NXP i.MX Category - Page 58 of 70 - CNX Software

May 27, 2013May 27, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

UDOO QUAD vs BeagleBone Black vs Wandboard Dual vs ODROID-X2 vs Raspberry Pi

UDOO QUAD is a development board featuring both Freescale i.MX 6Quad and an Atmel SAM3 Cortex M3 MCU, that’s currently having a very successful campaign on Kickstarter, as the total amount pledged is now close to $500,000 US. UDOO decided to put a comparison table against four other ARM Linux boards they consider their main competitors: the BeagleBone Black for its numerous I/O options, Wandboard Dual, also a Freescale i.MX6 powered board, the ODROID X2 for its powerful Exynos 4412 processor, and Raspberry Pi model B which is ubiquitous. The Cubieboard board would also have been an interesting addition, but they did not include it. As you would have guessed the green parts in the tablet shows the winner for each features according to UDOO team. These 5 boards vary greatly in terms of price, and since this is not included in the table above, I’ll mention the price of […]

May 23, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Digia Brings Qt to Embedded Android Devices with Boot to Qt

Digia has recently announced Boot to Qt Technology Preview, a commercial offering that provides a solution for the creation of user interfaces on embedded systems. For the first version, they stripped out Android of Java, or other unnecessary parts (Zygote, SurfaceFlinger), added Qt/QML, and tested it on on ARM and x86 hardware. Boot to Qt includes the following main features: A light-weight UI stack for embedded Linux, based on the Qt Framework – Boot to Qt is built on an Android kernel/baselayer and offers an elegant means of developing beautiful and performant embedded devices. Ready-made images – We have images for several different devices which include the Boot to Qt software stack, making it possible to get up and running with minimal effort from day one. Full Qt Creator Integration – One-click deploy and run on hardware and a fully featured development environment. Simulator – A VirtualBox based simulator which allows device development […]

May 22, 2013May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 25 Comments

Wi-Fi Performance Comparison for Android Media Players and HDMI Sticks

If you’re mainly using your Android mini PC or STB to stream videos over the web or your local network, Wi-Fi performance is actually more important than CPU performance, and I’ve recently had quite a few issues with Wi-Fi with both T428 (RK3188 / Broadcom Wi-Fi module) and CS868 (AllWinner A31 / Realtek Wi-Fi module), which were only fixed after upgrading my router firmware. So I’ve decided to re-test most of the mini PCs I own with the upgraded router firmware, and the number are highly confusing, and I found out there’s probably be no easy to way to estimate the overall Wi-Fi performance of any device, and it’s most probably highly dependent on the router used, and its firmware version. My router is TP-LINK WR940N, a 300 Mbps Wireless N router with three antennas. Since I bought it, I had never upgraded the firmware (3.9.18 Build 100104 Rel.36350n) from […]

May 21, 2013May 29, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Linux-based $99 Ceptor HDMI Stick Powered by Freescale i.MX 6Dual

Thanks to individuals developers, we’ve been able to get Linux distributions based on Ubuntu, or Debian run on HDMI TV dongles for about a year, but nearly all of them just come with Android and that’s it. The only two exceptions I can think of are PengPod Pengstick and FXI Technologies Cotton Candy, where actively work on Ubuntu support, and provide images to boot from microSD. But now, Devon IT has developed a mini PC, called Ceptor powered by Freescale i.MX 6Dual processor with 1GB RAM, and up to 32GB Flash. It runs Linux-based ZeTOS operating system, and is destined at creating virtual desktop solutions for the enterprise. The casing just looks like HiaPad Hi802 or Zealz GK802 , but the internal specifications are slightly different: SoC – Freescale i.MX 6Dual @ 1 GHz + Vivance GC2000 GPU System Memory – 512MB or 1GB DDR3 Storage – up to 32GB eMMC […]

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 […]