Marvell has just revealed that ChromeCast 2.0 & Audio featured their ARMADA 1500 Mini Plus (88DE3006) processor with two ARM Cortex A7 cores, coupled with 512 MB RAM, and Avastar 88W8887 wireless solution with WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC and FM radio. But a comment on Anandtech lead me to a development kit based on 88DE3006 I missed while I was away: Kinoma HD.
Preliminary hardware specifications:
- SoC – Marvell ARMADA 1500 Mini Plus (88DE3006) dual core Cortex A7 @ 1.2 GHz with 3D GPU supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0, Qdeo video engine
- System Memory – 256 MB RAM
- Storage – TBD
- Video Output – HDMI output of 1080p/720p
- Connectivity – Wi-Fi g/n/ac
- Power Supply – 5V via micro USB port
Apart for the lower memory capacity (256MB vs 512MB), Kinoma HD hardware looks pretty similar to ChromeCast 2.0. But the main difference is in the software, as while ChromeCast 2.0 / Audio is a consumer device, Kinoma HD is a “scriptable stick for developers who want to display visually rich content on biggest displays” running Linux, that targets “embedded and Internet of Things (IoT) product prototyping”.
Scripting is specifically doing using JavaScript, and handled by Kinoma’s XS6 JavaScript engine, implementing JavaScript 6th Edition and conforming up to 96% of the specifications according to the company, and better than all implemtations listed in that table. Marvell also claims KinomaJS has a small footprint as it works on devices with as little as 512KB RAM, and is four times faster than their previous javaScript 5th edition implementation.
Kinoma X6S engine should soon be part of Kinoma Studio IDE, and can be found the KinomaJS open source repository. Marvell also offers another JavaScript developer’s kit based on an ARM Cortex M4F WiSoC (MW302) called Kinoma Element with just 512KB RAM..
Both Kinoma Element and Kinoma HD can be reserved on Kinoma’s “Buy” page, for respectively $19.95 and $24.95, and are expected to ship sometimes in Q4 2015.
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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