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

June 13, 2013June 13, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 25 Comments

Mele F10 Pro “Fly Mouse” Comes with Microphone and Speaker

A few weeks ago, I reviewed the Mele F10, a dual sided 2.4 GHz remote with a QWERTY keyboard and gyroscope, and found it to be a very good complement to any Android STB or mini-PC, with some caveats such as none optimal key arrangements, a lack of play/pause button… You can also use it with Windows and Linux. This product has been available for sale for a while, and Mele has just introduced a new version, called Mele F10 Pro, with better accuracy, and a built-in microphone and speaker for voice command or video chat apps such as Skype and Google Hangout. The new RF receiver dongle is much bigger than the original one which could be a problem if you use it with a mini-PC directly connected to the HDMI port of your TV, but I’ve been told the larger size is due to extra components to handle […]

June 13, 2013June 13, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Variscite DART-4460 SoM is Small, Very Small, and Powered by TI OMAP4460

Variscite announced DART-4460, a new system-on-module based on Texas Instruments OMAP4460, with up to 1GB LPDDR2 RAM and 8GB eMMC flash. The key differentiating point of this module is its size (17 mm x 52 mm), which could make it the world smallest dual core module, although Logic PD’s DM3730 / AM3730 Torpedo SOM might be the smallest of all in single core configuration. DART-4460 system-on-module specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments OMAP4460 dual core cortex A9 @ 1.5 GHz max + PowerVR SGX540 GPU System Memory – 512 to 1024 MB LP-DDR2 Storage – Up to 8 GB eMMC + 2x SD / MMC Video – 1080p30 H.264 Encode / Decode Camera Interfaces – 2x CSI, 1x CPI Display HDMI 1.3a 1920 x 1080 24-bit RGB 1400 x 1050 24-bit DSI 1400 x 1050 4-wire resistive touch Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth 4.0 Audio – Headphone, digital microphone, S/PDIF, Line […]

June 12, 2013June 13, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom – Phone Camera or Camera Phone?

Last year, we started to see Android cameras with 3G/4G connectivity such as Samsung EK-GC100 Galaxy Camera, but it was not possible to make phone calls. Samsung has just fixed that by announcing the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, a camera phone or phone camera, depending on your point of view, with a 4.3″ qHD youchscreen and Android 4.2, and a 16-megapixel CMOS with a 10x optical zoom lens. Other details about the camera includes support for ISO 100-3200, a lens with 24-240mm zoom, F3.1-F6.3, and optical image stabilization. A Xenon flash can also be used to take picture in low-light conditions. There’s also another more discreet 1.9 MP front camera on the device. Other specifications: SoC – Dual core processor @ 1.5GHz (Exact processor will depend on the market) System Memory – 1.5 GB RAM Storage – 8GB NAND flash with around 5GB user-available. Network – GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/1900/2100 […]

June 12, 2013June 12, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Linux / FreeBSD Netboard A10 SBC Powered by AMD G-Series SoC

AMD announced the G-Series SoC, AFAIK the first x86 SoC including CPU, GPU and chipset (ala ARM), at the end of April, and a few products are already available such as Win Enterprises MB-60830. One of those new SoCs, GX-416RA, is especially designed for headless applications, and does not features GPU. Deciso decided to use this processor in the standard version of their Netboard A10, a single board computer that can be used for network based appliances such as IP-PBX, Firewall & UTM or Load Balancer. The company also provides 2 other versions of the board that includes AMD G-Series SoCs with Radeon GPU. Netboard A10 Specifications: SoC: AMD Embedded GX-416RA G-Series SoC (4x 1.65GHz Jaguar cores, 2MB L2 cache, 15W TDP, no GPU) Option 1: AMD Embedded GX-415GA G-Series SoC (4 x 1.5GHz Jaguar cores, 2MB L2 cache, 15W TDP, Radeon HD 8330E GPU) Option 2: AMD Embedded GX-210HA […]

June 12, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Souliss Automation and IoT Framework Makes Your Home Smarter

Souliss is an open-source framework written in C/C++ for the Internet of Things and home automation that runs on Arduino boards, or other Atmel AVR MCU based boards, and let your control lighting, heating, or anything else you can think of via your Android device, or switches connected to your board(s). You can get started with Souliss in 3 steps: Getting the building blocks, for example: Arduino, Olimex, or other AVR boards (See list of supported boards) Relay boards ON/OFF Switches, Lights, etc… Wi-Fi router Download and load Souliss to an AVR powered board controlling real things such as lights. Monitor and/or control via Souliss Home Automation App for Android. A detailed getting started guide is provided on Souliss Google Code page. Internally, the framework is composed of three parts: Souliss, an application level layer, MaCaco, a communication protocol and vNet, a transport layer. I’ll skip details in this post, […]

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

Compulab CM-T335 CoM with TI Sitara AM335x Sells for $27

Compulab, an Israeli company specialized in embedded computing, has just released CM-T335, a family of low cost computer-on-module powered by Texas Instruments Sitara AM335x SoC, and sells for as low as $27 per unit for the AM3352 version (no GPU) for 1k orders. The module is available in commercial, extended and industrial grades, and features up to 512 MB RAM, and 1 GB Flash. Specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments AM3352 CPU @ 275MHz, or AM3354 @ 600MHz + PowerVR SGX530 GPU System Memory – 128MB to 512MB DDR3-1066, 16-bit bus width Storage – 128MB to 1GB on-board NAND flash, 8bit, SLC Display – 24-bit Parallel display interface – up to 1366 x 768 Touchscreen – 4/5/8-wire resistive touch-screen support, capacitive touch-screen support through SPI interface Connectivity: Ethernet – 1000Base-T Ethernet interface implemented with AM335x integrated MAC and the Atheros AR8033 RGMII PHY WiFi – 802.11b/g/n implemented with TI WL1271 chipset […]

June 11, 2013June 11, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Wandboard Dual Benchmarks, Serial Console Fun, and Distributions List

Since last time I tried Android and Ubuntu on the Wandboard, a few things happened. I’m not talking about Wandboard Quad announcement, but instead I received a Class 10 SD card, which makes the system so much responsive, and a RS232 to USB adapter so that I can access the serial console. So today, I’ll publish some benchmark results on Wandboard Dual since none appear to be available, and play a little with the serial console. A few things also happened on the operating systems side with more distributions now available for the board. Prerequisites I ran benchmark in Android, so I installed the latest Android 4.1.2 image (11th of April 2012) to my new SD card (ADATA 16 GB Class 10), and contrary to my poor experience on a 4GB Class 4 micro SD, everything was very fluid. I’ve also installed Google Play in order to install the applications. […]

June 10, 2013June 11, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Hynix Announces 4GB LPDDR3 for Mobile Devices

More and more devices this year come with 2GB RAM in 4x 4Gbit configuration, and this is about the limit today because there aren’t 8Gbit (1GB) mobile RAM chipset available. This is about the change as Hynix has just announced they have developed 8Gbit LPDDR3 based on 20nm process technology. Hynix new memory can be stacked up to provide 4GB (Gigabyte) in a single package that can be provided as ‘PoP’ (Package on Package), or the memory can be bundled with eMMC. Existing LPDDR3 chipsets work at up to 1600Mbps, but Hynix memory will be able to achieve 2133Mbps data transmission speed, an increase of about 33 percent. That means it can process up to 8.5GB of data per second in a single channel, and 17GB in a dual channel using 32-bit I/O. Samples have already been shipped to customers, mass production should start at the end of this year, […]