CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

July 18, 2015August 8, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

Tronsmart Orion R68 64-bit ARM TV Box Sells for Up to 50% Discount

We’ve seen several Rockchip RK3366 TV boxes being announced recently such as Eny EKB368 or Beelink i68, and it’s no surprise that Tronmart decided to launch their own model Orion R68 based on the latest Rockchip processor. Two models are available: Orion R68 Meta with 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC, GbE, and 802.11 ac WiFi, and Orion R68 Pro with 1GB RAM, 8GB eMMC, Fast Ethernet, and 2.4 GHz 802.11n WiFi. The latter appears to be the same Beelink i68 TV Box going for $66. Tronsmart Orion R68 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3368 octa core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with PowerVR G6110 GPU System Memory- 1 GB DDR3 (Pro); 2GB DDR3 (Meta) Storage – 8GB eMMC flash (Pro); 16GB eMMC flash (Meta); SD card slot up to 64GB for both models Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60Hz Audio Output – HDMI, optical S/PDIF Connectivity Pro […]

July 17, 2015August 19, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

MXCHIP EMW3165 is an $8 CE/FCC Certified WiFi Module with an STM32F4 Cortex M4 MCU

A few months ago, Seeed Studio started selling MXCHIP EMW3162 Wi-Fi module with a STM32F2 Cortex M3 MCU clocked at 120Mhz for $9.95. It’s more capable than ESP8266 modules but also around 3 times more expensive. The company has now launched another WiFi module called MXCHIP EMW3165 with an STM32F4 Cortex M4 MCU @ 100 MHz, FCC certification, and listed for $7.95. EMW3165 module specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32F411CE ARM Cortex M4 micro-controller @ 100 MHz with 512KB flash, 128KB RAM, DSP, and FPU Storage – 2MB SPI flash Wi-Fi connectivity 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n (single stream) WEP, WPA/WPA2 PSK/Enterprise 16.5dBm@11b; 14.5dBm@11g; 13.5dBm@11n Receiver Sensitivity – 87 dBm Station, Soft AP and Wi-Fi direct Support EasyLink On-board PCB antenna (EMW3165-P model) or IPEX connector for external antenna (EMW3165-E model) CE & FCC compliant Peripherals: 22 GPIOs USART, I2C ADC, DAC Timer/PWM JTAG/SWD debug interface Connectors – 1×20 + 1x 21 half-through […]

July 16, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Kodi 14.2 Linux Ported to Rockchip RK3288 with VPU Hardware Decoding

Rockchip RK3288 is one of the most popular platforms for TV boxes, and while most boxes are sold with Android OS, it can also run various Linux distributions with two main caveats: 2D/3D GPU acceleration, and hardware video decoding by the VPU. It appears the last two have been worked on, as yesterday, I got tipped that Kodi 14.2 Linux was running on Ugoos UT3 and Radxa Rock2 Square. Since both hardware platforms showcased a Kodi port at the about same time, it’s probably safe to assume they use the same implementation (despite slightly different build dates May 29 vs June 6), which has been developed by “Marc” (or is it MAC?) using the Android libraries and libhybris for video decoding, raw2 device driver for 2D HW accelerated blitting and converting frames, and ARM OpenGL library, driver and examples, among other software packages. So let’s check the demos starting with […]

July 15, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Tronsmart Ara BJ19 is an NUC-like Mini PC Powered by Intel Celeron J1900 Processor

Tronsmart has launched several ARM based TV boxes in the last couple of years, but now they’ve now unveiled an Intel based mini PC with Tronsmart Ara BJ19. The barebone PC looks very much like an Intel NUC, and features an Intel Celeron J1900 Bay Trail-D quad core processor. Tronsmart Ara BJ19 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J1900 Quad core processor @ 2.0 GHz (base) / 2.41 GHz (burst) with Intel HD graphics (10W TDP) System Memory – DDR3L 1333/1666 MHz SO-DIMM slot Storage – 2.5″ SATA hard drive or SSD Video Output – mini HDMI + mini DisplayPort Audio – mini HDMI, 3.5 mm jack for headphone and MIC-in Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, mPCIe Wi-Fi (2.4GHz) and Bluetooth 4.0 module USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x USB 3.0 port. Misc – Power button, power LED Power Supply – 19V/2.1A Dimensions – 116.6 x 112 x 5.1 mm […]

