CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

June 25, 2013May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Cubietruck Development Board Features AllWinner A20 SoC, 2GB RAM, and Gb Ethernet

When Cubietech announced the availability of the Cubieboard2 last week, some people seemed disappointed it only came with 1GB RAM and no Gigabit Ethernet. We already knew a board called Cubietruck was in the work with those features, but work has gone faster than I expected as pictures of the Cubietruck board are already available. Instead of simply listing the specifications, I’ll show a comparison table of the specifications against Cubieboard2. Cubietruck Cubieboard2 SoC AllWinner A20 Dual-Core ARM Cortex-A7 with Mali400 MP2 AllWinner A20 Dual-Core ARM Cortex-A7 with Mali400 MP2 System Memory 1GB or 2GB DDR3@480MHz 1GB DDR3@480MHz Storage SATA 2.0 interface + NAND + Micro SD slot (or 2x micro Sd slot) SATA 2.0 interface + 4GB NAND flash + micro SD slot, Video Output Connectors HDMI & VGA HDMI Audio I/O 1x TOSLINK (Optical SPDIF), 1x headphone jack 1x headphone jack, 1x line in Connectivity 10M/100M/1G Ethernet 10M/100M […]

June 24, 2013June 25, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

HP Unveils Slate 21 AIO Android PC and Tablet with a 21.5″ Touchscreen

Hewlett Packard has announced an all-in-one desktop PC in Beijing featuring a 21.5″ touch screen that ships with Android 4.2.2 instead of the usual (for dekstop PCs) Windows 8 operating system. It’s a concept we’ve seen before with devices such as Frontier FT103, but HP Slate 21 AIO is much more powerful with Nvidia Tegra 4 quad core cortex A15 against the TI OMAP4 used in the Frontier PC. HP Slate 21 AIO (partial) specifications: SoC – Nvidia Tegra 4 quad core Cortex A15 processor System Memory – Unknown Storage – 8GB memory + SD card slot Display – 21.5″ 10-point capacitive touchscreen IPS display with 1920×1080 resolution Connectivity – Wi-Fi Direct and BT 3.0. Camera – Front-facing webcam USB – 3x USB 2.0 Host ports Audio – Stereo speakers, DTS audio. That’s all we know at this time, but since we can also connect a USB keyboard and mouse, […]

June 24, 2013June 24, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Open Source Prosthetic Arm Controlled By Muscle Movements

Gustavo Brancante is working on a very interesting project that let you control a prosthetic arm with your muscle movement using open source technology with InMoov Hand (which can be 3D printed), Arduino Uno R3, and Olimex Electrocardiography electromiography shield (SHIELD-EKG-EMG). This is called a Myo-Electric Prosthesis. Gabriel wrote a tutorial to use his “open arm” which I’ll summarize here. On the hardware front, you’ll also need a UDP compatible Wifi Shield configured as a UDP server with a fixed IP in the same LAN as the smartphone, and 57600 bps. TouchOSC (for smartphone and Workstation) is used with the following layout for calibration and feature selection. Finally load the program below to your Arduino board: Once everything is connected together, you should be able to do that: The demo looks impressive, but this is still work in progress, and next step will be to use a four channel EMG instead […]

June 23, 2013June 23, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

$34 BLEduino Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy Arduino-Compatible Board

After RFDuino, here’s another tiny low cost Bluetooth 4.0 SMART development board compatible with Arduino. BLEduino board is the merger of Arduino Leonardo and Bluetooth module, features Atmel ATmega32u4 MCU, Nordic Semi nRF8001 for BLE, and includes an on-board USB programming interface. Key features of BLEduino board: MCU – Atmel ATmega32u4 @ 16 MHz with 32 KB flash, 2.5 KB SRAM, and 1 KB EEPROM Power Supply – 5V. Onboard 5V & 3.3V regulators I/O: 21x GPIO Pins 6x PWM Channels 12x Analog Input Channels Serial Communication – UART, SPI, I2C LED – RX/TX for serial communication, LED for Bluetooth connectivity Bluetooth – Version 4.0 with Low Energy sypport via Nordic Semi nRF8001. Expected range: at least 24 meters Dimensions – Around 22.8 x 43.2 mm Kytelab, the company behind BLEduino, also provides “Shield-Shield”, a baseboard that translates BLEduino’s pin layout into the traditional Arduino layout, and allows you to […]

