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

January 26, 2014January 26, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Cheap Accessories for Raspberry Pi – Camera, microSD adapter, Debug Board, Heatsink and Enclosure

The Raspberry Pi just a great low cost ARM Linux board that costs $25 (Model A) to $35 (Model B), but once you start to add accessories the total cost of ownership may creep up quickly, and in some cases accessories may be more expensive than the board itself. I’ll list some alternative accessories that can be purchased online for a fraction of the cost of the more famous one. $18 Raspberry Pi Camera The official Raspberry Pi camera costs $25 + shipping and tax, but you can get a similar 5MP CSI camera for just $18.13 including shipping on Banggood.com. This camera clone should be software compatible with the original one according to the listed features: Plugs directly into the CSI connector on the Raspberry Pi 5MP resolution image (2592 x 1944), or 1080p HD video recording at 30fps 5MP (2592 x 1944 pixels) Omnivision 5647 sensor in a […]

January 25, 2014January 26, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

ARM Unveils Cortex-M Prototyping System Based on Altera Cyclone V FPGA

Before micro-controllers or processors are manufactured, simulation is performed in (usually) expensive boards based on FPGA chips from Altera or Xilinx, and once designers have found the system to work as expected, they can move to the next phase and work on the actual silicon. ARM has just released V2M-MPS2 Cortex-M Prototyping System for MCU / SoC / ASIC designers working on Cortex-M processors. Key features: Altera Cyclone V FPGA with ~150K LE 4x 2MB ZBTRAM (32-bit each, with two of them forming a 64-bit memory). ZBT = Zero Bus Latency 16MB PSRAM (16-bit) Touch screen LCD module Range of hardware interfaces – UART, VGA (4 bit per color), SPI, audio (I2S), Ethernet, LEDs, buttons I/O expansion ports (GPIO) FPGA images for Cortex-M processors Example project for Cortex-M0 DesignStart (processor IP has to be licensed separately) USB connection for downloading FPGA images and program image to micro SD card on board […]

January 24, 2014January 24, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

AXONIM Devices Announces AXSY-SoM-SAMA5D3 System-on-Module Powered by Atmel SAMA5D3x Cortex-A5 Processor

AXONIM Devices, a company based in the republic of Belarus, announced AXSY-SoM-SAMA5D3 System on Module (SOM) powered by Atmel SAMA5D3x Cortex-A5 processor. This SoM targets industrial applications and supports low power application such as POS-terminals, handheld devices, medical devices and more. Here are AXSY-SoM-SAMA5D3x SOM specifications: SoC – Atmel ATSAMA5D3x ARM Cortex-A5 processors @ 536 MHz (SAMA5D31, SAMA5D33, SAMA5D34, SAMA5D35, or SAMA5D36) System memory – 128/256/512 MB DDR2 Storage – 256MB/512MB/1GB NAND, 1 to 8MB SPI Flash Interfaces: 6x UARTs, 3x I2C, 2x SSC (for I2S Audio CODECs), 2x SPI, 2x CAN 2.0B 1x USB OTG 2.0 High Speed, 3x USB 2.0 High Speed Host 1x 10/100/1G Ethernet (Gigabit PHY on board), 1x 10/100 Ethernet (with IEEE1588v2 support) 1x Memory BUS (EBI) LCD 24 bpp TTL 3x MMC/SD 4x PWM 1x RTC 1x SMD (SmartHSFe Modem Device) – Conexant CX20548 with SmartDAA technology support Power supply – 3.3V / 5V […]

January 24, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

The Open Source Robots Invasion Has Begun: BeagleMiP, uARM, and PiddyBot

In the last few days, I’ve come across three affordable open source robots either based on BeagleBone Black, or Arduino compatible boards, and I’m sure there are many other projects out there for people interested in getting started with robotics without breaking the bank. BeagleMiP Self-balancing Robot I’ve found out the first robots from a long armdevices.net video showing two Mobile Inverted Pendulum (MiP) robots, able to stand on two wheels, designed by the Coordinated Robotics Lab of The University of California, San Diego: BeagleMiP educational robotics development kit from Strawson Design. The kit features the BeagleBone Black board with Texas Instruments Sitara ARM Cortex A8 processor and Novus Robotics Cape, an add-on board that provides 9-axis IMU (Accelerometer, Gyro, Magnetometer), 6 PWM connectors to power servos or brushless ESCs, 2 user-accessible buttons and 2 LEDs, a cell balancer & overvoltage protector, H-bridges to drive 6 DC Motors, and connectors […]

