Linux

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments on Outernet Introduces Standalone & DIY Internet Satellite Kits for C.H.I.P Board, Raspberry Pi 3 Board, and Laptops

Outernet Introduces Standalone & DIY Internet Satellite Kits for C.H.I.P Board, Raspberry Pi 3 Board, and Laptops

Outernet goal is to bring knowledge and/or emergency info to places without Internet either to remote places, or where Internet has been temporary shutdown due to natural disasters or political reasons through a satellite feed. In some ways, it works like a typical FM radio, but instead of receiving audio, you’ll get data. The first hardware was based on WeTek Play TV box, and called Lighthouse, but they now have a DIY kit that will work with Next Thing C.H.I.P, Raspberry Pi, or Laptops running Windows 7/10 or Linux, as well as a standalone Outernet Satellite kit including C.H.I.P Allwinner R8 development board. Let’s first check out “Basic Outernet DIY Kit” comprised of three items: L-Band Antenna Frequency: 1525 – 1559 MHz (Center frequency: 1542 MHz) 8dbi 4″  SMA Male connector Dimensions – 12 cm x 12 cm x 1.5 cm Weight – ~100 grams RTL-SDR Blog Software Defined Radio/Tuner […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 268 Comments on Giveaway Week – Star Cloud PCG02U Ubuntu TV Stick

Giveaway Week – Star Cloud PCG02U Ubuntu TV Stick

The fourth device for this giveaway week will be MeLE Star Cloud PCG02U TV stick powered by Intel Atom Z3735F quad core processor, but instead of running Windows 10, the device is sold with Ubuntu 14.04, which I upgraded to Ubuntu 16.04. I found out that the device was running pretty well (minus Bluetooth support) in my PCG02U review, and for the price at the time ($70) it was really a good deal. The device has even become the best selling devices on MeLE Aliexpress store, outselling all other Windows devices. However, MeLE ethics are questionable since they used Ian Morrison (Linuxium)’s image in their devices without giving any credits. The package will come with all accessories above, minus the “Caution Hot” sticker which must have gone to sticker heaven…. Simply leave a comment below to enter the draw. Other rules are as follows: Only one entry per contest. I […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 80 Comments on Orange Pi Zero Allwinner H2+ Board with WiFi and Ethernet is Up for Sale for $7 and Up

Orange Pi Zero Allwinner H2+ Board with WiFi and Ethernet is Up for Sale for $7 and Up

Orange Pi Zero development board powered by Allwinner H2+ quad core Cortex A7 processor with 256 to 512MB RAM, Ethernet, and USB ports is now available for sale on Aliexpress for just $6.99, with shipping adding $3.39 in my case bringing the total to $10.38. Orange Pi Zero specifications: SoC – Allwinner H2(+) quad core Cortex A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU @ 600 MHz System Memory – 256 to 512 MB DDR3-1866 SDRAM Storage – micro SD card slot Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet + 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (Allwinner XR819 WiFi module) with u.FL antenna connector and external antenna USB – 1x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB OTG port Expansion headers – Unpopulated 26-pin “Raspberry Pi B+” header + 13-pin header with headphone, 2x USB 2.0, TV out, microphone and IR receiver signals Debugging – Unpopulated 3-pin header for serial console Misc – 2x LEDs Power […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on RabbitMax Flex IoT Board for Raspberry Pi Supporting up to Five I2C Sensors Launched on Indiegogo for 20 Euros and Up

RabbitMax Flex IoT Board for Raspberry Pi Supporting up to Five I2C Sensors Launched on Indiegogo for 20 Euros and Up

RabbitMax Flex is an add-on board, compatible with HAT specifications, for Raspberry Pi 2 /3 boards and other Raspberry Pi models with a 40-pin GPIO header. It includes headers for up to 5 I2C sensors, as well as an RGB LED, a buzzer, a relay, a button, infrared receiver and transmitter, and an optional LCD display, and as we’ve seen in my RabbitMax Flex getting started guide, a nice way to learning about hardware programming using either C or Python, or to used in home automation or IoT projects. The project has just been launched on Indiegogo. RabbitMax Flex specifications: Relay – Songle SRD-05VDC-SL-C supporting 125V/250VAC up to 10A, 30VDC up to 10A Storage – EEPROM with some system information for identification IR – IR LED, IR receiver Misc – Buzzer, Button, RGB LED Expansion Header for LCD character display + potentiometer for backlight adjustment 5x 4-pin headers for I2C […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 152 Comments on Giveaway Week – Vana Player Linux Based HiFi Audio Player

