BQ Introduces Its Second Ubuntu Phone: Aquaris E5 HD Ubuntu Edition

BQ launched the first Ubuntu phone to the market with Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition, but it felt quite low end with a 540 x 960 display and 8GB storage. They company has now announced another version with the same processor, but larger 5″ display with a higher resolution (720p) and 16GB storage. BQ Aquaris E5 HD specifications: SoC – Quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.3 GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU up to 500 MHz (likely Mediatek MT6582) System memory – 1 GB Storage – 16 GB eMMC, microSD card (up to 32 GB) Display – 5″ IPS multi-touch screen (5-point); 1280 x 720 resolution Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS Cellular Connectivity –  2G GSM (850/900/1800/1900),  3G HSPA+ (900/2100). Dual micro SIM. Audio – 3.5 mm headphone jack, microphone, Ambient noise cancellation, Camera – 5MP front-facing camera, 13MP rear camera with autofocus and dual flash USB – micro USB […]

FirePrime Board Features Rockchip RK3128 Quad Core Cortex A7 Processor

The team behind Firefly-RK3288 development board has designed a new board with the less powerful but cheaper and more power efficient Rockchip RK3128 quad core Cortex A7 processor. FirePrime comes with 1GB RAM, 8GB Flash, Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and various other ports and expansion headers. As with many other new development boards, Firefly team has gone with a baseboard + system-on-module design (mini PCI-e connector), and will certainly sell the module separately to companies who want to design their own baseboard. Fireprime board specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3128 quad core ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.3 GHz with ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1 GB LPDDR2 @ 533 MHz Storage – 8 GB NAND flash + micro SD slot Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0 (AP6212 module) Video Output – HDMI 1.4 output, CVBS (AV) as well as MIPI and LVDS via expansion headers […]

Linaro 15.05 Release with Linux 4.1 and Android 5.1

Linaro 15.04 has been released with Linux 4.1-rc4, Linux 3.10.79 and 3.14.42 (LSK), and Android 5.1_r3. The Ubuntu image is now based on Vivid instead of Utopic. Android and Debian builds/images have been released for Hikey’s 96boards, Ubuntu Vivid and Android builds have been setup for Qualcomm’s Dragonboard 410c. A new platform, Socionext M8M, has also show in Linaro changelog. I could not find details about M8M, but Socionext is a “new company that designs, develops and delivers System-on-Chip products” and focuses on “imaging, networking and other dynamic technologies”. Their latest press release mentions a 4K media processor with build-in HDMI 2.0 Tx and Rx, so maybe M8M is based on that processor, but I can’t know for sure as they have several chips. Highlights of this release: Linux Linaro 4.1-rc4-2015.05 GATOR updated to version 5.21.1 updated integration-linaro-vexpress64 topic by ARM LT: PCI support added – for Juno r1. Linaro […]

Allwinner H3 Based Orange Pi 2 Board Price Drops to as Low As $25

As Raspberry Pi Model B+ price got reduced to $25, some competitors also decided to bring their price down. Shenzhen Xunlong Software, the maker of Orange Pi board, decided to decrease their Orange Pi 2 and Orange Pi 2 Mini boards by $5 to respectively $30 and $25 plus around $2 shipping. Both boards are based on the same PCB, but the mini version lacks WiFi. Let’s refresh our memory with the specs: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.6 GHz with 256KB L1 cache, 1MB L2 cache, and an ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU up to 600 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot (up to 64GB) Video Output – HDMI (CEC and HDCP support), AV port Audio I/O – HDMI, AV port, on-board microphone Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi (Realtek module, not found on mini version) USB – 4x USB […]

Lemon Pi Board is a $35 Raspberry Pi 2 Alternative Powered by Actions Semi S500 SoC (Crowdfunding)

