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January 3, 2016May 16, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 37 Comments

Raspberry Pi Zero, C.H.I.P, and Orange Pi One Boards’ Features and Price Comparisons

With Raspberry Pi Zero, Next Thing C.H.I.P, and Orange Pi One, we now have have three ARM Linux development boards selling (now or soon) for less than $10 excluding shipping and taxes. So I’d think it would be interesting to compare the features of the boards, and prices for different use cases. The comparison table below shows the three boards features side-by-side with items highlighted in green for the best or extra features, and in red for the weakest. Some cells will have to be filled later as data is currently not available (marked TBD). Raspberry Pi Zero C.H.I.P Orange Pi One Processor Broadcom BCM2835 single core ARM11 processor @ 1GHz (~1250 DMIPS) Allwinner R8 Cortex A8 processor @ 1 GHz (2000 DMIPS) Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz (4x 2280 DMIPS) GPU VideoCore IV ARM Mali-400 ARM Mali-400MP2 Video Decoding 1080p30 for H.264, MPEG2* and […]

December 28, 2015December 28, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

CubieTruck Plus Development Board with DisplayPort & HDMI Sells for $84 (in China)

We first found out about CubieTruck Plus (aka Cubieboard 5) this summer, and while at the time we did not have the full details, it was clear from the board picture and name, that is was an update to CubieTruck board, replacing Allwinner A20 dual core processor by Allwinner A8 octa-core processor, and ditching the VGA port for DisplayPort while keeping most of the same features of the original version. The company has now provided more details while announcing the launch of the board in China, and it turns out CubieTruck Plus has a few more advantages, and at least one drawback. CubieTruck CubieTruck Plus SoC Allwinner A20 Allwinner H8 CPU Dual core Cortex A7 up to 1.08 GHz Octa core Cortex A7 up to 2.0 GHz GPU Mali-400MP2 PowerVR SGX544 up to 700 MHz Memory 2GB DDR3 Power 5V@2.5V power jack Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45) WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 […]

December 23, 2015December 23, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

How to Resize Android’s Internal Storage Partition in Rockchip Devices

I installed Light Biz OS firmware on GeekBox yesterday, but I’ve quickly realized many applications such as Gimp Inkscape would not install due to the small 1.94GB “internal partition”, so I asked how to increase the partition size in GeekBox forums last evening, and got an answer overnight from “dewet”. The good news is that it worked so I’ll share the steps I followed in a computer running Ubuntu 14.04. It might also be possible to perform the same tasks within a Windows machine with Rorkchip’s Factory tools First let’s download the utils with relevant scripts and binaries:

git clone https://github.com/geekboxzone/utils
cd utils/rockdev

1 2	git clone https://github.com/geekboxzone/utils cd utils/rockdev

Now copy your device or board’s firmware file “update.img” to the working directory, and unpack it:

./unpack.sh update.img

1	./unpack.sh update.img

The output should look like:

start to unpack update.img...
********RKImageMaker ver 1.61********
Unpacking image, please wait...
Exporting boot.bin
Exporting firmware.img
Unpacking image success.
Android Firmware Package Tool v1.0
Check file... OK
------- UNPACK ------
package-file    0x00000800    0x000002A6
Loader.bin    0x00001000    0x0003594E
parameter    0x00037000    0x000003BF
Image/trust.img    0x00037800    0x00400000
Image/uboot.img    0x00437800    0x00400000
Image/resource.img    0x00837800    0x00606400
Image/misc.img    0x00E3E000    0x0000C000
Image/kernel.img    0x00E4A000    0x00D08C4C
Image/boot.img    0x01B53000    0x001354E8
Image/recovery.img    0x01C88800    0x00FB4000
Image/system.img    0x02C3C800    0x28D29000
update-script    0x2B965800    0x000003A5
recover-script    0x2B966000    0x0000010A
Unpack firmware OK!
------ OK ------
Unpacking update.img OK.
Press any key to quit:

start to unpack update.img...

********RKImageMaker ver 1.61********

Unpacking image, please wait...

Exporting boot.bin

Exporting firmware.img

Unpacking image success.

Android Firmware Package Tool v1.0

Check file... OK

------- UNPACK ------

package-file 0x00000800 0x000002A6

Loader.bin 0x00001000 0x0003594E

parameter 0x00037000 0x000003BF

Image/trust.img 0x00037800 0x00400000

Image/uboot.img 0x00437800 0x00400000

Image/resource.img 0x00837800 0x00606400

Image/misc.img 0x00E3E000 0x0000C000

Image/kernel.img 0x00E4A000 0x00D08C4C

Image/boot.img 0x01B53000 0x001354E8

Image/recovery.img 0x01C88800 0x00FB4000

Image/system.img 0x02C3C800 0x28D29000

update-script 0x2B965800 0x000003A5

recover-script 0x2B966000 0x0000010A

Unpack firmware OK!

------ OK ------

Unpacking update.img OK.

Press any key to quit:

The files will be in the “output” directory. For our purpose “parameter” file, and especially the last line (CMDLINE) where we will want to adjust the userdata partition […]

December 21, 2015August 6, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

How to Upgrade Rockchip Firmware in Linux for RK3288, RK3328, RK3368, RK3399, etc..

