Open Source Software Releases – VLC 3.0 and Android-x86 7.1-r1

Two completely unrelated open source projects have released a stable version of their software this week, but instead of writing a post for each I’ll write about them in a single post. VLC 3.0 Vetinari VLC developers have just released version 3.0 – codenamed Vetinari – of the popular media player with new features such as ChromeCast support, and 8K video playback. Other highlights from the release include: Hardware decoding enabled by default to get 4K and 8K playback 10-bit and HDR support (only on Windows 10 Fall Creators Update for now) 360 video and 3D audio, up to Ambisoncics 3rd order Allows audio passthrough for HD audio codecs Can play Blu-Ray Java menus: BD-J Browsing of local network drives and NAS VLC 3.0 is also the first major version to be released for all platforms at the same time, and you can download VLC 3.0 for Windows, Mac OS […]

Kodi 18 Features and Improvements (FOSDEM 2018 Video)

Most Kodi users are now running Kodi 17.x Krypton that was initially released in February 2017, with the latest point version being Kodi 17.6. At the time of Krypton release, the developers had also started working on Kodi 18 “Leia” which should now be in “alpha”, and the stable release may only be a few months away although Kodi developers do not provide an ETA. What they did provide however – via Martijn Kaijser at FOSDEM 2018 – is a progress report for Kodi 18 “Leia”, as well as some insights into Kodi 19 whose development has just started. Kodi 18 has gone through a lot of cleanup with the code upgraded to C++11 standard, duplicate code and obsolete libraries removed, dropped unmaintained feature, and so on. They also moved non-core features such as audio encoders and decoders, PVR, picture decoding, etc…  to external plugins. This work resulted into 299,476 […]

TECHBASE ModBerry​ M300 IoT Gateway Adds Support for NanoPi and Orange Pi Allwinner H5 Boards

Announced at the end of last year TECHBASE launched the ModBerry​ M300, a Linux IoT gateway powered by FriendlyELEC NanoPi NEO board equipped with Allwinner H3 Cortex A7 processor. The company has now made four extra variants of the gateway with Allwinner H5 quad core Cortex A53 based development boards from FriendlyELEC and Shenzhen Xunlong: Modberry M300 N2 – Based on NanoPi NEO2 Modberry M300 N2+ – Based on NanoPi NEO Plus2 adding 8GB eMMC flash, WiFi & Bluetooth 4.0, and an extra USB port over the N2 model Modberry M300 O1 – Based on Orange Pi Zero Plus Modberry M300 O2 – Based on Orange Pi Zero Plus2 adding 8GB eMMC flash, HDMI, one extra USB port, and Bluetooth 4.0 over the O1 model, but falling back to 10/100 Ethernet, while all three models above come with Gigabit Ethernet To avoid confusion, the original NanoPi NEO model has changed […]

PicoCORE MX7ULP is a Compact Module Based on NXP i.MX 7ULP Ultra Low Power Processor

NXP unveiled another variant of their i.MX 7 Cortex A7 processor last year, and I missed it. NXP i.MX 7ULP offers many of the same features as i.MX 7, but is manufactured using FD-SOI (Fully Depleted Silicon On Insulator) process technology to offer lower power consumption, as low as 15 mW or less in deep sleep, or 17 times less in comparison to i.MX 7 devices, while the dynamic power efficiency is improved by 50 percent on the real time domain (Cortex-M4). I found out about it thanks to an email from F&S Elektronik Systeme about the introduction of their  PicoCORE MX7ULP module – based on i.MX 7ULP processor – at  the Embedded World 2018 conference. PicoCORE MX7ULP CoM specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 7ULP Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ up to 800 MHz,  with Arm Cortex-M4 real-time core, and 2D/3D graphics accelerator System Memory – Up to 1GB LPDDR3 Storage […]

Shuttle DL10J Fanless Gemini Lake Mini PC Features Intel Celeron J4005 Dual Core Processor, 3 Video Outputs

