NXP i.MX Category - Page 57 of 68 - CNX Software

May 21, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Debian 7.0 Installer for Hi802 / GK802 mini PCs

We’ve had Ubuntu support on i.MX6 HDMI dongles, specifically HiApad Hi802 and Zealz GK802, for a little while, but for those who prefer Debian distribution, a Debian installer is now available thanks to Angus Gratton. Bear in mind that 2D/3D GPU acceleration is disabled in order to save 192MB RAM, as this image is mainly destined to server and/or robotic applications. If you need a desktop experience with GPU acceleration, you’d have to use Ubuntu, or you may try enable it in Debian, and see if it works, but this has not been tested. The instructions below are to be used with the internal microSD card, but if you’re ready to hack a bit around, it might be possible to run the installer from an external microSD or USB device thanks to Jasbir’s U-boot multiboot. You’d still need to use an internal microSD, but you’d only have to open the […]

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

Earl Rugged E-ink Tablet for the Outdoors

Earl is a rugged Android 4.1 Android Tablet with all you need for the outdoors including a 6″ E-ink display to be readable in all light conditions, GPS capability, and 20 hours of battery life. And if it’s not enough, you can also recharge this water-proof device with the built-in solar panel on your way to the mountain top. Here are the specifications of this device: SoC – Freescale i.MX 6 DualLight Cortex A9 @ 1GHz + Vivante GC880 GPU System Memory – 1GB Storage – 16GB flash + microSD slot Display – Flexible 6″ E-ink screen (1024×768), with glove friendly IR touchscreen Connectivity – Wifi b/g/n, BT 4.0, ANT+, NFC, FRS/GMRS/MURS, and GPS + GLONASS Sensors – Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Magnetometer, Temperature, Barometer, Humidity, and Anemometer Misc – Radio AM/FM/SW/LW + IR blaster Battery – 3000 mAh (20+ hour) rechargeable with solar panel or via the provided 20″ USB lanyard. […]

April 24, 2013April 24, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Freescale i.MX 6 TV Dongle Schematics, PCB Layout, and Application Notes

We already had the source code for Freescale i.MX6 HDMI TV dongle, and some work has been done on the Linux front by imx6-dongle community to make Ubuntu work on Hi802 and GK802 mini PCs. Today, I’ve just found out Freescale has also released the hardware files and some application notes for their HDMI TV dongle reference platform (MX6x_HDMI_DONGLE). There are 2 files for download: hdmi_dongle_hardware_design_package.rar.zip – Hardware files for i.MX 6 mini PC app_note.rar.zip – Zip file with some hardware application notes Let’s have a look at the hardware design files: wifi_rtl8192ce.zip – Schematics in PDF and DSN (OrCAD) format, gerber files, BoM and manufacturing files for the Wi-Fi module. bom_hdmi_dongle_revb2_20130116_1500.xls – Bill of materials for i.MX 6 HDMI dongle pcb_hdmi_dongle-revb2-20130116_1700.rar – PCB layout (.brd) and gerber files sch_hdmi_dongle_revb2_20130116_1500.rar – Schematics for i.MX6 mini PC in PDF and DSN formats. We also have three application notes: AN4397 Common Hardware […]

April 12, 2013December 24, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

UDOO Single Board Computer Features Freescale i.MX6 Dual/Quad and Atmel SAM3 MCU

Have you ever dreamed of a single board with the power of 4 Raspberry Pi and Arduino Due functionality? This dream should soon become reality thanks to UDOO single board computer. This open source hardware board is powered by Freescale i.MX6 Dual or Quad with 1GB RAM, as well as Atmel SAM3 Cortex M3 MCU that provides access to Arduino compatible headers. Here are the specifications of the board: SoC – Freescale i.MX6 ARM Cortex-A9 CPU Dual/Quad Core @ 1GHz + Vivante GPU MCU – Atmel SAM3X8E ARM Cortex-M3 (same as Arduino Due) System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – micro SD (boot device) + SATA (i.MX6 Quad only) Video Output – HDMI and LVDS + Touch (I2C signals) Audio I/O – Analog Audio and Mic Expansion Headers – 54 Digital I/O + Analog Input (Arduino-compatible R3 1.0 pinout) Connectivity Ethernet RJ45 (10/100/1000 MBit) WiFi Module USB – mini USB […]

