CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

March 16, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

TechNexion Introduces Intel Edison Compatible PICO-iMX6 SoM and DWARF Board

Intel Edison is a board made for wearables featuring an SoC with Intel Atom and Quark CPU cores. TechNexion, an embedded systems company based in Taiwan, has decided to make a mechanically and electrically compatible system-on-module featuring Frescale i.MX6 Solo or Duallite ARM Cortex A9 processor called PICO-iMX6. The company is also providing a PICO-DWARF baseboard that’s both compatible with PICO-iMX6 SoM and Edison board. DWARF stands for “Drones, Wearables, Appliances, Robotics and Fun”, so that pretty much explains what the platform is for. PICO-iMX6 System-on-Module Two version of the modules are available: PICO-iMX6-SD and PICO-iMX6-EMMC, the former with a micro SD slot for storage, and the latter a 4GB eMMC. Both share the followings specifications: SoC – Freescale i.MX6 Solo / Duallite single/dual core ARM Cortex A9 @ 1Ghz with Vivante GC880 3D GPU and Vivante GC320 2D GPU (Composition) System Memory – 512MB or 1GB DDR3 Storage – […]

March 15, 2015May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments

Rikomagic MK80LE (Linux Edition) Octa-core Ubuntu mini PC

Allwinner A80 based Rikomagic MK80 Android TV box, now has a Linux sibling with Rikomagic MK80LE (Linux Edition) running Ubuntu 14.04, and allegedly supports 2D/3D graphics acceleration, and hardware video decoding. Two versions are available MK80LE with 2GB RAM & 16GB Flash, and MK80LE Plus with 4GB RAM & 32GB flash. The hardware specs are the same as the Android versions (and Tronsmart Draco AW80 Meta / Telos): SoC – AllWinner Ultra Core A80 4x Cortex 15 @ 2016 MHz, 4x Cortex A7 @ 1320 MHz big.LITTLE processor with Imagination Technologies PowerVR GC6230 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.0, Directx 9.3 System Memory – 2GB (MK80LE), or 4GB (MK80LE Plus) RAM Storage – 16 GB (MK80LE) or 32GB (MK80LE Plus) eMMC, external SATA port (via a USB 2.0 bridge), and micro SD slot up to 64GB Video Output – HDMI 1.4 + AV port Audio Output – HDMI, AV […]

March 15, 2015March 17, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 114 Comments

Giveaway Week – SoundMate WM201 Wireless Audio Streamer

All good things must come to an end, and this is the last day of Giveaway Week on CNX Software with Uyesee SoundMate WM201 wireless audio streamer that adds Wi-Fi connectivity to your speakers or old AV receiver, so that you can stream audio via EZMusic or a DLNA app in Android, iOS or, desktop computers. If you’ve ever used an EZCast dongle, the app looks just the same except it’s limited to audio streaming. I’ve tried it with an optical audio cable connected to the S/PDIF input of the device and Onkyo TX-NR636 AV receiver. It worked pretty well, as long as your device is in the same room, but if you move to another room, the connection become unreliable, and audio may cut from time to time. You can read SoundMate WM201 review for details. imply leave a comment below to enter the draw, with other rules as […]

March 14, 2015March 14, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Unuiga Game PC U1 mini PC Powered by Nvidia Tegra K1 Sells for $145 and Up

We’ve seen a few Nvidia Tegra K1 mini PCs from China with Warchief and MC8718 game consoles, but both are pretty hard to source outside China, and the latter may just be vapor-ware. Unuiga Game PC U1, however, is a game console based on Nvidia Tegra K1 that’s destined for oversea markets, and should run Android 5.0 with an interface supporting multiple languages, and not only Chinese. U1 Specifications: SoC- Nvidia Tegra K1 quad core Cortex A15 CPU @ 2.3GHz 32bit 192-core Kepler GPU with support for OpenGL4.4, and DirectX11. System memory – 2 to 4GB DDR3 Storage – 16 or 32GB eMMC, micro SD slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K@60fps Video Decoding – H.265 up to 2160p @ 60fps, support for Kodi 14.1 Connectivity – Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n/ac 2T2R Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 (AP62X2 module) USB – 2x USB3.0 ports, 2x USB2.0 host ports. […]

March 14, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Experimental Android 5.x Lollipop Port for Raspberry Pi 2?

