CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

August 7, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

2015 Open Source Hardware Summit Program Published

The Open Source Hardware Summit takes places once a year in different location each year. It was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2013, in Rome, Italy last year, and this year the event will be hosted in Philadelphia in the US, and the organizers just released the program. It will be a one day event (September 19, 2015) with four “tracks” with a total of 23 sessions, and a keynote: Science and Education Open Hardware, Open Minds: The Rise of Open Hardware in Academia and K-12 Education by Ben Leduc-Mills. The Rise and Fall of an Open Source Hardware Company by Nancy Ouyang. Open Hardware in Community/Citizen Science by Peter Marchetto. DropBot: an Open-Source Platform for Lab Automation by Ryan Fobel, Christian Fobel, Michael Dryden and Aaron Wheeler. Making Open Hardware the New Standard in Science by Joshua Pearce. Open Source Robotics Foundation and the Robotics Fast […]

August 6, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

How to Install and Run Linux on Zidoo X1 TV Box

Now that I’ve completed Zidoo X1 review, I’ve decided to try out Ubuntu on the mini PC following a tip from one reader that Orange Pi 2 images can run on the platform since it’s based on the same Allwinner H3 processor, but with some limitations such as WiFi not working. There are three Linux firmware images for Orange Pi 2 on the download page: Lubuntu, Raspbian, and Debian server. I decided to go with Lubuntu image. First you need to download Lubuntu_1404_For_OrangePi2-mini2_v0_8_0_.img.xz image from Google Drive or Baidu, uncompress it, and then flash the image to a Class 10 micro SD card in Windows or Linux. I ran the following command line in a computer running Ubuntu 14.04:

sudo dd if=Lubuntu_1404_For_OrangePi2-mini2_v0_8_0_.img | pv | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=16M

1	sudo dd if=Lubuntu_1404_For_OrangePi2-mini2_v0_8_0_.img \| pv \| sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=16M

Where X in sdX is the letter of your micro SD card, which you can find with lsblk. In some platforms, it might be /dev/mmcblkX instead of /dev/sdX. Once it’s […]

August 6, 2015August 6, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Motion Controlled Bluetooth Ring Mouse Sells for $50

Some companies sells Ring Mice such as Genius Ring Mouse 2, which is an RF ring you place on your index finger and control with your thumb more or less like a trackball, but there are also new generation rings using motion control. One of the product is the latter category is Fin Bluetooth Ring which allows you to control your computer, phone ot car radio by simply touching various parts of your fingers, however it’s been funded via an Indiegogo campaign, and based on their latest update they have not shipped rewards to backers yet. But I’ve recently been informed about a “Smart 3D Bluetooth Ring” selling for around $50 on Ebay using motion control and some buttons to control computers and laptops. Specifications and features for the ring include: Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0 LE Technology – “Human motion sensor” Working Distance – Within 10 meters Button – 3 […]

August 6, 2015August 6, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

LightBlue Bean+ Bluetooth LE Board is Programmed Wirelessly, Lasts One Year on a Charge (Crowdfunding)

Punch Through launched a crowdfunding campaign back in 2013 for LightBlue Cortado an innovative Arduino compatible BLE board that can only be programmed wirelessly over Bluetooth Smart. The board has since then been renamed to LightBlue Bean, and the company allegedly delivered rewards to backers on time, a rarity in the crowdfunding world. LightBlue Bean+, the second version of the board, is larger with solderless headers, supports more Bluetooth LE capabilities such as MIDI, and includes a battery. The project launched on Kickstarter yesterday, and already raised over $40,000, surpassing the $30,000 funding target set by the team. LightBlue Bean+ board specifications: MCU – Info N/A (Bean has an Atmel ATmega328P @ 8MHz with 32KB Flash, 1KB EEPROM, 2KB SRAM) Bluetooth Bluetooth LE with support for 5 new capabilities: beacon, MIDI, HID, ANCS and observer role. Hardware module undisclosed (Bean has an LBM313 Module with Texas Instruments CC2540) Up to 400 […]