April 11, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Kontron Unveils SMARC Starterkit for ARM Systems-on-Module

You may have previously heard about ULP-COM (Ultra Low Power CoM), a standard for systems and computers on module. The standard has been ratified by the Standardization Group for Embedded Technologies (SGET) in February 2013, and renamed to SMARC (Smart Mobility ARChitecture). This standard is specifically designed for low power designed, and is currently only used with ARM SoC. Kontron was involved in the design of this standard, released several ULP-COM, now SMARC, compatible CoM based on TI, Freescale and Nvidia SoC, and yesterday the company just announced SMARC Starterkit will all hardware and software components needed to get started with evaluation and development. This starter kit comes in a carrying case with the following items: SMARC Evaluation Carrier Board 7″ Display PM070W4 (WVGA – 800×480) Touch USB Kit ETP04USBR Mounting Kit Adapter and Cables: 1x Kontron LVDS Jili30 Adapter incl. cable 1x DSUB9 1x micro USB USB A Storage […]

April 5, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Preliminary Ubuntu 12.04 RootFS for GK802/HI802 mini PC

After releasing a pretty good Ubuntu 11.10 image with both VPU and GPU acceleration for Freescale i.MX6 based HDMI dongles last month, Jasbir (aka jas-hacks) has released an Ubuntu 12.04 image with GPU support thanks to the help of Octavio (Yocto Project contributor), and Wi-Fi support. It’s possible to select Unity 2D or Xubuntu desktop, and Chromium and Neverball, a 3D ball game, are part of the image. There’s still more work however, as VPU (Video Processing Unit) support is work in progress, Bluetooth does not work yet, and OpenGL ES test programs such as glmark2-es2 or es2gears do not work properly with Xubuntu, even though they do work fine with Unity 2D. Jasbir uploaded a video showing Neverball 3D game in GK802, and it works pretty good, although the framerate does not seem optimal for now. If you want to give this image a try, install GK802 Ubuntu 11.10 […]

April 2, 2013April 2, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

$99 MarS Board Features Freescale i.MX6 Dual, 4GB eMMC

Embest, a subsidiary of Element14, has just announced the MarS Board, a development board powered by Freescale i.MX6 Dual (2x Cortex A9) with 1 GB RAM and 4GB eMMC flash. This is not related to the Marsboard based on AllWinner A10, and designed & manufactured by another company. Here are the key features of the MarS Board: SoC – Freescale i.MX6 Dual 2xCortex-A9 Processor @ 1GHz + Vivante GC2000 GPU. System Memory – 1GB RAM (4*256MB DDR3 SDRAM) Storage – 4GB eMMC + micro SD card slot (up to 32GByte) Video Output – 1xHDMI interface, 1x LVDS interface and 1x LCD interface USB – 4x USB Host ports (2x USB connector, 2x via headers), 1x mini USB OTG port, and 1x mini USB for debug Connectivity – 10/100M/1Gbps RJ45 Ethernet interface 2 Expansion Hearders – 2x CAN, 2x IIC, Audio & SPDIF, 8bit IPU1(Camera), SPI, USDHC1(SD card), 4x UART, 2x […]

April 1, 2013April 2, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Wandboard Releases Updated Android and Ubuntu Linux Images and Source Code

Since I’ve received my previous short review of the Wandboard Dual development board, there has been more work on done the platform with new Android and Ubuntu images, Jelly Bean source, Linux SDK release, and git repo setup. I’ve tried the binary images, and had a quick look at the source code and corresponding documentation. Android 4.1.2 Image and Source Code Wanboard has release an improved Android image on the 14th of March which you can download for both Solo and Dual version of the development board with the following Changelog: Fix HDMI audio/playback issue with certain monitor. Add support for wifi on wandboard-dual. Known issue: Might need to turn off “Avoid poor connections” in Wi-Fi ->Advanced to keep connection alive. I’ve given it a try in Wandboard Dual, and it seems Ethernet support is gone (Sorry my mistake, Ethernet IS working, but there’s no indication when it’s connected, and […]