Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on LinkSprite O-board Altera Cyclone IV FPGA Development Board Targets OpenRISC Development

LinkSprite O-board Altera Cyclone IV FPGA Development Board Targets OpenRISC Development

OpenRISC project‘s goal is to create a free and open processor for embedded system that include  RISC instruction set architecture with DSP features, an open source implementations of the architecture, open source development tools and software, and simulators. You normally need FPGA board to emulate the processor before silicon is made available, so LinkSprite designed the O-board powered by Altera Cyclone IV FPGA to help with OpenRISC development and evaluation. O-board specifications: FPGA – Altera Cyclone IV E with 22K LUT (P/N: EP4CE22F17C8N) System Memory – 32MB SDRAM Storage – 1MB SPI FLASH, micro SD slot Connectivity – 1x Fast Ethernet (RJ45) USB – 1x micro USB for OTG HOST/SLAVE, 1 x micro USB for power supply, configuration, 2x UARTs, 2x JTAG… Expansion connectors – 2x 70-pin headers Power Supply – 5V via miro USB Dimensions – 96 x 40 mm The Wiki for the board explained how to get started with development with a Ubuntu image for VirtualBox pre-loaded […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on 96Boards Mezzanine Add-on Boards with Sensors, Buttons, Relays, etc.. Are Starting to Show Up

96Boards Mezzanine Add-on Boards with Sensors, Buttons, Relays, etc.. Are Starting to Show Up

Beside excellent software support, and a great community, the two most popular maker boards on the market, namely Arduino and Raspberry Pi, also have many add-on boards, respectively called Shields and Hats, to expand their user and connect sensors, buttons, displays, and so on… Several Linaro’s 96Boards compliant development board launched last year such as LeMaker Hikey and DragonBoard 410c with support for recent versions of Android and Debian, and recently three Mezzanine add-ons boards, as well as somewhat pricey USB to TLL debug board, have started to show up to make it an even more interesting platform. Linker mezzanine card starter kit for 96Boards The first kit is made by LinkSprite and includes Linker Base Mezzanine Card with several sensors and cables. Eight 4-pin connectors with ADC, UART, I2C, and GPIOs allow you connect the eight sensors ad modules provided with the kit:a button module, a red LED module, an light sensor, a thermal module, a linear/slide potentiometer module, […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on $15 pcDuino3 Nano Lite Board Includes Gigabit Ethernet and a Real SATA Port

$15 pcDuino3 Nano Lite Board Includes Gigabit Ethernet and a Real SATA Port

I often read people complain about the lack of SATA and Gigabit Ethernet on devices, and following up a discussion on a recent post about QNAP TAS-168 and TAS-268 NAS, I was made aware that pcDuino3 Nano board had a little brother without NAND Flash, nor an IR receiver that’s currently selling for $15 on Amazon US. pcDuino3 Nano Lite board specifications are exactly the same as the other version minus the stricken-through items: SoC – AllWinner A20 dual core ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.0 GHz with Mali 400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DRAM Storage – 4GB NAND Flash, SATA connector and microSD card slot (up to 32GB) Video Output – HDMI 1.4 with HDCP support Audio Out – 3.5mm analog audio interface Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet USB – 2x USB host, 1x USB OTG Expansion Headers – Arduino UNO extension interface with 14xGPIO, 2xPWM, 6xADC, 1xUART, 1xSPI, 1xI2C. Camera – MIPI camera support Misc – IR receiver Power […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on pcDuino8 Uno is an Allwinner H8 Octa-core Development Board with Arduino Headers

pcDuino8 Uno is an Allwinner H8 Octa-core Development Board with Arduino Headers

H7 Hummingbird development board powered by Allwinner H8 octa-core Cortex A7 processor with support for 1080p H265 video decoding launched this summer, but Merrii does not usually provide much support to individual developers. Linksprite is about to launch a new H8 development board that also comes with Arduino compatible headers. pcDuino8 Uno board specifications: SoC – AllWinner H8 octa-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor @ up to 2.0GHz with PowerVR SGX544 GPU @ up to 700MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 1.4 up to 1080p with HDCP support Audio I/O – HDMI, 3.5mm analog audio jack Connectivity – Ethernet (100M LAN shown on board, but “Gbps” listed in specs) USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 2x micro USB ports (1x OTG, 1x power only) Camera – 1x MIPI CSI header Expansion Headers – Arduino Uno headers with 14x GPIO, 2xPWM, 1x UART, 1x SPI 1x I2C, and 6xADC […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on pcDuino3B Development Board Adds Gigabit Ethernet Support

