Author: Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Marvell Avastar 88W8897: Wifi 802.11ac, NFC and Bluetooth 4.0 Chip

Marvell Avastar 88W8897: Wifi 802.11ac, NFC and Bluetooth 4.0 Chip

Marvell has announced the Avastar 88W8897, a low-power radio chip supporting 802.11ac, near field communication (NFC) and Bluetooth 4.0, aimed at mobile and HD multimedia devices such as ultrabooks, tablets, gaming consoles and smart TVs. Marvell claims the 88W8897 SoC enables a rest of bill of materials (RBOM) footprint reduction of 40-to-50 percent and cost reduction of 75 percent compared to previous wireless solutions. Key features of Marvell Avastar 88W8897 chip include: Wi-Fi 802.11ac – This standard increases bandwidth available over the Wi-Fi link (theoretically up to 1 Gb/s) with throughput up to 867 Mbps for the 88W8897. This kind of throughput allows reliable high-definition (HD) video streaming, tunneled direct link setup (TDLS) and high-speed wireless backup and sync for mobile devices. NFC – NFC allows consumers to pay for items with the tap of a phone via mobile commerce and point-of-sale (e-wallet) applications. It can also enable one-tap pairing […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on ASUS Windows RT Tablet 600: The First Ever Windows 8 Tablet Is Powered By Nvidia Tegra 3

ASUS Windows RT Tablet 600: The First Ever Windows 8 Tablet Is Powered By Nvidia Tegra 3

Nvidia announced on its blog that ASUS unveiled a Windows RT (previously known as Windows 8 on ARM) tablet powered by Nvidia Tegra 3 and featuring a 10.1-inch touch screen display. This is a convertible tablet with an optional keyboard dock, so it’s like a transformer with Windows 8. The Asus 600 is said to have the following specifications: Nvidia Tegra 3 (Quad Core Cortex A9) 2 GB RAM 10.1-inch Super IPS+ display (Resolution  1366 x 768) 8MP rear camera with an LED flash 2MP front camera. WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity GPS support Gyroscope, compass and NFC. You can watch the hands-on video below provided by Nvidia. ASUS didn’t disclose pricing or availability. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Texas Instruments Showcases OMAP 5 GPU Capabilities with GLBenchmark 2.5

Texas Instruments Showcases OMAP 5 GPU Capabilities with GLBenchmark 2.5

In February, Texas Instruments compared the browser rendering performance of its OMAP 5 platform to the Nvidia Tegra 3, and the benchmark results showed OMAP 5 was twice as fast @ 800 MHz than the Tegra 3 @ 1.3 GHz. Today, they’ve uploaded a video showing the 3D performance a tablet based on OMAP 5 (and PowerVR SGX 544-MP GPU) against a market-leading tablet (I guess it’s the Apple iPad 3 with PowerVR SGX 543 GPU) using GLBenchmark 2.5 with the following setup: 1080p resolution. On-screen and off-screen tests were conducted to compensate for the “Vysnc Limited” scenarios. (24bpp) 16bit depth tests to better represent high-end game content Power saving mode disabled and device connected to a power source. No background tasks and airplane mode “on.” The on-screen results show 38 fps for the OMAP 5 vs 34 fps for the other platform, or a 12% performance boost. Off-screen results […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 30 Comments on Linaro Android Puts Stock Android To Shame on TI Pandaboard (OMAP4430)

Linaro Android Puts Stock Android To Shame on TI Pandaboard (OMAP4430)

The team at Linaro has done an amazing job at optimizing Android 4.0 for ARM and Bernhard Rosenkränzer, Android Engineer at Linaro among other things, has put all those optimizations together to showcase a demo at Linaro Connect Q2.2012 in Hong Kong with 2 pandaboards: One running Stock Android 4.0.4, the one released by Google (AOSP) One running Linaro Android 4.0.4 Both hardware, android version and benchmark software (oxBench) are the same, and the results are quite amazing with Android Linaro achieving about 60 fps in all 0xBenchmark tests (OpenGL Cube, OpenGL Blending, OpenGL Fog and Flying Teapot) whereas Android stock achieving 30 fps. They selected a benchmark tool that is mainly CPU bound, as they cannot optimize the GPU code since they can only access binary blobs. Apparently, most of the improvements were possible thanks to toolchain and code optimization (to be able to build) such as using gcc […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on UGoos UG-LMW70 – 72 USD Android 4.0 7″ Touchscreen Tablet Powered By VIA WM8850 (Cortex A9) Processor

