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

January 4, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

MIPS Releases Android NDK 7m

MIPS has just announced the release of the Android Native Development Kit version 7. It has the same APIs as the Android NDK revision 7 released in November 2011 (for Android 4.0), but adds support for MIPS architecture and the MIPS ABI . The NDK is available for Windows, Linux and MacOS. The NDK allows developers to use C/C++ code either to reuse existing C/C++ code or to improve the performance over code developed with Java. Note that MIPS states that “using native code does not result in an automatic performance increase, but always increases application complexity. If you have not run into any limitations using the Android framework APIs, you probably do not need the NDK.” The NDK can be downloaded for: Windows Linux Mac You’ll also have to download the Android MIPS SDK, if you want to use the NDK. Strangely, the Mac SDK is not available for […]

January 1, 2012January 1, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Raspberry Pi Beta Boards Are Being Auctioned

The Raspberry Pi foundation has setup an Ebay account and made some of the Raspberry Pi Beta Board Model B (Ethernet + 256 MB RAM) available on Ebay. This is for charity so you won’t be able to get them for 35 USD… The current bid is 1,320.00 GBP (2050 USD). They’ll add 2 boards on Ebay each day. The goal of this auction is to gather funds in order to hire a full-time staff and give as many Raspberry Pi away to kids as possible. If you win the bid, you’ll get one of the 10 boards for sale, a USB power, an SD card with Debian, and some kind of certificate showing you were one of the first to get a board. If you are interested, you can bid at http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Raspberry-Pi-Model-B-beta-board-10-limited-series-10-/180786734741?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2a17baa695 Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as […]

December 31, 2011December 31, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

KT Keep In Touch Android Tablets

I’ve recently discovered some low cost tablets in one of the computer centers in Chiang Mai manufactured by a Thai company (SEC Intertech Thailand Co. Ltd) and sold under the “KT Keep In Touch” brand. They have their own shop in the center and sell exclusively those tablets as well as SD cards and 3G dongles. The prices range between 7,900 Baht to 9,900 Baht for 7″ Android 2.2 and 2.3 tablets, that’s equivalent to 250 USD to 315 USD. Those prices include VAT and all sort of custom duties that you may not get when you buy in other countries like the US, that means retail prices are usually 30 to 40% more expensive in Thailand compared to the US. The seller also had a 10″ tablet, but he looked like he did not want to show it to me as it was the an older model with resistive […]

December 30, 2011February 8, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Linux for Cortex M3 & M4 Microcontrollers

There are plenty of low cost Linux development boards based on Cortex A8 or A9 such as the Beaglebone, as well as some devkits based on ARM7 and ARM9 such as SAM9 development kits , but if your application is cost and/or energy sensitive you can also switch to micro-controllers using Cortex M3 or M4 based development boards such as Emcraft SmartFusion devkits. You can run a functional uCLinux system with 1MB of RAM and 1MB of flash including the TCP/IP stack. You need to use uClinux and not directly Linux, because the Cortex M3 doess not have a Memory Management Unit (MMU) and only a Memory Protection Unit (MPU). This can bring some interesting software development challenges such as (apparently random) kernel panics, the lack of fork, memory fragmentation and more. You can check out http://kernel.org/pub/linux/libs/uclibc/Glibc_vs_uClibc_Differences.txt for the main differences between uClibc and Glibc. The instructions to patch and […]

December 29, 2011December 29, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Myriad Alien Vue Brings Android to Your TV

Myriad Group, a company based in Switzerland, brings Android (and a Google TV alternative) to non-Android platforms through its Alien Davlik technology, called Myriad Alien Vue. Alien Vue is a solution that enables TV service providers to add apps to their existing managed service offerings, in order to respond to over-the-top (OTT) content distribution channels from Apple, Google and others. It is compatible with apps developed using HTML5 and most Google TV apps such as YouTube, Netflix and Twitter apps. The release includes an app store developed in conjunction with AppCarousel that can be fully be customized / branded by service providers. Myriad Alien Vue also supports additional plug-in components like Myriad Connect & Share, providing multi-screen functionality for personal and premium content. Alien Vue allows to leverage existing TV and set-top box equipment and works with mobile phones and tablets to give users control over their TV experience. Alien […]

December 28, 2011December 28, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Advantech Announces COMs, SBCs, Motherboards and Embedded PCs based on Intel Atom N2000 and D2000 Series

Advantech has updated its product range by adding Computer On Modules (COMs). single board computers (SBCs), industrial motherboards and embedded box PCs based on the latest Intel Atom N2000 and D2000 Series processors to its offerings. These low-power embedded platforms provide energy-efficient solutions, and serve a wide range of applications targeted at handheld devices, POS, kiosks, digital signage, medicine, and factory automation. Computer On Modules: SOM-7565 and SOM6765 The Advantech COM-Express Mini SOM-7565, with a mere 84 x 55 mm board size, benefits the low power consuming handheld devices market. SOM-7565 Key Features: PICMG COM R2.0 compliant module for Intel Atom processors N2600 Intel gfx support for DirectX 9 and Open GL 3.0 Supports 18-bit LVDS, eDP/HDMI/DVI/DisplayPort Onboard 2 GB DDR3 800 memory and 4 GB SSD Supports 3 PCIe x1, LPC, SMBus, I2C Bus, SATAII, 8 USB2.0, and GbE Supports Advantech iManager 2.0 and software APIs The COM-Express Compact […]

December 28, 2011December 28, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

AllWinner A10/A1X Processor Resources, Development Board and SDK

AllWinner A10 (part of A1X series) is an ARM Cortex A8 SoC targetting multimedia products such as tablets, HD STB or digital signage. It is currently found in some low cost Android tablets such as Momo9C and will be used in Rhombus Tech’s Raspberry Pi alternative. The processor features an ARM Cortex A8 clocked at 1.5 Ghz with a Mali-400 GPU. It can support 1080p encoding/decoding, provides HDMI, Component, Composite, VGA and LVDS video outputs, USB2.0 ports, a SATA 2.0 port and more… Here are the key features of the Allwinner A10: VPU (Video Processing Unit) HD Video Decoding (Super HD 2160P/3D Film) Support all popular video formats, including VP8, AVS, H. 264 AVC, VC-1, MPEG-1/2/4, … HD Video Encoding (H.264 High Profile) Support encoding in H.264 format DPU (Display Processing Unit) MULTI-CHANNEL HD displays Built-in HDMI YPbPr, CVBS, VGA LCD interfaces: CPU, RGB, LVDS up to Full HD Memory […]

December 26, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Android Drivers Will Be Included in Linux Kernel 3.3

The Android drivers were no longer accepted in the mainline Linux kernel, starting with Linux kernel 2.6.33, as announced by Greg Kroah-Hartman back in spring 2010. But this is about to change, as it appears that Greg Kroah-Hartman will include the Android drivers into his development branch for the upcoming Linux kernel 3.3, making it boot on Android devices without being patched. The Linux Foundation’s Consumer Electronics workgroup, along with a group at Linaro and various individual developers, is working with Kroah-Hartmann on this project. Tim Bird, chair of the Architecture Group, announced the Android Mainlining Project on the 20th of December with the goal of coordinating work on integrating the Android features. Further information on this project is available on the wiki and developers can also sign up for the project’s mailing list to join the 15 other persons involved in the project. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software […]