ubuntu News - Page 72 of 168 - CNX Software

September 2, 2019April 26, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

Khadas VIM3 Linux Benchmarks and Comparison to Raspberry Pi 4

I received Khadas VIM3 Amlogic A311D SBC in early July and started testing it with Android running some benchmarks and playing games last month. I was impressed by graphics performance and overall benchmark results in Android, especially the results I got with a heatsink matched Khadas own results with heatsink + fan. So I installed the latest Ubuntu 18.04 available at the time (July 19) in order to repeat benchmarks in Linux and see how it goes. System info in Ubuntu 18.04:

khadas@Khadas:~$ cat /etc/lsb-release 
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=18.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=bionic
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS"
khadas@Khadas:~$ uname -a
Linux Khadas 4.9.179 #73 SMP PREEMPT Fri Jul 19 09:56:46 CST 2019 aarch64 aarch64 aarch64 GNU/Linux
khadas@Khadas:~$ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            305M     0  305M   0% /dev
tmpfs           187M  9.5M  177M   6% /run
/dev/rootfs      15G  2.6G   12G  19% /
tmpfs           931M     0  931M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs           931M     0  931M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs           187M   12K  187M   1% /run/user/1000
khadas@Khadas:~$ free -m
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           1861         358        1100          10         402        1479
Swap:           930           0         930

khadas@Khadas:~$ cat /etc/lsb-release

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu

DISTRIB_RELEASE=18.04

DISTRIB_CODENAME=bionic

DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS"

khadas@Khadas:~$ uname -a

Linux Khadas 4.9.179 #73 SMP PREEMPT Fri Jul 19 09:56:46 CST 2019 aarch64 aarch64 aarch64 GNU/Linux

khadas@Khadas:~$ df -h

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on

udev 305M 0 305M 0% /dev

tmpfs 187M 9.5M 177M 6% /run

/dev/rootfs 15G 2.6G 12G 19% /

tmpfs 931M 0 931M 0% /dev/shm

tmpfs 5.0M 4.0K 5.0M 1% /run/lock

tmpfs 931M 0 931M 0% /sys/fs/cgroup

tmpfs 187M 12K 187M 1% /run/user/1000

khadas@Khadas:~$ free -m

total used free shared buff/cache available

Mem: 1861 358 1100 10 402 1479

Swap: 930 0 930

I decided to install armbianmonitor to draw some nice temperature charts as I did with Raspberry Pi 4:

wget https://github.com/armbian/build/raw/master/packages/bsp/common/usr/bin/armbianmonitor
sudo cp armbianmonitor /usr/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/armbianmonitor
sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 2C0D3C0F
sudo wget http://goo.gl/vewCLL -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/rpimonitor.list
sudo armbianmonitor -r

wget https://github.com/armbian/build/raw/master/packages/bsp/common/usr/bin/armbianmonitor

sudo cp armbianmonitor /usr/bin/

sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/armbianmonitor

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 2C0D3C0F

sudo wget http://goo.gl/vewCLL -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/rpimonitor.list

sudo armbianmonitor -r

But I had some error during installation:

sudo armbianmonitor -r
Installing RPi-Monitor. This can take up to 5 minutes. Be patient please/usr/bin/armbianmonitor: line 189: /etc/armbian-release: No such file or directory

Now you're able to enjoy RPi-Monitor at http://192.168.1.8:8888

sudo armbianmonitor -r

Installing RPi-Monitor. This can take up to 5 minutes. Be patient please/usr/bin/armbianmonitor: line 189: /etc/armbian-release: No such file or directory

Now you're able to enjoy RPi-Monitor at http://192.168.1.8:8888

And while I can load the webpage with top menu appearing, it won’t show any data, as its name implies it may only work in Armbian. SBC Bench on Khadas VIM3 Let’s download SBC bench:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ThomasKaiser/sbc-bench/master/sbc-bench.sh

1	wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ThomasKaiser/sbc-bench/master/sbc-bench.sh

Note that I had […]

August 29, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Gateworks GW5913 Compact NXP i.MX 6 SBC Supports PoE, GPS and 4G LTE Cellular Connectivity

Gateworks has announced a new Ventana SBC similar to their GW5530 board with 4G LTE connectivity, as GW5913 single board computer follows the same factor, and supports 4G LTE connectivity via mPCIe cards, but it replaces the microSIM card slot by a nanoSIM card socket, and adds a Gigabit Ethernet port with 802.11at PoE support. Gateworks GW5913 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 6Dual dual-core Arm Cortex-A9 processor @ 800MHz System Memory – 512MB DDR3-800 SDRAM Storage – 256MB Flash, serial configuration EEPROM Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet with PoE support Optional 4G LTE via high-power (up to 8W) Gen2 Mini-PCIe socket with USB 2.0 and nanoSIM socket Optional u-blox GPS Receiver with MMCX or U.FL Antenna Connector Expansion Connector – USB, UART, I2C, DAC, DIO Misc – Real-Time Clock with battery backup, voltage and temperature monitor, programmable watchdog timer Power Supply – 8 to 60VDC input voltage range via 2-pin power connector […]

August 27, 2019August 27, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Banana Pi BPI-R64 Linux Router Board Launched for $68