UGoos UG-LMW70 – 72 USD Android 4.0 7″ Touchscreen Tablet Powered By VIA WM8850 (Cortex A9) Processor

Back in January, VIA announced the WonderMedia Prizm WM8950 processor featuring a Cortex A9 processor @ 800 Mhz with a Mali-400 GPU, but recently I have seen a few tablets with the WM8850, the little (or rather the big) brother of WM8950, with the same Cortex A9 but cadenced at 1.2 GHz and Mali-400 GPU. VIA has apparently not officially announced this new processor, and details are not available on Wondermedia website yet, but the WM8850 targets the same markets as AllWinner A10/A13 Cortex A8 processors and is said to be competitive in price. And it must be competitive, because I just found an Android ICS tablet based on WM8850 for $72 US (including shipping) on aliexpress (UGoos UG-LMW70) with the following specifications: CPU –  Via Wondermedia WM8850 Cortex A9 @ 1.2GHz + Mali-400 GPU Memory –  512MB RAM Storage –  4GB NAND FLASH + microSD card slot (Up to […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Zedboard Xilinx Zynq-7000 Community Board is Now Available

Zedboard Xilinx Zynq-7000 Community Board is Now Available

Based in March, I wrote about Xilinx Zynq-7000 Extensible Processing Platform (EPP), a SoC comprises of a Dual Cortex A9 and an FPGA, as well as the corresponding development boards and kits: Xilinx Zynq-7000 EPP ZC702 Evaluation Kit based on Zynq-7020 with all the basic components (595 USD). Xilinx Zynq-7000 EPP Video Kit based on Zynq-7020 with all necessary hardware, software and IP components for the development of custom video applications (1195 USD). Zynq-7000 EPP ZedBoard, a low cost development board for the developers community. At the time, the first 2 (expensive) boards were available, but there was little information about the Zedboard. But yesterday evening, I noticed Zedboard website had a lot more information and we now know details about the board and it is even possible to purchase it. Here are the Zedboard specifications: Processor – Xilinx Zynq-7020 Dual ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore @ 677 MHz Memory 512 MB […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Linaro 12.05 Release with Kernel 3.4 and Android 4.0.4

Linaro 12.05 Release with Kernel 3.4 and Android 4.0.4

Linaro has just released version 12.05 based on Linux Kernel 3.4 and Android 4.0.4. This release provides lots of improvement for Origen (Samsung Exynos 4) on Android,  further work has been done on big.LITTLE processing and ARMv8 work appears to have started for Ubuntu and Debian. armel vs armhf benchmarks show a massive improvement (up to 15x) when using armhf for povray (3D rendering),. but for most other tests, there is little improvement, and in some rare cases armhf is slightly slower than armel. Here are the highlights of the release: Android Created a stable Google hangout build for Origen Updated DS-5 and gator daemon to 5.10 Stress tests from big.LITTLE testing have been integrated into LAVA Completed big.LITTLE Android tasks Monkeyrunner tests for automating common Android usage have been integrated into LAVA Ordered a new power measurement device from National Instruments Updated and Origen 3.4 rc7 Completed Android HAL […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on e-con Systems Unveils e-CAM51_USB 5MP USB Camera Module

e-con Systems Unveils e-CAM51_USB 5MP USB Camera Module

e-con Systems, an embedded design services company specializing in the development of camera solutions, has just announced the launch of e-CAM51_USB USB Camera comprised of a 5-megapixel Autofocus Camera Module (e-CAM52_5640_MOD) based on OmniVision OV5640 CMOS image sensor.This camera module targets document camera visualizers, interactive teaching & meeting solutions, OCR, scientific research, telemedicine/health, biometrics and robotics applications. The e-CAM51_USB camera module supports GPIO and microphone with an integrated analog-to-digital converter (ADC).  It does not require specific drivers since it is compliant with USB Video Class (UVC) and USB Audio Class (UAC). OmniVision OV5640 CameraChip sensor features automatic image control functions such as: Automatic exposure control (AEC) Automatic white balance (AWB) Automatic band filter (ABF) 50/60Hz automatic luminance detection Automatic black level calibration (ABLC) Most of these features are supported via the standard UVC protocol providing good applications interoperability on Linux and Windows. Some e-CAM51_USB features such as GPIO control, Auto […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC