CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

January 13, 2014January 13, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

CES 2014 Keynotes and Linux Conference Australia 2014 Videos

The Consumer Electronics Show and LinuxConf Australia are completely different events, the former targets consumers and takes place in the US, and the latter is for Linux users, developers & systems administrators, and occurs in Australia. However, both happened at the same time this year, and video recording for CES 2014 keynotes, and LinuxConf Australia 2014 (LCA 2014) sessions for both events are now available. CES 2014 Keynote videos While the event took place, it was quite difficult, and sometimes just impossible, to find videos of the keynotes, either live or recordings, and I could only watch Intel, Nvidia, Samsung, and Sony keynotes at the time. I’ve been informed that at least some of CES 2014 keynote videos are now available online. I can access 9 videos from Intel, Yahoo, Audi, Cisco, Sony, etc… Thanks to Csilie for the link. Linux Conference Australia 2014 LCA 2014 took place on […]

January 10, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 51 Comments

A80 OptimusBoard Features AllWinner Octa-Core big.LITTLE SoC

Allwinner is currently at CES 2014 showcasing their latest Octa-core A80 SoC, and corresponding development board, the A80 OptimusBoard. Apart from the picture below, there were very little details for the initial announcement, but we now know, the board comes with 2 GB RAM, 8 GB NAND flash, and other features of the board, as well as the company behind the GPU in AllWinner A80. A80 OptimusBoard specifications: SoC – AllWinner Ultra Core A80 4x Cortex 15, 4x Cortex A7 big.LITTLE processor with an unnamed Imagination Technologies PowerVR GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND Flash Video Output – HDMI 1.4a Connectivity – Dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, and Ethernet (GMAC) USB – 1x USB 3.0 OTG HIC, 2x USB 2.0 host ports Audio codec – AC100 Codec Camera I/F – 12MP MIPI CSI Debugging – UART and JTAG Expansion – 32-pin GPIO header Misc […]

January 10, 2014January 11, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

NETGEAR NeoMediacast Android HDMI Dongle (NTV300D) Features Wi-Fi 802.11ac Module

NETGEAR has announced a new HDMI dongle called NeoMediacast, but also known as NTV300D model, running Android 4.2.2, with functionalities very similar to all the HDMI TV sticks / mini PCs originating from Chinese manufacturers we’ve seen for nearly 2 years. AFAIK, NETGEAR is the first relatively well-known global company to unveil an Android HDMI TV stick for the consumer market. [Update: see comments for details how it will reach the comsumer]Key features published for NTV300D by the company: Android 4.2+ supported with RDK support in the future 1080p/60 full HD, H.264/MPEG4 video decode Supports HDMI 1.4 and HDCP 2.1 Miracast-enabled Wi-Fi 802.11ac 1×1 AC 450 Mbps, Bluetooth 4.0 USB powered Micro SD slot for playback/storage Micro USB (OTG) for secondary storage Misc – Infrared Port, status LED DRM support for Microsoft PlayReady, Google Widevine and Adobe RTMPe Remote control unit – RF4CE or Bluetooth supported So there’s now information […]

January 10, 2014May 10, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 35 Comments

Rockchip RK3288 vs RK3188 Performance Comparison

We were expecting some new processors at CES 2014, but this CES turned out to be mostly disappointing, and the vast majority of reporters present at the conference, do not seem interested in covering Chinese SoC vendors. Some information however surfaced on several foreign languages blogs and news sites about Rockchip RK3288. First, RK3288 is indeed based on ARM Cortex A12 as initially announced, and not some mysterious ARM Cortex A17 cores, but somebody at Rockchip likely made an embarrassing mistake, and Edward Weinert reported it was corrected at Rockchip booth with pieces of paper as shown below. So Rockchip RK3288 has four of these Cortex A12 core, a 4L2K H.265 / HEVC video decoder, and an high-end Mali T764 T624 GPU supporting OpenGL ES3.0 and OpenCL 1.1 that vastly outperforms Mali-400 MP4 found in RK3188, and is even significantly faster than Adreno 330 GPU found in Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 […]

January 9, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

100W USB Power Delivery Solutions Coming Later This Year

Beside 5Gbps, USB 3.0 specifications promised the capability to deliver 100 Watt (20V, 5A) of power to charge laptops, monitors, and other relatively power hungry devices directly via USB. The USB IF is currently showcasing a prototype based on DisplayLink docking station capable of both charging a laptop and connecting to a display via the same USB “power delivery” cable, and is expecting retail products to become available by the end of the year. 100 Watt are only achievable for a full USB port, although micro USB power delivery is also possible but at lower power. The dock combines ROHM BD-92101 USB power delivery chipset with USB Graphics and docking chipset solutions from DisplayLink according to that press release. The main advantage of this system is that you don’t need to carry your power adapter without, you’ll just need to bring your laptop, and plug it into a compatible USB […]

January 9, 2014January 9, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

OLEDCOMM LiFi System Transforms Your LED Light Bulbs into Wireless Access Points

Oledcomm, a French startup, has designed a system based on LiFi, part of IEEE 802.15 standard, that quickly modulates your existing LED lights and deliver wireless networks in a similar manner as Wi-Fi, and delivers up to 1Gbit/s bandwidth. The modulation is fast enough so that it’s invisible to the human eye, and all your need is a LiFi enabled router that will power and transmit data to your LED lights, as well as device with a LiFi receiver, such as a LiFi enabled smartphone. Transmission is somehow bidirectional. Charbax filmed a demo by the company at CES 2014, and he seems to be in a state of disbelief during the interview, just as I did. The company did not want to provide technical details, as they are still looking for investors, but this appears to be real. In the video, they mention up to 10MB/s throughput, lower than the […]

January 9, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Nvidia Tegra K1 Reference Tablet and Graphics Demo

With Tegra K1 and its Kepler GPU, Nvidia brings OpenGL 4.4, and not only OpenGL ES, to mobile devices, and the company is demo’ing OpenGL games such as Trine 2 on Tegra 4 reference tablet at CES 2014. Nvidia Tegra K1 Specifications In my initial post about Tegra K1 announcement, I missed some key features about Nvidia new processor which has now popped up on their website such as support for up to 8GB RAM, 4+1 configuration, etc and so listing a summary of the technical specifications of the 32-bit version may be useful: GPU – 192 NVIDIA CUDA cores using Kepler architecture CPU – NVIDIA 4-Plus-1 Quad-Core ARM Cortex-A15 “r3” up to 2.3 GHz Memory – DDR3L and LPDDR3, up to 8 GB with 40-bit address extension Display – LCD: Up to 3840×2160, HDMI: Up to 4K (UltraHD, 4096×2160) Package – 23×23 FCBGA, 16×16 S-FCCSP, or 15×15 FC PoP […]

January 9, 2014January 9, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments

ZOTAC to Sell ZBOX Nano mini PC based on Freescale i.MX6 SoC

ZOTAC, a company known to provide small x86 Linux PCs, is currently showcasing an ARM based version at CES 2014, part of their ZBOX nano series, running either Ubuntu 12.04 or Android 4.2 on a Freescale i.MX 6Quad processor. ZOTAC ZBox nano “ARM” specifications: SoC – Freescale i.MX 6Q quad core Cortex A9 @ 1 Ghz with Vivante GC2000 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, SATA 3Gb/s interface with 2.5″ HDD support, and SD card slot (SD/SDHC/MMC) Video Output – HDMI 1.4 USB – 4x USB 2.0 host port Connectivity – GbE Ethernet, and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n via mini PCIe module. The computer currently runs Android 4.0.4 and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, but Android 4.0.4 will be upgraded to Android 4.2. ZBOX nano “ARM” mini PC will be available in Q2 2014 for a price between $100 and $150. Via Liliputing