Linux

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 43 Comments on RDA Micro RDA8810 Android SDK with Linux & U-boot Source Code for Orange Pi 2G IoT Board Released

RDA Micro RDA8810 Android SDK with Linux & U-boot Source Code for Orange Pi 2G IoT Board Released

Orange Pi 2G IoT board was released a couple of weeks ago, shortly followed by Android and Ubuntu images, but since it was not based on Allwinner, but an RDA Micro  8810PL processor, we did not have any source code so far, which can be a real problem for a development board… Shenzhen Xunlong has now managed to upload a 6.7GB Android SDK to MEGA, with the link published via Orange Pi Resources page. MEGA has a download limit which depends on how much traffic they get at the time, and after 5.3 GB download,  I was asked to register for a PRO account, or wait for four hours before resuming the download. If you want to avoid this limit for any large MEGA download, you can run megadl instead. That’s what I did in Ubuntu 16.04 (remember to escape any special characters with \):

Once the download is […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on PocketBone Board Based on Octavo Systems OSD3358 SiP Fits into an “Altoids Smalls” Mint Tin Box

PocketBone Board Based on Octavo Systems OSD3358 SiP Fits into an “Altoids Smalls” Mint Tin Box

Last year, Octavo Systems introduced OSD3358 System-in-Package (SiP) that includes Texas Instruments Sitara AM3358 processor, 256MB to 1GB RAM, a PMIC and an LDO into a single package. Since then the SiP has been found in BeagleBone Black Wireless and BeagleBone Blue, and at the time of launch there was also some development around PocketBone, a tiny open source hardware Smalls mint tin sized board based on OSD3358, which is smaller than a CHIP board, but a little bigger than NanoPi NEO board. There’s now been some progress with prototypes of the board manufactured with the following specifications: SiP (System-in-Package) – Octavo Systems OSD3358 with TI Sitara AM3358 ARM Cortex-A8 processor @ up to 1 GHz,  PowerVR SGX530 GPU, PMIC + LDO, and 512MB DDR3 Storage – micro SD slot USB – 2x micro USB port one for power, one OTG port Expansion – 10-pin header (unpopulated) with SPI, I2C, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Mirabook is Laptop Dock for Smartphones, Development Boards (Crowdfunding)

Mirabook is Laptop Dock for Smartphones, Development Boards (Crowdfunding)

Motorola Lapdock may have been ahead of its time, as laptop docks for smartphone are back in vogue with products like NexDock, and Apple could soon launch their own iPhone laptop dock. Another option is Miraxess Mirabook laptop dock with a 13.3″ display, and a battery lasting up to 24 hours, that works for smartphones, development boards, and HDMI TV sticks thanks to its USB type C port. Mirabook specifications: Display – 13.3″ IPS display with 1920×1080 resolution (non-touch, except if they raise $2 millions…) Audio – Speakers, 3.5mm audio jack Video Output – HDMI port Storage – SD card slot QWERTY keyboard & multi-touch trackpad USB Integrated USB type C cable to connect to phone, board or HDMI TV stick USB type C port to charge the Mirabook battery 2x USB type A host port Battery – TBD capacity good for 24 hours while charging your phone Dimensions – […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments on Wandboard QuadPLUS Development Board Gets i.MX 6QuadPlus Processor, 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1

Wandboard QuadPLUS Development Board Gets i.MX 6QuadPlus Processor, 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1

The first Wandboard development boards launched in 2012 nearly 5 years ago based on Freescale i.MX6 Solo and Dual processor, with Wandboard Quad launched a few months later. The boards were fairly popular at the time due to their better specifications, and especially Freescale’s much better documentation and software compared to the competition such as Broadcom (Raspberry Pi) and Allwinner (Cubieboard). Since the boards are based on TechNexion EDM system-on-modules they could also be used by companies working on their own products based on the system-on-module. It’s also a good platform if you want to test various version of Android, because the company released Jelly Bean, Kitkat, Lollipop, and Marshmallow images for the boards, and I’m expecting a Lollipop version soon. However, albeit the company worked on other NXP boards such as PICO-IM6UL Android Things, there had not been any hardware upgrade for Wandboard for nearly 4 years, but last […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 40 Comments on $40 NanoPi K2 Board Powered by Amlogic S905 Processor Competes with ODROID-C2, Raspberry Pi 3