pcDuino3B Development Board Adds Gigabit Ethernet Support

pcDuino3 development board features Allwinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 SoC with support for SATA, HDMI, LVDS, Wi-Fi, Fast Ethernet, and Arduino compatible headers. Linksprite has now an updated version of the board that adds Gigabit Ethernet, while leaving the rest of the specs unmodified. pcDuino3B (aka pcDuino V3B) specifications: SoC – AllWinner A20 dual core ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.0 GHz, with Mali 400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DRAM Storage – 4GB NAND Flash, SATA connector, and microSD card slot (up to 32GB) Video Output – HDMI 1.4 with HDCP support, LVDS header Audio Out –  3.5mm analog audio interface, I2S stereo digital audio interface Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi USB – 1x USB host, 1x USB OTG Expansion Headers – Arduino UNO extension interface with 14xGPIO, 2xPWM, 6xADC, 1xUART, 1xSPI, 1xI2C. Camera – MIPI camera support Misc – IR receiver Power – 5V, 2000mA, support for Li-Po Battery Dimensions – 121mm x 65mm The board […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments on Snappy Ubuntu Core is an IoT Linux Distribution for ARM and x86

Snappy Ubuntu Core is an IoT Linux Distribution for ARM and x86

Canonical has announced a version of Ubuntu specifically designed for IoT devices running Linux, with a low hardware requirements, and a new package manager called snappy, replacing apt-get for this version of Ubuntu, which provides simpler, faster, and more reliable updates, stronger security, and allows roll-backs in case something goes wrong. Easy firmware updates are something missing in most connected device, which means they are more vulnerable to potential hackers, but with snappy security updates should be able to make it regularly, so that if something like heartbleed occurs again, you know your router, home automation gateway, connected washing machine, or robot will be soon patched automatically. Let’s go through the hardware requirements first: Processor – 600 MHz processor (ARMv7 or greater, or x86) System Memory – 128 MB RAM or greater (The system itself uses 40 MB RAM) Storage – 4GB flash / storage for factory reset and system rollback So the hardware requirements are not quite as low […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on pcDuino Acadia 1 is a Freescale i.MX6 Quad Development Board with Arduino Headers

pcDuino Acadia 1 is a Freescale i.MX6 Quad Development Board with Arduino Headers

Linksprite has been pretty busy recently. After announcing the $39 pcDuino3 Nano, they’ve now unveiled a new board named pcDuino Acadia 1 powered by Freescale i.MX6 Quad processor with 1GB RAM, 8GB eMMC, a few common ports, and Arduino headers in order to connect Arduino shields to their Linux/Android board. pcDuino Acadia 1 (preliminary) specifications: SoC – Freescale i.MX6 Quad with four ARM Cortex A9 cores up to 1.2GHz, and Vivante GC2000 GPU with support for OpenGL/ES 2. x, OpenCL EP support, and OpenVG 1.1. System Memory – 1GB DRAM Storage – 8GB eMMC, 2x micro SD card slots (up to 128GB), and SATA Video Output – HDMI 1.4 with HDCP support, LVDS Audio Output – 3.5mm analog audio interface Camera – 1x MIPI, 1x CSI Connectivity – 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet (limited to 470Mbps) USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB OTG Expansion Headers – Arduino UNO compatible header with 14x GPIO, 2x PWM, 6x ADC, 1x UART, […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on $39 PcDuino3 Nano ARM Linux Development Board Features HDMI, SATA, Gigabit Ethernet, Arduino Headers…

$39 PcDuino3 Nano ARM Linux Development Board Features HDMI, SATA, Gigabit Ethernet, Arduino Headers…

Linksprite recently announced PcDuino3 Nano development board powered by AllWinner A20 dual core processor. PcDuino3 Nano is, as you can expect, a smaller and cheaper version the company’s PcDuino3 board without Wi-Fi module, LVDS header, and I2S interface. The board does not appear to support Li-Po batteries either, but it adds one extra USB host port compared to its big brother. pcDuino3 Nano specifications: SoC – AllWinner A20 dual core ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.0 GHz with Mali 400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DRAM Storage – 4GB NAND Flash, SATA connector, and microSD card slot (up to 32GB) Video Output – HDMI 1.4 with HDCP support Audio Out – 3.5mm analog audio interface Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet USB – 2x USB host, 1x USB OTG Expansion Headers – Arduino UNO extension interface with 14xGPIO, 2xPWM, 6xADC, 1xUART, 1xSPI, 1xI2C. Camera – MIPI camera support Misc – IR receiver Power – 5V, 2000mA Dimensions – 91.4mm x 53.3mm (PcDuino3: 121mm x […]

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