January 24, 2014July 12, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

Intel “Bay Trail” NUC (Next Unit of Computing) mini PC is Now Available for $140

Next Unit of Computing (NUC) is a small form factor PC designed by Intel featuring “low power” Intel CPUs. It has gone through different iteration starting with Sandy Bridge Celeron CPU, then Ivy Bridge Core i3 and Core i5 processors in the second generation, with the third generation using the Haswell architecture. Intel latest model called Intel DN2820FYK NUC is based on “Bay Trail” Celeron N2820 dual-core processor @ 2.4 GHz with 7.5W TDP, and is now available for $140 on Amazon. Intel DN2820FYK NUC specifications: Processor – Intel Celeron N2820 dual core processor @ up to 2.4GHz dual-core with 1MB cache, 7.5W TDP Memory – 1x DDR3L SODIMM 1.35V, 1333/1600 MHz (down clocked to 1066 MHz), 8GB maximum Storage – Internal support for 2.5¨ HDD or SSD Graphics – Intel HD Graphics @ up to 756MHz Video Output – 1x HDMI 1.4a Audio I/O – Up to 7.1 surround audio […]

January 23, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Spreadtrum Announces Quad Core SC5735 SoC for 3G Tablets

Spreadtrum is a Chinese SoC vendor known for its low cost smartphone SoCs, but they’ve recently announced a new SoC with four ARM Cortex A7 cores and a Mali-400MP(2/4) GPU together with WCDMA support for entry-level 3G tablets. Spreadtrum SC5735 main features are listed below: Processor – ARM Cortex A7 MP4 processor, up to 1.2GHz with 32 KB L1 I-cache, 32 KB D-cache, L2 512KB cache and 32 KB dedicated on-chip SRAM. Boots from NAND, USB, UART, or eMMC Multimedia Features GPU – Mali 400 MP4 or MP2, 40MTri/s,700Mpix/s, OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 Video Decoder – MPEG4/H.263 1080P@30fps; H.264 1080P@30fps ; VP8 1080P@30fps Video Encoder – H.263/H.264/MPEG4 1080P@30fps Video Streaming – MPEG4/H.263/H.264 1080P@30fps 3G-324M Video Telephony Support MP3/AAC/AAC+/MIDI/AMR-NB/WAV format Audio codec included 5MP primary camera and up to 2Mp secondary camera External Memory Interfaces NAND flash eMMC, up to eMMC 4.5 Up to 2GB DDR3, LP DDR1, LP DDR2, (16bit and […]

January 23, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

ARM Mali GPU Demos at CES 2014 – 4K 3D UI and Games, ASTC Texture Compression, XBMC + Gesture Recognition, and HEVC Video Decoding

Phill Smith, Demo Manager at ARM, has filmed and uploaded four very interesting demos of what new features will be possible thanks to new generation ARM Mali-450 and Mali-T6xx GPUs including 4K 3D user interfaces and games, ASTC texture compression, and OpenCL accelerated gesture recognition and HEVC / H.265 video decoding. 4K Resolution 3D User Interface and Game Demo The first demo showcases a Geniatech box (ATV1800?) powered by AMLogic AML8726-M8 featuring an ARM Mali-450MP6 GPU running Android with a user 4K 3D interface designed by Autodesk using Scaleform UI. The rest of the video shows Timbuku 3D gaming demo running at 3840×2160 (4K2K) @ 24 fps. The frame rate appears to be low, but that’s because the box is using HDMI 1.4, which limits UHD output to 24fps. 2160p60 is only available via HDMI 2.0. ASTC Compression Demo on Samsung Galaxy Note 3 3D Textures are getting bigger and […]

January 22, 2014January 23, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Cisco Edge 340 Digital Media Player Targets Digital Signage & Business Applications

Most of the time I feature low cost (Chinese) media players in this blog, but today I’ve had a look at a media player at the other side of the market that targets business users with applications such as webcasting and video sharing, digital signage, and business IPTV. Cisco Edge 340 digital media player (DMP) comes in two flavors “Wireless” and “non-wireless”, and boast features such as PoE or RS-232 which are not often found in consumer devices. Cisco Edge 340 Specifications: SoC – Dual 1.60 GHz processor with integrated GPU @ 400MHz, most probably Intel Atom Z2560. It turns out it could be Intel Atom CE5335 instead. System Memory – 2GB DDR3 @ 800 MHz Storage – 32GB SSD (70MB/s write speed) and SD card slot Connectivity – 1x Ethernet 10/100/1000-Gbps port with PoE and PoE+ support. Wireless version only: Dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n + Bluetooth 4.0 Video […]