Hardware Category - Page 821 of 1133 - CNX Software

May 14, 2016May 16, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Star Cloud PCG02U Ubuntu TV Stick Unboxing and Teardown

Star Cloud PCG02U is one of the rare device selling pre-loaded with Ubuntu 14.04, and MeLE, who owns Start Cloud brand, sent me one sample for review. While many Android & Windows devices can be “hacked” to run Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Star Cloud PCG02U is the first device that I’ve ever received that’s actually shipped with Ubuntu 14.04. So it will be very interesting to find out how it performs, but today, I’ll check the device and its accessories, as well as the hardware design. Star Cloud PCG02 Unboxing The TV stick ships in a Ubuntu orange retail packaging with Star Cloud branding, and mention of Ubuntu and Intel. I had already published the specifications in my first post, a confirmation on the package is always good. The TV stick ships with a 5V/2A power adapter and multi-country plug adapters, a female to female HDMI adapter, a Quick […]

May 13, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Arduino Industrial 101 Board Powered by Atmel AVR and Atheros AR9331 WiSoC Targets Industrial IoT Applications

Arduino boards were first used by hobbyists, educators and their students, but in recent year more and more professional engineers have started to build prototypes with Arduino boards before moving to the design of the final product. Arduino Srl went further by designing an industrial grade board, namely Arduino Industrial 101, combining an Atmel AVR for real-time I/O control, and a Qualcomm Atheros AR9331 for WiFi connectivity. Arduino Industrial 101 (A000126) specifications: Arduino part MCU – Atmel ATmega32u4 AVR MCU @ 16 MHz with 32KB flash, 2.5 KB SRAM, 1KB EEPROM Digital I/O Pin – 20, with 7 PWM and UART Analog Input Pins – 12 DC Current per I/0 – 40 mA Operating Voltage – 5V Linux (LininoOS) part (101 Industrial LGA “Chiwawa” module) Processor – Atheros AR9331 MIPS processor @ 400 MHz System Memory – 64 MB DDR2 Storege – 16 MB flash WiFi – 802.11 b/g/n […]

May 13, 2016May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Allwinner News – Root Exploit in Linux and Fake Pine A64 Boards

There’s been a lot of buzz about a root exploit in Linux 3.4 kernel for Allwinner H3/H83T SoCs found by linux-sunxi & armbian developers in the last few days. Since the kernel for H3 / H83T is stuck to 3.4, and not always updated on the vast majority of hardware platforms, it’s quite likely there are many ways to breach into such systems, and even the majority of Android devices are not secure, not only the ones powered by Allwinner. So I did not really pay attention at first, but it went viral with stories reporting a hidden backdoor, and hitting to ill-intent. But is that really the case? That’s the code from github, now removed from the master branch, but still in A83T branch. It’s now super easy to gain root access by simply running one command which works for any users:

echo "rootmydevice" > /proc/sunxi_debug/sunxi_debug

1	echo "rootmydevice" > /proc/sunxi_debug/sunxi_debug

That’s obviously pretty bad, but is […]

May 13, 2016May 13, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

The “One Dollar Board” Project Aims to Teach Electronics in Developing Countries (Crowdfunding)

I’ve already tried a one dollar board based on STM8s in the past, but it required a separate STLink debugger, installing a toolchain, and a few other steps. The “One Dollar Board” project, born in Brazil, has different objectives, as it aims to provide an easy way for pupils around the world to getting started with electronics, by simply connecting it to the USB port of a computer or board capable of running the Arduino IDE, and following the instructions printed on the board. One Dollar Board specifications: MCU – 8-bit MCU (likely Atmel AVR) with 8 KB flash 6x GPIO (input and output ports) USB – 1x USB port for power and programming Misc – 2x LEDs, reset button Expansion – Spaces for Wifi ESP8266, Atmel 24C256 serial EEPROM (256 KB), and L293 Driver motor (unclear where though) Power Supply – 5V via USB Dimensions – Compatible with Arduino […]

May 13, 2016May 13, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

MiQi Dual Boot Android & Ubuntu Development Board Crowdfunding Campaign Has Launched