July 14, 2015July 14, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

ODROID-XU4 Development Board is a Smaller and Cheaper Version of ODROID-XU3 Board

Many people are expecting Hardkernel to launch an Exynos 7 board, but this won’t be with ODROID-XU4, maybe with ODROID-XU5, as the latest development board from Hardkernel is a modified version of ODROID-XU3 with the same Exynos 5422 octa-core processor with four Cortex-A15 cores @ 2GHz and four Cortex-A7 cores. ODROID-XU4 board specifications (differences with ODROID-XU3 highlighted and sometimes crossed out in bold): SoC – Samsung Exynos 5422 quad core ARM Cortex-A15 @ 2.0GHz quad core ARM Cortex-A7 @ 1.4GHz with Mali-T628 MP6 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.0 / 2.0 / 1.1 and OpenCL 1.1 Full profile System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 RAM PoP (750 MHz, 12GB/s memory bandwidth, 2x32bit bus) Storage – Micro SD slot (up to 64GB) + eMMC 5.0 module socket (16, 32, and 64GB modules available) Video Output – micro HDMI (Up to 1080p) and DisplayPort (up to 2160p) Audio Output – HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack, […]

July 13, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

Linux Based Zsun WiFi Card Reader Has Been Hacked Too…

A little while ago, I purchased Zsun SD111 W-Fi USB flash drive, and after several tentatives, I finally found a way to access the device’s serial console. Since then the company announced another wireless storage device with Zsun Wi-Fi card reader, and Zoobab decided to try to hack it too. Since the device is pretty hard to open without damaging the enclosure, connecting the serial pin was not really an option, and the first exploit was to input shell commands in the web interface SSID field… For example, entering reboot there, would indeed reboot the device. However, this would still not allow full shell access, and finally after a broader port scan, it was found out that TCP port 11880 was open for telnet daemon. You can then access the shell as root with the same password as SD111: “zsun1188”. For some reasons, telnet can’t work with the device, and […]

July 12, 2015August 29, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

Intel Braswell Motherboards (N3150 / N3050) Are Now Available for $60 and Up

Intel recently launched Braswell processors to succeed to their Bay Trail processor family, using 14nm lithography, a newer generation Intel GPU, more L2 cache, and various other improvements. Some ASRock motherboards based on such processors are now listed on Newegg starting at $58.99 with ASRock N3050B-ITX motherboard (dual core processor), and $69.99 for the quad core version (ASRock N3150B-ITX). Apart from the different processors, both mini-ITX motherboard mostly share the same specifications: SoC Intel Celeron N3050 dual core processor @ up to 2.16 GHz with Intel HD Graphics Gen8 @ up to 600 MHz – 6W TDP Intel Celeron N3150 quad core processor @ up to 2.08 GHz with Intel HD Graphics Gen8 @ up to 640 MHz – 6W TDP System Memory – 2x 240-pin DDR3/DDR3L 1600/1066 for up to 16GB RAM Storage – 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors, support NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug Audio Codec – […]

July 11, 2015June 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

WeTek OpenELEC Box Comes with DVB or ATSC Tuners for $91

WeTek Play TV boxes are Android set-top boxes with DVB-T2/C2, DVB-S2, or ATSC tuner powered by Amlogic AML8726-MX dual core Cortex A9 processor. Even though the hardware is not the greatest right now, I found that it did a pretty good job with video playback and digital TV playback and recording in my review of the DVB-S2 version. The company also provided various images including one using OpenELEC, a Linux based distribution running Kodi only. But now, if you’d rather have OpenELEC pre-installed in the box, instead other Android, WeTek made an OpenELEC box based on the same hardware platform selling for $90.55 on OpenELEC website. OpenELEC box has mostly the same hardware specifications as WeTek Play: SoC – Amlogic AML8726-MX dual core Cortex A9 @ 1.5GHz with Mali-400MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4 GB NAND flash + 1x micro SD slot Video Output – HDMI, […]