CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

July 6, 2013December 3, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Cloud Media FreeOTT Player Review

Syabas was a company designing set-top boxes such as Popcorn Hour Media Tank that were relatively popular before the Android media player invasion. The company is now called Cloud Media, and they offer a tiny media player called FreeOTT that connects to their Apps Market and bring online video, Internet radio, social media and other streaming media to your television. The device is free (as in free beer), as it’s not actually available for sale to the general public, and the only ways to get it is to have your ISP or telecom provider set it to you, or win one from the regular giveaways organized by the company. I won one via a giveaway announced on their Facebook page, and I had just to pay $5 (via Paypal) for shipping. The company does not provide detailed specifications for their device but we do know it’s a Linux based media […]

July 6, 2013July 6, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Renesas RZ/A1 Cortex A9 Processors Feature Up to 10 MB On-chip RAM

Renesas Electronics has recently introduced the RZ/A1 group of ARM Cortex-A9 microprocessors (MPUs) for automotive, consumer and industrial applications requiring user interfaces with displays with a resolution up to 1280×768 (WXGA). The RZ/A1 series will come in three product groups: RZ/A1H, RZ/A1M and RZ/A1L with respectively 10MB, 5MB and 3MB on-chip RAM. These Renesas SoCs are an upgrade to SH7260 Series. Key Features (Included in A1H and A1M, but not always in A1L): Core – ARM Cortex A9 @ up to 400 MHz (with Jazelle and NEON) GPU – OpenVG-compliant Renesas graphics processor (2D graphics) Cache – 32-Kbyte L1 instruction cache, a 32-Kbyte L1 data cache, and a 128-Kbyte L2 cache. Built-in memory – Up to 10-Mbyte large-capacity RAM (128 Kbytes are shared by the data-retention RAM) for A1H, 5MB for A1M, and 3MB for A1L External memory Up to 66.67 MHz bus Direct connection to SRAM, byte select SRAM, […]

July 5, 2013July 8, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 75 Comments

12MB Minimal Image for Raspberry Pi using the Yocto Project

Last year, I wrote instructions and provided a download link about a minimal image for Raspberry Pi based on Raspbian. The compressed image is 84MB, and the good thing about it is that you can just use apt-get to install packages. The problem is that it’s not actually that small as once it is uncompressed the rootfs is still a massive 414 MB. So today, I’ll explain how to create a smaller (and custom) image using the Yocto Project, a platform that let you build an embedded Linux distribution matching exactly your project’s requirements. Other advantages are that the build is configurable with config files, so it’s easily reproducible with a few command lines, and it might turn out to be useful to learn more about the Yocto Project as many boards and SoC are now making use of the framework, including Freescale i.MX6 (Wandboard, Olinuxino-imx233, Sabrelite, etc…), the Beagleboard, […]

July 4, 2013July 4, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 46 Comments

$87 NEO NS Goddess Dual Core Android Smartphone Powered by Qualcomm MSM8225

If you’re following the Chinese low cost smartphone space, you may only think about phones based on Mediatek or possibly Spreadtrum SoCs, but Qualcomm is now entering the arena with its dual core Cortex A5 MSM8225 SoC, and Android smartphones based on the platform such as NEO NS Goddess are available for less than $100, and in this case just $87. NEO NS Goddess specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Dual Core MSM8225 @ 1GHz with Andreno 203 GPU System Memory – 512MB RAM Storage – 512MB ROM + micro SD card slot (TBC) Display – 4.0″ 5-point capacitive touchscreen (800×480) Camera – 0.3MP front camera, 5.0MP back camera Connectivity – Wifi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth, GPS Network – 2G GSM 900/1800, 3G WCDMA 2100MHz (Dual SIM card) USB – 1x micro USB Audio – 1x earphone jack Sensor – G-sensor Support Battery – 1500mAh rechargeable Li-ion battery (up to 3 days) Dimensions – 124x64x11.6 […]

July 4, 2013May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

$130 Giada Q11 Android PC Features an LVDS Port, a mini PCIe slot, a Battery and 2.5″ HDD Support

Giada Q11 is an Android media player powered by AllWinner A10 with 1GB RAM and 8GB flash, which are pretty low specifications by today’s standard, so I would probably not recommend using at home. However, it comes with some pretty rare ports and features: an LVDS port, a mini PCIe slot (for 3G module only), a COM port, and a 2200 mAh battery capable of driving displays. Those extra features could make it a pretty good solution for specific applications such as high definition digital signage players. If your setup does not support networking, and you need to store media files in the device, a 2.5″ for SATA hard drive is also available. Giada Q11 Specifications: SoC – Allwinner A10 Cortex A8 processor @ 1GHz + ARM Mali-400 GPU System memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND flash, micro SD card slot (up to 32GB), and SATA II (2.5″ […]

July 4, 2013July 23, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Alpha Data ADM-XRC-7Z1 XMC Mezzanine Card Powered by Xilinx Zynq SoC

Alpha Data, a company providing solutions for compute intensive applications, has announced the ADM-XRC-7Z1, an XMC board powered by Xilinx Zynq-7045 or Zynq-7100 Cortex A9 + FPGA SoC targeting application such as software-defined radio, radar and sonar processing, image processing and machine vision. If you are like me, and have never heard about XMC mezzanine cards before, here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it: XMC, or Switched Mezzanine Card, is a PCI Mezzazine Card (PMC) with high-speed serial fabric interconnect defined by the VITA 42 standard. XMC specifies a 5th connector (“P15”) that supports PCI Express (VITA 42.3) or other high speed serial formats such as Serial RapidIO (VITA 42.2) and Parallel RapidIO (VITA 42.1). VITA (VMEbus International Trade Association) is an organization developing and promoting open technology standards that you can download for a fee. Here are the specifications of the board: SoC – Xilinx Zynq-7045 or Zynq-7100 dual […]

July 3, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Media Magic i5 is a 5″ Android Game Console Powered by Mediatek MT6589

Mediakek MT6589 processors are omni-present in the latest Chinese smartphones, and we can see new models based on the platform pop-up every week. But Mediatek SoC are almost exclusively used in smartphones and tablets, so MUCH Media Magic i5 Android Game Console proves it can also be used in other applications too, although one might argue a portable game console is just a tablet, or in this case a phablet, with some extra buttons… Magic Media i5 Specifications: SoC – Mediatek MT6589 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.2GHz + PowerVR SGX544MP GPU System Memory – 1GB LPDDR2 RAM Storage – 4GB of storage memory Display – 5 “IPS display with 1280×720 resolution Battery – 3550 mAh Network – 3G-WCDMA module with dual sim Camera – Rear and front cameras USB – 2x microUSB ports Controls- Physical keys with shortcuts … The device runs Android 4.2 and is said to come […]

July 3, 2013January 15, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

DIY Modular Stripboard / Perfboard Casing for Raspberry Pi (Part 1)

I plan to play around with Bluetooth 4.0 LE in Linux using the Raspberry Pi as an hardware platform together with a small LCD display and possibly a relay board. Instead of having boards spread around, I thought it might be a good idea if I could design a case for my setup. I wanted to be able to connect small external boards and things like LEDs, it had to be easily assembled and disassembled, modular so that I could add or remove circuits easily, and about as cheap as existing “dumb” cases. So I though why not use stripboards (perfboards) for that? I searched the web to find out if other people had the same idea, and could only find one other person, but he does not appear to have completed assembly, nor actually used the stripboards to add hardware features. I decided to give it a try anyway, […]