Merrii Technologies introduced the Hummingbird development kit powered by AllWinner A20 last year. Since then they’ve sold 10,000 pieces, and have been working on another development board based on AllWinner A31 with lots of different ports and options, including an optional 7″ capacitive touch screen.
“Quad Core” Hummingbird specifications:
- SoC – AllWinner A31 quad core ARM Cortex-A7 with PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU compliant with OpenGL ES2.0, OpenCL 1.x, DX 9_3
- System Memory – 1GB DDR3
- Storage – 8GB Flash + micro SD card slot
- Video Output – HDMI, VGA, LVDS
- Video Input – 3.5mm jack for CVBS (or YPbPr?) In (TV IN)
- Audio I/O – HDMI, 3.5mm jack for stereo audio, 3.5mm jack for Line IN (Same as TV IN). 2x 15w amplifier on-board.
- Camera – MIPI interface
- Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (AP6210 module)
- Cellular Connectivity – SIM card slot + mini PCIe connector for 3G modem
- USB – 2x USB host port, 1x micro USB OTG, and 3 internal USB headers.
- Debugging – UART console
- Expansion Headers – Two 2×30 headers with access to GPIOs, LVDS, and other signals
- Misc – Speaker headers, RS485 port, IR receiver, power, reset and uboot keys, RTC + battery slot
- Power – 12V
Detailed information is not available for this board, but thanks to Charbax video below we know the board will be compatible with the same 7″ display (800×600) support by Hummingbird A20, and the company can provide Android 4.4 and Linux 3.3 + Qt SDKs with full source code for the board. Compared to the previous versions, Hummingbird A31 adds supports for 3G Modules, a VGA interface, and more accessible pins.
The board is available for purchase now via Aliexpress for $70 plus shipping by courier ($15 to $20). [Update: You can now get it for $69.99 including shipping on GeekBuying]
Via armdevices.net
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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I thought “no ethernet connector on the picture?”, but I just learned GMAC = Gigabit Media Access Controller, so that must be the GigE
wish it had a wifi module onboard
It does. Look to down left corner. AP6210
@xxiao The A20 Hummingbird has wifi/BT combo. The module in the lower left of the A31 board looks identical to the one on the A20 board, but the photo isn’t clear enough to know for sure.
@xxiao In the video you can see that it is an AP6210. That is SDIO 2.4Ghz / BT 4.0 combo modules. Same module that is on the Cubietruck. There is chip antenna on edge of board labeled ANT1.
is this wifi module same as the one on cs868 because that was the only good thing on that device.
@Sander
Yes, some products are specs like that. GMAC = Gigabit Ethernet, EMAC = 10/100Mbps Ethernet.
@adem
CS868 has a Wi-Fi module based on Realtek RTL8188EUS with a chip antenna. (No cable inside).
Hummingbird, Hummingboard – no wonder I was confused!
http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/04/21/
So this one has a socket for a sim card because 3G modem modules (as opposed to cased devices) don’t?
Does this board have a serial ttl connector? What about a fex mode button
What other IOs it has in these two long headers on its back?
@ran
Yes and yes. It’s in the post.
For the other, they don’t even have a product page for the board… You could try to chat on Aliexpress to get that information.
@ran
Ok, I missed the small uart connector at the bottom of the picture. Perhaps the uboot key is the fex?
I still wonder if anyone knows what gpios those 2×30 headers offer. Must be most of what the a31 can offer..
Where do i place an order for the Hummingbird A31 Development Board?
Is there an fel button on the board?
very impressive, was waiting for you to come-up with this board, finally is you put all the options on it, thank you
How do you load OS onto this board?
Is it VGA out?
@Graham
It should boot from flash or micro SD card. The company should have the images and source code for their board.
Yes, there’s a VGA port, so it should be able to output to VGA.
Is this board community supported ? where are the wiki’s, userguides any forums for interacting with other developers ?
@vijay
There’s very little community support for AllWinner A31 is general. The company making the hummingbird should provide you with the documentation and source code, but it’s not available publicly AFAIK.
I’m thinking if change from rockchip to allwinner. I planed to buy some development boards for a team project and I thought maybe the Radxa is a very good option for my guys to learn. After find this A31 I though it’s really wanderful, but I don’t see any support or documentation. I probably will need MIPI display output and this one (from their aliexpress shop) looks like have it, the Radxa does not have. I’ll try to contact them tomorrow, if they have documentation maybe I try to work in AllWinner products.
We have contacted Merrii today… and the contact girl does not look like she knows anything about development. Also said their tech people mainly does not speak english. Anyway we will try to contact some tech guy there and ask about documentation. I guess they don’t have anything…
The board looks really good, but even Radxa community looks 1000 times better.