August 5, 2015August 5, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Mini Review of MeLE PCG01 Intel HDMI TV Stick

I reviewed MeLE PCG03 mini PC powered by Intel Atom Z3735F processor at the beginning of the year, and there are now many different models from manufacturer which all come with the same processor, 2GB RAM, and 32GB storage either in box or stick form factor. MeLE also released their own Bay Trail stick, similar to Intel Compute Stick, called MeLE PCG01, which they sent me for review. Most of these products are very similar, and all run Windows 8.1 by default, so the main differentiating factor between companies being price, whether they use a properly licensed version of Windows or not, and the thermal design of the enclosure, which may also impact performance as a good design will prevent CPU throttling. So in this review, after quickly checking the mini PC and accessories, I’ll take apart the device to check in more details what has been done to cool […]

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

Atmel SAM S70 and SAM E70 Cortex M7 MCUs, SAM V71 Xplained Board Are Now Shipping

ARM Introduced Cortex M7 IP in September, and ST Micro simultaneously announced its STM32F7 Cortex M7 MCU clocked up to 200 MHz, and boards are now available, including some running Linux. But two other companies have licenses Cortex M7, Freescale with its Kinetis KV5x micro-controllers which are yet to be mass-produced, and Atmel which has recently announced their SAM S70 and E70 micro-controllers are now in mass production. SAM E70 and S70 have similar features, but E70 offers some extra interface like CAN and Fast Ethernet: ARM Cortex-M7 core running at up to 300MHz (1500 CoreMark) Up to 2MB Flash and 384kByte SRAM Floating point unit (FPU) for high-precision computing and accelerated data processing High-performance internal memory architecture with user configurable Tightly Couples Memories and System memory, and 16kB I and D-cache High Speed USB Host and Device with on-chip high-speed PHY CMOS image sensor interface AES hardware encryption engines, […]

August 5, 2015August 5, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

i-mobile IQ II is an Android One Smartphone for Thailand

Android One program aims to delivers low cost smartphones for emerging market with the latest Android version and firmware updates for at least 2 years. Google started with India, shortly followed with Indonesia, and now the company has announced the launch of an Android One smartphone for Thailand with its partnership with i-Mobile. i-Mobile IQ II specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916) quad core Cortex A53 processor @ up to 1.2 GHz with Adreno 306 GPU and Hexagon V50 DSP System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC + micro SD slot up to 32GB Display – 5″ multitouch display, 1280×720 resolution Connectivity – WiFi, A-GPS Cellular Connectivity 2G: 900/1800 MHz (for AIS, Dtac and True mobile providers) 3G: 850/2100 MHz (for AIS, Dtac, True and 3GX mobile providers) HSDPA (Mbps) Download : 42 Mbps; HSUPA (Mbps) Upload : 11 Mbps Dual SIM card support Camera – 2.0 […]

August 4, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Gigabyte GB-BACE-3000 is a Fanless mini PC Powered by Intel Celeron N3000 Braswell Processor

Systems with the latest low power Intel Braswell processors are starting to hit the shelves, and after ASRock Beebox, some Braswell laptops, Intel Braswell NUCs, and some ASRock motherboards, here’s another Braswell mini PC with Gigabyte BRIX GB-BACE-3000 based on Intel Celeron N3000 dual core processor. GB-BACE-3000 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N3000 dual core processor up to 2.08GHz with Intel Gen8 HD Graphics (4W TDP) System Memory – 1x SO-DIMM DDR3L 1.35V slot @ 1066/1333/1600 MHz up to 8GB RAM Storage – 2.5” thickness 7.0/9.5mm Hard Drives (1 x 6Gbps SATA3), 1 x Micro SD card slot Video Output HDMI up to 3840×2160 @ 30 Hz VGA up to 1920×1200 @ 60 Hz Audio – Realtek ALC255 audio codec, 1x Audio-out / Mic-In, HDMI Connectivity – Gigabit LAN (Realtek RTL8111H), Wi-Fi 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.0 (M.2 module) USB – 2 x USB 3.0 ports (front panel), 2 x USB […]