SinoVoIP introduced Banana Pi BPI-R64 router board in the summer of 2018. The Linux router board is powered by MediaTek MT7622 dual-core Cortex-A53 WiFi processor with 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 built-in, and offers more connectivity options namely 802.11ac WiFi 5 via MT7615 chip, as well as Gigabit Ethernet ports. 4G LTE is optional via a mini PCIe socket, and a SATA port is included for storage. At the time, I envisioned an official launch in Q1 2019, but I was off by a few quarters, as the company has only just launched Banana Pi BPI-R64 on Aliexpress for $68 plus shipping. The specifications of the Banana Pi BPI-R64 board have slightly changed since last year announcement, and we’ve got a few more details: SoC – MediaTek MT7622 dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.35GHz with dedicated network accelerator, 4×4 802.11n and Bluetooth 5 connectivity System Memory – 1GB DDR3 SDRAM Storage […]

August 23, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Project-X A1-Series Production-Ready Pico-ITX SBCs are Powered by Allwinner Processors (Crowdfunding)

We already have plenty of Allwinner single board computers thanks to companies such as Shenzhen Xunlong Software with their Orange Pi boards, FriendlyELEC NanoPi boards, and Libre Computer Tritium SBCs. Those boards are fine for hobbyist’s project but may fall short when integrated into consumer products, although some products have already been launched with those board such as RetroEngine Sigma retro game console (Orange Pi), or Firewalla firewall appliance (NanoPi neo) ActPower Taiwan Ltd’s Project-X is a little different as it relies on Pico-ITX form factor targetting mass production of low volume manufacturing. Their first Project-X A1-series focus exclusively on Allwinner H-Series (H2+, H3, and H5) processor, but if the concept takes off they may launch boards equipped with processors from other silicon vendors. There are currently three Project-X A1 boards with the following key features and specifications: SoC (one or the other) Allwinner H2+ quad-core Cortex-A7 processor Allwinner H3 […]

August 22, 2019August 22, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Intel Introduces 10th Generation Comet Lake Y and U-Series Processors

10th Generation Ice Lake processors for 2-in-1 laptops and tablets, and other low-power devices have just started shipping, but Intel has now launched another 10th generation family, namely Comet Lake, that is also designed for the same type of products. But instead of being manufactured using a 10nm process, Comet Lake processors will rely on Intel’s “highly optimized” 14nm process technology leveraging “improvements in intra-node optimizations”. There will be Y-Series and U-Series like in other low-power high-performance Intel processors with respectively 7W and 15W TDP, and those processors will come as Core i3/i5/i7 parts Intel Comet Lake family is the first to offer a 6-core processor in the U-series family and will provide faster CPU frequencies, faster memory interfaces, support for Intel Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) and Thunderbolt 3. The new processors are said to deliver up to 16% overall performance gains, and over 41% better productivity and multitasking on Microsoft […]

August 21, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Getting Started with Sipeed M1 based Maixduino Board & Grove AI HAT for Raspberry Pi

Last year we discovered Kendryte K210 processor with a RISC-V core and featuring AI accelerators for machine vision and machine hearing. Soon after, Sipeed M1 module was launched with the processor for aroud $10. Then this year we started to get more convenient development board featuring Sipeed M1 module such as Maixduino or Grove AI Hat. Seeed Studio sent me the last two boards for review. So I’ll start by showing the items I received, before showing how to get started with MicroPython and Arduino code. Note that I’ll be using Ubuntu 18.04, but development in Windows is also possible. Unboxing I received two packages with a Maixduino kit, and the other “Grove AI HAT for Edge Computing”. Grove AI HAT for Edge Computing Let’s start with the second. The board is a Raspberry Pi HAT with Sipeed M1 module, a 40-pin Raspberry Pi header, 6 grove connectors, as well […]

August 21, 2019August 21, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 35 Comments

Khadas VIM3L Amlogic S905D3 SBC Targets HTPC Enthusiasts

Khadas recently launched VIM3 single board computer powered by Amlogic A311D that delivers the best performance among Arm-based SBC’s I have tested myself, and for instance, Amlogic A311D is significantly faster than Rockchip RK3399, and the platform is quite suitable for Android gaming. All that power comes at a price however, as Khadas VIM3 starts at $99.99 with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. That’s fine if you’re going to leverage the features and power of the board, but for some applications, it’s quite expensive. One of those applications is HTPC, as in a world of sub-$50 TV boxes, $100 is a bit too much for watching video content. So the Khadas team is currently developing Khadas VIM3L based on Amlogic S905D3 processor that should provide an excellent platform for HTPC. Khadas VIM3L specifications known so far: SoC – Amlogic S905D3-N0N quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.9GHz with Arm Mali-G31MP2 GPU up […]

August 13, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 45 Comments

Orange Pi Zero2 is a Tiny Allwinner H6 SBC with HDMI 2.0, USB 3.0, Ethernet & WiFi

Shenzhen Xunlong Software launched a refresh of their Orange Pi Zero board, namely Orange Pi Zero LTS, a couple of weeks ago. The company is now about to launch another SBC of the “Zero” family. Slightly larger than its predecessor, Orange Pi Zero2 is also quite more powerful with an Allwinner H6 quad core Cortex-A53 processor, and more versatile thanks to the addition of a USB 3.0 port, HDMI 2.0 video output, and a built-in microphone. Orange Pi Zero2 specifications: SoC – Allwinner H6 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor with Arm Mali T720 GPU with support for OpenGL ES3.1/3.0/2.0/1.1, Microsoft DirectX 11 FL9_3 Memory – 512MB LPDDR3 (Allwinner AW52A8G32) Storage – 4GB eMMC Flash and microSD card up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0a port Video Decoding – 10-bit H265/HEVC up tp 4K60 or 6K30; H264/AVC up to 4K30; VP9 up to 4K30; AVS+/AVS up to 1080p60 Network Connectivity 802.11 […]