Reviews - Page 96 of 119 - CNX Software

September 25, 2015September 25, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Mini Review of Semlamp SL-011 Audio Controlled Relay for Home Lighting

Last month, I wrote about Semlamp SL-012 a smartphone controlled light switch for 2 lamps that sells for about $11 on DX, and contrary to most others don’t use Bluetooth, nor Wifi, but instead a simple microphone. I decided to try it out by purchasing SL-011 model, controlling only one light, for $8.22 on DealExtreme. Semlamp SL-011 Unboxing and Teardown That’s the package with some instructions in Chinese. The device has black and red wires to connect to 220V on the right of the picture below, blue and brown wires to connect to the lamp, and a microphone attached via a white cable. It’s quite easy to take apart, as they are just two screws to remove, and you can easily pop-up the bottom part of the case to access the board. The top of the board features JQC-3FF 24V relay supporting up to 10A @ 277VAC, as well as […]

September 2, 2015September 2, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Debian 8 on Orange Pi mini 2 Board (Video)

Yesterday, I wrote a quick start guide for Orange Pi PC / 2 / Plus showing how to install Linux distributions on the board, and build your own image. With the launch of the $15 Orange Pi PC, Xunlong Software has taken over 1,500 orders for the board on their Aliexpress store, and probably sold a few hundreds or thousands in China via Taobao. So the board got relatively popular in a short time, considering it’s only selling via these two channels. I tested my tutorial with Orange Pi mini 2 ($23), a very similar board also based on Allwinner H3, but just a little larger and with an extra USB hosty port, but apart from that it’s similar to Orange Pi PC, and software compatible. I had already wrote about my test results in the previous article, where I did not recommend using the board in Linux as a […]

August 31, 2015November 6, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 27 Comments

Tronfy MXIV Telos TV Box Review with Android 5.1

Tronfy MXIV Telos is a TV box powered by Amlogic S812 processor running Android 5.1 Lollipop and costing just above $90 (with coupon), so it will be interesting to find out how it performs compared to Mygica ATV1900AC also based on Amlogic S812 SoC, and Android Lollipop firmware (version 5.0.2), which I reviewed recently, and sells for $169. I’ve already checked the hardware in Tronfy MX4 Telos Unboxing and Teardown, so today I’ll check how the device actually performs. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions I started by connecting peripherals: A USB hard drive to one of the USB port, and a USB hub to the other USB port with a webcam, and two RF dongles for an air mouse and a wireless gamepad, as well as HDMI and Ethernet cables, and the power supply. I then had to press the power button on the unit to start it up, […]

August 28, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Ubuntu 14.04 / 15.04 Tested in Tronsmart Ara X5 Cherry Trail Mini PC

After reviewing Tronsmart Ara X5 with Windows 10, I decided to give a try at Ubuntu. Initially I downloaded Ubuntu 15.04 Desktop 64-bit ISO image, and prepare a bootable USB drive with UNetbootin in my computer running Ubuntu 14.04. But after inserting the USB flash drive into Ara X5, and pressing F7, there was no options to select the drive, so I went to UEFI settings, and the drive was clearly detected, but not available as a bootable device. Finally, having heard one company booted Ubuntu on MeegoPad T04 using Rufus, and Tronsmart confirming Ubuntu 14.04 could boot on Ara X5 using Pendrive Linux USB installer, I decided to try again with Windows tools, and prepared an Ubuntu 15.04 image with Rufus. Great! Pressing F7 would show the USB flash drive, and I could boot Ubuntu 15.04. But unfortunately audio output is not working (only Dummy output), nor is WiFi […]

August 27, 2015August 28, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Tronsmart Orion R68 Meta mini PC Unboxing and Teardown

I’ve already reviewed one Rockchip RK3368 mini PC with Beelink i68, and found out that although HDMI 2.0 up to 2160p60 was working, there was still some work to do to have 4K 60 fps videos playing smoothly, and compared to Rockchip RK3288 device performance was – as expected – significantly lower. But I now have a new RK3368 device to play with as GeekBuying has now sent me their Tronsmart Orion R68 Meta with higher specifications including Gigabit Ethernet support, 802.11ac support, and 16GB storage (vs just 8GB for Beelink i68 sample I received previously). Tronsmart Orion R68 Meta Unboxing GeekBuying sent me the package via DHL, which seems the preferred courier of many resellers who provide samples. Tronsmart Orion R68 is in a retail package with complete specifications at the back. There are two models for Orion R68: Meta (2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC, GbE, and AP6335 wileress module) […]

August 27, 2015August 27, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

Review of Mygica ATV586 Android Set-Top Box with DVB-T2 Tuner

I’ve already tested some Android TV boxes with tuners such as HD18T (DVB-T2) and WeTek Play (DVB-S2) , but they were all based on Amlogic AML8726-MX dual core processor. Geniatech recently sent me Mygica ATV586 quad core Android DVB-T2 receiver based on Amlogic S805 processor. I’ve already taken a few pictures, and look at the hardware components, so today, I’ll write the review, mainly focusing on the live TV program capabilities including PVR and Timeshifting. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions I’ve connected a hard drive, a webcam, MeLE F10 Deluxe RF dongle, and a keyboard (for screenshots) to the device’s USB ports, as well as HDMI and Ethernet cables, and a TV antenna cable, before connecting the 5V power adapter to start the device. When everything is connected, the boot takes about 1 minute 35 seconds, but without USB devices, it drops down to 44 seconds. Boot time is […]

August 24, 2015June 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 42 Comments

Review of Tronsmart Ara X5 Windows 10 mini PC with Intel Atom X5 Processor

Tronsmart Ara X5 is one of the first mini PC featuring a Cherry Trail processor, more exactly Atom x5-Z8300 quad core processor manufactured with 14nm process. Price and max TDP are similar to Atom Z3735F Bay Trail-T processor found in many mini PCs designed in China, so it will interesting to compare the two platforms. Yesterday, I took some photos of the device, and found out the design was comprised of a baseboard and system-on-module, but today, I’ll focus on testing the device in Windows 10, checking everything works as it should, as well as running some benchmarks, verifying the Windows license status, test H.265 video playback in Kodi, and more. Tronsmart Ara X5 Setup I had not much to do the first time I booted the device, as it was already configured to use English, and the system logged in with user “User” without password. I still double checked […]

August 22, 2015August 25, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

Tronfy MX4 Telos Android 5.1 TV Box Unboxing and Teardown

I’ve recently reviewed Mygica ATV1900AC TV box powered by Amlogic S812 with 2GB RAM and 16GB eMMC running Android Lollipop, a device with some high quality components, and a RF remote with voice command and search function that sells for $180. Tinydeal, a Hong Kong-based online shopping site specialized in electronic goods, sent me Tronfy MX4 Telos with very similar specifications including support for 802.11ac and Gigabit Ethernet, but selling instead for nearly half price at $98.99 including shipping. The firmware is also based on Lollipop, and runs Android 5.1.1 instead of Android 5.0.2, and it will be interesting to find out how the cheaper product fare against the higher-end one. Tronfy MX4 (MXIV) Telos Specifications Since it’s the first time I come across this box, I’ll list the specifications first: SoC – Amlogic S812 quad core cortex A9r4 @ 2 GHz with Mali-450MP6 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 […]