CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

November 24, 2014November 25, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Unboxing of Cloud Media Open Hour Chameleon Android Media Player

Cloud Media (previously Syabas) recently announced Open Hour Chameleon Android media player powered by Rockchip RK3288 processor. Compared to the many competing solutions based on Rockchip’s quad core Cortex A12/A17 processor, Open Hour comes with a metallic case to provide better casing, and instead of coming with internal NAND or eMMC flash, they provide a bootable SD card (Class 10) pre-loaded with Android 4.4.2, and they also have a preliminary Lubuntu image. They also recommend to use SPMC for video playback as “going forward, Rockchip will fully support SPMC instead of their custom Kodi”. Before writing the full review, I’ll show some pictures of the device, and take it apart to check out the hardware and their thermal dissipation solution. Open Hour Chameleon Unboxing I’ve received the box by Fedex in the following package. They list the key features on the top of the box namely RK3288, XBMC, Android Kitkat, […]

November 24, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Technologic TS-7250-V2 Industrial Grade Embedded Computer Features Marvell PXA166/PXA168 Processor

Technologic Systems, as US based embedded systems solutions company, has announced availability of their TS-7250-V2 industrial grade PC/104 single board computer powered by Marvell PXA166 or PXA168 ARMv5 processor, with 512 MB RAM, 2GB eMMC SLC flash, single or dual Ethernet, and an optional Lattice FPGA with up to 17k LUT (Look-up Tables) among other features. They also have two enclosures namely TS-ENC720 (1x RJ45 port), and TS-ENC720-2ETH (2x RJ45 ports) for the boards. TS-7250-V2 technical specifications: Processor (one of the two) Marvell PXA166 Sheeva ARMv5 processor up to 800 MHz Marvell PXA168 Sheeva ARMv5 processor up to 1066 MHz FPGA – 17 KLut Lattice LFXP2-8E FPGA System Memory – 512 MB RAM Storage – micro SD card socket + optional 2GB eMMC flash + optional full size SD card socket Connectivity – 1x or 2x 10/100 Ethernet ports, USB – 2x USB HS host ports, 1x micro USB device […]

November 24, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Handbrake 0.10 Supports H.265 and VP8 Video Encoding

HandBrake is an open-source video transcoding tool that I use each time I upload a video on YouTube, simply because it will let me crop the beginning or end of a video as needed, can make web optimized videos, has an easy to use user interface, and greatly reduces the size of the video shot with my camera. HandBrake 0.10 has now been released, and it adds H.265 and VP8 encoding support via respectively x265 v1.4 and linbpx, as well as QuickSync video support, but the latter only in Windows. There are also various other changes include OpenCL accelerated scaling. Handbrake is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Ubuntu operating systems. It’s part of Ubuntu repository, but if you want the latest version, and support for MPEG-4 (m4v), you’ll need to install it from a PPA:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk

I’ve tested with the video I shot yesterday, to see if I […]

November 23, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

AllWinner A80 Octa Core big.LITTLE Processor CPU Usage Under Various Loads in Android 4.4 (Video)

Allwinner A80 is one of the few octa core processors featuring ARM’s big.LITTLE technology currently available on the market. The processor comes with four ARM Cortex A15 (big) cores, and four ARM Cortex A7 (LITTLE) core, and tasks will be scheduled to different processor depending on the load to optimize power consumption on mobile devices. However, earlier big.LITTLE processors like Samsung Exynos 5410 has some serious limitations, as they only supported “cluster migration” meaning you could only use the Cortex A7 cluster or Cortex A15 cluster at any given time, so Exynos 5410 could only make use of four cores at most due to hardware limitations. They also used to be two software implementations: In-kernel Switching (IKS) and Global Task Scheduling (GTS). The former could only handle one type of core at the same, and the latter, which I believe is now used in all new devices, can handle any […]

November 22, 2014November 22, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Unboxing of Zero Devices Z5C Thinko TV Stick based on Rockchip RK3288 Processor

It’s been a long long while since I’ve received an Android HDMI TV Stick, probably because many people prefer TV boxes, and the new ARM processors usually dissipate a lot of heat so thermal management may be an issue with small form factors. But I’ll finally get the opportunity to test a powerful HDMI dongle based on Rockchip RK3288 quad core processor, as Zero Devices sent me their Z5C Thinko TV stick. I’ll start by listing the specifications, and taking some pictures of the device and the board, because doing a full review hopefully sometimes next week. Zero Devices Z5C Thinko Specifications The stick has specifications similar to full sized Android media player minus ports like Ethernet and S/PDIF: SoC – Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex A12/A17 @ 1.8 GHz + ARM Mali-T764 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 /3.0, and OpenCL 1.1 System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage […]

November 21, 2014April 1, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments

ODROID-XU3 Lite Development Board – Android Setup and Benchmarks

It’s been nearly ten days since I make ODROID-XU3 Lite unboxing, and my plans to first test Linux on the board were thwarted due a problem with HDMI. Luckily, after several attempts I managed to boot the board with Android. So today, I’ll show how to install or update Android on the board, and run a few benchmarks. But since there’s always a silver lining, I’ll start buy writing a bit about the HDMI issue, as I learned a few things on the way. HDMI Output Tribulations ODROID-XU3 Lite looks like a nice and powerful kit, and it may be one of the most cost effective ARM board on the market since it comes to performance to price ratio, so I was excited to try it, but as you know if you’ve read my unboxing post I did not work quite as planned, as all I got was a black […]

November 21, 2014November 23, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

$19 Broadlink SP mini Wi-Fi Smart Plug for Android and iOS

Many small companies are now making smart sockets including Broadlink, Plugaway, Orvibo, Kankun, and so on. They are various features, some even have energy monitoring support like Broadlink SP2 (But it died after two or three months on mine), and some are more basic like Kankun KK-SP3 as they can only be turn on/off manually or using timers, but at least that one is hackable and runs OpenWRT. Broadlink has now launched a new low cost version in the same price range of KK-SP3 with SP mini Smart Socket selling for as low as $18.69 on Banggood, but it can also be found on other for a little over $20, such as DealExtreme, Ebay, Aliexpress, etc… It sells for 79 RMB ($12.9 US) in China. Broadlink SP mini specifications: Power Plug – Three flat-pin plug (Chinese type) Wi-Fi – 802.11 b/g/n Input Voltage – 100~240V @ 50-60 Hz Output Current […]

November 21, 2014November 21, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

10moons iBox D9i Intel Mini PC with 2GB RAM & 16GB eMMC Flash Sells for $82 in China

We’ll already been informed about Intel Bay Trail mini PCs such as NEO MINIX Z64, MeLe PCG03 and Meego Pad P01, but the first two are not available yet (MeLe mini PC will ship by the end of December), and Meego P01 sells for a ridiculous $251 on Aliexpress, and I’m not even sure it’s shipping. There’s now another option with 10moons D9i which goes for 499 CNY ($82) in Tmall, features Intel Atom Z3735D quad-core processor, 2GB DDR3, and 16GB flash, running Android 4.2.2 or Windows 8.1. 10moons iBox / D9i specifications: SoC – Intel Atom Z3735D “Bay Trail” quad core processor @ 1.33 GHz (Bust freq: 1.83 GHz) with Intel HD graphics System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 Storage – 16 eMMC + micro SD slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI Video Codec – H.264 up to 4K @ 30 fps, H.265 up to 1080p Connectivity – […]