Linux

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on ARDHAT adds Arduino Shield Compatibility, an ISM Band Radio to Raspberry Pi and ODROID-C1 Boards (Crowdfunding)

ARDHAT adds Arduino Shield Compatibility, an ISM Band Radio to Raspberry Pi and ODROID-C1 Boards (Crowdfunding)

NinjaBlocks created Pi Crust add-ons board adding a 433MHz radio and Arduino compatibility to the Raspberry Pi Model A & B a few years ago, but the product has since been removed from their store. But a startup called ubIQio has now created a similar product compatible with Raspberry Pi Model A+, B+ and B2, as well as ODROID-C1 which also comes with a 40-pin R-Pi header. The ARDHAT board is a HAT compatible add-on board with an Atmel MCU, Arduino headers, as well as an optional long range mesh ISM radio (433, 868 and 915 MHz) and various sensors. There are four versions of the board: Basic Ardhat, Ardhat-I, and Ardhat-W and Ultra, which share the following specifications: MCU – Atmel MCU @ 16MHz Headers and I/Os Arduino compatible header accepting 5V Arduino shields 12 ch PWM O/P, 6 ch analog I/P Real-time Clock Programmable Power/Navigation combo switch Programmable […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on How to Compare Systems Benchmarked with Phoronix Test Suite

How to Compare Systems Benchmarked with Phoronix Test Suite

Phoronix Test Suite is an open source benchmark for Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, Windows & BSD operating systems, but in practice it’s mostly used for Linux OS since other benchmarks solutions are available in Windows, while choices are more limited in Linux. There are many benchmarks to choose from, and you can select the ones you want by running a “batch-benchmarks” from the command line. I’ve done so when testing performance of ODROID-XU3 Lite and Cubieboard4 boards in Ubuntu, and once the tests are completed, the results will be automatically uploaded to openbenchmarking.org. From there, it’s quite easy to compare recent results as you’ll get an “add to comparison” option on the site, and you can pick a few results. You can select a few systems, and then click on “Compare Results” to get a side-by-side comparison. If you want to compare your system to an existing system, you […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments on ALi M3733 Dual Core Processor Finds its Way into DVB-T2 & DVB-S2 Android and Linux Set-top Boxes

ALi M3733 Dual Core Processor Finds its Way into DVB-T2 & DVB-S2 Android and Linux Set-top Boxes

Ten years ago, I remember ALi was in big player in DVD players, but I had not much heard about them since then. Thanks to a ARMdevices.net I found out they are still around, and their latest Ali M3733 dual core ARM Cortex A9 processor will soon be found in DVB set-top boxes like Uyesee L100T2 with a DVB-T2 tuner, or EKT DSD7045 DVB-S2 hybrid set-top box. The former is running Android 4.4, but the latter is likely based on Linux since it only has 512MB NAND flash. The EKT receiver runs SolidTV middleware with HbbTV, conditional access, and more features, and it does look like an interesting product, but I’ll focus on the Uyesse for this post: SoC – ALi M3733 dual core Cortex A9 processor with a dual core Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 (Option: 1GB) Storage – 4GB NAND flash (Options: 8 to 32GB) […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Intel Celeron N3000 2-in-1 Laptop, and MSI Motherboards with Celeron N3050/N3150 and Pentium N3700 Processors

Intel Celeron N3000 2-in-1 Laptop, and MSI Motherboards with Celeron N3050/N3150 and Pentium N3700 Processors

Intel introduced the first low power Braswell Celeron and Pentium processors with 4 to 6W TDP, meaning a lower power consumption compared to Bay Trail-M processors, and with better performance. The first devices and motherboards based on these have started to show up with Intel’s Orchid Island 2-in-1 Reference Design based on Celeron N3000, and three MSI motherboards: N3050I ECO, N3150I ECO, and N3700I ECO respectively powered by Celeron N3050 dual core processor, Celeron N3150 quad core processor, and Pentium N3700 quad core processor, all clocked @ 1.6GHz (base frequency) and with 6W TDP. MSI did not release full details about their motherboards but we still now they’ll support H.265/HEVC hardware decoding up to 4K, Blu-ray playback and 8-channel HD Audio via an HDMI 1.4b port. Other connectors and interfaces include two DDR3L-1600MHz SO-DIMM slots (up to 8GB), two SATA III ports, one PCIe slot, Gigabit Ethernet, a COM port, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on VX2 Celeron J1800 / J1900 mini PCs with 500GB Hard Drive Sell for $180 and Up (Promo)

VX2 Celeron J1800 / J1900 mini PCs with 500GB Hard Drive Sell for $180 and Up (Promo)

CSQ CSW9 is an Intel Celeron J900 based mini PC with a 500GB HDD that normally sells for a little over $200 on Aliexpress once shipping is included. But today, as I found a list of Geekbuying Coupons via Google+, I noticed the device was listed on Geekbuying as VX2, and both Celeron J1800 and J1900 versions were available for respectively $179.99 and $189.99 after applying MYMVECMY coupon, which looks like a decent deals since a 500GB 2.5″ SATA drive costs about $45. Specifications listed on Geekbuying are mostly the same as for CSQ CSW9 except some difference highlighted in bold or stricken-through when removed: SoC – Intel Celeron J1800 dual core processor @ 2.41 GHz (base) / 2.58 GHz (burst),  or J1900 Quad core processor  @ 2.0 GHz (base) / 2.41 GHz (Burst) with Intel HD graphics (10W TDP) System Memory – 2 GB DDR3L 1066/1333 MHz Storage – […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Inforce 6501 Micro SOM is a Tiny Module with Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 Processor

Inforce 6501 Micro SOM is a Tiny Module with Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 Processor

Inforce Computing has now launched Inforce 6501 micro system-on-module (SoM) based on the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor found on their Inforce 6540 pico-ITX single board computer. The module measures just 50×28 mm, and integrates up to 3 GB RAM, up to 16 GB eMMC, and Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS connectivity. Inforce 6501 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 (APQ8084) quad core Krait 450 processor up to 2.7 GHz with Adreno 420 GPU, and Hexagon DSP V50 up to 800 MHz System Memory – 2GB to 3GB PoP LPDDR3 @ 800 MHz; 2×64-bit 26.5GB/s memory bus Storage – 4GB eMMC v4.5/v5.0, with options up to 16GB Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.1 & 2×2 dual band 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi (QCA6174), and GPS (QCA1530) Peripherals and I/O via two 100-pin SoM connectors: Video / Display – 1x HDMI 1.4a, 2x MIPI-DSI (4-lane) & touch screen, Audio 4x Line out, 3x Mic-in, 1x headphone […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Kodi 14.2 Linux Tested on MeLE PCG03 with Ubuntu 15.04

Kodi 14.2 Linux Tested on MeLE PCG03 with Ubuntu 15.04

I’ve already tested Kodi 14.1 on MeLE PCG03 running Windows 8.1, with the Intel Atom Z3735F device performing greatly for 1080p videos, working DTS and Dolby pass-through (no HD Audio though) and automatic frame rate switching working at all frequencies I tested. Later I installed Lubuntu 15.04 on the mini PC, and I had planned to test Kodi 14.x in Linux to compare the performance in Windows 8.1. Unfortunately, I did not manage to mak HDMI audio, nor the audio jack work in Linux, so instead I purchased a cheap USB sound card from DealExtreme for around $2 US, and connected a pair of USB powered speakers to enable audio output. The USB sound card performs pretty well, and out of the 80 or so videos I used for testing, only one had some saturation issues likely due to the sound card itself. I installed Kodi 14.2 using the recommended […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on PCOMnetA5 is a Small Dual Ethernet Board Powered by Freescale Vybrid Processor

PCOMnetA5 is a Small Dual Ethernet Board Powered by Freescale Vybrid Processor

F&S Elektronik Systeme has introduced a credit card sized industrial board powered by Freescale Vybrid single core Cortex A5 SoC featuring two Ethernet ports, support for RGB panels with resistive touch, and various I/Os headers for USB, UART, CAN and so on. The board is comprised of a baseboard and the company’s PicoMODA5 module with the following combined specifications: SoC – Freescale Vybrid Cortex-A5 processor @ 500 MHz with 512KB cache, NEON instructions and GPU System Memory – 256 MB RAM Storage – 128 MB Flash + µSD slot Display – 18-bit RGB LCD with 4-wire analog resistive PCAP-Touch via I2C Connectivity –  2x 10/100M Ethernet with IEEE1588, optional WiFi USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports via header, 1x micro USB 2.0 device port Other I/Os 2x CAN RS232/RS485 1x I2C, 1x SPI 7x Digital I/O Supply Voltage –  +5V DC/ ±5% Dimensions – 80x50mm Operating Temperature Range – […]