Hardware Category - Page 1099 of 1152 - CNX Software

February 2, 2013February 2, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Red Raspberry Pi Board is Now Available in China

If you have a Raspberry Pi, most likely it will have a green PCB since that’s the way they are manufactured it. The good news is that the Raspberry Pi is be available in its natural color Red very soon, however it will only be officially sold in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. The reason for the geographical limitation is because Farnell and RS components have a worldwide co-exclusive license to sell the Raspberry Pi, and the selected Chinese manufacturer, Egoman Technology Corp , won’t be allowed to sell out of China. However, it will be hard to prevent third parties in China from buying the product, and selling it via Ebay or Aliexpress. The other reason for the differentiation is that the Red Raspberry Pi won’t be CE/FCC certified, even though, at the beginning, at least it will basically have the same components of the Green Raspberry […]

February 2, 2013February 2, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Replicate CAPE Adds 3D Printring Capability to the Beaglebone

Beagleboard.org launched the Beaglebone Cape Design Contest back in November, several designs were submitted, and yesterday, they announced the 3 winning CAPEs who will be manufactured and sold by Circuitco Electronics: Replicape by Elias Bakken – 3D printer cape Interacto by Chris Clark – Cape with a triple axis accelerometer,a gyroscope, a magnetometer and a 640×480 30fps camera. Geiger cape by Matt Ranostay – Geiger counter cape Since today I’ve started to write about 3D printing, let’s carry on and have a closer look at the Replicape. The Replicape 3D printer cape includes: 5 stepper motors (X, Y, Z, Ext1, Ext2) 3 high power MOSFETs (PWM controlled) for 2 extruders and 1 HPB 3 medium power MOSFETs (PWM controlled) for up to 3 fans 3 analog input ports for thermistors 3 inputs for end stops (X, Y, Z) Programmable current limits on steppers motor drivers (SMD). No need to manually adjust […]

February 2, 2013February 2, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

3D Systems Cube and CubeX 3D Printers and Cubify Online Service

3D Systems was at CES 2013 to showcase their 3D printers, and their online 3D printing ecosystem called Cubify, where you can design your own model, order the object to be 3D printed, which is then shipped to your door. They have 2 printers that are available for the home market: Cube 3D printer ($1,399) Print size: 140 x 140 x 140 mm / Resolution: 200 microns CubeX 3D printer ($2,799 to $4,399) Print size: 275 mm x 265 mm x 240 mm / Resolution: 125 microns. The CubeX can support 1, 2, or 3 printer heads in order to print objects with multiple colors and/or materials. Charbax shot a video with the company, and I’ve learnt quite a few interesting things about 3D printing: It’s been around for nearly 30 years, but only used by the industry until recently. 3D printing takes a lot of time. The small spaceship […]

January 30, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

How to Access the Serial Console in MK808 mini PC

Omegamoon has done a pretty neat hack on MK808 Rockchip RK3066 mini PC to connect a Sparkfun USB to TLL board and access the serial console for bootloader and kernel debugging. The first thing he had to do was to open the device, remove the heatsink, and locate the Rx/Tx pads on the board. The Rx and Tx pins are accessible through pads, not via through holes, so it’s just a little more difficult to solder, but nothing too challenging. He and his brother also soldered another cable to the ground. Then they inserted a 6-pin header via the ventilation holes of the device, soldered the 3 wires to the header, and fix the latter to the casing. Finally, they just inserted the debug board in the pin header, connected the USB cable to their PC, and started minicom (or equivalent) to start accessing the serial console. I think that […]

January 30, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

$39.99 MTB025 Android ICS Mini PC Powered by Wondermedia WM8850

Alex, one of my regular reader, informed me about a new mini PC, called the MTB025, running on Wondermedia WM8850 cortex A9 processor with 512 MB RAM & 4 GB Flash, and sold on Pandawill for $39.99 including international shipping. Since it’s the first time I’ve heard about a Wondermedia based mini PC, I’ve decided to have a look. Here are the specifications of this Android 4.0.3 device: SoC – VIA Wondermedia WM8850 (Cortex-A9) @ 1.2GHz with Mali-400 GPU. System Memory – 512 MB RAM Storage – 4 GB NAND Flash + microSD slot (up to 16GB?) Video output – HDMI (Up to 1080p60) Video formats – AVI, RMVB, MKV & FLV Audio codecs – MP3/WMA/WAV/APE/AAC/FLAC/OGG Connectivity – WIFI 802.11 b/g/n USB – USB host 2.0 + micro USB OTG Dimensions – 98 x 30 x 11 mm Weight – 24g The package also includes an HDMI Cable, a USB […]

January 29, 2013February 3, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 71 Comments

Kimdecent Droid Stick A2 Review

At the beginning of December 2012, I wrote a post about Droid Stick A2 mini PC based on AMLogic AML-8726-MX to show some pictures of the device, but I could not really test as the firmware was not complete, and was promise a working firmware soon. Unfortunately, things did not really go according to plans for this hardware, so the firmware never showed up… Luckily, Kimdecent found another version of the device with basically the same specs, a slightly different casing, and more importantly a “working” firmware. The company was kind enough to send me another sample for review. Droid Stick A2 Unboxing Here’s what the new Droid Stick A2 and its accessories look like. Beside Droid Stick A2 mini PC, the package contains a power adapter (5V/2A), a mini USB to USB cable, a short HDMI cable and a user’s manual in English. A close up shows the device […]

January 28, 2013January 28, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

$99 WiMe NanoWatch is Both a Massive Watch And a Tiny Phone

WiMe (pronounced “Why Me?”), a Taiwanese company, showcased an Android watch that can also be used as a phone (a Nanophone as the company calls it) at CES 2013. The NanoWatch runs embedded Linux, and features a 1.54″ Touch screen display, 256 Mb ROM, a 4 GB internal microSD card, and a SIM card slot. NanoWatch Specifications: Processor – Unknown System Memory – Unknown Storage – 256 MB ROM, 4 GB internal microSD Display – 1.54″ resistive touch display – Resolution 240×240 Network – GSM/GPRS Quad Band: GSM 850/900/DCS 1800/PCS 1900 MHZ. Data :GPRS SIM/UIM – One standard SIM card Connectivity – Bluetooth 2.1 USB connection – micro 5pin USB, USB 1.1 Video, photo and audio formats – AVI/MP4/3GP, jpg/gif/bmp, and MP3 Battery – 300 mAh Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Talking time: Approx. 4 hours. Standby time: Approx. 120 hours Misc – FM Radio, Voice recorder Dimensions – 51.6 mm x […]

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

Display Solution U-See2 Dual-Sided Interactive Display

U-See2 is a dual-sided screen with a swivel arm that allows the system to operate either back-to-back, or in a side-by-side configuration. One of the sides features a touch screen to allow customer’s involvement. This product can be used in consumer or service centers such as travel agencies, banks, point-of-sale retail, doctor’s office, etc… Display Solution, the company behind the project, also explains that it can also be used for education in order to save space (one monitor and one table for 2 students), or at home for dual player gaming. The monitor can be operated in 2 modes: Clone (Mirror) Mode – The image on the primary monitor will duplicate on the second (“client”) monitor. Extended Mode – Extend the view to both monitors over USB and VGA / DVI adapter as configured under Windows. Amazingly the company does not mention screen size (it could be because they provide […]