Giveaway Week – Vana Player Linux Based HiFi Audio Player

After giving away a virtual reality headset on Monday, and a TV box on Tuesday, I’ll offer a very unique device for the third day of this giveawat week with Vana Player, an HiFi audio player based on Allo Sparky ARM Linux development board. Beside the development board the kit includes two audio DAC boards, a 30W amplifier, a reclocker board, a capacitance multiplier board, and accessories like an acrylic “case” and a power supply. The system is running Ubuntu 12.04 with Max2Play web interface to configure the system running a SqueezeBox server, Kodi and more. I found a few bugs during my review, but the company has now released a new firmware update that should fix many of the issues I encountered. All items shown above will be included in the package. Note that you’ll also need a 19.5V power supply, for example from an old laptop to power […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on UP Squared Apollo Lake Development Board Comes with Up to 8GB RAM, 128 GB Storage for 89 Euros and Up (Crowdfunding)

UP Squared Apollo Lake Development Board Comes with Up to 8GB RAM, 128 GB Storage for 89 Euros and Up (Crowdfunding)

Up-Squared-Board

AAEON Introduced a Intel Atom X5 based Raspberry Pi-like development board named “UP Board” last year that sold for as low as 89 Euros via a Kickstarter campaign. The company is now back with the first Apollo Lake development board for makers I’ve seen so far, powered by either a dual core Celeron N3350 or a quad core Pentium N4200 processor, featuring an Altera MAX 10 FPGA, and called UP2 (“UP Squared”). There are six variants of UP Squared board sharing most of the same technical specifications: SoC Intel Celeron N3350 dual core “Apollo Lake” processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.4 GHz with 12 EU Intel HD graphics 500 @ 200 MHz / 650 MHz (6W TDP) Intel Pentium N4200 quad core “Apollo Lake” processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.5 GHz with 18 EU Intel HD graphics 505 @ 200 MHz / 750 MHz (6W TDP) FPGA – Altera Max […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Getting Started with RabbitMax Flex IoT and Automation Hat for Raspberry Pi

Getting Started with RabbitMax Flex IoT and Automation Hat for Raspberry Pi

At the beginning of the month I showed how to assemble RabbitMax Flex, a Raspberry Pi HAT compliant add-on board for Raspberry Pi boards with 40-pin header, that targets IoT and home automation project with its relay, IR transmitter and receiver, I2C headers for sensors, buzzer, RGB LED, and more.  Since I’ve already described the hardware, I’ve spend some time this week-end following the user’s guide to play around with the board using a Raspberry Pi 2 board, and try various features. The user’s manual explains that you need the latest version of Raspbian, but I’d not played with my Raspberry Pi 2 board for a while, so the kernel and firmware were quite old:

So the first thing I had to do was to upgrade Raspbian. There are basically two options to upgrade, either downloading and dumping the latest Raspbian firmware image to your micro SD card, and […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on NanoPi S2 Quad Core ARM Linux Board Comes with WiFi & BT Connectivity, HDMI, LVDS, and LCD Interfaces

NanoPi S2 Quad Core ARM Linux Board Comes with WiFi & BT Connectivity, HDMI, LVDS, and LCD Interfaces

FriendlyARM has released a bunch of Allwinner based NanoPi Allwinner boards recently, but they also have some Samsung/Nexcell S5P ARM Cortex A9 boards in their portfolio, and the latest is NanoPi S2 with Samsung S5P4418 quad core processor, three display interfaces, a camera interface, wireless connectivity through WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0, a 40-pin “Raspberry Pi” header, and more. NanoPi S2 specifications: SoC – Samsung/Nexcell S5P4418 quad core Cortex A9 processor @ 400 MHz to 1.4 GHz with Mali-400MP GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash  + micro SD slot Video Output / Display I/F – micro HDMI port up to 1080p60, 24-pin LCD RGB interface, 24-pin LVDS interface Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, micro HDMI Camera – 24-pin DVP camera interface Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0 classic & LE (AP6212 module); IPEX/u.FL antenna connector USB – 1x USB 2.0 Host, 1x micro […]