Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on SDMC DV8219-LTE Android TV Box Comes with a Built-in 4G LTE Modem

SDMC DV8219-LTE Android TV Box Comes with a Built-in 4G LTE Modem

Most users connect their TV boxes to the Internet through WiFi or Ethernet, but in some specific use case, such as digital signage in mass transport or in remote locations, it might be useful to get access to cellular networks. We’ve seen a few Android TV boxes with a built-in 3G modem in the past including CS918S and MBX-3G, but the former is based on the rather old Allwinner A31s processor, and the latter did not raise enough found on Indiegogo. But there’s nothing new, as SDMC DV8219-LTE is a more recent TV box powered by Amlogic S905X processor and running Android 6.0, equipped with a 4G LTE modem. SDMC DV8219-LTE TV box specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X quad core Cortex A53 processor @ up to 1.5 GHz with a Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 SDRAM (2GB as option) Storage – 8GB eMMC flash (4 to 64GB as […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Qualcomm Starts Sampling of Qualcomm Centriq 2400 ARM Server SoC with Up to 48 ARMv8 Cores

Qualcomm Starts Sampling of Qualcomm Centriq 2400 ARM Server SoC with Up to 48 ARMv8 Cores

Qualcomm has announced commercial sampling of Qualcomm Centriq 2400 series server SoC built with 10nm FinFET process technology and featuring up to 48 Qualcomm Falkor custom ARMv8 CPU cores “highly optimized to both high performance and power efficiency, and designed to tackle the most common datacenter workloads”. Qualcomm Datacenter Technologies demonstrated the new processor in a Live demo showing Apache, Spark, Java, and Hadoop on Linux running on a SBSA compliant server powered by Qualcomm Centriq 2400 processor, but the company did not provide any further technical details or preliminary benchmark results for the solution. The Qualcomm Centriq 2400 processor series is now sampling to select customers and is expected to be commercially available in H2 2017. That’s about all we know from the press release. However, Linaro have been working on Qualcomm Technologies QDF2432 based board for several months with support for Debian 8.x ‘Jessie’ and CentOS 7 operating […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on How to Install ThingSpeak in Ubuntu 16.04

How to Install ThingSpeak in Ubuntu 16.04

Last week-end I installed ESPurna open source firmware with MQTT server on Sonoff POW WiFi switch, and the next step is find a way to draw power consumption charts in some web based interface. We could do this in the IoT cloud with services like Xively or ThingSpeak, but since one of the goals of replacing the default firmware was not to rely on a proprietary cloud based solution, I decided to find a way to draw those chart in a local server, and it so happens that ThingSpeak is also open source with the code available on Github. Hardware platforms like NanoPi NEO / NEO Air, or Orange Pi Zero boards appear to be particularly well suited for the task of running an MQTT broker and Thingspeak, but at first I wanted to install ThingSpeak in my own Ubuntu 16.04 computer to have a try. As you can see […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Nordic Semi Unveils nRF52840 Bluetooth 5 Ready SoC and Development Kit

Nordic Semi Unveils nRF52840 Bluetooth 5 Ready SoC and Development Kit

Nordic Semiconductor nRF52xx Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz solutions are very often found in development kits and low power devices such as wearables, and it’s no surprise that the company introduced a new nRF52840 SoC supporting Bluetooth 5, the new standard promising twice the range, and four times the speed of BLE 4.x, as well as ANT, 802.15.4, 2.4GHz proprietary, and NFC connectivity. Nordic Semi nRF52840 key features and specifications: MCU – 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4 @ 64 MHz with with FPU Memory & Storage – 256 KB RAM, 1MB Flash Connectivity Bluetooth 5-ready multiprotocol radio Bluetooth 5 data rate support: 2 Mbps, 1 Mbps, 500 kbps, 125 kbps 104 dB link budget for Bluetooth low energy -96 dBm sensitivity for Bluetooth low energy Programmable output power from +8 dBm to -20 dBm NFC-A tag on chip Single-ended antenna output (on-chip balun) I/Os USB – Full-speed 12 Mbps USB controller SPI up […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments on First Intel Apollo Lake J3455/J4205 Processor Benchmarks & Video Tests

