CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

October 22, 2014October 22, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Rikomagic MK802 IIIS Dual Core HDMI TV Stick Sells for $14

Yet again, sellers are trying to get rid off their old stock, and today Rikomagic MK02 IIIS HDMI TV Stick powered by Rockchip RK3066 sells for $14.40 on Aliexpress for the next four hours, but if you miss it, you can also buy from another seller for $17.99. Both prices include worldwide shipping, and the sellers have good feedback. MK802 IIIS specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3066 dual core Cortex A9 @ 1.6Ghz + Mali-400MP4 GPU System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 8 GB NAND flash + micro SD slot (up to 32GB) Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n + Bluetooth 3.0 Video Output – HDMI (male) USB – 1x USB Host 2.0, 2x micro USB for power and OTG port The package includes the mini PC, a USB cable for power, an OTG adapter, a short male to female HDMI cable, and user’s manual. It’s said to run running Android […]

October 21, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

PowerVR SDK v3.4 Supports WebGL, 64-Bit Android 5.0 Lollipop, and MIPS Linux

Imagination Technolgies has just released PowerVR SDK v3.4 including the latest compilers for PowerVR Series6 and Series6XT GPUs to PVRShaderEditor, several performance optimization, a new WebGL SDK, 64-bit support for Android 5.0 Lollipop, and Linux support for MIPS based processors. The company has revamped the user interfaces of their tools, and made the following key changes: PVRTrace, a tool to capture and analyze OpenGL ES and EGL API calls, now supports OpenGL ES 3.1, compressed trace files, and they’ve reduce the software memory usage PVRTune, a performance analysis tool, now features new counters, and “significant” performance optimizations. PVRShaderEditor, a light-weight shader editing too, adds the latest compilers for PowerVR Series6 (FP32 and FP16) and Series6XT GPUs, as well as GLSL disassembler output. PVRTexTool, a utility for compressing textures, adds plugin support for Autodesk 3DSMax and Maya (2015 versions), and improves ETC decompression by up to 20% faster per surface. Imagination also […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

October 21, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 29 Comments

AllWinner A80 based Cubieboard4 Development Board is Now Available for $100 (in China)

Allwinner and Cubietech announced they were working on Cubieboard8 in May, before we got to see some pictures of the first engineering samples. Cubieboard8 has now been renamed to Cubieboard4, also known as CC-A80 (CubieTech single board Computer A80), and the company has listed the board on Taobao for 620 RMB (~$102), with shipping scheduled for October 30. Cubietech CC-A80 board specifications, which have changed since the first pictures were released in July: SoC – AllWinner A80 octa core 4x Cortex A15 @ 2.0GHz, 4x Cortex A7 @ 1.3GHz, and Imagination PowerVR G6200 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC (25MB/s read and write speed), micro SD Card slot Video Output – HDMI 1.4, and VGA Audio I/O – HDMI, 2x 3.5mm audio jacks for audio output and microphone Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n up to 300 Mbps + Bluetooth 4.0 (AP6330 module) […]

October 21, 2014October 21, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Qualcomm Showcases 4K LTE HDMI TV Streaming Dongle

There are now many wireless display adapters supporting Miracast, EZCast, DLNA, Airplay…, and streaming videos from your smartphone to the TV over Wi-Fi in 720p or 1080p resolution. Qualcomm recently unveiled a prototype called “4K Stream Adapter (4SA)” that does about the same but instead support 4K UHD resolution, and allegedly supports LTE thanks to its Qualcomm Snapdragon 800+ processor. According to a PCWorld report, Qualcomm mainly expects the device to be used to stream 4K video captured with a phone to a 4k UHD television, but it might also ending up supporting online video services such as Netflix, and mirroring your mobile device’s display onto the big screen. It’s also said to use a “basic Universal Plug and Play protocol” to connect with other devices, and the company is working to support communication with media apps such as BubbleUPnP, VLC and MXPlayer. Currently 4SA is only a prototype to […]

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

Add GPIOs to Windows, Linux, Android Computers and Devices with FTDI USB Adapters / Breakout Boards

It’s possible to to add GPIOs to your computer, (openWRT) router, or Android tablet using some FTDI USB dongles that expose I/Os. On operating systems based on Linux, including Android, you can use the GPIO sysfs interface (/sys/class/gpio) to easily control GPIOs from the command line, and in some cases Rx, Tx, CTS, .. pins can also be used as GPIOs. Zoobab has tried it with various FTDI USB adapters, and Oneping OP-1010 breakout board based on PL2303 HDX chip, and the results are mixed, but it could worth a try. There are currently patchsets ([1] and [2]) awaiting acceptance to mainline kernel that will enable GPIO support for these USB devices, but in the meantime you need to patch the kernel yourself, and then enable the relevant options in the kernel config for example “USB_SERIAL_PL2303_GPIO” or “USB_SERIAL_FTDI_SIO_GPIO”. The first patch is for PL2303 chips, and the second for FT2xxx/FT4xxx […]

October 20, 2014October 21, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Patched Android 4.4 SDK Supports Beelink R89 & Hotack T031 Boards

The first batch Tronsmart Orion R28 Pro/Meta Android TV boxes where ships with a micro SD card loaded with Android 4.4 SDK, so I tried it myself, and posted instructions to build an RK3288 Android image, but when I flashed the image to my device, I quickly realized it was an older firmware (106k4), so the SDK would not be so useful, since all the recent bug fixes were not included. Luckily, more recent Android 4.4 SDK were released or leaked, and naobsd decided to port it to Hotack T031 and Beelink/Netxeon R89 boards that are found in many RK3288 Android TV boxes. Since he does not own any devices based on Netxeon R89, he asked me to try, and I did so on Tronsmart Orion R28 Meta. Bear in mind these are images built from a patched SDK, so not everything may work, there’s no Google Play Store, and […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025

October 19, 2014October 20, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

$50 UNI-T UT61E Digital Multimeter Supports Data Logging to a Windows Computer

Since I don’t use a multimeter that often, and don’t need high precision, I bought an ultra cheap multimeter (Sunwa DT830B) locally a couple of a years ago. I normally use it for continuity testing (no beep though) for repair work / checking solder point, and some quick voltage measurement, and it works well for these simple tasks, although the lack of buzzer makes it a little inconvenient. But I discovered its limits when I tried to measure current. The 200 mA range works fine, but I started to encounter issues when switching to the 10A range, as device under tests would just start rebooting if the current draw was too high, and the manual indicates that you “cannot measure more than 15 seconds in the 10A range”. Since I did not want to spend $100+ on a Fluke multimeter, I did some research for a better multimeter, and finally […]

October 18, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 32 Comments

iMito QX1 Quad Core Android HDMI TV Stick Sells for $30

As new platforms are being introduced to market, companies have to clear their stock of older devices, and iMito QX1 HDMI TV dongle based on Rockchip RK3188 quad core processor is now going for $30 on Aliexpress, including shipping. iMito QX1 specifications as a reminder: SoC – Rockchip RK3188 Quad core Cortex A9 @ 1.6Ghz with Mali-400 MP4 GPU. (or maybe RK3188T @ 1.4 GHz now) System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND Flash + microSD card Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR Video Output – HDMI USB – 1x USB 2.0 host + 1x mini USB port for power Misc – Reset/recovery button, external antenna connector. Power – 5V/2A via mini USB port Dimensions – 99 x 40 x 10.8mm Weight – 42 grams The latest firmware is based on Android 4.2.2, and there are also some custom ROMS (Finless, Nitro Team, etc..) for […]

Boardcon CM3588 Rockchip RK3588 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications