Top 10 Posts of 2014 and Stats on CNX Software

Wow! After a slow start of the year, 2014 has been a busy year as new devices based on newer processor from Amlogic started to flood the market in Q2, soon followed by even more Rockchip RK3288 based media players, and then some more Amlogic S805 and Allwinner A80 boards and devices. It’s now the last day of the year, so just like in 2013, it’s time to look back on the main trends of the year, and based on the list of the top 10 most visited posts below, the new generation of ARM Android media players were the most important story of the year on CNX Software, but we also saw more IoT devices and board like Vidonn X5 or LinkIT One, lots of new Wi-Fi modules, and by the end of the year ESP8266 seemed to have won that fight, but being found in $3 Wi-Fi modules. […]

CuBoxTV is a $100 OpenELEC TV Box Powered by Freescale i.MX6 Quad SoC

Last year, Solidrun launched their Cubox-i mini PCs powered by Freescale i.MX6 single, dual or quad core processor, and running Debian, OpenSUSE, Android 4.4, or various XBMC based Linux distributions. The company has now announced a new product called CuboxTV, that on surface looks similar to their Cubox-i4Pro mini PC with a quad core processor, but instead of running Linux desktop distributions, or Android, it’s pre-loaded with OpenELEC Linux distribution running Kodi 14. CuboxTV specifications: SoC – Freescale i.MX6 Quad with four Cortex A9 core up to 1GHz, and Vivante GC2000 3D GPU System Memory – 1GB SDRAM @ 1066 MHz Storage – 8GB internal storage + micro SD interface Video Output – HDMI 1.4b, 3D support Video Decoders – MPEG-4 ASP, XVID, H.264 HP, H.263, MPEG-2 MP, MJPEG BP, VP8, Sorenson-H263. Video Encoders –  MPEG-4 SP, H.264 BP, H.263, MJPEG BP Image Codecs – JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG. Audio […]

Freescale i.MX6 Development Boards (Wandboard, Cubox-i and HummingBoard) Get Android Kitkat Firmware and SDK

Several Freescale i.MX6 development boards have gotten a KitKat treat this month with the release of Android 4.4 firmware and SDK. The boards involved include Wandboard Solo/Dual/Quad, as well as Solidrun Cubox-i boards, and the Raspberry Pi like HummingBoard. Thanks to the “magic” of device tree, a single firmware image is now provided for all the boards provided by a given company. For Wandboard Solo, Dual, and Quad: Demo firmware image –  android-4.4.2-wandboard-20140815.zip SDK with source code – wandboard_android-4.4.2_fullsource_20140815.tar.xz For CuBox-i and HummingBoard: Firmware image – android-4.4.2-1.0.1b-ga-aaf118bb78-gapps.img.xz Android 4.4 KitKat souce code and build instructions are available on github. Thanks to … Harley! Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com

SolidRun HummingBoard Raspberry Pi-Like Board is Now Available for $45 and Up

HummingBoard is a board made by SolidRun that’s mechanically compatible with the Raspberry Pi, and offering the same expansions connectors, and a few extras. The board is comprised of a baseboard and a microSoM powered by Freescale i.MX6 Solo, Dual Lite or Dual. At first it looked like an internal project,  but the board went viral together with the Banana Pi, and the company has now announced availability for the HummingBoard with pricing starting at $45 for the single core version up to $100 for the dual core version with extra options. There are currently three models: HummingBoard-i1 ($44.90) – Freescale i.MX6 Solo with GC880 GPU, 512 MB RAM, 10/100M Ethernet HummingBoard-i2 ($74.99) – Freescale i.MX6 Dual Lite with GC880 GPU, 1GB RAM, 10/100M Ethernet HummingBoard-i2ex ($99.99) – Freescale i.MX6 Dual with GC2000 GPU, 1GB RAM, Gigabit Ethernet, LVDS output, mSATA II interface, PCI Express Gen 2 slot, RTC with […]

SolidRun HummingBoard is a Raspberry Pi Compatible Board Powered by Freescale i.MX6

Yesterday, I wrote about Banana Pi, an AllWinner A20 powered development board that’s mechanically and electrically compatible with the Raspberry Pi so that you can keep using your existing R-Pi accessories. It turns out another company is working on a similar concept. Solidrun who has brought us Cubox and Cubox-i in the past, will soon launch HummingBoard, a Raspberry Pi compatible board powered by Freescale i.MX6 solo/dual/quad SoC, bring even more power than the AllWinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 SoC found in the Banana Pi. The HummingBoard, previously known as Carrier One, is composed of a baseboard and SolidRun microSOM (micro System-on-Module) have comes with the followings specifications: SoC = Freescale i.MX6 Quad @ 1 GHz with Vivante GC2000 3D GPU. The microSoM also comes in solo and dual flavors, and although it’s likely the HummingBoard will be sold with these variants too, it’s not 100% confirmed System Memory […]