I’ve been looking for ways to upgrade firmware on Rockchip RK3368 based GeekBox in a computer running Ubuntu 14.04, but while they’ve provided firmware update instructions for Windows, which remains basically the same as upgrading firmware on Rockchip RK3288, there’s no such information for Linux. However, I could remember than Radxa Rock supported upgrade_tool utility, but since the tool linked on Radxa website might be outdated, I instead searched for some RKtools repository on Geekboxzone Github account, and I was lucky enough to find one. Here’s what I did to flash Light Biz OS to GeekBox with my Linux computer: Get the tools, and make sure upgrade_tool is there.

git clone https://github.com/geekboxzone/lollipop_RKTools.git
cd lollipop_RKTools/linux/Linux_Upgrade_Tool
unzip Linux_Upgrade_Tool_v1.23.zip 
cd Linux_Upgrade_Tool_v1.23/
ls -l upgrade_tool 
-rw-rw-r-- 1 jaufranc jaufranc 3013546 Dec 17  2014 upgrade_tool

git clone https://github.com/geekboxzone/lollipop_RKTools.git

cd lollipop_RKTools/linux/Linux_Upgrade_Tool

unzip Linux_Upgrade_Tool_v1.23.zip

cd Linux_Upgrade_Tool_v1.23/

ls -l upgrade_tool

-rw-rw-r-- 1 jaufranc jaufranc 3013546 Dec 17 2014 upgrade_tool

Download and extract the firmware, e.g. Cross_Lollipop_BizOS_V151208.7z:

sudo apt-get install p7zip-full
7z x Cross_Lollipop_BizOS_V151208.7z

1 2	sudo apt-get install p7zip-full 7z x Cross_Lollipop_BizOS_V151208.7z

Now connect a USB cable to the USB OTG port of your device or board. In case of GeekBox that’s the micro USB port. Now as the board is powered on, keep […]

December 19, 2015December 20, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 29 Comments

GeekBox TV Box Unboxing and Development Kit Assembly Guide

GeekBox is both an Android TV box based on Rockchip RK3368 octa-core processor, and a Linux development kit thanks to the CPU module inside the device, a baseboard and various accessories. The company has sent me a review sample, as well as the accessories currently available. So today, I’ll have a look at the box, and show how to connect everything together. GeekBox TV Box Unboxing I’ve received two carton boxes via DHL, one with GeekBox itself, and the other with some accessories. You could use GeeBox has a TV box, and forget about its development attributes, as the device comes with the usual accessories include a case, an HDMI cable, an infrared remote control, and a 5V/2A power supply. I was really surprised by how small it was compared to other 64-bit ARM TV boxes recently launched on the market, and looks very much like a small router with […]

December 16, 2015May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

$15 pcDuino3 Nano Lite Board Includes Gigabit Ethernet and a Real SATA Port

I often read people complain about the lack of SATA and Gigabit Ethernet on devices, and following up a discussion on a recent post about QNAP TAS-168 and TAS-268 NAS, I was made aware that pcDuino3 Nano board had a little brother without NAND Flash, nor an IR receiver that’s currently selling for $15 on Amazon US. pcDuino3 Nano Lite board specifications are exactly the same as the other version minus the stricken-through items: SoC – AllWinner A20 dual core ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.0 GHz with Mali 400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DRAM Storage – 4GB NAND Flash, SATA connector and microSD card slot (up to 32GB) Video Output – HDMI 1.4 with HDCP support Audio Out – 3.5mm analog audio interface Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet USB – 2x USB host, 1x USB OTG Expansion Headers – Arduino UNO extension interface with 14xGPIO, 2xPWM, 6xADC, 1xUART, 1xSPI, 1xI2C. […]

December 15, 2015December 19, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Aceberry S500 is a $60 Actions Semi S500 Development Board Comprised of a Module and a Baseboard

For some hard-to-explain reasons, Actions Semi S500 processor seems to be a popular choice for makers of boards, although I don’t think it has really been a success with hobbyists and makers so far. After ActDuino S500, LeMaker Guitar, Lemon Pi, Allo SPARKY, and Roseapple Pi boards, here comes another S500 quad core Cortex A9 development board with Aceberry S500 that’s quite inspired by LeMaker Guitar as seen by its baseboard and module design. Aceberry S500 board preliminary specifications: SoC – Actions Semi S500 quad core Cortex A9r4 processor @ 1.6GHz with PowerVR SGX544 GPU @ 500 MHz Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC or NAND flash (16 and 32GB optional), SPI NOR flash Video Output – HDMI, and LCD connector Audio – HDMI, headset jack, digital output (RCA). Video Codec – H.265 (HEVC) and Ultra HD (4K*2K) video playback. Encoding up to 1080p@60fps. Connectivity – 10/100M […]

December 11, 2015December 17, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Rikomagic MK36SLE (Linux Edition) Based on Intel Atom x5-Z8300 Processor Runs Ubuntu 15.04

When people think about Linux on Intel platform, they often believe it’s just as easy as flashing an Ubuntu ISO on a USB stick and install it on their computer. While that’s true for desktop or laptop processors, the low power Intel Atom processors for tablets such as Bay Trail-T or Cherry Trail are not well supported in Linux with various issues ranging from an incompatible UEFI binary to a complete lack of audio support. So far, most companies have not provided a decent version of Atom Z3735F or Atom x5-Z8x00 mini PCs with Linux, and all the work has been done by the community such as this Ubuntu 14.04 image for Atom Z3735F. But Rikomagic must have worked on a Cherry Trail Linux port, more exactly Ubuntu 15.04, for their MK36S Cherry Trail mini PC, and has now launched MK36SLE (Linux Edition). [Update: While most features are currently workings, […]