Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft), Author at CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

November 14, 2014November 23, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Spark Photon is a $19 Hackable IoT Wi-Fi Board

Spark Core is a popular Wi-Fi module for the internet of things with a community of over 20,000 developers, but at $39 it may have started to feel a little expensive compared to the new IoT Wi-Fi modules such as ESP82666 or xWiFi, so the company has unveiled a new Wi-Fi board called Photon that’s smaller, better, and cheaper. Let’s compare Spark Core with the new Spark Photon. Feature Spark Core Spark Photon Wi-Fi Support 802.11 b/g 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi Setup Smart Config Soft AP Wireless Module TI CC3000 Broadcom BCM43362 MCU STM32F103 STM32F205 MCU Speed 72 MHz 120 MHz Flash Memory 128 KB 1 MB RAM 20 KB 128 KB GPIO 18 UART (Serial) Yes JTAG Yes I2C Yes SPI Yes ADC Yes DAC No Yes CAN No Yes VBAT pin exposed No Yes Wakeup pin exposed No Yes Price $39.00 $19.00 So beside slashing the price by 50%, […]

November 13, 2014February 2, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

Zsun SD111 Wireless USB Flash Drive Review

Zsun SD111, SD112 and SD113 are Wi-Fi / USB flash drives with respectively 8GB, 16 GB and 32GB storage. GearBest sent me the 8GB version (SD111) for review, as it could be an interesting platform to hack. I’ve take picture of the device, take it apart to check the board, review quickly the standard features with Android and Ubuntu, and try to access the board from the network. Zsun SD111 Unboxing I received the device in the following package. The flash drive comes with a micro USB to USB cable for charging and accessing the device from a computer, and a user’s manual in Chinese. You’ll probably prefer using a soft copy user manual in English… Zsun SD111 Board and Battery To open the stick, insert a sharp and thin object in the hole for the neck strap, and push upwards to lift the top cover a little, and finish […]

November 13, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

CubieTruck Allwinner A20 Board Kit with Rugged Metal Case, 128 GB SSD and Battery

Cubietruck, aka Cubieboard 3, is a development board powered by AllWinner A20 dual core processor, with 2GB RAM, gigabit Ethernet, VGA and HDMI and more. There’s now a complete kit for demanding environment such as server, automotive, and industrial applications that including a rugged metal case, a 128GB SSD and a 5,300 mAh battery. The kit includes: Cubieboard3 (Cubietruck) development board with Allwinner A20 processor, 2GB RAM, HDMI & VGA video out, Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi+Bluetooth, SATA interface, 2x USB 2.0 host, 1x micro USB, optical S/PDIF, IR receiver, 128GB SSD, model KingSpec C3000.6-M128 based on installation instructions. 5300mAh Li-battery Rugged metallic case for cubietruck Power cable, USB cable, USB OTG cable, and an optional power adapter with 2.5A@5V output “CubieTruck Metal Case” kit can be purchased for $169 on Seeedstudio, or 149 Euros exc. VAT on EmbeddedComputer.nl. Considering that individually CubieTruck board goes for $89 to $95. and KingSpec 128GB […]

November 13, 2014November 23, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

Linux based BPI D1 HD Camera Module Features Anyka AK3918 ARM9 Processor

SinoVoIP BPI-D1 is a tiny 720p30 camera module running Linux, and powered by Anyka AK3918 ARM9 processor. It’s a standalone module that can be powered by micro USB (5V), or an external Lithium battery, and it also includes various GPIOs, a micro USB interface, a micro SD slot to boot Linux, optional Wi-Fi connectivity, and more.. BPI D1 specifications: Processor – Anyka AK3918 ARM926EJ processor @ 400 MHz System Memory – 64MB DDR2 Storage – 16 MB SPI Flash + micro SD flash up to 32GB. Camera: CMOS Image Sensor 720p @ 30fps, visible light with 940 nm two-way infrared lens filter, with infrared night vision function Lens – M7*P0.35 EFL=3.0mm/F.NO=2.8/View Angle=60° Video Recording – H.264 / AVI hardware encoding at 720p 30fps for up to 120 hours of video data on a 32GB micro SD card Audio Formats – MP3/WMA/AAC Audio Input – Microphone Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n (AP […]

