Allwinner A-Series Category - Page 48 of 53 - CNX Software

November 12, 2012May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

XBMC for Linux on AllWinner A10 Devices? It Works! (Sort of)

Following the lack of support by AllWinner for the video engine libraries (CedarX), I had more or less given up on hope XBMC for Linux would ever run properly on AllWinner A10/A13 hardware. But recently, I found out some progress had been made using existing libs, and saw the Pengpod Tablet video showing XBMC running in Linux fairly smoothly. So I decided to cross-compile XBMC by following the instructions available at http://linux-sunxi.org/XBMC and trying to run it in Linaro ALIP 12.04 rootfs in my Mele A1000. Finally, I managed to cross-compile XBMC, but the performance was very poor in the GUI (6 to 12 fps) and I was unable to play videos and my serial console was flooded with messages like:

[DISP] not supported image0 pixel sequence:216 in img_sw_para_to_reg

1	[DISP] not supported image0 pixel sequence:216 in img_sw_para_to_reg

[Update: I managed to have XBMC Linux running & playing videos on Mele A1000 by using j1nx image (rootfs + kernel). I would first exhibit the exact same […]

November 5, 2012May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

$100 Mele A1000G / A2000G Android Media Players with 1GB RAM and 8GB Flash

I’ve been asked by several people when there would be a Mele with 1GB RAM, well the time is now, with the Mele A1000G and Mele A2000G. Both appear to be based on the previous Mele A1000 and Mele A2000 set-top boxes, but feature 1 GB RAM and 8 GB Flash instead of 512 MB RAM and 4 GB Flash. Here are Mele A1000G & Mele A2000G Specifications: SoC – AllWinner A10 Cortex A8 processor @ 1GHz System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage: 8GB NAND Flash SD card slot (up to 32 GB) Connectivity: Wi-Fi – 802.11 b/g 10/100 MB Ethernet USB – 3 USB Host ports SATA Interface for 2.5″ HDD Video Output – HDMI, composite and VGA. Audio Output – RCA stereo output and optical out (SPDIF) Audio Formats – MP3 / WMA / WAV / OGG / FLAC / MKA Video Formats – TS / M2TS […]

November 5, 2012May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

PengPod 700 & 1000 – Linux Tablets Based on AllWinner A10

There are plenty of tablet based on AllWinner A10 and A13 processors, but all of them run Android, and you are out of luck if you want to run Linux on your tablet, unless you hack this yourself. But this is about to change as PengPod will launch 2 tablets and 1 mini PC running Linux from NAND flash or micro SD card: PengPod 700 – 7″ tablet with Allwinner A10, 1GB RAM and 8GB Flash PengPod 1000 – 10″ tablet with AllWinner A10, 1GB RAM and 8GB Flash PengStick – AllWinner A10 mini PC with 1GB RAM and 4 GB Flash The table below gives more detailed specifications and comparison of the three devices. Device PengPod1000 PengPod700 PengStick Type Tablet Tablet TV Stick CPU Allwinner A10 AllWinner A10 AllWinner A10 Android 4 4 4 Linux 3.0.42 3.0.42 3.0.42 Screen 10” 7” External Resolution 1024×600 800×480 1080i Ram 1GB 1GB […]

September 11, 2012May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 29 Comments

Building Kernel Modules for AllWinner A10 Android Devices (e.g. Joystick Support)

Reader JP has enabled Joystick support in Android 4.0.4 on its Mele A1000, this now works with a Playstation2 joystick via USB adapter, a Huskee PC joystick, and 2 other unbranded joysticks. In order to enable Joystick support he had to build a kernel module, and encountered a few issues, so he wrote an how-to which shows what challenges he went through and what solutions he found to those issues.I’m sharing today a slightly edited version of this how-to. This How-to assumes that you have a valid Linux environment where you can build allwinner A10 kernel. The toolchain used was “Sourcery CodeBench for ARM GNU/Linux Lite“ which can be downloaded here: http://www.codesourcery.com/sgpp/lite/arm/portal/package7853/public/arm-none-linux-gnueabi/arm-2010.09-50-arm-none-linux-gnueabi.bin To install it, simply run:

sudo ./arm-2010.09-50-arm-none-linux-gnueabi.bin

1	sudo ./arm-2010.09-50-arm-none-linux-gnueabi.bin

You’ll also need the latest Allwinner A10 kernel source:

git clone git://github.com/amery/linux-allwinner.git

1	git clone git://github.com/amery/linux-allwinner.git

Then follow the usual procedure:

make ARCH=arm sun4i_crane_defconfig
make menuconfig ARCH=arm

1 2	make ARCH=arm sun4i_crane_defconfig make menuconfig ARCH=arm

I then selected the modules needed for different kind of joysticks namely:

 --- Networking support
  <*>   Bluetooth subsystem support  ---> 
  <M>   HIDP protocol support
        Bluetooth device drivers  --->
  <M> HCI USB driver