When Raspberry Pi 2 was announced, I was quite hopeful Android would be ported to the board since it now had the processing power and memory requirements to run Android. But members of the Raspberry Pi foundation put a damper on this expectation directly in their Android forums by closing some Android related threads, and stating the mobile operating system does not bring anything to the educational goal of the Raspberry Pi. But yesterday, I’ve been informed that there was an experimental Android 5.1 port for ODROID-C1 and another Android 5.x port for Raspberry Pi 2. One of the key challenges to port Android to Broadcom BCM2836 is allegedly the large number of changes required for VideoCore 4 GPU’s buffer management, which was done by Broadcom internally for BCM2835, but never ported to the Raspberry Pi. So it does not quite seem an easy task. The README on github describes […]

March 14, 2015March 16, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 116 Comments

Giveaway Week – HD18T DVB-T2 Android Set-top Box

HD18T is an Android media player powered by Amlogic AML8726-MX dual core Cortex A9 processor and featuring a DVB-T2 tuner, and that’s the device I’m giving away to a lucky commenter today. Since the processor has been around for a while, I haven’t done a full review, but instead I focused on the DVB-T2 part. The results were mixed, as while I could scan and watch SD and HD TV channels fine, the videos recorded did not get any audio, possibly because I switched channels during recording, but that’s strange since the video was recorded just fine. However, some people based in Singapore mentioned that while DVB-T works, DVB-T2 does not work with this device, so your mileage may vary. All accessories above are included in the giveaway except the EU to US plug adapter on the top right. You can find more pictures and full specs in the unboxing […]

March 13, 2015March 13, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Engimusing DIY Home Automation Modules Are Managed with openHAB installed on ODROID-C1 Board (Crowdfunding)

Engimusing has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for their home automation solutions comprised of tiny modules (20x20mm) based on Silicon Labs Gecko EFM32 MCUs, some sensor modules and a server based on ODROID-C1 board and enclosure pre-installed and configured with openHAB open source home automation software. There are not that many technical details about the EFM32 modules, but they come into two variants: standalone & DF11-10 I/O, the latter allowing you to vertically stack multiple modules. This video shows how DF11-10 IO connectors work. The modules are said to be programmable with the Arduino IDE. The openHAB server is a standard ODROID-C1 board (Amlogic S805, 1GB RAM) with 4GB flash (eMMC or micro SD), and a black enclosure. If you value your money more than your time, and/or already have another computer or board (Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone Black…) that runs Linux, you could also install and configure openHAB by […]

March 13, 2015May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Theobroma Systems Introduces A31-μQ7 Micro QSeven System-on-Module Powered by Allwinner A31 Processor

Most standardized system-on-modules for embedded and industrial applications are still based on established Silicon vendors such as Freescale, Texas Instruments or Atmel, simply because documentation and support is generally much better than relatively new SoC vendors, most of the time China-based, such as Allwinner or Rockchip. That does not mean nobody is using Rockchip or Allwinner on their modules, as shown recently with Olimex RK3188-SOM, and previously with an Allwinner 10 CoM. But Theobroma Systems, an Austrian based engineering services and embedded systems solutions company, may have a first with a Micro Qseven compliant modules powered by Allwinner A31, simply called A31-μQ7. A31-μQ7 module specifications: SoC – Allwinner A31 quad core ARM Cortex A7 processor up to 1.2GHz with 256KB L1 cache / 1024KB L2 cache, and PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU System Memory – Up to 2GB DDR3 Storage – Up to 64GB eMMC, Up to 16MB SPI NOR flash, On-board […]