$369 CHUWI Hi13 2-in-1 Windows 10 Tablet is Equipped with a 3000×2000 Display, Supports Ubuntu / Linux

I’ve recently reviewed CHUWI LapBook 14.1 laptop powered by an Intel Apollo Lake Celeron N3450 quad core processor, and found it to be a perfectly usable entry-level laptop with a few caveats like potential issues with USB ports, and the lack of brightness keys. The company is now about to launch with a higher end model, with the same processor, but instead of a 14.1″ Full HD display it will come with a high resolution 3000×2000 touchscreen 13.5″ display. The tablet will sell with Windows 10, but the company also claims support for Ubuntu, and other Linux distributions will likely work too. CHUWI Hi13 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N3450 quad core “Apollo Lake” processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.2 GHz (Burst frequency) and 12 EU Intel HD graphics 500 @ 200 MHz / 700 MHz (Burst freq.); 6W TDP System Memory – 4GB DDR3L memory Storage – 64 GB […]

How to Upgrade to Linux 4.8 in Ubuntu 16.04.2

I had read from several news sources that Ubuntu 16.04.2 would come with Linux 4.8. My system was upgraded from Ubuntu 16.04.1 to Ubuntu 16.04.2 this week-end, but I still had Linux 4.4.

So I wondered why that was, and eventually found my answer on Reddit thanks to EndofLineLF user: If it isn’t a new 16.04.2 installation then you won’t have newer kernel. If your install started as 16.04 or 16.04.1 then with all updates installed “lsb_release” will display 16.04.2 as version because that’s what you have. The switch to HWE (Hardware Enablement Stack) was never automatic. So if you want newer kernel you have to install it manually. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/RollingLTSEnablementStack#Packages-1 sudo apt-get install –install-recommends xserver-xorg-hwe-16.04 This will also install the new HWE kernel because it is recommended for that package. Upgrading to the new kernel is completely optional, and Linux 4.4 will still get security updates, but I did […]

Review & Quick Start Guide for Khadas Vim Pro Development Board with Ubuntu 16.04

Khadas Vim is the only Amlogic S905X development board I’m aware of. There are 4 or 5 versions of the board, but currently only two models are sold: Khadas Vim with 8GB flash and single band WiFi + BLE 4.0, and Khadas VIM Pro with 16GB flash, and dual band WiFi + BLE 4.2. SZWesion, the company behind the board, has sent Khadas Vim Pro for evaluation. Today, I’ll take a few pictures of the board and its accessories, and report my experience playing with Ubuntu 16.04.2 on the board. They’ve also released Android, LibreELEC, and dual boot Android/Ubuntu (for Vim Pro only) images, which you can find in the firmware resources page. Khadas Vim Pro Unboxing and Photos My parcel included Khadas package that looks like a book, an HDMI cable, and the same IR remote control sent with GeekBox, the first board made by the company, and powered […]

Fairphone 2 “Ethical” Smartphone Gets a Ubuntu Port

Fairphone aims to “create positive social and environmental impact from the beginning to the end of a phone’s life cycle”by designing easy to repair and long lasting phones that can be recycled and reused, and manufactured in good working conditions using conflicts-free materials. Their latest model is the Fairphone 2  5” Android 5.1 smartphone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, but you can now install Ubuntu on the device as UBports Ubuntu community has released a port for the phone. Let’s go through Fairphone 2 hardware specifications first: SoC- Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974AB) quad core Krait 400 processor @ up to 2.26 GHz with Adreno 330 GPU System Memory – 2 GB LPDDR3 Storage – 32GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot with support for SDHC, SDXC, UHS cards Display – 5″ Full HD (1920 x 1080) LCD TFT IPS touchscreen display with Gorilla Glass 3 Cellular Connectivity 2x micro […]