$40 NanoPi K2 Board Powered by Amlogic S905 Processor Competes with ODROID-C2, Raspberry Pi 3

Hardkernel ODROID-C2 board is getting some direct competition with FriendlyELEC’s NanoPi K2 development board powered with Amlogic S905 processor with 2GB RAM, a very similar form factor, and many of the same features, which together with Khadas Vim (Pro) brings the number of low cost Amlogic based development boards to three. NanoPi K2 board specifications with differences compared to ODROID-C2 highlighted in bold or stricken-through: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core cortex-A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with penta core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – eMMC module socket, micro SD slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60 Hz Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet (Realtek RTL8211F), 802.11 b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0 (AP6212 module) with chip antenna + IPX connector USB – 4x USB 2.0 host ports (GL825G USB hub) + micro USB OTG port for power and adata Expansion Header 40-pin header with GPIO, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on MYIR MYS-6ULX is a $25 Single Board Computer based on NXP i.MX 6ULL/6UL Processor for IoT and Industry 4.0

MYIR MYS-6ULX is a $25 Single Board Computer based on NXP i.MX 6ULL/6UL Processor for IoT and Industry 4.0

MYIR Tech has released MYS-6ULX single board computer based on  NXP i.MX 6ULL/6UL Cortex-A7 processor designed for either Industry 4.0 with MYS-6ULX-IND model, or the Internet of Things for MYS-6ULX-IOT. Both boards include 256MB DDR3 SDRAM, 256MB NAND flash, USB, USB, Ethernet, LCD interfaces and more, in a compact 70 x 55mm form factor. Both boards have very similar specifications. Features MYS-6ULX-IND MYS-6ULX-IOT SoC NXP i.MX 6UltraLite (MCIMX6G2CVM05AA) with an ARM Cortex A7 processor @ up to 696 MHz and 2D graphics accelerator NXP i.MX 6ULL (MCIMX6Y2DVM05AA) with an ARM Cortex A7 processor @ 528 MHz and 2D graphics accelerator DDR3 256MB (support up to 2GB) NAND Flash 256MB (support 512MB/1GB) eMMC DNP (Do Not Populate – Reserved design for optional 4GB flash) Ethernet 10/100Mbps USB 1x USB Host, 1x micro USB OTG Micro SD Card 1x Micro SD card slot Buttons 1x Reset Button, 1x User Button LED 1x Power Indicator, 2x […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on Anbox Allows You to Run Android Apps Natively in Ubuntu Linux

Anbox Allows You to Run Android Apps Natively in Ubuntu Linux

It’s been possible to run Android app in computers for a while with solutions such as Bluestacks or ShashLik, as well as running Android-x86 ISO in a virtual machine. But all those solutions rely on emulation, may not have the best performance, and at the time I tried them did not really work well, or were inconvenient to use. Anbox is different as instead of running its own Linux kernel for Android, it leverages the Linux kernel in Ubuntu for better integration and performance, and use an LXC container to run Android. Anbox has been tested with Ubuntu 16.04, but should also work with other recent Ubuntu distributions. Installing Anbox (Alpha) is easy, and can be done with a single command line:

The command will modify your system with the following: Add the anbox-support ppa ppa:morphis/anbox-support to the host system Install the anbox-modules-dkms deb package from the ppa which will […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on OpenELEC 8.0 Released with WeTek Play 2 & Hub, and Raspberry Pi Zero W Support

OpenELEC 8.0 Released with WeTek Play 2 & Hub, and Raspberry Pi Zero W Support

In recent months, I’ve written more about LibreELEC, a fork of OpenELEC, but the latter project is still being worked on, and OpenELEC 8.0 has been released adding builds for WeTek Play 2 & WeTek Hub TV boxes, as well as Raspberry Pi Zero W board, and upgrading to Kodi 17.1. and newer packages such as Linux 4.9 and ffmpeg 3.2. The developers also removed some unused or dropped features such as HFS and HFS+ filesystem, iSCSI, NFS/NBD/iSCSI network boot, and LIRC. X11 AMDGPU, ATI (Radeon) and Intel GPU driver driver has been replaced by X11 Modesettings GPU driver. They also updated some drivers & firmware files for WLAN and DVB, as well as update Nvidia Legacy driver to xf86-video-nvidia-340 (VDPAU only supported now). You can download or update OpenELEC 8.0, not only for the new WeTek and Raspberry Pi platforms, but for also x86 64-bit images for Intel & […]