might have been the first big.LITTLE processor ever available, but it comes with a major flaw, as it only supports cluster migration (all 4 Cortex A15 or all 4 Cortex A7 […]

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 […]

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