How to Assign Brightness Keys in Ubuntu 16.04 and Greater

Yesterday, I installed Ubuntu 17.04 in CHUWI LapBook 14.1, and was surprised everything appeared to work properly. However, the laptop does not come with brightness up and down keys. So I looked for ways to assign other keys to adjust brightness on the laptop, and eventually found a solution on AskUbuntu, and tried the options for Ubuntu 16.04. First we need to install xdotool, a utility that simulate keyboard input and mouse activity:

Once it’s done, go to the Dash, start Keyboard settings app, select Shortcuts tab, and click on the + icon on the bottom of the window to bring up the “Custom Shortcut” window. Now fill the Name field with “Brightness Up”, and the Command field with:

Repeat the procedure with for the down key filling the Name field with “Brightness Down”, and the Command:

Now we should have our two brightness keys, and we […]

Installing Ubuntu 17.04 on CHUWI LapBook 14.1 Apollo Lake Laptop

[Update: The instructions below do not work with the newly manufactured models because CHUWI completely changed the hardware The company also disabled the Linux option in the BIOS (See comments in this post) So you may need to use rEFInd boot manager or isorepin.sh script to install Linux (and some drivers may still not work out of the box) ] Since I’ve completed the review of CHUWI LapBook 14.1 with Windows 10 last week-end, I’ve decided to give it a try with a Linux distribution, and I chose to go with a daily build of Ubuntu 17.04 since we’ve seen Apollo Lake platforms need a recent Linux kernel. While Ubuntu 17.04 will be officially release in April 2017, likely with Linux 4.10, the current (alpha) build comes with Linux 4.9. I had already quickly booted Ubuntu 17.04 on the Laptop from a USB drive flashed using Rufus right after the […]

GIGABYTE EL-30 Apollo Lake Fanless IoT Gateway Powered by Intel Pentium N4200 to Launch in Q2 2017

GIGABYTE will soon introduce their EL-30 “Intel Apollo Lake IoT Gateway Solution” powered by a quad core Intel Pentium N4200 with 32GB storage, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, dual HDMI ports, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, as well as a mini PCIe slot for 3G module or mSATA storage, and an optional Zigbee module. GIGABYTE EL-30 specifications: SoC – Intel Pentium processor N4200 with 4 cores, 4 threads @ 1.10 – 2.50 GHz with 2MB L2 cache, 18EU Intel HD Graphics 505 (6W TDP) System Memory – 2x SO-DIMM slots for DDR3L 1600/1866MHz memory up to 8GB Storage -32GB eMMC flash + 1x SD card slot + optional mSATA module Video Output – 2x HDMI 1.4b ports up to 3840×2160@30 Hz Audio – Via HDMI ports, 3.5mm audio jack (headphone + mic), Realtek ALC255 audio codec Connectivity 2x GbE LAN ports (Realtek RTL8111HS) Pre-installed WiFi + Bluetooth module in half-size mini PCIe […]

e-con Systems Launches e-CAM130_CUTX1 Ultra HD Camera for Nvidia Jetson TX1 Development Board

e-con Systems, an embedded camera solution company, has just announced the launch of e-CAM130_CUTX1 MIPI camera board for NVIDIA Jetson Tegra X1 development kit. The 13MP camera is based on On Semiconductor AR1820 CMOS image sensor, connects to TX1 board via its 4-lane MIPI CSI-2 connector, and supporting up to 3840 x 2160 @ 30fps/ 13MP@ 20 fps video streaming in uncompressed YUV format. e-CAM130_CUTX1 4K camera board features & specifications: Sensor – 1/2.3″ Optical form factor AR1820HS sensor with on-board high performance ISP. Focus Type – Fixed focus Resolution: – 13MP on e-CAM130_CUTX1 (The sensor is capable of 18MP) Pixel size – 1.25μm pixel with Aptina / ON Semiconductor A-PixHS with BSI technology and advanced pixel architecture Sensor Active Area – 4912(H) x 3684(V) Responsivity – 0.62 V/lux-sec (545nm); SNR: 36.3 dB; Dynamic Range: 65.8 dB Output Format – Uncompressed YUV422 format and compressed MJPEG format. YUV422 resolutions: VGA @ […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case