MiQi is a development board using a form factor similar to Raspberry Pi boards, but based on a more powerful Rockchip RK3288 Cortex A17 processor combined with 1 or 2 GB. I had the change to test an early sample pre-loaded with a dual boot image with Android 5.1 and Lubuntu 14.04, and found it to be one the fastest sub $100 development board in Linux, behind Hardkernel ODROID-XU4, as well as better CPU & GPU performance compared to recent Android TV boxes based on Amlogic S905, Rockchip RK3368, and so on. MQMaker has now launched a flexible funding crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to raise funds for mass production. Let’s remind us of MiQi hardware specifications first: SoC – Rockchip 3288 quad core ARM Cortex A17 up to 1.8 GHz with Mali-T764 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 /3.0, and OpenCL 1.1 System Memory – 1 or 2G DDR3 depending on model Storage – 8 or 32 […]

May 12, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

AOC Mars is an ARM Based 24″ All-in-One PC Running Remix OS 2.0

AOC International and Jide Technology has partners to launch Mars, the first all-in-one (AIO) PC supporting Remix OS. The computer is powered by Amlogic S905 processor with 2GB RAM & up to 64GB storage, and features a 23.8″ display. AOC Mars “M1238B” preliminary specifications: Soc – Amlogic S905 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 2.0 GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 16 or 64 GB flash depending on model Display – 23.8″ display with 1920 x 1080 resolution Video – 2x HDMI ports Audio – Stereo speakers, 3.5mm jacks for headphone and microphone Connectivity – Ethernet, and probably WiFi and Bluetooth (TBC) USB – 4x USB 2.0 ports Misc – Power, volume, menu and back buttons Dimensions – 9.9mm thickness, 13.3 mm border width The computer will run Remix OS 2.0. It will first be showcased at CES Asia 2016 in Shanghai, launched in […]

May 12, 2016August 28, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

OpenThread is an Open Source Implementation of Thread IoT Networking Protocol

Thread was announced about two years ago, as a new IP-based wireless protocol based on 6LoWPAN and 802.15.4 standards and targeting IoT applications. Nest Labs, an Alphabet company, has now released OpenThread open-source implementation of the networking protocol under a BSD license. The source code (C++) for OpenThread includes supports for End Device, Router, Leader & Border Router roles, and can be found on Github. The implementation is said to be OS and platform agnostic with a radio abstraction layer, have a small footprint, and implement all Thread networking layers, namely IPv6, 6LoWPAN, IEEE 802.15.4 with MAC security, Mesh Link Establishment, and Mesh Routing. To quickly get started, you may want to read the Examples README which explains how to build the code, start two nodes, and ping them. Interestingly, while the code is there for everybody to use, only paid members ($2,500 to $100,00) of the Thread group can […]

May 12, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Asus Zenfone Go TV Android Smartphone Includes a DVB-T2 & ISDB-T TV Tuner

Asus has introduced Zenfone Go TV Android 5.1 mid-range smartphone that only stands out thanks to its built-in digital TV tuner supporting DVB-T2 and ISDB-T standards letting you watch terrestrial digital TV on the go without needing Internet connection. Asus Zenfone Go TV (ZB551KL) specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (MSM8928) quad core Cortex A7 processor @ 1.4GHz with Adreno 305 GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 Storage – 16GB/32GB eMMC Flash, MicroSD card slot up to 64 GB Display – 5.5″ TFT display with capacitive touch panel; 1280×720 resolution, Gorilla Glass 3; 450nits brightness Tuner – SONY SMT-EW100 Digital TV (DTV) tuner supporting DVB-T, DVB-T2, DVB-T2 Lite, ISDB-T, ISDB-Tmm Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi; Bluetooth V4.0+EDR +A2DP; GPS, GLONASS, AGPS & BDS Cellular Connectivity Dual Micro SIM card with Sual SIM Dual Standby (DSDS) support Network Standard – WCDMA/TD-SCDMA/TDD-LTE/FDD-LTE Data Rate – LTE Cat4 – UL 50 / DL […]