Allwinner H-Series Category - Page 32 of 35 - CNX Software

October 26, 2015December 28, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 27 Comments

Beelink X2 4K TV Box Powered by Allwinner H3 is Now Selling for $32

Allwinner launched Allwinner H3 in December 2014 for Android TV boxes supporting 4K resolution selling for $35 to $50, but the first devices that started showing up in January sold for about $80. As the year passed, prices became more reasonable such as the $59 Zidoo X1 TV Box or $35 Tronsmart Draco H3 TV stick , and when Orange Pi PC development board launched for $15 + shipping, it was clear Allwinner H3 was a dirt cheap processor. The good thing is that you can now buy a 4K Android media player for just $31.99 shipped with Beelink X2 sold on GearBest. Beelink X2 specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.2GHz with quad core Mali-400MP2 System Memory – 1 GB RAM Storage – 8 GB NAND flash + micro SD slot up to 32GB Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi Video Output – […]

October 2, 2015November 2, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 123 Comments

Orange Pi PC Not Booting? You Are Not Alone…

Orange Pi PC development board launched at the end of August, and quickly went viral thanks to low $15 price tag. The company, Shenzhen Xunlong Software, is fairly small, with just over 10 employees, so when they started getting several thousands customers in a short time, they may have been overwhelmed, and this likely resulted in delays with regards to shipping, and acceptance into Orange Pi forums. Several people have now received their boards, and while many found it to work fine, I’ve been informed several people apparently got a non booting device. People on Youtube and Orange Pi Forums also complained about a booting issue until Ethernet lights up, or Ethernet not working, while other reports Linux is working, but not Android. Unless there was a bad batch during manufacturing, it’s hopefully mostly a firmware issue. The person who reports Ethernet not working, first used the images from Orange […]

September 26, 2015November 3, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 44 Comments

Status of Orange Pi Boards GPIO Support

Yesterday, one person asked me to make a video showing GPIO control on Orange Pi 2 mini on YouTube, and since I have just completed a post about Orange Pi camera, I thought it might be fun to check GPIO support too. This post focuses on Allwinner H3 boards, but the instructions and status should be very similar for Allwinner A20 and A31s versions. One of the first things you want before starting playing with GPIOs is the expansion header’s pinout chart, and I could not find any until I had the idea to check for schematics, which are available on Orange Pi resources page. I downloaded the schematics for Orange Pi 2, which should be the same as for Orange Pi 2 mini as the only difference is the lack of WiFi module. Orange Pi PC is a little different, and the schematics are nowhere to be found, but […]

September 26, 2015July 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 40 Comments

How to Use Orange Pi Camera in Linux (with Motion)

Earlier this month, I wrote a Quick Start Guide for Orange Pi Allwinner H3 boards such as Orange Pi PC, and showed how to install and configure Debian on the boards. I’ve also received the $5.90 Orange Pi camera, which when combined an Orange Pi PC, costs around $27 including shipping. So today, I’ve attached the CSI camera to my Orange Pi 2 mini board, and used it with motion to transform for the board into an IP camera. First, you’ll need to insert the camera into CON1 connector with the camera facing the ceiling, and close the black clip to keep it in place. Now connect all cable and power on your board. First, I studied the steps described on that forum thread, and modified Allwinner configuration files, but after one or two hours, I found out some work at been done since May, and it was now much […]

September 17, 2015September 22, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 35 Comments

Zidoo Releases Kodi Source Code Modifications for Rockchip RK3368 and Allwinner H3

Kodi is a popular open source media center, but many companies will not simply install the version released on Kodi.org, and instead modify the source code to bring their own improvements. However most companies never release the source as they ought to as per the GPL license used by Kodi. The good news is that Zidoo released their modifications for Rockchip RK3368 and Allwinner H3. Their modifications include support for 3D MVC,7.1 Channel HD Audio pass through, and HW decoding for Rockchip RK3368, and 5.1 audio pass-through, 4K @ 30 fps, and H.265 hardware video decoding for Allwinner H3. You can read the announcement on Kodi forums for RK3368 (Kodi 15.1) and H3 (Kodi 14.2). Kodi 15.1 source code for Rockchip RK3368 can be found on github (make sure to use zidoo-15.1 branch, and not master). In order to build Kodi yourself, you’ll however need the latest version of Rockchip […]

September 8, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

pcDuino8 Uno is an Allwinner H8 Octa-core Development Board with Arduino Headers

H7 Hummingbird development board powered by Allwinner H8 octa-core Cortex A7 processor with support for 1080p H265 video decoding launched this summer, but Merrii does not usually provide much support to individual developers. Linksprite is about to launch a new H8 development board that also comes with Arduino compatible headers. pcDuino8 Uno board specifications: SoC – AllWinner H8 octa-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor @ up to 2.0GHz with PowerVR SGX544 GPU @ up to 700MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 1.4 up to 1080p with HDCP support Audio I/O – HDMI, 3.5mm analog audio jack Connectivity – Ethernet (100M LAN shown on board, but “Gbps” listed in specs) USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 2x micro USB ports (1x OTG, 1x power only) Camera – 1x MIPI CSI header Expansion Headers – Arduino Uno headers with 14x […]

September 2, 2015September 2, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Debian 8 on Orange Pi mini 2 Board (Video)

Yesterday, I wrote a quick start guide for Orange Pi PC / 2 / Plus showing how to install Linux distributions on the board, and build your own image. With the launch of the $15 Orange Pi PC, Xunlong Software has taken over 1,500 orders for the board on their Aliexpress store, and probably sold a few hundreds or thousands in China via Taobao. So the board got relatively popular in a short time, considering it’s only selling via these two channels. I tested my tutorial with Orange Pi mini 2 ($23), a very similar board also based on Allwinner H3, but just a little larger and with an extra USB hosty port, but apart from that it’s similar to Orange Pi PC, and software compatible. I had already wrote about my test results in the previous article, where I did not recommend using the board in Linux as a […]

September 1, 2015March 13, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 66 Comments

Getting Started with Orange Pi PC, Pi 2 and Pi Plus Development Boards

I’ve recently received a kit based on Orange Pi mini 2 development board powered by Allwinner H3 quad core processor, but contrary to most other devices or boards I reviewed, this one what sent to me by one of my reader (thanks Jon!) as for various reasons he did not need to get it shipped to him. Today, I’ll start by showing off the kit I received, before writing a quick start guide showing how to install a Debian, and build your own Linux image. The instructions will work for all Orange Pi Allwinner H3 boards, including Orange Pi 2, Orange Pi Plus, and the recently launched Orange Pi PC, which has been rather popular thanks to its low $15 price tag. Orange Pi mini 2 Board Kit and CSI Camera This is what I got in the package… The board with a regulatory compliance and safety information sheet, as […]