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

February 26, 2014February 26, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Compulab Fit-PC4 Fanless mini PC Powered by AMD GX-420CA Quad Core G-Series SoC

CompuLab has just announced fit-PC4, a miniature fanless PC based on AMD GX-420CA G-Series SoC with four “Jaguar” cores clocked 2.0GHz,and Radeon HD 8400E graphics, and supporting up to 16 GB RAM, and storage via SATA, mSATA or a micro SD card. This if for the Pro version, but there’s also a Value version powered by A4-1250 APU. Fit-PC4 specifications: SoC / APU fit-PC4 Pro – AMD GX-420CA quad core processor @ 2.0 GHz with AMD Radeon HD 8400E Quad-core (25W TDP) fit-PC4 Value – AMD A4-1250 dual core APU @ 1.0 GHz with amd Radeon HD 8210 (8W TDP) System Memory – Up to 16 GB DDR3/DDR3L/DDR3U (2 SODIMM) Storage – Internal 2.5” HDD/SSD + mSATA + micro-SD Display – 2x HDMI 1.4a up to 1920 x 1200 + CEC support Audio – S/PDIF 7.1 input/output + stereo line-out / MIC in Connectivity 2x Gbit Ethernet (Intel i211 Ethernet controllers) […]

February 26, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Seiki Digital 4K TVs Sell for as Low as $500

A couple of month ago, I bought a 39″ Full HD Panasonic TV that I’m currently using as my computer screen for about $400. But this morning, I’ve found out you can now buy Seiki Digital SE39UY04 39″ 4K TV on Amazon for just $100 more, which is amazingly cheap. These are the key features listed on Amazon: 3840 x 2160 Panel Resolution, 4K up scaling, Thin Bezel Aspect Ratio: 16:9, Refresh Rate: 120Hz, Component & HDMI Support: 480I, 576I, 480P, 576P, 720P, 1080I, 1080P, 4k2k 30Hz (only HDMI) Video Connections: 1 Analog & Digital TV Tuner, 1 Component Video Input, Component Video (Y, Cb, Cr/Y, Pb, Pr): One VGA Input (15 pin, D-Sub) Audio Connections: 1 Stereo Mini Phono Jack Input (3.5 mm) (VGA Audio), 1 RCA Input (R & L), 1 Headphone: Stereo Mini (3.5 mm), 1 RCA Output (R & L) 3 HDMI Input, 2 USB Input (JPEG […]

February 25, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Atmel Adds SAM D21, D10 and D11 MCUs to Its ARM Cortex M0+ SAM D Family

Atmel launched SAM D20 MCU family based on ARM Cortex M0+ last year, and at Embedded World 2014, the company has launched three new MCU families featuring ARM ultra low power core with SAM D10, SAM D11, and SAM D21 families and their corresponding Xplained PRO development boards. Atmel four SAM D families target different applications and price points: SAM D10 – The smallest member of the SAM D family in terms of memory, pin count, and features. SAM D11 – Adds full-speed USB not available on the SAM D10. SAM D20 – “Offers a rich set of peripherals, flexibility, and ease-of-use with low power consumption.” SAM D21 – Adds features such as full-speed USB, DMA, high-end timers/counters to D20 design. I’ve compared the four families in the table below: SAM D10 SAM D11 SAM D20 SAM D21 # MCU in Family 4 4 15 12 MCU Core ARM Cortex-M0+ […]

February 25, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Atmel Introduces ARM Cortex M0+ based SmartConnect Wi-Fi Modules and SmartConnect Zigbee SoCs

In order for the Internet of Things to take off, wireless connectivity solutions with ultra low power, lost cost, and small footprint are needed. Atmel seems to have made a step in the right direction by launching SmartConnect Wi-Fi modules and Zigbee SoCs featuring an ARM Cortex M0+ core. SmartConnect Wi-Fi does not appear to be a single chip solution, but instead Atmel has created a family of Wi-Fi modules integrating the company’s ultra-low power Wi-Fi SoChip with an ARM Cortex M0+ based MCU. These modules will enabled battery-powered Wi-Fi connectivity for IoT endpoints such as thermostats, and temperature sensors in a cost effective way. The company will provide a software solution with application and security protocols such as TLS, TCP/IP stack and an RTOS, all of which can be downloaded via Atmel Studio 6 Integrated Development Platform (IDP). SmartConnect ZigBee SAM R21 combines an ARM Cortex M0+ core with […]

