CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

February 26, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Sailfish OS SDK Alpha Release Is Now Available for Linux

Sailfish OS is a new mobile operating system based on the Qt platform that will soon end-up in mobile phone near you. Until now it was possible to build the SDK yourself, but it was pretty challenging since the documentation was lacking, as Jolla, the company behind Sailfish OS, focused on development. The good news is that you don’t need to build the SDK yourself anymore, since Jolla has just released Sailfish SDK Alpha for Linux 32-bit & 64-bit, and Windows & Mac OS versions will come later. You’ll need a computer that meet the following requirements: A host machine running a Linux operating system Oracle’s VirtualBox version 4.1.18 or higher pre-installed on the host machine. About 5GB of free disk space 4GB of RAM or more is recommended You can get started in two steps: Install the SDK – Download the 32 bit or 64 bit Linux installer. (~650 […]

February 26, 2013February 26, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

$21 CARAPP APP327 Bluetooth OBD2 Car Diagnostic Scanner

As cars become more sophisticated, you’re now able to access all sort of data from your car and display this on a computer or tablet to diagnose problems or simply to create your own high-end dashboard. This morning, I’ve come across CARAPP APP327, a Bluetooth diagnostic scanner compatible with OBD2 standard (On-Board Diagnostic II), which could can just connect on an OBD2 connector if your car is recent enough. This has been around for many years (since 1996), but I had never heard about this technology until today. Wikipedia OBD2 page explains the OBD2 connector (16-pins) should be within 2 feet (0.61 m) of the steering wheel according to the standard, which also specifies the type of diagnostic connector and its pinout, the electrical signaling protocols available, and the messaging format. After you connect the Bluetooth adapter, you just need to install the applications needed for your platform (e.g. Android, […]

February 26, 2013February 26, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

ST Ericsson NovaThor L8580 Dual Core Processor To Match big.LITTLE Quad Core Processors Performance and Power Consumption

ST Ericsson already showcased NovaThor L8580 Cortex A9 processor @ 2.8 GHz at CES 2013. The processor features a technology called eQuad, and as I previously noticed there’s no mention of the number of cores at all on the website and many websites reported the processor featured 4 cores. The processor actually features 2 Cortex A9 core, but thanks to FD-SOI technology they are able to do the equivalent of a Quad Core big.LITTLE processor (i.e. 2x Cortex A15 + 2x Cortex A7) electrically. Since this is just done electrically, you can use the same software as before and will consume much less power, whereas big.LITTLE requires a lot of kernel work. A Cortex A9 will obviously be less powerful than a Cortex A15, but since they are able to boost the frequency up to 3GHz (probably limited to 2.5Ghz in actual product) this can compensate the lower performance, and […]

February 25, 2013February 25, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Samsung HomeSync Media Server Comes with a Dual Core Processor, 1TB Storage

Yesterday, Samsung announced the HomeSync, a media server featuring a dual core processor at 1.7 GHz, 1GB RAM, 8GB eMMC, and a 1TB hard drive. HomeSync is said to be running a modified version of Android Jelly Bean. Here are HomeSync specifications: Processor – Dual Core @ 1.7GHz (I’d guess it should be the Exynos 5250, but why all the mystery?) System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC ＋ 1TB HDD Connectivity LAN – Gigabit Ethernet WiFi – 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz & a/n 5GHz HT40 2×2 MIMO Channel Bonding Bluetooth – V4.0 USB – 2x USB 3.0 Host, 1x Micro USB (11pin) Video Output – HDMI out Audio – Optical Audio (Audio Amp. Connection) Video Codec – H.264, H.263, MPEG4, VC-1, Sorenson Spark, WMV7/8, MP43, VP8, DivX Audio Codec – MP3, AAC LC/AAC＋/eAAC＋, WMA 9std/10pro/Lossless, FLAC, Vorbis, AMR-NB/WB, Wav, Mid, AC-3 DRM – HDCP 1.3/2.1, Playready, Widevide, Trustzone […]

