CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

June 21, 2016June 21, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

ARMv8 64-bit Processors To Replace Intel Xeon and SPARC64 Processors in Some Supercomputers

There’s been some news recently about Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer which nows top the list of the 500 fastest super computers with 93 PFLOPS achieved with Linpack, and is comprised of 40,960 Sunway SW26010 260 core “ShenWei” processors designed in China. But another interesting development is that ARMv8 are also slowly coming to supercomputers, starting with TianHe-2 super computer which is currently using Intel Xeon & Xeon Phi processors and second in the list, but according to a report on Vrworld, the US government decided to block US companies’ sales (i.e. Intel and AMD) to China as they were not at the top anymore, and also blocked Chinese investments into Intel and AMD, so the Chinese government decided to do it on their own, and are currently adding Phytium Mars 64-core 64-bit ARM processors to expand TianHe-2 processing power. Once the upgrade is complete Tianhe-2 should have 32,000 Xeons (as currently), […]

June 20, 2016July 14, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Partaker B4 Intel Celeron N3150 Barebone mini PC Sells for $131

This week-end I received Vorke V1 mini PC powered by Intel Celeron J3160 processor, and with upgradable memory, storage and WiFi as explaining in the first part of the review, and with a $160 price tag after coupon I found it to be pretty good value (Normal price is $200). But still, one person commented that it was too expensive, while another mentioned that some people may prefer to buy extra components such as SO-DIMM RAM, mSATA SSD, and wireless modules locally in order to benefit from a local warranty. So I went on aliexpress to find barebone mini PCs based on Intel Celeron J3160 processor, and I had no luck probably because the processor is relatively recent, so I refocused my search on Intel Celeron N3150 processor which has roughly the same performance, and the one of the cheapest options I could find was Partaker B4 mini PC selling […]

June 20, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

EBox T8-4 TV Box and Ipega Bluetooth Game Controller Unboxing and Teardown

Entertainmentbox.com is a UK based shop specializing in TV box, and the company sent me their latest Amlogic S905 TV Box running Android 5.1 with EBMC based on Kodi 16.1, featuring an internal 2.5″ SATA bay, as well as an interesting and different design. I’ll write a two part review as usual, starting with specifications, and photos of the device, accessories, and internals, before actually testing the device in the second part of the review in a few weeks. EBox T8-4 specifications The TV box, also called Ebox T8 V4, has the following specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC 5.0 flash + SD card slot + internal 2.5″ SATA bay for HDD or SSD Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDMI […]

June 20, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

BusyBotNet is a Fork of Busybox with Security Tools

Busybox provides a lightweight version of common command line utilities normally found on “big” Linux into a single binary, in order to bring them to embedded systems with limited memory and storage. As more and more embedded systems are now connected to the Internet, or as they are called nowadays the Internet of Things nodes, adding security tools, such as cryptographic utilities, could prove useful for administrators of such system, and so BusyBotNet project wsa born out of a fork of Busybox. Some of the tools implemented include: fenc to encrypt stuff with salsa algo tsh. needs work, backdoor shell aes enc rathole backdoor shell, blowfish enc ssyn2 ddos tool sudp udp ddos tool jshon sh wrapper for json hydra prism userspace icmp triggered reverse shell backdoor You can access the source code and instructions on busyboxnet github repo. I’ve quickly tried it in my AMD x86 computer running Ubuntu […]

June 18, 2016July 5, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

Vorke V1 Braswell mini PC Unboxing and Teardown

Vorke V1 is a Braswell mini PC pre-loaded with Windows 10, powered by an Intel Celeron J3160 quad core with 4GB RAM, 64 GB internal storage, and two important features if you want to use it as a desktop PC: support for internal 2.5″ hard drive, and dual display support via HDMI and VGA ports. GeekBuying sent me a sample for review, and I’ll do a two part review, starting with pictures of the device, and its internal, before publishing the second part testing the performance, stability and features of the mini PC. Vorke V1 Unboxing There’s not much to say about the package, as it’s just a bland carton box with a sticker with Vorke V1 name, processor and memory info. The mini PC ships with a 19V/2.1A power supply and a power cord, as well as a mounting bracket and 5 screws for 2.5″ SATA SSD or HDD. […]

June 17, 2016June 19, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

S204 Android Set-top box with DVB-T2/C & DVB-S2 Tuners is Powered by Allwinner H3 Processor

So far, I had only seen Android TV box with digital TV tuner using Amlogic or HiSilicon solutions, but S204 Android set-top box differs, as it is powered by Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 processor, and includes DVB-T2/C (Terrestrial and cable TV) and DVB-S2 (satellite TV) tuners. AFAIK, Allwinner H3 does not include any TS interfaces, so they must have used USB tuner chip(s) [Update: Allwinner H3 does have a Transport Stream interface as per the datasheet, but it’s not really advertised by Allwinner] S204 TV box specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.2/1.3 GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB flash + micro SD slot Video Output – HDMI 1.4 up to 4K @ 30 Hz + AV (composite) Audio Output – HDMI, AV (stereo audio), and optical S/PDIF Tuners Support HD DVB-S2, DVB-T2 and DVB-C; Support for BISS,CCCAM, […]

June 17, 2016June 17, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

VicoVR is a Wireless 19-Point Full-Motion Tracker for Virtual Reality Working with Android and iOS (Crowdfunding)

There’s a wide a virtual reality solution from cardboard kits that now sells for a couple of dollars to full featured headset with motion tracking selling for several hundred dollars or more. 3DiVi has designed a Kinect like motion tracking device that connects to your Android and iOS smartphone, and is supposed to offer similar tracking capabilities of more expensive head mount displays (HMD) such as HTC VIVE at about half the cost, while also replacing the cables of those kits with wireless connectivity through WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 LE. The company offer three VicoVR devices part with the following specifications: VicoVR Sensor SoC – Unnamed Samsung Exynos processor Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0 LE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Data stream Bluetooth – User pixel mask @ 30 fps, 3D coordinates up to 19 skeletal joints per user (max 2 users) @ 30 fps, 3D point cloud @ 30 fps up to […]

June 17, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

The Eclipse Foundation Releases Open Source Smart Home & IoT Gateway Frameworks, MQTT & oneM2M Implementations

The Eclipse Internet of Things (IoT) Working Group has released – or soon will be releasing – four open source projects for the Internet of Things with Eclipse SmartHome 0.8 framework, Eclipse Kura 2.0 IoT gateway framework, Eclipse Paho 1.2 MQTT & MQTT-SN clients, and Eclipse OM2M 1.0 implementation of oneM2M standard. Eclipse SmartHome 0.8 Eclipse SmartHome is a framework for smart home solutions that runs on embedded devices, including Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone Black or Intel Edison development boards. The latest SmartHome 0.8 release includes a new REST API and corresponding “Paper UI” administration interface, support for new devices including Sonos speakers, LIFX bulbs, Belkin WeMo devices, digitalSTROM systems, EnOcean devices (via a new OSGi EnOcean Base Driver) and others, as well as a new rule engine supporting templates for beginners, JavaScript for automation rules and graphical rule editors. You can find more details on Eclipse SmartHome page, and/or download SmartHome 0.8, […]