Windows 8 Category - Page 20 of 25 - CNX Software

November 28, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Avalue ECM-KA SBC Powered by AMD Embedded G-Series Dual and Quad Core SoCs

Avalue Technology, a Taiwanese company manufacturing industrial and embedded single board computer, has recently announced a 3.5” SBC (single board computer) micro module, labeled ECM-KA, powered by AMD Embedded G-Series SoCs. The board will feature GX-415GA Quad-core SoC by default, with GX-217GA (1.6GHz), and GX-210HA (1.0GHz) dual core SoCs as options. The board targets the embedded market with applications such as industrial controls & automation, gaming (e.g. slot machine, aracade), thin clients, retail/ digital signage, SMB storage server, surveillance, medical, communication, entertainment, and data acquisition. ECM-KA Specifications: SoC – AMD Embedded G-Series Quad-core GX-415GA @ 1.5GHz SoC with on-chip Radeon HD 8400E GPU (Optional GX-217GA 1.6GHz/ GX-210HA 1.0GHz) System Memory – One 204-pin DDR3 SODIMM Socket Supports Up to 8GB DDR3 1600 SDRAM Storage – 2x SATA III and SSD One CompactFlash Type I/II Socket (Support InnoDisk CF-SATA). Expansion – 1x Mini PCIe (mSATA Supported) I/O MIO – 1 x […]

November 27, 2013November 27, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

LightBlue Cortado is an Arduino Compatible Board Programmed Wirelessly via Bluetooth LE (Crowdfunding)

We’ve already seen several Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Arduino compatible boards being crowd-funded such as RFDuino and BLEDuino, but there’s now another board designed by Punch Through Design: LightbBlue Cortado. The board is programmed wirelessly directly via Bluetooth LE, instead of USB as in the two aforementioned boards, which means programming via iPad or Android tablets becomes more convenient. Here are the technical specifications of the board: MCU – Atmel ATmega328P @ 8MHz with 32KB Flash, 1KB EEPROM, 2KB SRAM Bluetooth – LBM313 Module with Texas Instruments CC2540, 256 KB Flash. Bluetooth range: 30.5m. Power consumption in sleep mode: 0.9μA I/O – 4 PWM pins, 2 Analog inputs, 8 GPIO, I2C and SPI Sensor – 3-Axis Accelerometer Misc – RGB LED, protoboard section, adhesive backing Power – Coin cell battery. Battery life exceeding one year for low power applications There’s no USB, so the only way to program the board is via […]

November 21, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Qualcomm Unveils Snapdragon 805 Processor with Full 4K Support

Qualcomm has just announced their “next generation” Snapdragon 805 “Ultra HD” processor, part of the Snapdragon 800 family. The SoC supports video playback and capture, image and graphics processing on display supporting Ultra HD (aka 4K2K or 2160p) resolution. Snapdragon 805 features four Krait 450 core up to 2.5GHz, and an Adreno 420 GPU which is claimed to have 40% more graphics processing than its predecessor: Adreno 330. Snapdragon 805 key features: High performance – Krait 450 quad-core CPU @ 2.5 GHz per core, memory bandwidth support of up to 25.6 GB/second. High graphics performance and Ultra HD resolution – Adreno 420 GPU with support for hardware tessellation and geometry shaders, and 4K processing. Connectivity – Integration with either the Qualcomm Gobi MDM9x25 or the Gobi MDM9x35 modem (just announced too) for cellular connectivity. Gobi MDM9x25 support LTE Category 4 with peak data rates of up to 150Mbps, and the […]

November 11, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

The VERVE Connects Sensors Your Computer for Gaming, Monitoring, and More

The VERVE is a little box that connects to one of the USB port of your Windows or Mac OS X computer (Linux support coming in 2014), and supports up to 7 sensors. It is available as part of a kit for $99 on Kickstarter. The kit includes the VERVE, a mini USB to USB cable, seven “sensors” (A force sensor, a push button, a light sensor, a potentiometer, a motion sensor, a magnet sensor, and a touch sensor), two banana clips for the touch sensor, seven cables to connect the sensors to the VERVE unit, and 5 extension blocks. Once the VERVE unit is connected to your computer, and the needed sensors are connected to the VERVE, you can launch the VERVE application to visualize the sensors data in real-time, and assign a mouse or keyboard action based on the sensor’s data level as shown below. There’s also an […]

