Allwinner A-Series Category - Page 26 of 53 - CNX Software

January 2, 2015May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

3D Graphics Acceleration in Linux on Allwinner A80 based Cubieboard4

Allwinner A80 is a powerful octa-core processor found in development boards and TV boxes such as Cubieboard4 or Tronsmart Draco AW80. Some early Ubuntu images and instructions had already been released for A80 Optimusboard and Draco AW80, but none of these featured GPU drivers for 3D acceleration, which to be honest, has limited advantages in Linux desktop distributions since desktop environments and most apps require full OpenGL support, i.e. not only OpenGL ES, and the only ARM SoC that can provide OpenGL support without external graphics card is Nvidia Tegra K1 SoC. Having said that GPU drivers would pave the way for smooth OpenELEC / Kodi user interface support in Allwinner A80 Linux distributions. That’s only one part of the puzzle, since the GPU normally handles the user interface, while the VPU takes care of video decoding. The good news is that CubieTech release updates images for their Cubieboard4 (CC-A80) […]

December 31, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

Best Android Mini PCs Awards of 2014

I’ve reviewed quite a few Android media players this year, and as 2014 comes to an end, I thought it might be worth writing a best of 2014. But it’s difficult to announce an overall winner since all have some flaws one way or another, I’ll classified by categories: Best Ethernet, Best Internal Storage, … a bit like for “Oscars ceremony awards, based mostly on objective results from my tests. However, and somewhat oddly for a media player, I won’t select any TV boxes based on their video playback capabilities, as so far I haven’t found one that can play most 4K / H.265 videos reasonably well in Kodi, and video playback tests are also subjective. This is obviously a flawed contest as they all are, because in order to be nominated, the media player must have been reviewed on CNX Software. But it should be fun anyway, so let’s […]

December 23, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

VidOn Box Android XBMC TV Box Unboxing

Vidon.me has sent me one of their Vidon Box (without asking). The box features an Allwinner A31s processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, and more. You can check my previous post for Vidon Box specifications. The company is also providing a membership for extra services such as HDMI / SPDIF pass-through, and Blu-ray menu navigation, among others, as you can see from the table below. The item with ** are upcoming features. VidOn Box Features Subscriber Non Subscriber Blu-ray Menu Navigation Y N Access to VidOn XBMC Pro Y N Access to VidOn Media Center Beta* Y Y Access to VidOn XBMC* Y Y Free XBMC Add-ons Y Y Media Library Info Collection Y Y Access Home Sharing Server Y Y 1080p Hardware Acceleration Y Y Blu-ray ISO Playback Y Y 3D Blu-ray Playback Y Y Firmware/Software Update Support Y Y SPDIF/HDMI Passthrough Y N Mobile Transfer** Y N Photo Backup** […]

December 22, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 39 Comments

Orange Pi Development Boards Are Raspberry Pi “Clones” based on Allwinner A20 and A31s

After Raspberry Pi, Waxberry Pi, and Banana Pi boards, here come another fruit-named board with Orange Pi. There are actually three models, with Orange Pi and Orange Pi mini based on Allwinner A20, and Orange Pi Plus powered by a quad core Allwinner A31s processor. I’ve drawn a comparison table with the specifications for the three models. Please note that Orange Pi Plus full specifications have not been released yet, so I don’t have all details. Orange Pi Mini Orange Pi Orange Pi Plus SoC Allwinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 processor up to 1GHz with Mali-400 MP2 GPU Allwinner A31s quad core Cortex A7 processor with PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU System Memory 1 GB DDR3 Storage 2x micro SD slot + SATA NAND Flash + micro SD slot + SATA TBD Video Output HDMI, AV, and DSI I/F HDMI, AV, VGA, and DSI I/F HDMI, AV, and DSI I/F Audio I/O HDMI, […]

December 22, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Tronsmart Draco AW80 SATA Performance in Android

When Allwinner A80 TV boxes with SATA port were first release, some people hailed SATA performance, especially while seeking during video playback. But at the time, I was skeptical of these claims since Allwinner A80 SoC does not have have a SATA interface, so a USB to SATA bridge must be used, and the performance should be the same as USB hard drives. Unfortunately, I was unable to confirm these doubts, and test SATA performance in my review of Tronsmart Draco AW80 Meta, because at the time, I did not have any spare SATA hard drive or SSD. But since I’ve received CubieTruck Metal Case kit, which include a 120 GB SSD, so I could finally test the device SATA interface. This CHUANG JIU SSD achieves write and read speeds of respectively 8.7 MB/s & 50.5 MB/s for NTFS, and 36.31 MB/s & 179.45 MB/s for EXT-4 using CubieTruck with […]

December 21, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

CubieTruck Metal Case Kit Getting Started Guide and Review

I’ve received CubieTruck Metal Case kit just over a month ago, but just like for Ubuntu on ODROID-XU3 Lite, the board could not get HDMI EDID info from my Panasonic TV, which led to a crash at boot time. CubieTech has now fixed the issue, so I’ve finally been able to complete the review with Cubieez (Cubie Easy) distribution, pre-installed on the board, and based on Debian 7.6. You can get the full hardware specs on my previous post, but the kits is comprised of four parts: CubieTruck development based on Allwinner A20 dual core processor, a rugged metallic enclosure, a 128GB SSD, and a 5,300 mAh battery acting as a UPS. I’ll start by showing how to setup the board, test SATA and Gigabit Ethernet performance, check if the battery acts as expected, try to use the board as a desktop replacement with LibreOffice, Chromium, and so on, and […]

December 18, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Jesurun Maxone Allwinner A80 mini PC with 4GB RAM Sells for $184 (Promo)

Yesterday, I discovered DealExtreme listed four versions of new Allwinner A80 mini PC called Jesurun Maxone, with a combination of 2GB RAM/16GB Flash, or 4GB RAM/32GB flash, and US or EU power adapters, for respectively $167.40 and $207. But after a closer look, I found out those boxes are probably based on the same hardware used for Tronsmart Draco AW80 Meta and Telos, minus the external Wi-Fi antenna, and the price was a little higher so I did not feature this device in a new article. But today, GearBest provided a coupon code (JM4GCN) allowing to get Maxone 4GB RAM for $183.99, or about $15 discount compared to Draco AW80 Telos. They’ve also provided JM2GCN coupon for the 2GB RAM version, but the price ($149.99) is almost exactly the same as Draw AW80 Meta. Remember that when shopping online from oversea websites, you may be hit by custom duties back […]

Category: Allwinner A-Series