Top 10 Posts of 2013 and Stats on CNXSoft Blog

This is the last day of the year, and just like in 2012, I’ll look back on the main trends of this year,  post a list of the top 10 posts of 2013 on cnx-software.com, and add some fun stats about the site and my visitors. 2013 has been the year of quad core media players and mini PCs, especially those based on Rockchip RK3188, XBMC is now featured in many Android STBs, “big.LITTLE” and “Octa-core” have been the buzz words on the application processor front, Google has entered the HDMI TV sticks market with the ChromeCast, and is competing with Miracast / DLNA TV dongles, we’ve gotten more and more low cost Linux development boards, crowdfunding has almost gone mainstream, and the Internet of things has started to take off thanks to new technologies such as Bluetooth Low Energy. I’ve compiled the list using data from Google Analytics, filtered […]

Android 4.4.2 KitKat SDK Released for Rockchip RK3188 mini PCs: MK908, MK908 II, MK918 and A9

Shenzhen AW Technology Co Ltd, a company specializing in home entertainment equipment development, manufacturing, and sales, has just informed me they’ve released Android 4.4.2 SDK (Software Development Kit) for four Rockchip RK3188 devices, namely MK908, MK908 II, MK918, and A9. If you’ve never heard about A9, it looks very similar to the upcoming ZERO Devices Z6C. The four SDKs are available in the download page which links to baidu.com as follows: MK908 Android 4.4.2 SDK – password: lvlb MK908 II Android 4.4.2 SDK – password: wpwa MK918 Android 4.4.2 SDK – password: kafo A9 II Android 4.4.2 SDK – password: f1zb Each download section is composed of three files. For MK908, we’ll get: rk3188_4.4.2_without_kernel_20131230.tar.gz (3.85GB) – The Android SDK itself without Linux kernel readme.txt kernel_mk908_20131230.tar.gz – The kernel source code I haven’t completed the download yet, but the readme explains how to use build Android, and flash the SDK: After […]

Crystal Board Combines Rockchip RK3188 ARM SoC with Xilinx FPGA and Arduino Compatible Board (Crowdfunding)

Red Crystal, a German startup, has just introduced the Crystal Board, a 3-in-1 development board with Rockchip RK3188 SoC running Linux or Android, an Arduino UNO compatible board, and a Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA. The concept is a similar to the UDOO board, but adds an FPGA. The company has launched a Kickstarter campaign to gather funds to manufacture the Lite and Pro versions of the board for respectively $149 and $179. Crystal Board specifications (Lite and Pro versions): SoC – Rockchip RK3188 ARM Cortex-A9 quad core up to 1.8Ghz + Mali-400 MP4 GPU MCU – Atmel Atmega328 SMD FPGA – Xilinx Spartan6 XC6SLX9 with 9152 logic cells System Memory – 2GB DDR3 @ 1066MHz (1GB DDR3 @ 1066MHz for Lite version) Storage – micro SD card slot, SPI flash Video Output – HDMI 1.4 Connectivity: 10/100M Ethernet port Wi-Fi  802.11b/g/n with antenna. Dual band for Pro version, 2.4GHz band for […]

How to Flash Rockchip RK3066 / RK3188 Firmware in Linux

Rockchip provides 2 tools to update the flash: RkBatchTool – Used to upgrade firmware with a single file RkAndroidTool – Used to flash the NAND flash with image corresponding to particular partition, e.g. system.img. kernel.img, boot.img. recovery.img. etc… One problem is that the company only provides these tools for Windows, so if you’re using a Linux based operating systems, you’d have to run a Windows XP or 7 virtual machine in VirtualBox or VMWare, which is an inconvenience, and requires a license in theory. To work around this issue, I’ve tried to use ReactOS, an open source operating systems compatible with Windows XP, but although the USB drivers appeared to install properly, RKAndroidTool failed to recognized my device (MK908). But a member of Mini PCs community informed me about a tool called RkFlashKit, written in Python and using GTK, that can flash firmware to Rockchip RK3066 and RK3188 devices in […]

DriverAssistant – Simplified Method to Install Rockchip USB Drivers in Windows XP/7/8/10

When you need to root or upgrade Rockchip RK3066 or RK3188 devices, you’ll usually have to connect your device to your computer via USB, and in Windows, installing specific drivers (ADB drivers) is usually needed. However, many people seem to have problems with installing the proper driver, and their device may not be recognized properly. To simplify the task for Windows users, Rockchip has written a tool called RK Driver Assistant to automatically install the correct drivers on different Windows versions. Here’s how to install the drivers with this tools.There’s no need to connect your Rockchip device during this procedure. Download and extract RK_DriverAssitant.zip [Update: More recent versions of the tools can be found in Rockchip-Linux account in Github] Double click on DriverInstall.exe in Release_DriverAssitant directory to start the utility If you’ve already tried to install USB drivers for Rockchip devices, make sure to click “Uninstall Driver” first Then click “Install […]

How to Root Rockchip Devices in Linux

Rooting methods for devices based on Rockchip RK3066 and Rk3188 are usually only provided for Windows, so if you run Linux as your main operating system, you would either need to find a Windows based devices, or run Windows in a virtual machine.  Luckily, Linux users may not have to switch to Windows anymore thanks to the instructions provided in one article that I’ll summarize below. The steps below are for Ubuntu / Debian based systems, but should be easily adaptable to other distributions. Set up ADB access to the device Install adb:

Edit/create /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules with the following line in order to let standard users connect to the device:

Make sure that the Linux user is part of group “plugdev”:

Reload of the USB access rules to get the latest one on:

Add your device USB Vendor ID to adb list. e.g.:

Restart the adb […]

RK2928 Miracast Adapter (MOCREO M1) Is Now Available for $26

Rockchip (via Charbax) has been teasing us with their upcoming RK2928 miracast adapter since the Hong Kong Electronics Fair in April 2013. It appears a device is finally available on DealExtreme with MOCREO M1 (iPush) for $25.90 including shipping. It’s using the same casing as the other iPush or Ezcast (MSD03) HDMI sticks, but the guts of the device are different: Processor – Rockchip RK2928 single core ARM Cortex A9 @ 1.0 GHz System Memory – 256MB DDR3 Storage – 16 MB Serial Flash Connectivity – Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g/n Video Output – HDMI V1.4 Multi-screen protocol – DLNA / Airplay / Miracast Video Format – RMVB / WMV / ASF / AVI / 3GP / MPG / MKV / MP4 / MOV / MPEG2 / MPEG4 Audio decoding – MP3 / OGG / WAV / APE / CDA / MIDI / WMA / AAC; Power adapter: 5V / 1A (Micro USB) […]

Rockchip RK3066 Android 4.2.2 HDMI TV Stick SDK Leaked

About 10 days ago, Android 4.2.2 SDK for MK908 (RK3188) HDMI TV Stick was leaked, and now, I’m reporting another leak, this time for the Android 4.2.2 SDK for the Android TV Boxes based on the older Rockchip RK3066 dual core processor. The files were first found on an FTP server, but one of Freaktab members uploaded a compressed image of all files, RK3066_R-BOX.7z (3.2GB) to MEGA.co.nz. The content of the SDK directory comes with a bit of documentation, AVC and VP8 encoding and decoding demos, and the SDK itself as a 3.2GB tar. I’ve haven’t download the file yet. If you switch to the parent directory, you’ll find more documentation such as several datasheets and RK3066 technical reference manual, hardware files (Schematics, PCB layout, BoM), and some manufacturing files. If you go up to the parent directory, you’ll also find an A20 directory with AllWinner A20 Android SDK (homlet […]

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