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April 19, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Mini Review of NextDrive Plug for Private Cloud Storage and Home Security

NextDrive Plug is an ARM based plug computer that’s used to store your photos or music, and/or as a security system using a webcam combined with Pixi motion sensor. They had a successful crowdfunding campaign, and now that they’ve sent rewards to backers, I’ve also received NextDrive Plug and Pixi for evaluation. The courier was not particularly gentle with the packages, but the devices themselves were not damaged. NextDrive Plus package included the box, a US plug, and a user’s manual in English. Pixi comes with two 3M stickers, and a user’s manual. There’s also a plastic film to avoid depleting the battery, that you’ll need to remove before using the sensor. The interfaces on the plug are minimal with a USB port for a USB mass storage device (HDD, flash drive…) and/or a UVC webcam, and the socket for the power plug adapter on the back.You can then plug […]

February 19, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Samsung Artik IoT Boards and Devkits with WiFi, Bluetooth LE, and Zigbee Available, Partners Announced

Samsung Artik IoT boards will finally start selling on February 22 via Digikey. With the many fascinating developments in the IoT space over the year, you’d be forgiven if you completely forgot about Samsung Artik boards. So let’s have a quick recap. The Korean company previously announced three boards all supporting Bluetooth LE: Artik 1 – Ineda Systems Dual Core microAptiv MIPS32 processor with 1MB on-chip RAM, no GPU, and 4MB SPI flash Artik 5 – Dual core Exynos ARM processor @ 1GHz with ARM Mali 400 MP2 GPU, 512MB RAM and 4GB eMMC flash (both on-chip), with WiFi & Zigbee/Thread connectivity Artik 10 – Octa core Exynos processor with 4x ARM Cortex A15 @ 1.3GHz, 4x ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.0 GHz with ARM Mali-T628 GPU, 2GB LPDDR3 (on-chip), 16GB eMMC flash, and WiFi & Zigbee/Thread connectivity Samsung also partnered with multiple companies working on: Operating Systems – Tizen, […]

January 29, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Embedded Systems Conference 2016 Schedule – April 13-14

The Embedded Systems Conference 2016 will take place in Boston on April 13-14, and the organizers have now released the schedule, minus some keynotes, which features four main tracks: Embedded Hardware, Embedded Software, Connected Devices and the Internet of Things (IoT), and the ESC Engineering Theatre. As usual, I’ve gone through the list of talks and composed my own little virtual schedule which ended up with sessions focusing on power management, IoT, and security, as well some optimization and drivers development talks among others, such as patents, and the origin of Gerber files. Wednesday 13 8:00 – 9:00 – Power Management in Embedded Systems by Colin Walls, Embedded Software Technologist, Mentor Graphics The importance of power management in today’s embedded designs has been steadily growing as an increasing number of battery powered devices are developed. In this session, we will discuss design considerations that should be made when starting a […]

November 13, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Turris Omnia Open Source Hardware Router’s Crowdfunding Campaign is Up

CZ.NIC is a non-profit organization running the .cz domain of the Czech Republic, and as part of their activities they are also making open source hardware routers such as Turris 1.1 based on Freescale QorIQ P2020 communication processor. I’ve previously written about Turris Omnia router based on Marvell ARMADA 385 dual core processor, and the organization has now launched an Indiegogo campaign where you can get the bare board for $99, and a complete router with WiFi modules, power supply, cables, and enclosure for $189, shipping not included. Turris Omnia router specifications: Processor – Marvell ARMADA 385 (88F6820) dual core ARMv7 processor @ 1.6 GHz with 1MB L2 cache System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4GB flash, mSATA slot Connectivity 5x Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports 1x Gigabit Ethernet WAN port 1x SFP cage 3×3 MIMO 802.11ac, 2×2 MIMO 802.11 b/g/n (Included in router perk, not with bare board) SIM […]

October 27, 2015October 27, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

Foxconn Kangaroo Intel Atom x5-Z8500 mini PC Includes a Fingerprint Scanner, Sells for $99

Most Cherry Trail mini PCs launched on the market are powered by Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor, and few have been announced with x5-Z8500 or x7-X8700 processors which are more powerful, and do not cost that much more based on Intel’s recommended customer price. Foxconn Kangaroo is one of these mini PCs with an Atom x5-Z8500, 2GB RAM, and 32GB eMMC, which has a bonus includes a fingerprint scanner, and sells for $99 on Newegg. Foxconn Kangaroo specifications: Processor – Intel Atom x5-Z8500 Processor @ 1.44 GHz (up to 2.24 GHz) with 2M Cache and Intel Gen8 Graphics System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 Storage – 32GB eMMC + micro SD slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11ac & Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 1x micro USB port (for charging only), 1x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0 Misc – Fingerprint reader, 40-pin proprietary Kangaroo adapter, power button Battery Life […]

October 1, 2015October 1, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

ARM TechCon 2015 Schedule – IoT, Servers, 64-bit ARM, Power Usage Optimization, and More

The ARM Technology Conference (ARM TechCon) will take place on November 10 – 12, 2015, in Santa Clara Convention Center, and just like every year, there will be a free exposition for companies to showcase their latest innovation and/or products, as well as a technical conference with sessions and workshops sorted into various tracks: Automotive/Embedded Vision Embedded IoT Mobile/Connectivity Networking Infrastructure/Servers Tools & Implementation Wearables/Sensors ARM Training Day Sponsored Vendor Training Special Event General Event Software Developers Workshop You can find the complete schedule on ARM TechCon website. Although I won’t attend, I’ve created my own virtual schedule with some of the sessions I found interesting. Tuesday – November 10 8:30 – 9:20 – ARM Vision for Thermal Management and Energy Aware Scheduling on Linux by Ian Rickards (ARM), Charles Garcia-Tobin (ARM), Bobby Batacharia (ARM) This talk will cover the history and where are we going, for ARM’s Power Software (IPA, […]

September 18, 2015May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Own-Mailbox is a Tiny, Secure, and Open Source Hardware Mail Server (Crowdfunding)

Email encryption has been around for a while, but virtually nobody uses it, because it’s quite complex to setup, and your recipients email clients, apps or browsers must also support encryption. Revolutek aims to simplify the setup and usage of encrypted email with their “Own-Mailbox” based on open source hardware and software technology. The hardware solution could have been based on the Raspberry Pi board in theory, but the popular board requires a closed source binary to boot, documentation about part of the hardware is lacking, and once the enclosure, and required accessories are included the price would have been higher. So instead they decided to design their own hardware based on an Allwinner processor: SoC – Allwinner A13 Cortex A8 processor @ 1GHz System Memory – 256 MB RAM Storage – (micro?) SD card slot with 16GB card included Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet (Lan9500A controller) USB – USB host […]

April 14, 2015April 14, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

AtHome Video Streamer App Transforms Android TV Boxes into IP Security Cameras

Some Android mini PCs come with cameras, for example Measy U2C or CS928, but depending on firmware support, most will also take a USB webcam, and the obvious application is for video conferencing with Skype or Google Hangout. But I’ve just found out an app called “AtHome Video Streamer” can transform any Android device with camera support into as IP camera for security or monitoring. The app will show with the name AVS, and it should detect your camera automatically, and show a live feed. I installed the app in Zidoo X9 TV box to which I connected a UVC USB camera in order to monitor… my chameleon plush / pillow. X9 camera support might need to be improved, as I lost access to the webcam a few times. You don’t have many options in AVS app, except Dimming the screen, and change the streamer name, username and/or password. So […]