CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

July 23, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Kodi 15 Isengard Release

After several months of development, including H.265 hardware decoding in Android, Kodi 15 “Isengard” has recently been released by the developers. It’s available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Android, and for the first time a stable release can directly be downloaded from Google Play store with so far over 400,000 active installs from the app store. Key features and improvements of Kodi 15 include: Android specific changes – 4K, refresh rate switching and H.265 for hardware that support it including several Amlogic platforms, and Nvidia Shield Android TV. Android 5.0 and greater is required. New chapter selector window – Allows users to visually browse and select chapters from mkv videos and other containers that support chapters Adaptive seeking (aka Skip Steps) – The more times a user presses a button to seek in a period of time, the larger the jump forward or backward will be. Audio and […]

July 22, 2015July 22, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

ODROID-C1+ Board is an Upcoming Upgrade to ODROID-C1 Board

ODROID-C1 board has been relatively popular thanks to its great hardware features and good software support for its $35 price tag. In mid-June however, ODROID-C1 got out of stock due to sudden large orders, and it was only scheduled to sale again in early August because of long leadtime for some components. It turns out ODROID-C1 may never sell again, simply because it will be replaced by ODROID-C1+ with various improvements. It’s still very much based on ODROID-C1 with Amlogic S805 processor, 1GB RAM, and an eMMC sockets, but Hardkernel made the following improvements: HDMI connector change to Type-A from Type-D (micro HDMI). Improved SD card compatibility CEC function whether the RTC backup battery is installed or not ODROID-C1+ can be powered from the USB OTG port as well as DC-Jack I2S signals exposed for external audio DAC All of which are welcomed modifications. The board size will remain the […]

July 21, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Geniatech Showcases Amlogic T866 TV Box with 2 HDMI inputs, 1 HDMI output

Amlogic mostly makes SoCs for tablets, for example the M80x series, and TV boxes such as Amlogic S805 or S812, but they also have a processor family designed for Smart TVs such as Amlogic T866 quad core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.8 GHz coupled with an octa-core Mali-450MP. Somehow, Geniatech has designed ATV1866 TV box based on the latter support two HDMI inputs, and one HDMI output. The box does not appears to support video recoding from the HDMI input, nor time-shifting, but the company showcased picture-in-picture (PiP) functionality, showing either input used in full screen or windowed mode on top of the Android user interface. HDMI version is 2.0 for the output, with H.265 codec supported, but I could not find details about the HDMI inputs. The box is running Android 4.4 for now, but will certainly run Android 5.0 at launch. The company is still developing the product, […]

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

Remix Mini Android Mini PC Offers a Better Desktop Experience (Crowdfunding)

Android mini PC are great to consume content, but when I tried to blog with one, I found many shortcomings which made it not such as good user experience, and writing articles on an Android mini PC everyday, it would seriously decrease my productivity. That’s probably why Chinese start-up Jide Tech decided to work on Remix OS, based on Android 5.0 but with customizations for a better desktop experience including multitasking support, resizable windows, shortcuts support, a taskbar, and more. The company has now launched a Kickstarter campaign for a low cost mini PC powered by Allwinner A64 and Remix OS. They called it Remix Mini, and dubbed it the “First True Android mini PC”. Two versions are available, one with 1GB RAM + 8GB storage, and one with 2GB + 16GB storage. Specifications: SoC – Allwinner H64 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2 GHz System Memory – 1 […]

July 19, 2015July 19, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

ASRock N3150DC-ITX Mini-ITX Motherboard is Powered by a DC Adapter

Last week, I wrote about low cost ASRock Braswell motherboards with pricing starting at just under $60. But there were mainly two complaints about these boards: performance was about the same as similarly priced Bay Trail processors, and the requirements for a large – and relatively expensive – ATX power supply. There’s not much that can be done to improve performance, but ASRock also has launched N3150DC-ITX motherboard powered by a 19V DC adapter. ASRock N3150DC-ITX motherboard specifications: SoC – 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 – 4 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors, support NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug Audio Codec – Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec, 7.1 CH HD Audio Expansion – 1x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slot, 1x […]

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 […]