February 25, 2014February 25, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

$65 Cheerlink B712 and B716 Android Media Players Powered by Actions Semi ATM7029

Actions Semi ATM7029 is a quad core ARM Cortex A5 class SoC usually found in low cost Android tablets. A manufacturer, which might be Egotronics, has decided to make Android STBs with the processor, and B712 and B716 are now sold for about $65 on dx.com under the brand Cheerlink. This price should make them one of the cheapest full size quad core Android TV boxes on the market, albeit with much lower performance compared to devices based on Rockchip RK3188 or AllWinner A31. Cheerlink B712/B716 specifications: SoC – Actions Semi ATM7029 Quad Core ARM Cortex A5 @ 1.2 GHz with Vivante GC1000 Plus GPU System Memory – 1GB SDRAM DDR3 (512MB as an option) Storage – 4 GB NAND Flash (8GB/16GB as options) + microSD slot up to 32GB Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4A, AV (3.5mm jack) Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi USB – 2x […]

February 25, 2014February 25, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Samsung Galaxy S5 Features Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC, an Heart Rate Monitor and a Finger Scanner

[Update: See comment below. There will be two version of the Samsung Galaxy S5. One with Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 Quad core SoC @ 2.5 GHz, and the other with an Exynos Octacore processor @ 2.1 GHz] Samsung has unveiled the expect Galaxy S5 smartphone at Mobile World Congress 2014. It’s not based on any new Exynos processors however, as it appears to feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC, an update of Snapdragon 800 with a higher CPU clock (2.5 GHz), GPU clock (578 MHz) and support for eMMC 5.0. The phone is quite a major leap compared to Galaxy S4, but the company has added an heart rate monitor, a finger scanner as well as LTE-Advance, and 4K video recording. Samsung Galaxy S5 Specifications (Preliminary): SoC – 2.5GHz quad-core application processor. Turns out it should be Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974-AC) quad core Krait SoC with Adreno 330 GPU System Memory – […]

February 24, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

AllWinner UltraOcta A80 big.LITTLE SoC Officially Announced, Includes PowerVR G6230 GPU

Allwinner has formally announced AllWinner UltraOcta A80 SoC at Mobile World Congress 2014. The SoC featurs four Cortex A15 and four Cortex A7 cores in big.LITTLE configuration as well as Imagination Technologies PowerVR G6230 GPU, and a VPU with H.265 and VP9 support. The processor will be used in tablets, OTT media players, notebook PCs, all-in-ones, and smart TVs. Key Features: Ultra low power, high performance 28nm UltraOcta SoC with heterogeneous eight-core CPU computing Ultra performance graphics – PowerVR G6230 GPU with two shader clusters and 64 FP32 ALU cores CoolFlex power management system – optimized big.LITTLE technology to dynamically activate energy-efficient or high performance processor cores based on computing workload Next generation video engine – 4K encode/decode, H.265, VP9 Triple-screen display support Imagination PowerVR G6230 Rogue GPU is said to embed power saving technologies such as PVRTC and PVRTC2 texture compression formats, PVRIC (lossless image compression) and PVRGC (lossless […]

February 24, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Intel Unveils Atom Z3460 & Z3480 (Merrifield) and Z3560 & Z3580 (Moorefield) Mobile SoCs

Intel has introduced four new SoCs part of Z34xx series (Merrifield) and Z35xx series (Moorefield) with Intel XMM LTE modems to be used in smartphones and tablets at Mobile World Congress 2014. The SoCs share the following specifications: Processor Z34xx series (Merrifield) – 2 cores/2 threads with out-of-order execution, maximum core frequency up to 2.13 GHz Z35xx series (Moorefield)- 4 cores/4 threads with out-of-order execution, maximum core frequency up to 2.33 GHz Graphics – Imagination PowerVR G6400 (Merrifield) or GC6430 (Moorefield) with OpenGL ES 3.0, OpenCL and RenderScript support Image Signal Processor (ISP) – 13 MP support hardware-capable; 8 MP enabled on Form Factor Device (FFD) Memory – LPDDR3 (COPoP); 2×32 bit, up to 4 GB; Merrifield: 533MHz max, Moorefield: 800 MHz max. Multi-Band, Multi-Mode LTE Modem – Intel XMM 7160 with support for up to 15 LTE bands, up to 150 Mbps download/50 Mbps upload speed. Z35xx series can […]