I wrote about ActDuino S500 last month. It’s a development board powered by Actions Semi S500 quad core Cortex A9 processor, but very few details were available, and release date and pricing had not been disclosed. EmbedStudio, a Shenzhen startup, has now launched an Indiegogo campaign (flexible funding) for their Lemon Pi board based on S500 processor. Lemon Pi specifications: SoC – Actions Semi S500 quad core Cortex A9r4 processor with 512KB L2 Cache and a PowerVR SGX544 GPU with OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0, OpenVG 1.0.1, and OpenCL support Memory – 1GB DDR3 RAM (Option: 2GB, not part of crowdfunding rewards) Storage – micro SD slot. Option: Up to 64GB eMMC 4.5 flash, not part of crowdfunding rewards. Video Output – HDMI 1.4 with HDCP, 3.5mm jack for CVBS (AV), MIPI DSI Audio – HDMI, AV (Line out / microphone) Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet (RJ45; RTL8201F) USB – 2x USB 2.0 […]

Orange Pi Plus (Allwinner H3) Firmware Images and Linux SDK Released

Orange Pi Plus is a development board based on the new Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 processor that supports 4K video output and decoding. The boards comes with 1GB RAM, 8GB eMMC, HDMI output, Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi, SATA and more, and sells for $49 on Aliexpress. When I first covered the board in February, it was already listed on Aliexpress, but I could not find any firmware image, or source code, but this has now changed. There are now four firmware files: Lubuntu_1404_For_OrangePiplus_v0_8_0_.img.xz – Lubuntu 14.04 image Raspbian_For_OrangePiplus_v0_8_0.img.xz – Raspbian for Allwinner H3 orangepi-plus-debian-server-card-v0.9.img.xz – A Debian server image sun8iw7p1_android_orangepi-plus_uart0.rar – Android 4.4.2 image that needs to be flash with PhoenixCard in Windows (Linux tools are not working yet) Beside the firmware images, the company also releases a Linux SDK (h3-lichee-1.0.tar.gz) with Linux 3.4 kernel source code, u-boot, and relevant tools. I assume these should also work on Orange […]

MINIX NEO Z64W (Intel Atom Z3735F) mini PC gets HDMI Audio in Ubuntu

We’ve been able to run Ubuntu on Intel Atom Z3735F mini PCs, as well as other Linux distributions, for a while, but with an important caveat: HDMI audio would not work, so instead you had to use an external USB sound card to get any audio. Luckily the problem seems solved, as Linuxium has now released a script (audio-wifi-minix-neo-z64-release.sh) and relevant files that will  patch your system to enable HDMI audio, and WiFI on MINIX NEO Z64W running Ubuntu. Ian Morrison (Liuxium) compiled a Linux kernel and the Wi-Fi driver, together with a modified DSDT (Differentiated System Description Table) table to fix an ACPI bug. He used John Pemberton’s Bay Trail Audio HDMI patch, as well as help from Paul Kendall for identifying the ACPI DSDT table bug, Bastien Nocera (hadess) for the wifi source code and DroidMote Server / Client for the wifi pointer.  A quick demo shows WiFi […]

MeegoPad T02 HDMI TV Stick Comes with Windows 8.1 (Activated) or Ubuntu

MeegoPad T01 was one of the first Intel Atom Bay Trail-T TV sticks, announced and released well before Intel’s own Compute Stick, but it initially sold without a proper Windows 8.1 license, although some sellers would sell with an activated version for $25 to $30 more. The company has launched the second version, MeegoPad T02, with either a properly licensed/validated Windows 8.1 with Bing for $109, or an Ubuntu version (or Windows 8.1 non validated) for $90, both prices including shipping. MeegoPad T02 specifications: SoC – Intel Atom Z3735F  “Bay Trail” quad core processor @ 1.33 GHz (Bust freq: 1.83 GHz) with Intel HD graphics Gen 7 (2W TDP) System Memory – 2 GB DDR3L Storage – 32 GB eMMC + micro SD slot up to 64GB Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4, 1x audio jack Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 2x USB host […]

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