@Javi
Radxa and Rockchip support don’t seem to be working towards submitting their code to mainline Linux. Their Linux support is for 3.0 which is a couple of years old. It is easy to hack old kernels, just look up the published exploits that have been fixed in later kernels. Sony lost millions when their Play Station network got hacked because of old kernels.
The sunxi group is working towards mainline submission of the Allwinner code. A lot of it is already in mainline. Hopefully Allwinner will start participating in this process more directly since they have joined Linaro.
So for playing around a 3.0 kernel is fine. Just don’t ship any Internet connected products using it.
@Jon Smirl
That’s wrong. Rockchip even contributes directly to the kernel.
I have a project in my hands related to a basic board (quad core) with a small high quality display. It must run Android.
I don’t have a great knowledge about LCD yet, so the MERRII board has more LCD potential. I found most of 3 to 5 inch LCDs are MIPI. If I understood well, the MERRII Hummingbird has MIPI, as well as LVCD, RGB and HDMI. In detail:
Dual-Channel LVDS 1920×1080@60fps
4 lanes MIPI DSI 1920×1200@60fps
Dual-channel RGB/CPU LCD 2048×1536@60fps
Integrated HDMI1.4 1080p@60fps
The Radxa has HDMI, A/V and RGB (in same LCD line than A/V). There is not MIPI there or LVDS, so it’s a problem for me now.
But also that’s true, Radxa people has some instructions about LCD manage, MERRII does not have anything!
It will be good if a development board based in a CHINESE SoC is well documented as the SoC manufacturer is even more closed than them.
I will need around 4″ LCD ~ 720p (or near). Any way to learn about LCD control managed by Android?
Today I could speak in english with a sales. They said will provide documentation in english after buying. They asked why don’t go to visit their office here in Shenzhen… maybe I can go.
OS…
a31 hummingbird android 4.4 sdk ： 链接: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1dDre0Sx 密码: 5ck9
a31 humingbird android 4.4 固件 lcd 显示： 链接: http://pan.baidu.com/s/12FRT8 密码: w1s6
a31 humingbird android 4.2 sdk ： 链接: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1jG5NylS 密码: tz17
a31 hummingbird android 4.2 固件 lcd 显示： 链接: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1o6BKT8Q 密码: b7de
a31 hummingbird android 4.2 固件 vga 显示： 链接: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1eQrIvZG 密码: nfqw
a31 hummingbird linux sdk ： 链接: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1hqFuStu 密码: kdcw
a31 hummingbird linux 固件 ： 链接: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1gdraw5X 密码: ibal
Unable to boot the microSd.
Domingos – Juazeiro-Ba – BRASIL.
Look!
http://wens.csie.org/a31/
Domingos – Juazeiro-Ba – BRASIL
Docs moved over to http://dl.linux-sunxi.org/A31/
The board is apparently also called H4 HummingBird, and it sells for $70 including shipping @ http://www.geekbuying.com/item/H4-Hummingbird-Kit-Allwinner-A31-Quad-Core-Cortex-A7-Development-Board-WIFI-BT-with-Dual-System-Android-Linux-339239.html
Anybody already use this board???
I purched a “Allwinner-A31-Quad-Core-Cortex-A7-Development-Board”
I have problem to downlord the OS. could you please help me to downlord please
please see this link
Graham :How do you load OS onto this board?
Is it VGA out?
OS…
a31 hummingbird android 4.4 sdk ： 链接: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1dDre0Sx 密码: 5ck9
a31 humingbird android 4.4 固件 lcd 显示： 链接: http://pan.baidu.com/s/12FRT8 密码: w1s6
a31 humingbird android 4.2 sdk ： 链接: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1jG5NylS 密码: tz17
a31 hummingbird android 4.2 固件 lcd 显示： 链接: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1o6BKT8Q 密码: b7de
a31 hummingbird android 4.2 固件 vga 显示： 链接: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1eQrIvZG 密码: nfqw
a31 hummingbird linux sdk ： 链接: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1hqFuStu 密码: kdcw
a31 hummingbird linux 固件 ： 链接: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1gdraw5X 密码: ibal
Unable to boot the microSd.
Read more: http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/05/09/hummingbird-a31-is-a-70-feature-packed-development-board-powered-by-allwinner-a31/#ixzz3W7Yc7M6s
its always says as invalid password.
hello sir
linux image is not working ….phoenixcard says it SCRIPT not found! and phoenixsuit also giving error …plz help me and tell me the procedure to flash linux image in a31 hummingbird