Category: Broadcom BCMxxxx

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 71 Comments on Raspberry Pi 3, ODROID-C2 and Pine A64+ Development Boards Comparison

Raspberry Pi 3, ODROID-C2 and Pine A64+ Development Boards Comparison

Raspberry Pi 3 and hardkernel ODROID-C2 launched the same day, and together with Pine A64/A64+, are the only ultra low cost (<$40) 64-bit ARM development boards available or soon-to-be available, so I’ve decided to make a comparison of the three boards the same way I did with ~$10 boards with a Raspberry Pi Zero, C.H.I.P, and Orange Pi One comparison. I’ve used features of Pine A64+ instead of Pine A64 since features and price are closer to the other two boards. Text highlighted in green means a board is clearly better than the other two for a given features, while a red highlight means it’s the weakest of the three. Raspberry Pi 3 ODROID-C2 Pine A64 Plus Processor Broadcom BCM2837 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2 GHz(4x ~2760 DMIPS) Amlogic S905 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 2.0 GHz(4x ~4600 DMIPS) Allwinner A64 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on 64-bit ARM (Aarch64) Instructions Boost Performance by 15 to 3012 Compared to 32-bit ARM (Aarch32) Instructions

64-bit ARM (Aarch64) Instructions Boost Performance by 15 to 30% Compared to 32-bit ARM (Aarch32) Instructions

Yesterday was quite an eventful day with the launch of two low cost 64-bit ARM development boards, namely Raspberry Pi 3 and ODROID-C2, and as usual there were some pretty interesting discussions related to the launch of the boards in the comments section. One of the subject that came is that while Raspberry Pi 3 board is using a 64-bit processor, the operating systems are still compiled with 32-bit instructions (Aarch32) and even optimized for ARMv6, and they intend to keep it that way according to Eben Upton interview: Eben readily admits that not all the capabilities of the new parts are going to be used at launch, however. “Although it is a 64‑bit core, we’re using it as just a faster 32-bit core,” he reveals about the Pi 3’s central processing unit. “I can imagine there’d be some real benefits [to 64-bit code]. The downside is that you do […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 32 Comments on Raspberry Pi 3 Board is Powered by Broadcom BCM2837 Cortex A53 Processor, Sells for $35

Raspberry Pi 3 Board is Powered by Broadcom BCM2837 Cortex A53 Processor, Sells for $35

Raspberry Pi 3 board was first found on the FCC website, and thanks to various other leaks we had a pretty good idea of the board specifications including a Broadcom 64-bit ARM processor coupled with 1GB RAM, WiFi and Bluetooth, as well as basically the same features and ports as Raspberry Pi 2 Model B. But with the fourth anniversary of the Raspberry Pi Model 1 board, Raspberry Pi 3 has now officially been launched, and you can now purchase the board for $35. Raspberry Pi 3 specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2837 64bit ARMv8 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2GHz with dual core VideoCore IV GPU @ 400 MHz supporting OpenGL ES 2.0, hardware-accelerated OpenVG, and 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode. Capable of 1Gpixel/s, 1.5Gtexel/s or 24GFLOPs with texture filtering and DMA infrastructure System Memory – 1GB LPDDR2 Storage – micro SD slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 75 Comments on Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Board Features a 64-Bit ARM Processor, Adds WiFi and Bluetooth Connectivity

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Board Features a 64-Bit ARM Processor, Adds WiFi and Bluetooth Connectivity

The Raspberry Pi foundation is working on yet another model of the popular Raspberry Pi boards, as the Raspberry Pi 3 model B board has showed up on the FCC website. The new board looks very similar to Raspberry Pi 2 model B, but adds on-board WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz only) and Bluetooth 4.0. Let’s play “spot the difference” with Raspberry Pi 2 at the top and Raspberry Pi 3 under. The processor looks the same as the BCM2836 quad core Cortex A7 SoC found on model 2 B, but one redditer claims it could be a 64-bit processor due to some MagPi ad. [Update: that’s the MagPi ad which confirms Raspberry Pi 3 will feature a 64-bit ARM processor @ 1.2 GHz. Thanks Gabe! ] We’ll find the WiFi/BT chip antenna on the top left corner, and two through holes on the right of the 40-pin connectors, likely the […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments on Raspberry Pi Zero Board is Back in Stock at Pimoroni