November 13, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Ingenic Unveils Newton2 Platform for Wearables with M200 Dual Core SoC

Ingenic Newton is a development platform for wearables powered by Ingenic JZ4775, an application processor mostly used in tablets. Many companies are now making SoCs speficially designed for wearables with a powerful application core, and a low power core serving as a sensor hub, an Ingenic M200 SoC found in the new Ingenic Newton2 platform, uses the sample principle by combinging a MIPS XBurst processor @ 1.2GHz with a low power MIPS XBurst core @ 300MHz combined with low power GPU and VPU. Ingenic Newton2 specifications: SoC – Ingenic M200 dual core processor with MIPS XBurst @ 1.2 GHz, MIPS XBurst @ 300 MHz, 2D/3D GPU, and VPU supporting H.264, VP8, MPEG-1/2/4, VC-1, and RV9 up to 720p30 System Memory – 512 MB LPPDR2 (Samsung eMCP) Storage – 4GB eMMC (Samsung eMCP) Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.1 (Broadcom BCM43438) + connector for GPS Sensors – Gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer […]

November 12, 2014November 12, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Suptronics X200 Raspberry Pi Model B+ Expansion Board Adds Wi-Fi, RTC, VGA, optical S/PDIF, USB ports, Servo Support, and More

The Raspberry Pi is a nice little board, but in some cases you may want to add some extra ports. Suptronics released the X100 expansion board for Raspberry Pi Model B last year, and they’ve now come up with a little monster called X200 expansion board for Raspberry Pi Model B+ which adds Wi-Fi, a real-time clock + battery, a VGA port, optical S/PDIF output, 3.5 mm mic and audio jack, servo support (ULN2803), and a few USB ports to the low cost board. Key features of X200 expansion board: Input Voltage – 6V to 21Vdc converted to 5V, 3A via step-down DC/DC converter to power the Raspberry Pi. VGA output – HDMI to VGA converter supporting up to UXGA (1600×1200) and 1080p with 10-bit DAC Audio – 3.5mm MIC in jack, 3.5mm stereo audio jack, S/PDIF output, audio I/O connector (Microphone input and stereo audio amplifier 3.3Wx2) Connectivity – […]

November 12, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Atmel Introduces ATmega PB MCUs and $8.88 ATmega168PB Xplained Mini Evaluation Kit

Atmel has introduced four new MCU to its megaAVR MCU family with ATmega168PB coming first with 16KB Flash, 512 bytes EEPROM and 1KB RAM, as well as ATmega48PB, ATmega88PB and ATmega328PB to be released in Q1 2015. The new MCUs are pretty similar to the existing mega MCU with an AVR core running at 20MHz, a 10-bit ADC, an Analog Comparator, SPI, I2C, USART, etc…, but they also add a unique serial number readable from application code, the ability to wake-up from power-down mode on receipt of data on the USART interface, and improved accuracy for ADC conversion and UART signals. ATmega328PB also offers a QTouch peripheral touch controller, and on-chip debugging. You can evaluated the new MCU thanks to ATmega168PB Xplained Mini evaluation kit which comes with the following key features: On-board debugger with full source-level debugging support in Atmel Studio Auto-ID for board identification in Atmel Studio 6.2 […]

November 12, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments

Unboxing of ODROID-XU3 Lite Exynos 5422 Development Board

Hardkernel recently unveiled a low cost version of ODROID-XU3 board powered by Exynos 5422 SoC, and selling for $99 instead of $179 with the original version that adds a DisplayPort connector, current and voltage sensors, as well as a faster CPU frequency (2+ GHz vs 1.8 GHz). The company sent me a sample for evaluation, so today I’ll take some pictures of the ODROID-XU3 Lite kit, and I also planned to show a Linux demo, but unfortunately my board appears to have an hardware glitch with HDMI output not working, so I’ll still show some info from the first boot, but that’s just an headless system. Anyway, I’ll soon receive a replacement unit, and I’ll be able to test Lubuntu and Android in more details later. ODROID-XU3 Lite Unboxing Hardkernel sent the parcel on Thursday by UPS, and I received the board on Monday in an ODROID branded cardboard box. […]