February 25, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Adding Wi-Fi to Emcraft Systems K70 SoM

Emcraft Systems K70 SoM is a system-on-module powered by Freescale K70 Cortex M4 micro-controller with enough RAM (64 MB) to comfortably run uClinux. They used to charge $99 for their uCLinux BSP, but it’s now free of charge, and the company also provides full hardware and software documentation, including a getting started guide, schematics and BoM for the baseboard, application notes and more… Many of their clients want to use Wi-Fi with K70 SoM, and it can easily be done by using Wi-Fi USB dongles based on Ralink RT5370 chipset such as D-Link DWA-140 (H/W rev B3) or Comfast CF-WU815N. Emcraft has provided detailed instructions to do so with K70 SoM, their latest baseboard (SOM-BSB-EXT) and a demo image based on their uClinux BSP. I’ll summarize the instructions to use K70 SoM as a Wi-Fi access point below. Connect the baseboard and K70 SoM with an Ethernet cable, a mini […]

February 25, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Nvidia Tegra 4 Benchmarks on Tablet Reference Design

Mobile World Congress 2013 has just started. Nvidia is showcasing both a smartphone reference platform based on Nvidia Tegra 4i (Phoenix reference phone) and an unnamed tablet reference design with Tegra 4 during the event, and several Android benchmarks have been run on the platform including Antutu and Quadrant. The results in the quad-core Cortex A15 Tegra 4 are really impressive with over 36,000 in AnTuTu and 16,000 in Quadrant, which are the best scores ever reported (by far) on those two benchmarks, as the top score in Antutu achieved with an overclocked Galaxy Note 2 is just over 27,000, a phone like the HTC One X scores around 5,600… Android Police also ran two other benchmarks that can help to access web browsing performance: Vellamo (HTML5) and SunSpider. The Tegra 4 completes SunSpider in 494ms (vs 1124ms with HTC One and 208ms in my desktop PC), and scores 3300 […]

February 23, 2013February 25, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

ISEE Introduces IGEP COM CYGNUS & AQUILA Powered by TI Sitara AM335x Processor

ISEE will officially launch and showcase 2 new computers-on-module at Embedded World 2013 on February 26-28, in Nuremberg, Germany: IGEP COM CYGNUS and IGEP COM AQUILA. Both CoM shares the same characteristics except the former is powered by TI Sitara AM3352 (Cortex A8, no GPU) and the later by TI Sitara AM3354 (Cortex A8 + PowerVR GPU). This makes the CYGNUS suited for cost sensitive applications such as industrial control, home automation, and test and measurement devices, and the AQUILA for applications that requires more advanced graphics and multimedia capabilities such as gaming, auto infotainment and navigation devices. The key specifications of the 2 modules are as follows: Processor – Texas instruments Sitara AM3352 Cortex A8 @ 720 Mhz (CYGNUS) and AM3354 Cortex A8 @ 720 Mhz + PowerVR SGX GPU (AQUALIA) System memory – 256 MB DDR3 SDRAM, 303 MHz, 16-bit Storage – 128 MB SLC NAND FLASH + […]

February 22, 2013February 22, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Ubuntu Touch Developer Preview Is Now Available for the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4, 7 and 10 Devices

As promised with the announcement of Ubuntu on Tablets, Canonical released a developer preview of Ubuntu 12.10 for smartphones and tablets that can be installed in Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 smartphones, as well as Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets. It is an experimental development snapshot that could potentially brick your device. Many features are still not available but you should be able to access the following: Shell and core applications Connection to the GSM network (on Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4) Phone calls and SMS (on Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4) Networking via Wifi Functional camera (front and back) Device accessible through the Android Developer Bridge tool (adb) You’ll be able to reinstall Android after trying it out, but all your data will be lost, unless you use apps such as Titanium Backup. The instructions to install Ubuntu 12.10 Touch are available on Canonical website, and you’ll basically […]