CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

December 13, 2015December 13, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Is Console OS just a Scam Based on a Fork of Android-x86 with Little Modifications?

Console OS is supposed to be a version of Android Lollipop running on various Intel platforms, and optimized for desktop use with new features like DVR support for digital TV tuners, a desktop friendly file manager, and so on. The project launched on Kickstarter and was successful enough to raise $78,497 from 5,695 backers. But according to Chih-Wei Huang, Android-x86 project leader, and Console OS users, the Console OS developer simply forked Console OS, with some minor modifications like changing the project name, and under-delivering on the promised features. The first part is fine, as that’s the beauty of open source code, you can fork somebody else work, and add your own improvement, and long as you keep the license and credits, that’s what open source is all about. Now the project raised funds specifically for development, and as promised the source code is available on github. Here what has been […]

December 12, 2015December 13, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

FTDI NerO is an Energy Efficient Arduino UNO Compatible Board That Can Handle Higher Loads (Crowdfunding)

FTDI found out that the original Arduino UNO R3 boards had issues handling higher loads with 9V and 12V power input being limited to about 800mA and 300mA respectively before the voltage of the 5V regulator drops, so they decided to make their own supporting up to 1A. NerO board specifications: MCU – Atmel ATMega328 MCU @ 16MHz with Optiboot bootloader I/Os 14 Digital I/O Pins including 6 PWM outputs 6 Analog Inputs USB – micro USB port for programming using FTDI FT231XS USB UART interface (4) Misc – Status and PWR LEDs, on/off switch Power Supply – 7V to 20V ( 9V or 12V recommended ) via power barrel or VIN pin. 5V switching regulator. Dimensions – UNO R3 form factor FCC/CE certified The board is manufactured in Europe by MikroElektronika, a company which I started the hear about more and more, especially since they’ve launched their mikroBUS standard […]

December 11, 2015December 12, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

ODROID-C0 Board is an Upcoming Alternative to Raspberry Pi Zero

When Raspberry Pi Zero launched at the end of November, it looked somewhat familiar to Hardkernel ODROID-W board that eventually had to be phased out as Broadcom would not sell Broadcom BCM2835 to the Korean company. In an interesting turn of events, Hardkernel has now shown the first prototype of ODROID-C0 (ODROID-C Zero), a tiny board based on Amlogic S805 found in ODROID-C1+. The name of the board may seem to be derived from Raspberry Pi Zero, but it’s not quite the case as Hardkernel first revealed their plans for ODROID-C0 back in November, a week before R-Pi Zero board was unveiled. ODROID-C0 will have similar specifications to ODROID-C1+ minus Ethernet, and the USB ports in order to reduce the PCB size: SoC – Amlogic S805 quad core Cortex-A5 processor with a Mali-450MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – eMMC module socket, and micro SD slot Video & […]

December 11, 2015December 17, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Rikomagic MK36SLE (Linux Edition) Based on Intel Atom x5-Z8300 Processor Runs Ubuntu 15.04

When people think about Linux on Intel platform, they often believe it’s just as easy as flashing an Ubuntu ISO on a USB stick and install it on their computer. While that’s true for desktop or laptop processors, the low power Intel Atom processors for tablets such as Bay Trail-T or Cherry Trail are not well supported in Linux with various issues ranging from an incompatible UEFI binary to a complete lack of audio support. So far, most companies have not provided a decent version of Atom Z3735F or Atom x5-Z8x00 mini PCs with Linux, and all the work has been done by the community such as this Ubuntu 14.04 image for Atom Z3735F. But Rikomagic must have worked on a Cherry Trail Linux port, more exactly Ubuntu 15.04, for their MK36S Cherry Trail mini PC, and has now launched MK36SLE (Linux Edition). [Update: While most features are currently workings, […]

December 11, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Probox2 Z 4K Android TV Box Includes Remote+ with Air Mouse, Gamepad, and Audio Functions

Probox2 Z is yet another of these Amlogic S905 TV boxes with 8GB flash and 1GB RAM, but last year when I reviewed Probox2 EX, I was very pleased with the device, except for gaming due to throttling issues, so it might be worth having look at their new model. I also tested Remote+ air controller last year, which includes air mouse, voice search, and gamepad functions into a single remote, and it’s optionally included with Probox2 Z. Probox2 Z specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0 with HDMI CEC support Audio – HDMI, optical S/PDIF Connectivity – 10/100/1000M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports Misc – Power button, IR receiver […]

December 11, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Light Biz OS Firmware, Android and Ubuntu Image, and Android SDK Released for GeekBox (RK3368)

GeekBox is an upcoming Android TV box based on Rockchip RK3368 octa-core processor that doubles as a system-on-module and development board. The company has now uploaded the Android 5.1 SDK, including Linux 3.10.79 kernel, on github. It’s not for the Android SDK for RK3368, but at least it’s not just an outdated tarball, and will hopefully be regularly updated directly on github. Beside the source code, the company also released three firmware image including Rockchip’s Light Biz OS desktop operating system based on Lollipop: Biz OS for GeekBox – V151208 (8th of December 2015) Android and Lubuntu dual boot image – V151129 (29th of November 2015) Android 5.1 image – V151129 (29th of November 2015) It’s quite possible those images will also work on other Rockchip RK3368 platform with some modifications, e.g. an updated device tree file for a given hardware. I’ve downloaded Biz OS adn the dual boot image, […]

December 10, 2015May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

Allwinner A64 Android 5.1 SDK and Linux Source Code

Allwinner A64 is likely to become quite popular as it will be used in PINE A64 board, Olimex open source hardware laptop featuring A64-OLinuXino board, and some low cost tablets. We’ve already got some documentation such as Allwinner A64 datasheet and user’s manual, but AFAIK, there was no source code released for the board. The good news is that you can now download Android 5.1 SDK and Linux source code on Baidu with four files available: lichee_A64_A5.1_V1.0.tar.gz – Linux source code android_A64_A5.1_V1.0.tar.gz– Android 5.1 SDK android_prebuilts_A64_A5.1_V1.0.tar.gz – Some pre-built binaries for Android A64硬件资料.zip – Documentation including the datasheet, product brief, and user’s manual which we’ve already got, but also some hardware with reference schematics, PCB layout files, and BoM for an Allwinner A64 tablet. That’s about 7.4GB to download, and apart from the documentation, the download is not quite complete yet, so I could not look into the details of […]

December 10, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

GoWarrior Tiger Development Board with ALi M3733 SoC To Support Android, Debian and FreeRTOS

There was a time when development boards were really hard to get for individuals with companies not wanting to waste their time with hobbyists, but the maker revolution changed all that, and now many companies want to get involved in “open source” board for the developer’s community. The latest board trying to emulate the Raspberry Pi is GoWarrior Tiger powered by ALi M3733 dual core cortex A9 processor with 1GB RAM, 4GB Flash, Ethernet and WiFi, HDMI and AV output, and two 40-pin expansion headers. Tiger board specifications: SoC – ALi M3733-AFAAA dual Cortex A9 processor @ 1.0 GHz with ARM Mali-400 MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3; dual channel 1600 MT/s, 800MHz Storage – 4GB on-board NAND Flash + micro SD slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4 port up to 1080p, with support for HDCP and CEC, 3.5 mm AV jack Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 […]