Several mini PCs based on Intel Gemini Lake processors were unveiled at CES 2018, including Zotac PICO PI226, MeLE PCG63-APL4, and ECS LIVA Gemini Lake models all of which slated to launch in Q2 2018. ASRock and GIGABYTE also announced Gemini Lake motherboards a few weeks later. Most of the products above are for the consumer market, but if you’re after a Gemini Lake mini PC more geared towards business use cases like digital signage and multi-display solutions, Shuttle is now showcasing their DL10J mini PC powered by an Intel Celeron J4055 Gemini Lake dual core processor, and offering 3 video output ports at Integrated Systems Europe 2018 (ISE 2018). Shuttle DL10J mini PC specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J4005 dual core GLK processor @ 2.00/2.70 GHz with 12EU Intel UHD Graphics 600; 10W TDP System Memory – 2x DDR4 slots @ 2133 MHz up to 8GB Storage – 1x […]

Ampere SoC Designed for Cloud Computing Comes with 32 ARMv8 Cores @ 3.3 GHz, Supports up to 1TB RAM

Ampere is a brand new company that has just launched to “address memory performance, cost, space and power constraints for emerging hyperscale cloud applications and next-generation data centers”, and whose founders include Renee James (CEO), former president of Intel, among other “semiconductor and cloud computing experts”. Their upcoming 64-bit Arm server processors aim to achieve those goals via thirty two custom Armv8-A cores operating at up to 3.3 GHz, support for up to 1TB of RAM, and a 125 Watts power envelop, or around 4 Watts per core. Ampere SoC specifications listed by the company: Processor Subsystem 32x Armv8 64-bit CPU cores up to 3.3 GHz with Turbo 32 KB L1 I-cache, 32 KB L1 D-cache per core Shared 256 KB L2 cache per 2 cores System Memory 32 MB globally shared L3 cache 8x 72-bit DDR4-2667 channels Advanced ECC and DDR4 RAS features Up to 16 DIMMs, 1 TB/socket […]

Hardkernel Unveils ODROID-N1 Board with Rockchip RK3399 Processor, 4GB RAM, Dual SATA, and More

It’s official, there’s a bubble of Rockchip RK3399 boards announcements or launches in early 2018. After AAEON RICO-3399, Orange Pi RK3399, and Pine64 RockPro64, which add to 96Boards compliant Rock960 announced a couple a months ago, and which may launch in Q1 2018, Hardkernel has now announced they’ve been working on ODROID-N1 board. ODROID-N1 board specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core processor with a dual-core Arm Cortex-A72 @ 2GHz, a quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.5Ghz, and a Mali-T860MP4 GPU that supports OpenGL ES1.1/2.0/3.0, OpenCL 1.2 System Memory 4Gbyte DDR3-1866 RAM, Dual channel interface for 64bit data bus width Storage –  eMMC 5.0 (HS400) flash storage, UHS capable micro-SD slot., 2x SATA3 ports using, native SATA implementation via PCIe-gen2 to SATA3 interface Video Output – HDMI 2.0 for 4K display Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet port USB – 2x USB 3.0 host ports, 2x USB 2.0 host port. Expansion – 40-Pin GPIO […]

Vorke V1 Plus Celeron J3455 Mini PC Review with Windows and Ubuntu

Most Intel based mini PCs use processors classified as ‘Mobile’ as these have lower thermal design power (TDP) ratings which is the maximum amount of heat generated by the processor: However, the new Vorke V1 Plus has incorporated a ‘Desktop’ processor namely the Intel Celeron J3455. On paper this processor looks like it should perform similar to the Intel Pentium N4200 processor but with a tradeoff between being a cheaper processor to purchase but more expensive to run due to the increased power requirements. Geekbuying provided a Vorke V1 Plus for review so let’s start by taking a look at the physical characteristics. The device comes in a plain box and was supplied with the ‘right AC Adapter’ for my country. The first observation is that it is quite a large device. At just over 6” square (153mm) and nearly 1.5” tall (38mm) it is the biggest mini PC I’ve […]