Hardware Category - Page 1055 of 1116 - CNX Software

March 31, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

$80 MK818 / MK818B Android Set-top Box Sits on Top of Your TV

There are already a few set-top boxes that are designed to be placed on top of a television such as Archos Connect TV. Those usually come with a webcam, which makes them ideal for video conference, and much more convenient than mini PCs with a webcam such as Measy U2C or B12. GeekBuying is now offering such device with the MK818B (aka MK818) powered by RockChip RK3066 with 1 GB RAM, 8 GB Flash, and a 0.3 MP front camera for $84.99. They could probably have done without the “so far away, yet this close!” marking at the front of the device… MK818B has the following specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3066 Dual Core Cortex A9 @ 1.6 GHz + Mali-400MP4 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND Flash + SD Card slot (Up to 32GB) + micro SD Card slot (Up to 32GB) Camera – Built-in front […]

March 28, 2013October 6, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Droid Stick A2 mini PC Recovery with AMLogic’s Hardware Flash Tool

In some circumstances, for example by installing the wrong firmware or doing something wrong by playing god (as a root user), it’s possible to brick your device. This happened to me with one of my Droid Stick A2 mini PCs based on AMLogic AML8726-MX. I changed some files in /system/etc/permissions directory, lost Wi-Fi access, and even replacing my changes with the backup files would not solve the problem. It also changed some permissions in the system, and it was not possible to restore the firmware the usual way. At the end of last month, dbtablets left a comment with download links to “Amlogic USB Burning tool”, but I only decided to give it a try today, and after some efforts I was successful. Just make sure you only use this method as last resort, i.e. a standard firmware upgrade does not work, and you’re about to throw your device in […]

March 28, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

UG008 and UG008B Rockchip RK3066 Android 4.1 Set-Top Boxes

For those of you who prefer to have a full sized set-top box with an Ethernet port powered by Rockchip RK3066, there aren’t that many options (i.e. Mini X5, TVi7, Wise TiVi Box) and they are usually significantly more expensive than equivalent mini PCs. But there’s no a cheaper option with UG008, a media player powered by Rockchip RK3066 with 1GB RAM, 4 to 8 GB Flash, as well as Ethernet and Wi-Fi support, that sells for around $62 and up. Here are the specifications of this media player: SoC – RK3066 Dual Core Cortex A9 @ 1.6 GHz + Mali-400 MP4 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4 to 8 GB NAND Flash + micro SD slot (up to 32GB) Connectivity Wifi – 802.11b/g/n with external antenna 10/100M Ethernet Video Output – HDMI + AV Video Formats and Codecs – WMV, ASF, MP4, 3GP, 3G2, M4V, AVI, […]

March 26, 2013March 26, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Zealz GK802 Is (Temporary?) Available for $69.99 on GeekBuying

Zealz GK802 is a mini PC based on Freescale i.MX6 Quad processor, with 1GB RAM, 8 to 16 GB internal memory (internal micro SD card). The main selling points of this HDMI dongle is that it’s the only currently available quad core processor (about to change), it’s hackable and unbrickable with easy access to the serial console, full support for Linux with hardware video decoding and 2D/3D acceleration (work in progress), and Freescale has released proper software and hardware development resources for the i.MX6 processor. As mentioned in my review of Hi802 mini PC, the downside is that Vivante GC2000 GPU performance is lower than the Mali-400 MP4 found in Rockchip RK3066 mini PC, and its price (usually above $90) is about double the price of Rockchip RK3066 mini PCs. We can’t do anything for Vivante GC2000 performance, but Roman found a coupon code “FVKIWVAG” on a Russian forum that […]

March 25, 2013November 23, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Z1 Android 2.2 Smart Watch Phone

There’s currently a lot of articles about Apple, Samsung, and Google smart watches rumors in the blogosphere. I’ve written about other smartwatches in the past with products such as the Pebble or Wime Nanowatch, but those are based on low-end hardware that do not run Android directly, but instead communicate with your Android or iOS device via Bluetooth. The only watch I know that runs (a customized version of) Android is the “I’m Watch“. You’ll need relatively deep pockets to purchase it as price starts at 249 Euros / $349 US and goes up to $19,999 if you purchase the version with white gold and diamonds. So I decided to have a look if there are lower cost Chinese Android smartwatches around. The Z1 Android Smart Watch Phone showed up everywhere in my searches. The product is not new, as Charbax first discovered it in January 2012 and it was […]

March 24, 2013May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

IO Technologies Announces $29.99 Baseboard for Cubieboard

The Cubieboard is a low cost development board powered by AllWinner A10 with 512MB/1GB RAM, 4GB NAND and lots of interfaces. However some of processor interfaces are only available via the extension headers, and access to interfaces like VGA and LVDS would normally require some (minor) hardware hacking. That’s why George Ioakimedes (IO Technologies LLC) has decided to design and manufacture a carrier board (baseboard) for the Cubieboard. The Cubie baseboard provides the following: 2mm pitch female sockets to insert the Cubieboard All 96 Cubieboard pins brought out to 0.100″ (2.56mm) pitch headers 4-pin power header to match optional power input header on Cubieboard LVDS header with separate LCD Backlight connector to match low cost LVDS cable 4-wire touch screen connector Standard 2.5mm DC jack, 12V-18V input Onboard 5.0V switching regulator to power the Cubieboard and provide 3A (available on 0.100″ header) Onboard 3.3V switching regulator to power LCD and […]

March 22, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Gumstix Unveils $249 Pepper Single Board Computer Powered by TI Sitara AM3359

Gumstix has just announced a new single board computer for Linux embedded development and experimentation. Pepper is powered by Texas Instruments Sitara AM3359 Cortex A8 processor, and comes with 512MB DDR2, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, a 4.3″ LCD touchscreen and more. Gumstix Pepper Key features: Processor – Texas Instruments Sitara AM3359 Cortex A8 processor up to 720 MHz System Memory – 512MB DDR2 Storage – microSD card slot (No flash) Connectivity: Wifi – 802.11 b/g/n 10/100/1000M Ethernet Bluetooth 3.0 Display – Samsung 4.3″ LCD resistive touchscreen (480 x 272) USB – 2x USB OTG connectors Expansion headers – For I2C, SPI and UARTs GPIO-controlled push buttons and LEDs Sensors – 3D Accelerometer (ST LIS33DE) Power – 5V Since there’s no flash, a microSD is used to boot the board. Gumstix provides a Linux distribution built with the Yocto Project which you” eventually be able to download here (the page is […]

March 22, 2013March 22, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Focuswill Coolship Board Picture and Main Components List

Tejinder has just sent me a picture of the internal boards of the CoolShip Android keyboard computer. It’s composed of a main board (Keyboard-V2.0) and a CPU module with RK3066, flash and SDRAM chipsets, PMIC, and video decoder.. Tejinder found the following components on the boards: Processor – Rockchip RK 3066 SDRAM – 4x Hynix H5TQ2G83BFR Flash – Hynix h27ubg8t2btr 1080p Video decoder – Rockchip RK1000S PMIC – 1x Wolfson WM8326G DAC – 1x Wolfson WM8960G Wifi chip – RTL8188CTV USB HUB – GL850G The two 2-pin connector (one on the left, and the other under the DAC) should be for the speakers, and the 3-pin connector on the right goes to a 8-pin IC connected to the power, so it could be the connection to the 300 mAh battery used to handle unexpected power failure. You’ll also notice he has connected an UART to TTL debug board to the […]