Amlogic S905X and S912 Processors To Support 4K VP9, HDMI 2.0a, Built-in DAC and More

I had heard some news that Amlogic S912 was delayed, and even possibly canceled, while talks about a new S908 processor surfaced recently with support for VP9 up to 4K resolution. We now have some more details as I’ve received some more information about Amlogic product roadmap, and S908 should be renamed S905M [Update: The name will apparently be changed to S905X now, the saga continues…] Amlogic S905 Amlogic S908 / S905M / S905X Amlogic S912 CPU Quad core Cortex A53 @ up to 2.0 GHz Quad core Cortex A53 @ up to 1.5/2.0 GHz Octa core Cortex A53 @ up to 2.0 GHz GPU Penta-core Mali-450 up to 750 MHz High perf gaming GPU Memory 16/32-bit DDR3, LPDDR2/3 Up to 2GB, DDR2133 16/32-bit DDR3/4, LPDDR2/3 Up to 2GB, DDR2400 Storage NAND Flash@BCH60 eMMC 5.0, SD, Nor Flash Video Decoding 4Kp60 10-bit HEVC, 4Kp30 H.264 4Kp60 10-bit HEVC, VP9 4Kp30 […]

$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. […]

Aceberry S500 is a $60 Actions Semi S500 Development Board Comprised of a Module and a Baseboard

For some hard-to-explain reasons, Actions Semi S500 processor seems to be a popular choice for makers of boards, although I don’t think it has really been a success with hobbyists and makers so far. After ActDuino S500, LeMaker Guitar, Lemon Pi, Allo SPARKY, and Roseapple Pi boards, here comes another S500 quad core Cortex A9 development board with Aceberry S500 that’s quite inspired by LeMaker Guitar as seen by its baseboard and module design. Aceberry S500 board preliminary specifications: SoC – Actions Semi S500 quad core Cortex A9r4 processor @ 1.6GHz with PowerVR SGX544 GPU @ 500 MHz Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC or NAND flash (16 and 32GB optional), SPI NOR flash Video Output – HDMI, and LCD connector Audio – HDMI, headset jack, digital output (RCA). Video Codec – H.265 (HEVC) and Ultra HD (4K*2K) video playback. Encoding up to 1080p@60fps. Connectivity – 10/100M […]

QNAP TAS-168 and TAS-268 are NAS Running Android and Linux based QTS on Realtek RTD1195 Processor

QNAP has recently launched two network attached storage (NAS) devices with TAS-168 and TAS-268 that are based on Realtek RTD1195 dual core processor, and happen to run Android along side the company’s Linux based QTS operating system, and respectively have one and two bays for 2.5″ or 3.5″ hard drives. QNAP TAS-168 and TAS-268 specifications: SoC – Realtek RTD1195 dual core ARM Cortex A7 processor @ 1.1 GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 Storage 4 GB eMMC and SD card slot TAS-168 – 1x 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA @ 3Gbs TAS-268 – 2x 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA @ 3Gbs Video and Audio Output – HDMI port Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet USB – 1x USB 3.0, 4x USB 2.0 host ports Misc – IR receiver, LEDs for HDD, LAN, status, and USB, buttons (Power, reset, USB copy) Power – TAS-168 – 12V/3A (36W) power adapter; TAS-268 – 12V/5A […]

WiTi Router Board Powered by Mediatek MT7621A SoC Now Sells for $79

MQmaker launched their WiTi router on Indiegogo in early August, and they raised close to $30,000, enough to go into production. However, some people are understandably wary of crowdfunding campaigns, and likely postponed their decision to see how the project would progress. The good news is that the AC1200 board is now available for $79 + shipping ($9.05 in my case) on Aliexpress. WiTi router specifications have not changed much: Processor – Mediatek MT7621A dual core MIPS 1004Kc processor @ 880Mhz System Memory – 256MB RAM Storage – 16MB SPI NOR flash for firmware, 1x micro SD slot, and 2x SATA 3.0 ports supporting 3.5″ hard drives. Connectivity 2.4 GHz WiFi 802.11b/g/n up to 300Mbps 5 GHz WiFi 802.11a/n/ac up to 867Mbps 2x Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports 4x Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports 2x RF Antenna Connectors USB – 1x USB3.0 port Expansion – 30-pin header including USB, I2S, JTAG, UART, and GPIO […]

ODROID-C0 Board is an Upcoming Alternative to Raspberry Pi Zero

When Raspberry Pi Zero launched at the end of November, it looked somewhat familiar to Hardkernel ODROID-W board that eventually had to be phased out as Broadcom would not sell Broadcom BCM2835 to the Korean company. In an interesting turn of events, Hardkernel has now shown the first prototype of ODROID-C0 (ODROID-C Zero), a tiny board based on Amlogic S805 found in ODROID-C1+. The name of the board may seem to be derived from Raspberry Pi Zero, but it’s not quite the case as Hardkernel first revealed their plans for ODROID-C0 back in November, a week before R-Pi Zero board was unveiled. ODROID-C0 will have similar specifications to ODROID-C1+ minus Ethernet, and the USB ports in order to reduce the PCB size: SoC – Amlogic S805 quad core Cortex-A5 processor with a Mali-450MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – eMMC module socket, and micro SD slot Video & […]

Rikomagic MK36SLE (Linux Edition) Based on Intel Atom x5-Z8300 Processor Runs Ubuntu 15.04

When people think about Linux on Intel platform, they often believe it’s just as easy as flashing an Ubuntu ISO on a USB stick and install it on their computer. While that’s true for desktop or laptop processors, the low power Intel Atom processors for tablets such as Bay Trail-T or Cherry Trail are not well supported in Linux with various issues ranging from an incompatible UEFI binary to a complete lack of audio support. So far, most companies have not provided a decent version of Atom Z3735F or Atom x5-Z8x00 mini PCs with Linux, and all the work has been done by the community such as this Ubuntu 14.04 image for Atom Z3735F. But Rikomagic must have worked on a Cherry Trail Linux port, more exactly Ubuntu 15.04, for their MK36S Cherry Trail mini PC, and has now launched MK36SLE (Linux Edition). [Update: While most features are currently workings, […]

Light Biz OS Firmware, Android and Ubuntu Image, and Android SDK Released for GeekBox (RK3368)

GeekBox is an upcoming Android TV box based on Rockchip RK3368 octa-core processor that doubles as a system-on-module and development board. The company has now uploaded the Android 5.1 SDK, including Linux 3.10.79 kernel, on github. It’s not for the Android SDK for RK3368, but at least it’s not just an outdated tarball, and will hopefully be regularly updated directly on github. Beside the source code, the company also released three firmware image including Rockchip’s Light Biz OS desktop operating system based on Lollipop: Biz OS for GeekBox – V151208 (8th of December 2015) Android and Lubuntu dual boot image  – V151129 (29th of November 2015) Android 5.1 image – V151129 (29th of November 2015) It’s quite possible those images will also work on other Rockchip RK3368 platform with some modifications, e.g. an updated device tree file for a given hardware. I’ve downloaded Biz OS adn the dual boot image, […]