CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

June 1, 2016August 7, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 122 Comments

NEXBOX A95X Android TV Box Powered by Amlogic S905 Processor Sells for $27

Amlogic S905 Android TV boxes have been popular and inexpensive 64-bit ARM platform for Kodi, and other applications. But NEXBOX A95X must be the cheapest model I’ve come accross so far as it only sells for $26.99 including shipping on Banggood NEXBOX A95X specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND flash + micro SD card slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0, AV Video Codec – 4K@60 Hz video decoding 10-bit HEVC and AVS+ codec support; H.264 up to 4K 30 Hz Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi (no Bluetooth) USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports Misc – IR receiver Power Supply – 5V/2A Dimensions – 93 x 93 x 11 mm The device comes pre-installed with Android 5.1 and Google Play support. Kodi or SPMC should work […]

June 1, 2016June 1, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Cavium introduces 54 cores 64-bit ARMv8 ThunderX2 SoC for Servers with 100GbE, SATA 3, PCIe Gen3 Interfaces

Cavium announced their first 64-bit ARM Server SoCs with the 48-core ThunderX at Computex 2014. Two years later, the company has now introduced the second generation, aptly named ThunderX2, with 54 64-bit ARM cores @ up to 3.0 GHz and promising two to three times more performance than the previous generation. Key features of the new server processor include: 2nd generation of full custom Cavium ARM core; Multi-Issue, Fully OOO; 2.4 to 2.8 GHz in normal mode, Up to 3 GHz in Turbo mode. Up to 54 cores per socket delivering > 2-3X socket level performance compared to ThunderX Cache – 64K I-Cache and 40K D-Cache, highly associative; 32MB shared Last Level Cache (LLC). Single and dual socket configuration support using 2nd generation of Cavium Coherent Interconnect with > 2.5X coherent bandwidth compared to ThunderX System Memory 6x DDR4 memory controllers per socket supporting up to 3 TB RAM in […]

June 1, 2016July 16, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

You can now buy BBC micro:bit board for $19

BBC recently distributed micro:bit boards to UK schools to get student interested in electronics and help them learn more about this subject, but so far it was not for sale to the general public, but this has now changed since the British broadcaster now launched the board for 13 GBP (~$19) via Element14/Farnell and others distributors. The board is powered by Nordi Semi nRF51822 SoC with ARM Cortex M0 micro-controller and Bluetooth LE connectivity, features motion sensors, plenty of LEDS, a few buttons, a micro USB connector for power & programming, as well as a header for LiPo batteries. There are various ways to program the board either interpreted languages such as Python or JavScript, or graphical drag and drop programs such as Microsoft Block Editor. All technical details and example projects available on Micro:bit official website. Beside the board only, several kits are being offered included micro:bit Go with […]

May 31, 2016May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Pine A64 Board Quick Start Guide & Benchmarks with Android 5.1

Pine A64 is one of the development boards with the best cost/performance ratio, as it sells as low as $15 + shipping. I received Pine A64+ board with 2GB RAM at the end of last month, and decided to start playing with Android, as Linux distributions such as Longsleep Ubuntu appear to require a little more work. So in this post, I’ll report my experience with installing and running Android 5.1 on the board, and share some Android benchmark results. Pine A64 Board Pictures You’ll receive the board in cardboard package with Pine64 branding. You can check which version of the board you’ve been sent on the side of the package: PA64512 (512 MB RAM), PA641GB (1GB RAM), or PA642GB (2GB RAM). The top of the board has been photographed often but here it is again. I’ve been sent the 2GB version without wireless module. The bottom of the board […]

May 31, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Asus Zenbo Smart Home Robot is Looking for Developers

Asus introduced a $599 robot on wheel at Computer 2016. Asus Zenbo features a friendly face which can also be used as a touchscreen display, answer voice commands, take pictures on-demand, and can help you for all sort of task from reading recipes out loud, emergency calls if it detects an elderly person’s fall, to task reminders such as taking medicine, or going to a doctor’s appointment. The robot could also be used for all sort of home automation tasks so as turning on and off lights, so Asus also launched a developer program in order to get more applications leveraging the robot’s capabilities, including Android and web applications using speech recognition, facial recognition, indoor navigation, smart home protocols, etc… Few technical details have been provided so far though. The highlights of ASUS press event do show the robot in action, answering questions, moving around and taking photos. Via Liliputing

May 31, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Allwinner Virtual Reality 2016 – 2017 Roadmap: H8vr, VR9 and VR10 Solutions

Virtual reality has gotten a lot of hype in the last year or so, and so far there’s basically three ways to implement virtual reality: smartphone + VR headset, all-in-one headset, and PC + headset. Currently the former is the most popular option as it’s much cheaper than the other two, while PC based virtual reality provides the best user experience, but it’s quite pricey. Allwinner is now at Computex 2016 promoting their virtual reality solutions, and they see smartphone based VR peak in 2018, PC based VR have a slower growth, with All-in-one VR becoming the dominant force in 2020 and beyond. So the company is focusing on all-in-one Android VR headsets, starting with H8vr board featuring Allwinner H8 octa-core processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage, and mainly targeting 4K virtual reality videos, since the performance of current mobile processors does not really provide a good experience for […]

May 30, 2016June 2, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments

Beelink BT7 mini PC Unboxing and Teardown

Beelink BT7 is one of the few mini PCs based on Atom x7-Z8700, the fastest Intel “Cherry Trail” processor on the market, and should provide a decent alternative to Voyo V3 for people wanting an Ethernet port, and better cooling. The company sent me the version with 128 GB eMMC flash and 4GB RAM, and before reviewing the tiny computer, I’ll post some pictures and check out the hardware, especially the thermal design. Beelink BT7 Unboxing The package looks very similar to Intel NUC retail packages. It will show the complete specs, with highlights for Intel Atom x7-Z8700 processor, and 4K display support. The storage can be 64GB, 128GB or 320 GB, and a sticker on the side shows which model you’ve got. I’ve got the 128 version, but more on that later… The mini PC ships with a 12V/2A power supply (US, UK, EU or AU as requested, a […]

May 30, 2016May 12, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Sunhed S3 Android TV Box is Powered by Hisilicon Hi3798C V200 Processor

HiSilicon Hi3798C V200 processor is designed for high-end TV boxes and media centers with a a quad core Cortex A53 processor, 4K 10-bit H.265 and VP9 video decoding at 60 fps, built-in SATA, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, and so on. One of the first model to hit the shelves was Himedia Q10 Pro, but I’ve received an engineering sample for Sunhed S3 based on the processor, so let’s have a closer look starting with the specifications and pictures of the device. Sunhed S3 specifications: SoC – HiSilicon Hi3798CV200 quad-core ARM Cortex A53 processor with ARM Mali-T720 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC + SD card slot + external SATA interface Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 3840×2160 @ 60 Hz and CVBS output (RCA) Video Codecs – H.265/HEVC 4Kx2K@60fps, MVC, MPEG1/2/4, VC-1, WMV Video Containers – TS, MKV, FLV, MOV, AVI, RM, MP4, ISO Blue-ray […]