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December 21, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

X100 Raspberry Pi Expansion Board Adds VGA Output, RTC and More

Suptronics X100 is an expansion board that connects on top of the Raspberry Pi in order to add VGA output, RTC, four USB ports, a micro SD card slot, an RS232 DB9 connector, and an 8-channel servo port. Key features of X100 expansion board: Input Voltage – 6V to 23V converted to 5V, 3A via step-down DC/DC converter to power the Raspberry Pi. VGA – HDMI to VGA converter supporting up to UXGA (1600×1200) and 1080p with 10-bit DAC USB – self-powered USB hub with 4 ports Storage – micro SD card reader RTC – NXP PCF2127AT / PCF2129AT with included CR2032 battery Debugging – RS232 DB9 connector (via MAX3232) to be used with a null-modem cable. I/Os – Reset switch for RPi reset, headers to access S1 & S5 on top of the Raspberry Pi Servo support – 8-channel Darlington driver chip (ULN2803) allowing to control electronic circuits […]

December 20, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Linaro 13.12 Release with Linux Kernel 3.13, Android 4.4, and Ubuntu Saucy Salamander

Due to the end of year celebration, Linaro release is a little earlier at this time, and Linaro 13.12 has already been released with Linux Kernel 3.13-rc3 (baseline), Linux Kernel 3.10.24 (LSK), Android 4.4, and Ubuntu Linaro 13.12, which for the first time is based on Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander. Other interesting development include an initial arm64 Ubuntu saucy rootfs (that one?), work to support octa-core 4x Cortex A53, 4x Cortex A57 SoCs, an Android 4.4 KitKat LEB for the Galaxy Nexus, and ARMv8 LSK and Nexus7_2013-AOSP builds have been setup and Android can be now built using llvm-clang toolchain with the related patches submitted to upstream. On a related note, there are also some Midway and Highbank engineering build images for Calxeda server processors, which may not be that useful going forward, as unfortunately the company has just closed door after running out of cash. Here are the highlights of this […]

December 19, 2013December 19, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Mentor Embedded ARM Hypervisor Automotive Demo on Freescale i.MX6 Board

Virtual machines are usually run on server or desktop PC to run several operating systems simultaneous. About 2 years ago, I wrote about an embedded hypervisor running Linux and Android on the Pandaboard develompent board, with the goal of separating home and enterprise operating systems in mobile devices so that enterprise data is safe. Since then, virtualization extensions are now part of ARM Cortex A15 / A7, and as well as the new Cortex A53 / A57 ARMv8 64-bit cores, but in my mind at least, those where mostly designed to address the server market. It turns out hypervisors are also useful in the automotive field, where for example, the dashboard and In-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems runs in two separate virtual machines controlling two different displays from one processor. Mentor Embedded showcased such automotive system at ARM Techcon 2013, where they showed a Freescale i.MX6 quad core board, which looks […]

December 18, 2013December 18, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Fedora 20 “Heisenbug” Release Makes ARM a Primary Architecture

Fedora has been supporting ARM architecture for a while now, but it was only as a secondary architecture without official support. With the recent Fedora 20 release, nicknamed “Heisenbug”, the ARM architecture, more exactly ARMv7 hard float and greater, is promoted to a primary architecture meaning ARMv7 will have the same status as x86 and x86_64 architectures with packages officially build and supported by the Fedora community. What it does not mean however, due to the nature of ARM architecture, is that you can simply download an ISO to install on any ARM platforms, like you would do on an Intel or AMD computer. It’s a little more complicated than that, as it is platform specific, but instructions are available for the Beaglebone Black, Compulab Trimslice, the Wandboard, Calxeda Energycore Midway and Highbank, and Versatile Express in QEMU. You can download images with MATE, KDE, XFCE, LXDE, SOAS desktops, as […]

December 18, 2013April 24, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

TBS Matrix ARM mini PC Features Freescale i.MX6Q, Supports USB DVB Tuners

TBS, a producer of digital TV tuners for PC, has decided to launch their own ARM mini PC called Matrix to interface with their USB DVB tuners. The board is based on Freescale i.MX6 Quad ARM Cortex A9 SoC with 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC flash, and costs about $150. The company also claims to have XBMC, VDR, Tvheadend software running on the platform. Here are the specifications for this quad core ARM board / computer (Codename: TBS2910): SoC – Freescale i.MX6 Quad (MCIMX6Q5EYM10AC) quad core ARM Cortex A9 processor @ 1.0 GHz with Vivante GC2000 3D GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR Storage – 16GB eMMC, SD card slot, micro SD card slot, and SATA interface USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x USB OTG Video Output – HDMI Audio Output – HDMI and 3.5mm audio jack Connectivity – 10/100/1000M Ethernet, and Wi-Fi 802.11n/b/g Expansion – 16-pin header for […]

December 15, 2013December 15, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Toradex Colibri VF50/VF61 SoMs Powered by Freescale Vybrid SoCs Sell for as Low as 19 Euros

Toradex Colibri VF50 and Colibri VF61 are system-on-modules respectively powered by Freescale Vyrbrid VF5xx Cortex A5 SoC and Vybrid VF6xx dual core Cortex A5/M4 SoC, which are part of the company’s Colibri ARM computer on modules. Toradex Colibri VF50/VF61 specifications: Processor VF50 – Freescale Vybrid VF5xx (MVF50NN151CMK40) ARM Cortex-A5 @ 400MH, 1.5MB SRAM VF61 – Freescale Vybrid VF6xx (MVF61NS151CMK50) ARM Cortex-A5 @ 500MHz, Cortex-M4 @ 167MHz, 1.0MB SRAM, and multiple hardware accelerated security features listed below. System Memory VF50 – 128MB DDR3 (16-bit, no ECC), or 64MB DDR3 with ECC (8-bit, ECC) VF61 – 256MB DDR3 (16-bit, no ECC), or 128MB DDR3 (8-bit, ECC) Storage VF50 – 128MB NAND flash VF61 – 1GB NAND flash Interfaces via the 200-pin SO-DIMM edge connector (X1): LCD RGB (24-bit), up to 1024 x 768 4-wire or 5-wire resistive touch Audio – I/O (VF61 only), SPDIF In and Out, I2S/AC97 compatibl Ehanced Serial Audio […]

December 15, 2013December 15, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Lantronix XPort Pro Lx6 is a Tiny Embedded Linux Server Fitted into an RJ45 Connector

Lantronix has recently launched XPort(R) Pro Lx6, a secure embedded device server supporting IPv6, that barely larger than an RJ45 connector. The device runs Linux or the company’s Evolution OS, and is destined to be used in wired industrial IoT / M2M applications. Lantronix XPort Pro Lx6 Specifications: Processor – Freescale ColdFire MCF5208 up to 166.67 MHz (TBC) 32-bit processor System memory – 16MB SDRAM Storage – 16MB Flash Serial Interface – Software selectable data rates from 300 to 921kbps Programmable IO – 3 PIO pins (software selectable) Network Interface – 10Base-T and 100Base-TX Link with support for IPv4 and IPv6, and the following protocols: TCP/IP, UDP/IP, ARP, ICMP, SNMPv2, TFTP, FTP, Telnet, DHCP, BOOTP, HTTP, SMTP, PPP, AutoIP, RSS, and SYSLOG Security – TCP/AES and UDP/AES Temperature Range – Operating and storage: -40° to +85° C Relative Humidity – 0% to 90% non-condensing Regulatory Approvals – FCC Part 15, Subpart […]

December 14, 2013December 14, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Rii Mini i28 Do-it-all RF Remote Can Be Used as a Backlit QWERTY Keyboard, a TouchPad, an Air Mouse, a Gamepad, and an Headset

There are many 2.4 GHz “magic” remote, often called Air mice, to use with Android devices, or computer mainly such as Mele F10, or Measy RC11. They usually comes with a qwerty keyboard, and a gyro that allow you to move the mouse pointer on the screen by moving the remote around, and are much more convenient that a standard IR remote with Android mini PCs. Newer models such as Mele F10 Pro often include a microphone, and a jack to connect an headphone, but Rii Mini i28 is going a few steps further, some may even say a few steps too far, as it features a backlit QWERTY keyboard, Air mouse function, a microphone and a headphone jack, as well as a touchpad, and some of controls that make it look like a gamepad (No analog though). Rii Mini i28 “thing” specifications: Keyboard – 70 Keys QWERTY keyboard with […]