[*] HID Devices  --->  
    Special HID drivers  --->    
  <M> Sony PS3 controller
  <M> DragonRise Inc. game controller                                                                              
           [*]   DragonRise Inc. force feedback
  <M> Pantherlord/GreenAsia game controller                                                                         
           [*]   Pantherlord force feedback support
  <M> GreenAsia (Product ID 0x12) game controller support                                                           
           [*]   GreenAsia (Product ID 0x12) force feedback support                                                         
  <M> SmartJoy PLUS PS2/USB adapter support                                                                         
           [*]   SmartJoy PLUS PS2/USB adapter force feedback support

--- Networking support

<*> Bluetooth subsystem support --->

<M> HIDP protocol support

Bluetooth device drivers --->

<M> HCI USB driver

[*] HID Devices --->

Special HID drivers --->

<M> Sony PS3 controller

<M> DragonRise Inc. game controller

[*] DragonRise Inc. force feedback

<M> Pantherlord/GreenAsia game controller

[*] Pantherlord force feedback support

<M> GreenAsia (Product ID 0x12) game controller support

[*] GreenAsia (Product ID 0x12) force feedback support

<M> SmartJoy PLUS PS2/USB adapter support

[*] SmartJoy PLUS PS2/USB adapter force feedback support

I saved the […]

August 31, 2012May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 27 Comments

$49 Cubieboard: AllWinner A10 Open Hardware Development Board

The Cubieboard is a development board for the AllWinner A10 Cortex A8 processor. Contrary to some other AllWinner A10 “development board” that are simply based on a tablet or mini PC PCB, the cubieboard has been designed specifically as a development platform and provides access to I/O pins. Here are the specs of this development board: SoC – AllWinner A10 1GHz ARM cortex-A8 processor with Mali400 GPU System RAM – 1GB DDR3 @400MHz Storage – 2 MMC slot Video Output – HDMI 1080p Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet USB – 2 USB Host, 1 USB OTG 1 IR sensor 96 expansion pins including i2c, spi, lvds, sata… Wi-Fi and Bluetooth can be supported via external USB dongle(s). The prototype above is the first revision of the hardware, and final hardware may look different. Some connectors (e.g. SATA) are not soldered in the picture above. The cubieboard is expected to be an […]

August 29, 2012May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Olimex A13-OLinuXino-WIFI Developer Edition is Now Available

Olimex has announced that they started shipping A13-OLinuXino-WIFI-DEV, an AllWinner A13 development board with 512 MB, 4GB and a Realtek RTL8188CU Wi-Fi module that costs 55.00 Euros with free shipping by courier for a limited time. They announced the start of this project late April, so it took them just 3 months to bring this board to to market. The board has the following specs: SoC – AllWinner A13 Cortex A8 processor at 1GHz, 3D Mali400 GPU Memory – 512 MB RAM Storage – 4GB NAND flash + SD Card slot Power – 6-16VDC input power supply, noise immune design USB – 3 + 1 USB Host, 3 available for users and 1 for Wi-Fi module + 1 USB OTG port Wi-Fi – WIFI RTL8188CU 802.11n 150Mbit module on board Video output – VGA video output + LCD signals available on connector. Audio Output / Input RTC – PCF8536 on […]

August 25, 2012May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

QuickEmbed UPuter Pi – $69 AllWinner A10 Development Board

I’ve been informed of a new AllWinner A10 development board which is marketed as some sort of Raspberry Pi “clone”, although the hardware is different. The UPuter Pi is a small board designed by QuickEmbed Technology, a Shanghai based company, that features AllWinner A10 processor @ 1.5 GHz, 512 to 1 GB RAM, and 4 to 8 GB Flash. Here are the specs as mentioned on the company website: CPU 1.5GHz ARM Cortex-A8 multi-core Mali400 graphic engine Memory 512M/1GB DDR3 Flash 4G/8G DC 5V USB power working temperature -10 to 70C storage temperature -20 to 80C Android 4.0 WIFI/RJ45 network USB/Wireless keyboard/mouse 3G usb card TF card, U-disk, usb harddisk 720P/1080P/2160P I must have gone blind because I don’t see any RJ45 connector (for Ethernet). The board will support Android 4.0 and all the usual Linux distros supported by Allwinner A10 processor. QuickEmbed may have pushed the clone concept a […]

August 22, 2012May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

IP878 Android TV Box – $40 AllWinner A10 mini PC?

I’ve been tipped off about a new Android mini PC called IP878 selling for less than $40 on a site called ahappydeal.com. This HDMI Stick is said to run Android 2.3, features an ARM CPU, 512 MB RAM and 4 GB flash and comes with a basic remote control. There’s no mention of the exact processor on the website mentioned above, but I found what looks like the (a?) manufacturer website (NewMi), which describes IP878 features as follows: SoC – ALLWINNER TECH A10S RAM – 512MB DDR2 Storage – 2GB Flash + microSD card slot Video and Audio out – HDMI (high-resolution video output up to 720P ???) Video Containers – *.mkv,*.wmv,*.mpg, *.mpeg, *.dat, *.avi, *.mov, *.mp4 *.wmv, *.FLV, *.3GP Video Codecs – H.264, H.263,VP8,RV8/9,MPEG4,Xvid,Divx 3/4/5,MPEG1/2 USB – USB 2.0 Host & OTG Wi-Fi – 802.11 b/g Power – 5V/1A Remote control – IR extender Weight – 25 g Dimensions […]