June 22, 2013February 22, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

GEAK Watch is an Android 4.1 Smartwatch Packed with Features

Smartwatches have been available since 2011, in different formats, most of the time as a smartphone companion such as Pebble, or sometimes with slightly more powerful hardware running Android 2.3. one example being the I’m Watch. The GEAK Watch goes a step further for a relatively powerful Ingenic JZ4774 MIPS processor clocked at 1 GHz, Android Jelly Bean, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC…, and the ability to install apps directly from an app store. GEAK Watch hardware specifications: SoC- Ingenic JZ4774 processor @ 1GHz System Memory – 512MB RAM Storage – 4GB NAND Flash Display – 1.55″ LED capacitive touch screen (OGS) with 240 × 240 resolution Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 b/g/ n Bluetooth 4.0 NFC/GPS/FM Sensors – G-Sensor, Gyroscope, and Geomagnetic sensors Battery – 330mAh lithium polymer battery The watch is water-resistant (IP3X), enables heartbeat and blood pressure monitoring (maybe with external Bluetooth hardware), can be used as a pedometer, and […]

June 22, 2013June 22, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

$70 Cubot GT72 Android “4.2” Smartphone Powered by Mediatek MT6572

Mediatek MT6572 is a new dual core Cortex A7 processor with a Mali-400 GPU, as well as a HSPA+/TD-SCDMA modem. This SoC announced last month, is now starting to show up in low cost smartphones such as Cubot GT72. The phone is said to run Android 4.2.2, comes with a 4″ display, and 256MB RAM, and 512MB flash. Here are the specifications of this phone: SoC – Mediatek MTK6572 dual core cortex A7 @ 1.2GHz + Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 256MB RAM Storage – 512MB Flash + micro SD card slot (up to 16 GB) Display – 4.0″ TFT capacitive (2 points) touch screen (800×480) with 260K colors Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, built-in GPS Network – GSM 900/1800MHz, dual SIM card slot. Camera – 3MP rear camera with flash light, and 2MP front camera Audio – 3.5mm earphone jack Misc – Gravity sensor, FM Radio Battery – […]

June 21, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Kaiboer F4 Rockchip RK3188 Powered Set-top Box with Two External Wi-Fi Antennas

We’ve got a another full-sized Android set-top box featuring Rockchip RK3188 quad core processor, this time with not one, but two external Wi-Fi antennas, as well as the usual 2GB RAM, and Android 4.2 operating system. Here are the specifications of the device: SoC – Rockchip RK3188 up to 1. 8 GHz with Mali-400 MP4 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8 to 16GB Flash + 1x SD card Video Output – HDMI, and AV Audio Output – HDMI, AV, and optical S/PDIF Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with 2 external Wi-Fi antennae USB – Micro USB OTG + 4x (or is it 2x?) USB host ports Power & reset buttons The device should be available within 20 days in China, but the product looks very similar to another Kaiboer STB based on RK3066 and selling for 519 RMB ($84), so it’s unlikely it will […]

June 21, 2013May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Rockchip RK3066 is Now Part of Mainline Linux Kernel

After AllWinner A10/A13 SoCs, it’s time for another Chinese SoC to be included into mainline kernel, with Rockchip RK3066(a). A few hours ago, Heiko Stuebner’s commit for basic support in Linux kernel 3.11 has been accepted. This is the commit message: This adds a generic devicetree board file and a dtsi for boards based on the RK3066a SoCs from Rockchip. Apart from the generic parts (gic, clocks, pinctrl) the only components currently supported are the timers, uarts and mmc ports (all DesignWare- based). Don’t get too excited though, as it may take a little while until you can actually build a kernel for Rockchip RK3066 or AllWinner A10 from mainline linux source code. But this is definitely another step in the right direction, and hopefully, Chinese SoC companies will eventually get involved, instead of relying on the community, as it is in their best interest. To access the full list […]