CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

October 8, 2014October 8, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Kaiboer Q8 Android Media Player Features USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet, and a 2.5″ SATA Bay

Kaiboer Q8 may look like an alarm clock radio, but it’s definitely an upcoming Android media player powered by Mstar 9810 SoC with 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC, USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and an internal 2.5″ SATA bay. The company had previously launched three MSO9810 Android STBs, two of which did not support hard drives, and one with a 3.5″ SATA bay, so this new product fills the void for 2.5″ hard drives. Kaiboer Q8 specifications: SoC – Mstar MSO9180D1R Quad core ARM Cortex A9 @ 1.5GHz with a quad-core ARM Mali-450MP GPU. System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16 GB eMMC + microSD card slot + internal SATA bay for 2.5″ drives Video I/O – HDMI in, HDMI out (All models) Audio I/O – HDMI in/out, optical S/PDIF Video Codecs – Up to 4K. MPEG-1/2, MPEG-4, DivX, H.264, H.265 VC-1, H.263, Real Media, MVC, etc… Audio Formats – […]

October 8, 2014October 9, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Cortus Introduces APS23 and APS25 32-Bit Cores for Micro-controllers

ARM and MIPS are not the only games in town with it comes to 32-bit cores for micro-controllers. I’ve already written about Beyond Semiconductor, and mentioned Andes used in some Wi-Fi SoC, and today I’ve come across another IP company called Cortus. which just introduced APS23 and APS25 cores based on their latest Cortus V2 instruction set. which offers a smaller code footprint compared to there V1 ISA. APS23 can achieve 1.44 Coremarks/MHz, 2.83 DMIPS/MHz, and can run up to 200 MHz when manufactured with 90nm process, whereas APS25 is a bit more powerful with 2.09 Coremarks/MHz, 2.36 DMIPS/MHz, and can run up to 344 MHz. Minimal power consumption is 11.6 and 19.3 uW/Mhz for APS23 and APS25 respectively. Key features of both cores include: APS23 APS25 Excellent Code Density 3 stage pipeline 5-7 Stage Pipeline Sequential Multiplier High Performance Integer Multiply Optional Parallel Multiplier (Gives 2.62 Coremakes/MHz) Integer Divider Full Peripheral Set Dual […]

October 7, 2014June 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

F&S Elektronik Systeme Introduces eFus A9 Industrial Computer Modules Powered by Freescale i.MX6 SoC

F&S Elektronik Systeme, a German embedded systems company, has announced their efus A9 Computers-on-Module (CoM) based on Freescale i.MX6, are now in mass production. The CPU comes in two variants A9V2 for i.MX6 Solo, and A9V3 with i.MX6 DualLite, both of which are certified for automotive and industrial applications, and support commercial, extended, and industrial temperature ranges. eFuse A9 computer-on-module specifications: SoC – CPU Freescale i.MX6 Solo (eFus A9V2) or DualLite (eFus A9V3) @ up to 1.2 GHz + Vivante 2D and 3D GPUs System Memory – 512MB (Up to 1GB RAM) Storage – 256 MB NAND flash (Up to 1GB), 2 GB eMMC (eFus A9V3 only. up to 32GB), optional SPI NOR, optional I2C EEPROM Display I/F – 18-bit RGB, 2x 24-bit LVDS, and DVI Other interfaces available via 230 pins MXM-2 edge connector: 2x SD card I/F 1x Gigabit Ethernet 1x USB Host, 1x USB Device 2x CAN […]

October 7, 2014October 7, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

$25 TinyScreen is an OLED Display for TinyDuino Arduino Compatible Board (Crowdfunding)

Back in 2012, Tiny Circuits launched a Kickstarter campaign for TinyDuino, an Arduino compatible board that’s… tiny, based on Atmel Atmega328P, and supports tiny stackable shields in a similar fashion to Microduino (launched in 2013). The campaign was successful, and the company is now back on Kickstarter with TinyScreen, an OLED display that can be stacked on top of TinyDuino to create a smartwatch, a minuscule gamepad, smart glasses, and more. TinyScreen technical specifications: 96×64 OLED display, 16-bit color depth 0.96″ (24.4mm) viewable area Software controllable backlight (OLED brightness) Power down mode Four push buttons along the sides (connected to IO pins) SPI interface for display Power Supply – 3.0V to 5.5V operation (higher voltages supported with TinyShield power regulator) Power Consumption – 20 – 45mA max supply current (depending on brightness) Dimensions – 25.8mm x 25.0mm Programming of TinyDuino can be done through a web interface for Arduino called […]

