QSeven Form Factor Embedded Boards by Seco

QSeven is a new standard (QSeven Specifications 1.20) that provides pinout, electromechanical description and implementation guidelines so that the main boards (with the MPU) be easily exchanged. So that you can a larger board with all connectors and a QSeven boards based on Intel icore, Atom or other processors based on ARM that simply fits into that larger board. The QSeven concept is defined as follows: Qseven Concept The Qseven concept is an off-the-shelf, multi vendor, Single-Board-Computer that integrates all the core components of a common PC and is mounted onto an application specific carrier board. Qseven modules have a standardized form factor of 70mm x 70mm and have specified pinouts based on the high speed MXM system connector that has a standardized pinout regardless of the vendor. The Qseven module provides the functional requirements for an embedded application. These functions include, but are not limited to, graphics, sound, mass […]

Video Wall with Beagleboards and ffmpeg

There was a 6-Screen Video Wall at Embedded World 2011, powered by 6 Beagleboard xM (based on Texas Instruments OMAP 3 running @ 1Ghz – Cost: 149 USD / piece), connected vi Ethernet. In the video they explain that the system is running Linux Ångström and the video is played and synchronized over Ethernet with ffmpeg. After doing some research on how to do this, they are probably using omapfbplay with netsync enabled which you can compile as follows: NETSYNC=y OMAPFB=y make However, if you are using Linux Ångström, omapfbplay with netsync is enabled by default. This can also be done with the first version of Beagleboard (without Ethernet) via USB. They can also control each display independently and synchronize the mouse and keyboard thanks to Synergy. 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 […]

Texas Instruments OMAP 5 based on ARM Cortex A15 Core

Texas Instruments announced its new generation of mobile chips OMAP 5 based on the latest ARM core Cortex A15.  Press release excerpt: DALLAS (Feb. 7, 2011) /PRNewswire/ — Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) announced today the next generation of its popular OMAP™ family: the OMAP 5 mobile applications platform, which is positioned to transform how mobile devices, such as Smartphones, tablets and other mobile form factors are used, making them even more valuable in our daily lives. … The 28 nanometer OMAP 5 applications processors carry on the OMAP family tradition of delivering significant increases in performance and functionality, while lowering power consumption compared to their predecessors. Specifically, they offer up to 3x processing performance and five-fold 3D graphics improvement, yet provide a nearly 60 percent average power reduction compared to a sample user experience on the OMAP 4 platform. Additionally, the OMAP 5 platform’s software is designed for […]

A Pico Projector and Android in a Light Bulb

seco_light_bulb_android_texas_instrument_omap

Seco, an Italian company, specialized in Embedded Systems development has developed a light bulb with a pico projector (DLP) that replaces your light bulb and project videos/pictures or anything you can think of on your wall. The product is supposedly 99% made with Texas Instruments chipsets, mainly Texas Instruments OMAP3530 processor (ARM Cortex A8) and it runs Android, WiFi, Bluetooth, inside a lamp. The maximum power consumption is 25 W (green bulb maximum power consumption). This is currently a prototype and could cost between 200 and 400 USD retail. A microphone and speaker is also available, so it could possibly be used with Skype. Have a look this really seems promising. Soon we may also ask: “What OS are you running in your light bulb ?” 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 […]

The Next Version Microsoft Windows Will Support Embedded Systems based on Intel and ARM

Microsoft announced its new Windows operating system will support SoC based on ARM and is mainly working with NVidia (Tegra Processors), Qualcomm and Texas Instruments. This should allow their customers to provide a wider range of tablets running Windows OS. They will also keep working with AMD and Intel on their low power x86 processors. Here’s an excerpt of the press release: LAS VEGAS — Jan. 5, 2011 — Microsoft Corp. today announced at 2011 International CES that the next version of Windows will support System on a Chip (SoC) architectures, including ARM-based systems from partners NVIDIA Corp., Qualcomm Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. On the x86 architecture, Intel Corporation and AMD continue their work on low-power SoC designs that fully support Windows, including support for native x86 applications. SoC architectures will fuel significant innovation across the hardware spectrum when coupled with the depth and breadth of the Windows platform. […]

ARM Techcon 2010 Proceedings and Presentation Slides

A lot have been covered at ARM Techcon 2010. I’ve blogged a few articles about ARM Techcon 2010, but there is a lot more to discover. A full set of documents and presentation slides shown at Techcon 2010 are available at http://vault.eetimes.com/armconference/proceedings/ The documents are divided in 2 main parts: Day 1: Chip Design Conference Day 2-3: System & Software Design Conference which are then divided into sub-directories with really (hmm) good names such as ATC-100, ATC-101… to ATC-165 so that everybody can clearly see what the subjects are. You’ll also have the Keynote and Industry addresses. Since this blog is more related to “System & Software Design” I’ve been through the pain of downloading all documents of this section and checking the subjects. You may do it for “Chip Design Conference” if you wish, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. You’ll have one or two documents in each folder. If […]