CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

July 21, 2016September 10, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Review of GOLE1 mini PC with 5″ Display – Part 1: Unboxing and Teardown

GOLE1 is a portable mini PC running Windows 10 and Android 5.1, featuring a 5″ touchsceen display, and powered by an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 “Cherry Trail” processor. The device was launched on Indiegogo, and the project raised close to $300,000. I’ve now received an early sample with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage for review, with – I was told – a 1,800 mAh battery instead of the 2,600 mAh battey backers will receive. I’ll do a 2 or 3 parts review, starting by checking out the hardware, before testing both Windows 10 and Android 5.1 on the platform. GOLE1 Unboxing The device is packed into a simple white box with “GOLE1 Designed by GOLE” string. The mini PC ships with a 5V/3A power supply which should be powerful enough to connect a USB 3.0 hard drive, an HDMI cable, and a user’s manual in English. The device looks a little […]

July 21, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Google Research PRUDAQ is a 40MSPS ADC Data Acquisition (DAQ) Cape for BeagleBone Black & Green

Engineers at Google Research wanted to measure the strength of a carrier signals without having to use a bulky oscilloscope or DAQ (Data Acquisition) system, so they looked into several makers boards to achieve this task, eventually decided to go with BeagleBone Black / Green, and created their own PRUDAQ cape capable of sampling 40 million samples per second, and open source it all. PRUDAQ cape specifications: Dual-channel simultaneously-sampled 10-bit ADC (Analog Devices AD9201) Up to 20MSPS per channel (40MSPS total) theoretical 0-2V input voltage range (DC coupled) 4:1 analog switches in front of each channel provide a total of 8 single-ended analog inputs. (See here for differential input) SMA jacks for direct access to the 2 ADC channels Flexible clock options: External input via SMA jack Internal on-board 10MHz oscillator Programmable clock from BeagleBone GPIO pins Powered via BeagleBone headers – no external power needed Fully exposed BeagleBone headers […]

July 21, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Gateworks Ventana GW5530 SBC is Designed for Drones, Robots, and Digital Signage

Gateworks Ventana is a family of boards based on NXP i.MX6 processor designed for embedded applications, and often include one or more mini PCIe ports for expansion. Their latest single board computer – Ventana GW5530 – is powered by an NXP i.MX 6Dual processor coupled with 512MB RAM, 256MB storage, a mini PCIe port, a micro SD / SIM card slot, micro HDMI output, and some I/Os. Ventana GW5530 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX6 Dual Core ARM Cortex-A9 processor @ 800MHz with Vivante 2D and 3D GPUs System Memory – 512MB DDR3 (Up to 2GB as option) Storage – 256MB flash (Up to 2GB as option), micro SD/SIM card slot, serial configuration EEPROM Video & Audio Output – micro HDMI 1.4 port Connectivity – Optional u-blox EVA-M8M GPS Receiver with MMCX or u.FL Antenna Connector USB – 1x micro USB 2.0 OTG Port Sensors – 9-axis inertial module (accelerometer/gyro/magnetometer) Expansion […]

July 20, 2016July 20, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 40 Comments

Getting Started with NanoPi NEO Development Board – Ubuntu Core Firmware

NanoPi NEO is an exciting ARM Linux board due to the power it packs into its small size, and its low price starting at $7.99. It’s made by FriendlyARM, and since I’ve read some people had never heard about the company before, I’d like to point out it has been providing development boards well before the Raspberry Pi board was launched, with products such mini2440 based on a Samsung ARM9 processor introduced around year 2010. Anyway, I asked the company if they were willing to send 2 samples for review, as I plan to remove the USB & Ethernet port on one of them. Instead I got a 4 boards and accessories, so I’m going to start reviewing the board by writing a quick start guide, showing how to setup it, and check out the Ubuntu core provided by the company. If you are a fan of armbian made Debian […]

July 20, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Onion Omega2 is a $5 Linux WiFi IoT Board (Crowdfunding)

Onion Omega board was first introduced in 2015. The tiny OpenWrt Linux board featured an Atheros AR9331 processor with GPIO headers, and various baseboards and add-ons. The company has now launched a Kickstarter campaign for the second versions – Omega2 & Omega2 Plus – with a faster processor @ 580 MHz, compatible with docks and add-ons boards used for Omega, and a much lower price with $5 for the Omega2, and $9 for Omega2 Plus with more storage and memory. Omega2 & Omega2 Plus specifications: WiSoC – 580 MHz processor, possibly Mediatek MT7688 MIPS processor used in LinkIt Smart 7688 System Memory Omega2 – 64MB Omega2 Plus – 128MB Storage Omage2 – 16MB flash Omega 2 Plus – 32MB flash + micro SD slot Connectivity Built-in – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi with on-board and external antenna support Via add-on boards – Bluetooth 4.0 LE, GPS, and 2G/3G Expansion – 15x GPIO, […]

July 19, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Tencent and Skyworth Have Launched Rockchip RK3288 based miniStation Game Console in China

Tencent, the company behind the popular QQ chat program, and Skyworth a TV and audio visual manufacturer have worked together to launch a second version of miniStation game console powered by Rokchip RK3288 processor for $499 CNY ($75 US) in China.miniStation game console specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3288 quad core ARM Cortex-A17 @ 1.8 GHz with Mali-T720 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC Flash, and micro SD card slot up to 128 GB Video & Audio Output – HDMI up to 4K resolution Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, dual band Wi-Fi USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports Power Supply – 5V/2A The console runs TencentOS based on Android, and ships with an HDMI cable, a power cable, and a user’s manual. A bundle is a wireless gamepad is also offered for 100 RMB ($15) more. Supported (or re-loaded?) games include Nova 3, Asphalt 8, Modern Combat 5, […]

July 19, 2016July 19, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Setting a VoIP SIP user agent with Embedded Linux

This is a guest post by Leonardo Graboski Veiga, working for Toradex. Introduction This article’s main goals are: to cross-compile the PJSIP libraries and the PJSUA API reference implementation; deploy it to the target system; give an overview about the SIP protocol; and explore the reference implementation features, regarding audio only. For this purpose, a Computer on Module (CoM) from Toradex was chosen in the following configuration: Colibri iMX6DL* + Colibri Evaluation Board. The evaluation board and CoM are displayed in Figures 1 and 2, respectively. VOIP or Voice over IP, is a term designed to refer to a set of methods and technologies targeted for the implementation of telephony services over the Internet. For the purpose of this article, the scope will be limited to the use of a reference implementation built upon the SIP communication handling protocol by means of the PJSIP libraries and PJSUA2 API. If […]

July 19, 2016July 19, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Sunty SP-001 Portable Windows 10 mini PC Features a 7″ Touchscreen Display, an HD Projector

Sunty SP-001 mini PC looks quite similar to GOLE1, but comes with a large 7″ touchscreen display, and adds a TI 720p DLP projector. You can also carry it around thanks to its 6,500 mAh, and the brain of the device consists of an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor coupled with 2GB RAM and 32GB flash. Sunty SP-001 specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8300 “Cherry Trail” quad core processor @ 1.44 GHz / 1.84 GHz with Intel Gen8 HD graphics (2W SDP) System Memory – 2GB DDR3L Storage – 32GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot up Display – 7″ capacitive touchscreen display with 1280×800 resolution Video input – HDMI 1.4 port Audio I/O – HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack, speakers, built-in microphone Projector – 0.3” TI DMD, DLPC3438/DLPA3000/DLP3010 DLP, 720p resolution, 200 Lumen brightness, 5000:1 contrast ratio, 20 to 300” screen size, autofocus, and 3000 hours life; Connectivity – Dual band […]