October 7, 2014October 7, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

MatchStick’s Firefox OS Firmware Ported to MK808B mini PC

MatchStick is an HDMI Stick running Firefox OS and designed to stream online video, mirroring browsers, etc.. which makes it very similar to a Chromecast, even using the same DIAL protocol. The hardware is based on Rockchip RK3066, and Mozilla released an SDK for the device. Since there are quite a few Rockchip RK3066 TV sticks out there, BalintBanyasz announced he ported MatchStick’s firmware to MK808B (with RK903 Wi-Fi module), and has now provided the firmware and instructions on Freaktab. The firmware is based on Linux kernel 3.0.36+ used in Android 4.2.2. Once you’ve flash the firmware (matchstick-flingone-b2g2.0-201409281739-mk808b.img.7z) to MK808B, and installed MatchStick app / add-on in your Android device or Firefox Browser (iOS app coming) soon, you can “fling” a YouTube video from your phone / browser to your TV through MK808B as follows: Open MatchStick app on your phone in order to detect the hotspot (MatchStickXXXX) created by […]

October 6, 2014November 28, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Freescale LS1021A-IOT IoT Gateway Reference Design Powered by QorIQ LS1021A Dual ARM Cortex A7 SoC

Freescale has just launched a an IoT gateway reference design powered by their QorIQ LS1021A communication processors running Linux/OpenWRT, designed in partnership with TechNexion, and targeting various IoT applications such as building/home management, smart cities, networked industrial services, etc… Beside the dual core Cortex A7 QoirIQ processor, the board features six Gigabit Ethernet ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a SATA 3 port, two mini PCIe connector, an LVDS interface, HDMI output, Arduino UNO compatible headers, and various others expansions headers. LS1021A-IOT IoT gateway Specifications: SoC – Freescale QorIQ LS1021A dual core Cortex A7 communication processor @ 1 GHz (5,000 coremarks) MCU – Freescale Kinetis K20 Cortex M micro-controller System Memory – 1 GB DDR3L Storage – 1 Gb QSPI NOR Flash, SDHC slot (up to 32 GB) populated with a 4GB SD card, 1x mSATA 3 slot Connectivity – 6x Gigabit ports via SGMII (Serial Gigabit Media Independent Interface) and […]

October 6, 2014January 26, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 27 Comments

Can Rockchip RK3288 Android TV Boxes Play Videos at True 4K UHD / 2160p Resolution?

[Update 2: Now that I have a 4K TV, I’ve redone the test myself, and Rockchip RK3288 can play 4K videos properly. The mistake was to use Software decode in MX Player which renders to the framebuffer instead of the video buffer. Visit the post entitled 4K Output and Video Playback Capability Tested on 6 ARM based mini PCs and Boards for details.] [Update 1: The post has now been updated, after it was clear one of MX Player options was misunderstood. The conclusion remains the same] Over the last few years there have been complains about Android TV boxes decoding 1080p video, rendering them to a 720p frame buffer, and upscaling them back to 1080p resolution for video output, so you ended up playing 1080p videos at a real 720p resolution. I never investigated the issue in details, and thanks to new media players now coming with a 1080p […]

October 6, 2014October 6, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

KDDI Unveils Tiny BLE/Zigbee Development Board Running Mozilla Firefox OS

KDDI has recently announced Open Web Board, an HDMI TV stick powered by Rockchip RK3066, and running Firefox OS, just like the recently announced MatchStick. The board is however aimed at embedded and web developers who want to create apps for Firefox OS, and interface with external devices over Bluetooth Low Energy or Zigbee (optional module) communication, optionally using Gluin, a web based graphical “application development tool that enables simple linking programming between electronic devices”. Open Web Board specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3066 dual core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.6 Ghz with Mali-400 MP4 GPU System Memory – 1 GB RAM Storage – 8 GB flash Video Output – HDMI USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 1x micro USB for power Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi (AP6210 module), Bluetooth 2.1 (HFP/A2DP/AVRCP)/4.0 GATT. and optional Zigbee via external module Dimensions – Small This dongle runs Firefox OS 1.4. KDDI showcased […]