CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

May 1, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

AMD to Launch ARM Cortex A57 “Amur” Mobile SoCs in 2015, ARM “K12” Mobile SoCs in 2016

AMD started using ARM Cortex A5 to add TrustZone security to their x86 processor, they followed with their ARM based Opteron A1100 processor for server last year, recently they announced Hierofalcon embedded processors powered by up to eight Cortex A57 processor, and starting this year and beyond, the company will launch “ultra-low power’ mobile SoCs using ARM cores, at least according to a leaked roadmap. Two ARM families are planned: “Amur” APU planned for 2015 with: Up to 4 ARM Cortex A57 cores GCN Graphics Compute Units AMD Secure Processor (Trustzone?) ~2W TDP 20nm process, FT4 BGA package “Styx” APU planned for 2016 with: Up to two “K12” CPU cores. These should be high performance custom-designed ARM cores. Next-gen GCN Graphics Compute Units Full HSA 1.0 support (Heterogeneous System Architecture) AMD Secure Processor ~2W TDP 14 nm process, FT4 BGA package With this kind of thermal dissipation, AMD Android and […]

May 1, 2015May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Linaro 15.04 Release with Linux 4.0 and Android 5.1

Linaro 15.04 has been released with Linux 4.0 (baseline), Linux 3.10.74 and 3.14.39 (LSK), and Android 5.1.1. Other noticeable changes include support for the new DragonBoard 410c 96boards compliant board, the addition of A80 Optimusboard (Allwinner A80) to Android Kitkat build, Hisilicon D01 support added to the Debian installer, and support for Ubuntu ARM64 Gnome rootfs. Highlights of the release: Linux Linaro 4.0-2015.04 updated linaro-android topic: aosp/android-3.18 branch has been merged GATOR topic: version 5.20.1 updated integration-linaro-vexpress64 topic by ARM LT (FVP Base and Foundation models, and Juno support) updated topic from Qualcomm LT (IFC6410 and DB410c boards support): Resource Power Manager (RPM) – MSM Shared Memory Driver (SMD) driver quite some changes under drivers/gpu/drm/ related to adv7511 and adv7533 support ASoC support for QCOM platforms external Connector Class (extcon) support (used for USB VBUS and ID detection) Linaro builds of AOSP 15.04 baseline updated to android-5.1.1_r1 updated Nexus 10 […]

April 30, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Forlinx Embedded Introduces a Features-packed Freescale i.MX6 Industrial Board

Forlinx Embedded Technology has made several ARM9, ARM11, and Cortex A8 boards in the past, and they’ve now launched their first ARM Cortex-A9 board powered by Freescale i.MX6 Quad processor with 1GB RAM, 8GB eMMC Flash, HDMI, LCD, and LVDS interfaces, mPCIe connector for 3G module, SATA, GPS, CAN bus, RS485 port, and more. The board is composed of a baseboard and a 220-pin CPU module (soldered) with the following combined specifications: SoC – Freescale i.MX6 Quad with 4x ARM Cortex A9 cores @ up to 1.2 GHz and Vivante GC2000 3D GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC, SATA connector, and SD card slot up to 32GB Video Output / Display I/F – HDMI 1.4, LCD interface (7″ capacitive touch available), and 2x 8-bit LVDS interface. 4-wire resistive touch. Audio – 1x stereo audio jack, 1x mono microphone jack, 2x speaker headers Camera I/F – 1x […]

April 30, 2015May 1, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

ARM: “Microcontrollers Are Better Because There’s No GPL”

[Update: ARM has pulled down the video and issued a statement] ARM has uploaded a video today entitled “Microcontrollers for Makers” showing the benefits of using micro-controller boards instead of processor based development boards such as Raspberry Pi or ODROID-C1, and their four first points are right on target, but the last one, as mentioned by Olimex, is completely wrong, and already made several people upset. Let’s go through the first four points: Micro-controllers are more energy efficient, so if your project is requires years on a cell-coin battery, MCUs are the way to go. MCU are cheaper too, now you can even get an MCU board for $1. They are smaller. The chip shown on the golf ball is Kinetis KL03 If you need real-time I/O, processors can’t beat micro-controller, that why people decide to connect an Arduino board to their Raspberry Pi, or products like UDOO Neo are […]

April 30, 2015April 30, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Continuum Brings Desktop Mode and Dual Display Support to Windows 10 Smartphones

I’m eagerly waiting for the day when Ubuntu convergence becomes reality, and I can run Ubuntu on a smartphone which I can also use as desktop PC. But Canonical is not the only company working on convergence and Microsoft has announced Continuum for Phones as part of Windows 10, that will bring desktop mode and support for dual independent displays to next-generation Windows 10 phones. To switch a Windows 10 smartphone to desktop mode, you’ll simply need to connect it to a desktop display, and Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and it will automatically switch to a standard Windows 10 desktop on the big screen where you’ll be able to run apps like Microsoft Office, and other Universal Windows apps, as if it was running on an actual PC or laptop. The dual screen feature will allow you to check your emails on Outlook on a TV, while your kids watch […]

April 30, 2015April 30, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

$170 Solidrun Cubox-i 4×4 Freescale i.MX6 Mini PC Boasts 4GB RAM, an eSATA Port

Most ARM based mini PCs come with 1 or 2GB RAM, with few exceptions like Nagrace HPH NT-V6 or Tronsmart Draco AW80 Telos featuring 4GB RAM, but they are mostly optimized for Android, and although they can also run Linux desktop distributions there are often caveats with lack of hardware video decoding for example. Solidrun has now added a new model to its Cubox-I mini PC family with Cubox-I 4×4 powered by Freescale i.MX6 quad core processor coupled with 4GB RAM, and it’s also one of the few mini PCs coming with an eSATA port. SolidRun CuBox-i 4×4 specifications SoC – Freescale i.MX6 Quad 4x Cortex A9 @1GHz-1.2GHz with Vivante GC2000 (OpenGL/ES 2.0) System Memory – 4GB 64-bit DDR3 @ 1066 MHz Storage – microSD card slot, eSATA II (3 Gbps) connector Video Output – HDMI 1.4 with 3D support Audio Output – HDMi, optical S/PDIF Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet […]

April 30, 2015April 30, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Windows 10 IoT Preview for Raspberry Pi 2 and MinnowBoard Max

When Raspberry Pi 2 Model B was released, we were promised a Windows 10 image for the board, and today, Microsoft released “Windows 10 IoT Core Insider Preview” for both the Broadcom BCM2836 based Raspberry Pi 2 and Intel Atom E3800 series based Minnowboard MAX boards. To get started with either board, simply go to Windows IoT – Getting Started page. I’ll quickly go through the instructions for Raspberry Pi 2. Beside the board, you’ll also need a PC running Windows 10 Insider preview (Virtual machine not supported), a 5V power supply, a HDMI cable (optional but recommended), an Ethernet cable, and a 8GB micro SD card, class 10 or better. The you’ll need to configure a connect account, where I had to accept two EULA including “Windows 10 IoT Core Insider Preview EULA”, and once this is done the area of the page for EULA should just be blank, […]

April 29, 2015June 8, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 102 Comments

How to Install 64-bit BIOS on Sunchip CX-W8

Sunchip CX-W8 is an Intel Atom Z3735F TV box running Windows, but I’ve been informed that originally Sunchip designed it for WeTek in order to manufacture a Linux based mini PC. Unfortunately, they finally gave up once they discovered Intel had no intention to work on HDMI audio support in Linux for their Atom Z3700 series processor despite it working on Android… Intel Compute Stick will apparently use a separate DSP to handle that part (TBC). Nevertheless, when WeTek saw I had Wintel W8, they decided to share the 64-bit “BIOS” they had worked on for the Linux port. By the way, Wintel W8 and Sunchip CX-W8 allegedly come from two different factories / design houses, so although they look alike, the hardware might be different, and the UEFI firmware / BIOS, I’m about to share may or may not be compatible with Wintel W8, so you may brick it […]