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

November 12, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Tizen 3.0 Features & Tizen Lite Unveiled

We have just learned about NX300M camera, the first Tizen device, based on Tizen 1.0, but development of the new mobile operating systems is still going on, and the key features of Tizen 3.0, as well as Tizen Lite, Tizen for low-end hardware, have been unveiled at the Tizen Developer Summit on 11th of November 2013. Tizen 3.0 features: Update core OS and toolchain Multiple user support 64-bit Intel and ARM architecture support (New) 3D UI Framework with 3D rendering for 2D and 3D objects in 3D, and a dynamic animation library WayLand based compositor replacing X Crosswalk – HTML5 based application runtime based on Chromium/Blink Tizen 3.0 release is scheduled for Q3 2014, so the first Tizen smartphones and tablets which are expected for Q1 2014 will probably ship with Tizen 2.2.1, or even possibly with an earlier version. Android KitKat 4.4 has been optimized to run smoothly on […]

November 12, 2013November 12, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Samsung NX300M Camera Is the First Tizen Device

Announced in 2011, Tizen operating system aimed to be used in smart TVs, tablets, smartphones,netbooks, and in-vehicle infotainment devices. After 2 years development, several products based on Tizen are now ready to be launched, but the very first one, Samsung NX300M does not fit in any of the aforementioned category as it is a camera, which have been sold last month in South Korea. Although Tizen 2.2.1 has just been released, the mirrorless camera runs Tizen 1.0 with the following key features: Sensor – 20.3 MP CMOS sensor Display – 3.3″ 768K Touch AMOLED LCD with WVGA (800 x 480) resolution ISO sensitivity – Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800, 25600 (1 or 1/3EV step) * AUTO ISO upper level is selectable. (Up to ISO1600) Video Output – NTSC, PAL HDMI Connectivity – USB, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, GPS, and NFC Storage – SD, SDHC, SDXC, UHS-1 Battery – […]

November 11, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments

Hardkernel ODROID-XU2 Development Board with Exynos 5420 Coming Up in Q1 2014

Insignal recently announced that Arndale Octa with an Exynos 5420 was available for pre-order with shipping expected in December 2013, making it the first company providing a low cost big.LITTLE development board. But there will be some competition as Hardkernel will launch ODROID-XU2 also based on Samsung Exynos 5420 octa-core processor according to a tweet by SamsungExynos official twitter account. The board is also briefly mentioned in an article in Samsung website as it was showcased at ARM Techcon 2013. That’s actually all the information I have. There’s a brochure on ARMFlix’s video, but it’s unreadable. However, we can derive (guess) some of the specifications based on the picture above and ODROID-XU specs: SoC – Samsung Exynos 5420 octa core SoC with 4x Cortex A15 cores up to 1.8 GHz, 4x Cortex A7 cores up to 1.3 GHz in big.LITTLE configuration, and ARM Mali T-628 MP6 GPU System Memory – […]

November 11, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

The VERVE Connects Sensors Your Computer for Gaming, Monitoring, and More

The VERVE is a little box that connects to one of the USB port of your Windows or Mac OS X computer (Linux support coming in 2014), and supports up to 7 sensors. It is available as part of a kit for $99 on Kickstarter. The kit includes the VERVE, a mini USB to USB cable, seven “sensors” (A force sensor, a push button, a light sensor, a potentiometer, a motion sensor, a magnet sensor, and a touch sensor), two banana clips for the touch sensor, seven cables to connect the sensors to the VERVE unit, and 5 extension blocks. Once the VERVE unit is connected to your computer, and the needed sensors are connected to the VERVE, you can launch the VERVE application to visualize the sensors data in real-time, and assign a mouse or keyboard action based on the sensor’s data level as shown below. There’s also an […]

November 11, 2013November 11, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Weightless Roadmap – Silicon, Modules, SDKs, Base Stations and Networks

The Weightless Standard aims at using the “white space” spectrum, previously used by analog TV broadcasts, for free M2M / IoT communication coupled with low power and cost-efficient hardware offering a range of over 10 km. Longer term the target is to reach $2 hardware cost, and $2 yearly servicing costs. Companies involved with Weightless include Neul, ARM, CSR and Freescale among others. You can read my previous post about Weightless for a longer overview. The Weightless Special Interest Group (SIG) has recently revealed the hardware roadmap for the new standard, which I’ll summarize below. Weightless Chip Neul Iceni, the first weightless silicon, was officially announced in February 2013. The latest version of the chip taped in May 2013 integrates UHF radio operating between 410 and 790 MHz supporting both TV white space and narrowband operation. It is suitable for low volume production applications. A third generation will be taped […]

November 10, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Ubuntu for Raspberry Pi May Be Available Soon (Sort of)

Since the Raspberry Pi was launched many people have asked, and still ask, if/when Ubuntu will be available for the Raspberry Pi. As Canonical decided to only provide support for ARMv7 and higher architecture, for optimal performance and user experience on recent hardware, and Raspberry Pi is powered by Broadcom BCM2835 processor based on ARMv6 architecture, this did not happen, and instead a version of Debian called Raspbian became popular, and is still the main OS used by most people. But a team of developers in the UK has recently decided to give it a try and launched a flexible Indiegogo campaign in order to purchase enough Raspberry Pi boards and required accessories (power supplies, SD cards, cables…) to setup a build farm for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, Ubuntu 13.10, and Ubuntu 14.04. They plan to acquire at least 32 Raspberry Pi boards for their build farm. But don’t get too […]

November 10, 2013November 10, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Mediatek News – $100 Quad-core MT6582 Smartphone, and Eight-core MT6592 Smartphones Available For Pre-order

Daxian XY100S was the first decent quad core smartphone I’d seen selling for less than $100, but for some reasons the price has since then been increased and now sells for at least $125 from Chinese online sellers with decent feedback. The other problem with this phone was the use of TD-SCDMA which meant 3G was not usable in places like Europe. There’s now another quad core phone based on Mediatek MT6582 called W450 that sells for $99.99 on GeekBuying (promotion that will last for about 24 hours more), but you can also find it on Aliexpress for $110 up including shipping. The good news is that it’s using WCDMA 850/2100MHz so 3G will be accessible in most countries. W450 specifications: SoC – Mediatek MT6582 Quad Core Cortex A7 up to 1.3GHz with ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 4GB NAND Flash + micro SD card […]

November 9, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

MSC Q7-MB-EP4 Is a QSeven Starter Kit Powered by Freescale i.MX6

MSC Embedded, a company specialized in the design and manufacturing of embedded boards, has recently announced MSC Q7-MB-EP4, a complete Starterkit for the company’s Qseven modules based on Freescale i.MX6 Solo, Dual or Quad processors. The starter kit comes with a suitcase comprise of a heatspreader with heatsink, a 12V power supply, a cable kit (SATA data and power cable), a DVD, a getting started guide, and more importantly a 3.5″ Qseven carrier board (Q7-MB-EP4) with socket for Qseven modules Rev. 1.20 with the following specifications: CPU Module Interface – Socket for Qseven Rev. 1.20 compatible modules based on the Freescale i.MX6 Storage – 1x SATA connector + mSATA Socket with support for mSATA and mSATAmini cards, MMC/SD Card, and serial EEPROM for EPI/DP extensions Standard Interfaces: 7x USB 2.0: 4x USB (Series-A Jack), 1x USB internal pin header, USB on mini USB connector, USB at Mini PCI Express socket […]