Raspberry Pi Zero Board is Back in Stock at Pimoroni

Raspberry Pi Zero has been quite popular when it launched due to its $5 price tag, excluding shipping and taxes. It’s been too popular actually, as manufacturing could not keep pace with demand, and resellers soon had to show it as Out of Stock, or simply decided to complete pull out the product page such as Element 14. The supply tightness has lasted a few weeks, and recently I showed on GearBest for $19.10 including shipping, but it’s now out of stock, and the company expects to get more boards mid March… This also led to a website called whereismypizero.com which automatically tracks stock on some of the main distributors, namely Element14, Adafruit,  The PiHut, Pimoroni, and Raspberry Pi Swag. The good news is that it is back on Pimoroni, where you can get a Raspberry Pi Zero board for 4.25 GBP ($6), unless you live outside of Europe, and […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Kodi 16 “Jarvis” Release

Kodi 16 “Jarvis” Release

This morning, I saw Kodi installed from Google Play get an update in one of my Android device, and that means that Kodi 16.0 “Jarvis” has now been released. As usual it’s available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Android, and iOS, with specific Linux ports for Raspberry Pi boards, and several Freescale/NXP i.MX6 boards such as Wandboard or EzeeCube. You can get the full Changelog in the Wiki, but some of the main changes against Kodi 15 include: Various new features for Live TV and PVR (Personal Video Recorder) Added RDS Radio, FM radio, scheduling recordings of TV shows… Various improvements such as speeding up EPG database access. Added, updated, and improved PVR backend clients addons for all popular third-party external PVR backend platforms: FilmOn, HDHomeRun, Enigma 2, Tvheadend HTSP Client, and so on. Add-ons Framework, API, and Manager improvements Platform Independent Playback improvements : software DTS-HD decode with libdcadec, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on Open Source Operating Systems News – Maru OS, Zephyr, ReactOS, Tizen 3.0, and Raspbian

Open Source Operating Systems News – Maru OS, Zephyr, ReactOS, Tizen 3.0, and Raspbian

There have been several news related to open source operating systems in the last couple of weeks including Maru OS to run Debian on Android, Zephyr Project real-time OS managed by the Linux Foundation, ReactOS an open source port of Windows XP, and Raspberry Pi boards are getting a Tizen 3.0 port, as well as a new Raspbian release. Maru OS – Mobile <-> Desktop  Convergence Maru OS mobile operating system is supposed to do what Ubuntu convergence promised: it runs in mobile mode on the go with Android Lollipop mobile OS, once you connect the phone to an HDMI screen, and pair Bluetooth keyboard and/or mouse, it will switch to desktop mode running Debian Linux. The downside is that so far it a single developer (Preetam D’Souza) worked on it, and the beta version only works on Nexus 5 smartphone. However, since the project went viral, dozen of other […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Crowdfunded Projects Use Raspberry Pi and ODROID Boards into Home Theater PCs and Retro Game Consoles

Crowdfunded Projects Use Raspberry Pi and ODROID Boards into Home Theater PCs and Retro Game Consoles

I’ve been tipped about two separate projects launched on Indiegogo and Kickstarter that integrate Raspberry Pi or ODROID boards into their products. indieGO! retro gaming console and distribution leverages Raspberry Pi 2, ODROID-C1+, or ODROID-XU4 to play older games, while Pi2Media HT1 relies on either Raspberry Pi2, and later the upcoming UP Board or ODROID-C2 boards in order to offer a Surround 7.1 Home Theater PC. indieGO! Retro Game Console Beside the development board, indieGo! also includes a DVD-RW drive, an SD card reader, a mini-ITX case, a 3D-Printed I/O-shield and ARM board holder, a USB joypad, and two USB ports. indieGO!-OS is also a Linux distribution based on AEROS running Exagear which means both ARM (native) and x86 (emulation) executables will run on the device. Pre-isntalled programs include Wine, Kodi, Moonlight, AmiCloud, and EmuLA. The many emulators installed allow support for games running Playstation, C64, Dreamcast, Game Boy, Atari, Sega, PC, […]

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