November 9, 2013November 9, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Dell Venue 8 Pro Windows 8.1 Tablet Used as Desktop PC with 4 Monitors

I’ve seen several attempts using a mobile device such as a tablet or smartphone as a desktop, such as using the Galaxy Nexus with an HDMI monitor via MHL, and Canonical’s Ubuntu for Phones and Tablets. The first solution runs Android, an operating systems not (yet) really suitable for desktop use, and Canonical solutions are still work in progress. But the recent video demonstration shown by Bernie Thompson, Plugable Technologies’ founder, with a Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet (about $300) powered by Intel Atom Z3740D “Bay Trail” processor and running Windows 8.1, is the first one which seems actually usable for most desktop uses, baring high-end gaming, or other tasks where the quad core Intel Atom processor may not provide enough processing power. The full setup works as follows. The Dell tablet is connected to a universal USB 3.0 docking station (UD-3000) via a micro USB OTG cable. The docking […]

November 8, 2013July 11, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 39 Comments

DriverAssistant – Simplified Method to Install Rockchip USB Drivers in Windows XP/7/8/10

When you need to root or upgrade Rockchip RK3066 or RK3188 devices, you’ll usually have to connect your device to your computer via USB, and in Windows, installing specific drivers (ADB drivers) is usually needed. However, many people seem to have problems with installing the proper driver, and their device may not be recognized properly. To simplify the task for Windows users, Rockchip has written a tool called RK Driver Assistant to automatically install the correct drivers on different Windows versions. Here’s how to install the drivers with this tools.There’s no need to connect your Rockchip device during this procedure. Download and extract RK_DriverAssitant.zip [Update: More recent versions of the tools can be found in Rockchip-Linux account in Github] Double click on DriverInstall.exe in Release_DriverAssitant directory to start the utility If you’ve already tried to install USB drivers for Rockchip devices, make sure to click “Uninstall Driver” first Then click “Install […]

August 24, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Habey EMB-3700 Embedded Board Features AMD G-Series SoC

AMD recently announced their G-Series SoC family that combines a CPU, a GPU, and a controller hub into a single chip, as ARM has been doing for a while, and more products based on the platform are entering the marketplace. I’ve already written about Win Enterprises MB-60830 and Netboard A10 single board computers, and today I’ll introduce another option with Habey EMB-3700, a 3.5″ embedded board that targets applications such as digital signage, point-of-sale (PoS), industrial automation, machine to machine, in-vehicle telemetry, and medical technology. Habey EMB-3700 Specifications: SoC: GX-420CA quad core @ 2.0GHz (25W TDP) with Radeon HD8400E or GX-415GA quad core @ 1.5GHz (15W TDP) with Radeon HD8330E or GX-210HA dual core @ 1.0GHz (9W TDP) with Radeon HD810E System Memory – 1x 204-Pin DDR3 SODIMM, up to 4GB (ECC) RAM Storage – 2x 6Gb/s SATA 3.0 connectors Video Output: HDMI up to 1920 x 1200 VGA up […]

August 11, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Fritzing Open Source Software Designs PCB Layouts from Breadboard Drawings

Earlier this year, I’ve tried Gumstix Geppetto, a web-based application that let you easily design and order boards. You can just add some building blocks in Chrome browser, connect them, and you’re ready to order a PCB. However, the setup fee of $1999 reserves it to businesses. Don’t worry If you’re just a hobbyist as Fritzing, an open source software supporting Windows, MacOS and Linux, allows you to draw breadboard connections, and automatically route the schematics, and the PCB layout. You can then export the gerber files, or order directly from Fritzing Lab. The software is not exactly new, but it’s the first time I’ve come across it. I’m using Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit, so let’s download, install and run the corresponding version:

wget http://fritzing.org/download0.8.3b/linux-64bit/fritzing-0.8.3b.linux.AMD64.tar.bz2
tar xvf fritzing-0.8.3b.linux.AMD64.tar.bz2
cd fritzing-0.8.3b.linux.AMD64/
./Fritzing

wget http://fritzing.org/download0.8.3b/linux-64bit/fritzing-0.8.3b.linux.AMD64.tar.bz2

tar xvf fritzing-0.8.3b.linux.AMD64.tar.bz2

cd fritzing-0.8.3b.linux.AMD64/

./Fritzing

I’ve decided to connect an LED on the breadboard, and control it with an Arduino Leonardo board to try the software. Alternatively, you could also play around […]