First Intel Apollo Lake J3455/J4205 Processor Benchmarks & Video Tests

Many products powered by Intel Apollo Lake processors have already been announced, but few are actually shipping, and I have yet to get one here. However, AndroidPC.es got hold of ASRock J4205-ITX and J3455-ITX motherboards powered by respectively a Pentium J4205 quad core processor and a Celeron J3455 quad core processor, run a few benchmarks, and tested videos in Windows 10 on the motherboards with Kodi 17 and MPC-HC.   Let’s have a look at some of the benchmarks to better understand of what we can expect from Apollo Lake desktop processors. First there’s not that much of a difference between Celeron J3455 (1,771 points) and Pentium 4205 (1,830 points) in PCMark Home Convetional benchmark, however you should clearly feel a boost in performance compared to systems with Intel Cherry Trail x5-Z8300 processor (1,141), and the score is getting fairly close to a mini PC with an Intel Core i3-5005U […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on Hardkernel ODROID-VU8C is 8″ LCD Display and Case Kit for ODROID C1+ and C2 Boards

Hardkernel ODROID-VU8C is 8″ LCD Display and Case Kit for ODROID C1+ and C2 Boards

While it’s quite easy to find displays for development boards, they do not always come with a case, so you’d have to make your own. One easier option for the Raspberry Pi boards is the official Raspberry Pi 7″ LCD touch screen Display, plus RS Premium touchscreen case that selling for $132 in total including Raspberry Pi 3 board. But Hardkernel has now launched their own ODROID-VU8C 8″ Touch Display Shell Kit compatible with ODROID-C1+ and ODROID-C2 boards. Specifications and Kit Contents: 8-inch TFT-LCD with 1024×768 resolution (4:3 ratio) 10 finger capacitive touch input Back-light brightness control with ODROID GPIO PWM Viewing angle : Left 75, Right 75, Up 75, Down 75 degree Screen Dimensions : 189 x 149 x 29 mm Viewable screen size : 162 x121.5 mm (active area) Power Supply – 5V/4A DC to power barrel (powering both the LCD and ODROID ARM Linux board) Power consumption […]

AAEON Intel Arc
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on $46 TS100 Digital Programmable Soldering Iron is Controlled by STMicro STM32 MCU

$46 TS100 Digital Programmable Soldering Iron is Controlled by STMicro STM32 MCU

I’m now using a $4 soldering iron which works most of the time for what I’m doing, but sometimes it does not seem to heat quite fast enough which may cause problems. I’m not soldering that often, so I did not think about getting a better one, but I’ve just come across an TS100 digital & programmable soldering iron with a OLED display showing the current temperature, and controlled by an STMicro STM32F103T8U6 micro-controller. The soldering iron also includes an accelerometer which allow the soldering iron to know when you are using it, so the temperature drops if it is inactive for over 5 minutes (sleep mode), and after 10 minutes of inactivity, the soldering iron automatically turns off. TS100 soldering iron key specifications: OLED Display USB – 1x micro USB port for configuration Temperature Range – 100 to 400 °C; 15 seconds to heat to 300 °C @ 19V; […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Full Specifications for Intel Apollo Lake NUC Mini PC’s NUC6CAYB Board Released

Full Specifications for Intel Apollo Lake NUC Mini PC’s NUC6CAYB Board Released

Intel unveiled Intel NUC6CAYS & NUC6CAYH NUCs to be powered by Intel Celeron “Apollo Lake” Jxxx processors, but at the time we did not have the full technical specifications. The company has now published a 66-page technical product specification for NUC6CAYB board used in both mini PCs. Intel NUC Board NUC6CAYB specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J3455 quad core processor @ 1.5 GHz to 2.3 GHz (burst) with 12EU Intel HD graphics 500 @ 250 to 700 MHz supporting DirectX 9.3/10/11.1/12, OpenCL 1.2, OGLES 3.0, OpenGL 4.3 (10W TDP) System Memory – 2x DDR3L-1600/1833 SO-DIMM supporting up to 8GB DDR3L-1866 in total Storage – 32GB eMMC flash (Sandisk, Hynix or Samsung depending on your luck), 2.5″ SATA3 bay for hard drives up to 9.5mm thick, SDXC slot with UHS-I support Video Output – HDMI 2.0 (4K @ 60 Hz) with HDMI CEC via MegaChips MCDP2800-BCT DisplayPort 1.2a to HDMI 2.0 […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC