It’s hard to keep up, but Shenzhen Xunlong has launched another Orange Pi board, as two weeks after introducing Orange Pi Zero Plus 2 development board, the company has now introduced “Orange Pi Zero Plus 2 H5” board, with the exact same specification, except Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 32-bit processor has been replaced by Allwinner H5 quad core Cortex A53 64-bit processor. Orange Pi Zero Plus 2 H5 board specifications: SoC – Allwinner H5 quad core Cortex A53 processor with 2+4 core Mali-450MP4 GPU System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 SDRAM Storage – 8GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI port Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0 LE (Ampak AP6212) with u.FL antenna connector and external antenna USB – 1x micro USB OTG port Camera – MIPI CSI port Expansion headers – Unpopulated 26-pin “Raspberry Pi B+” header + 13-pin header […]
Rikomagic R1 Android Projector Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Teardown
Rikomagic R1 Android mini projector runs Android 4.4 on Rockchip RK3128 quad core processor, and the company sent me a sample for review, so today I’ll first do an unboxing, and partial teardown, before testing the projector in more details in the second part of the review. Rikomagic R1 Projector Unboxing The projector comes with a white package marked RKM R1. The bottom of the package indicated its unsurprisingly based on Texas Instruments DLP technology with a LED light, and is equipped with a touch panel and a battery. More importantly, there’s a QR code that links to R1 Setup Guide, which for once will be useful, as this device has some unique features. The projector ships with a 5V/2.5A power supply, an IR remote control, a HDMI cable, a tripod, and an adapter to make the interface between the projector box and the tripod. The top of the device […]
Linux based iWave Systems OBD-II Dongle Comes with 4G LTE and GPS
OBD-II dongles that you connect to your car’s OBD-II port have been around for several years, but they were initially simple devices with USB or Bluetooth connectivity that you control with your smartphone or computer. More recently we’ve seen more complex OBD-II head-up-diplays, and boards such as Macchina M2 open-source hardware OBD-II board that takes various XBee modules for 4G, Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and so on. iWave Systems, a company better known for their system-on-modules, has now unveiled their own OBD-II dongle with NXP i.MX 6UL processor running Linux, and integrating 4G LTE and GPS by default. iWave Systems OBD-II dongle specifications: Processor – NXP i.MX 6UL ARM Cortex-A7 processor @ 528/696MHz Memory – 256 MB DDR3 (Optionally upgradeable to higher capacity) Storage – 256 MB NAND Flash (optionally upgradeable to higher capacity). Connectivity – Built-in 4G Modem with antenna, optional WiFi & Bluetooth 4.0 LE module Positioning – […]
NanoPi NEO2 Board, NanoHats, and BakeBit Starter Kit Review – Part 1: Hardware Overview & Assembly
NanoPi NEO 2 development board is an update of NanoPi NEO with a quad core 64-bit Allwinner H5 processor + 512 MB RAM, Gigabit Ethernet, and an extra audio header, which can be a great little board for headless application since there’s no video output. FriendlyELEC ask me whether I wanted to review to board with some of their NanoHATs add-on boards, and while I asked for NanoHat PCM5102A audio board and NEO Hub which I intended to use with Grove modules from my Wio Link Started Kit, I get a bit more than expected, as the company included sets of NEO 2 boards and accessories, NanoHATs, two serial debug board, and their BakeBit Starter Kit with several Grove modules to play with. Since I have so many things to look at in this first post, I’ll just describe the hardware, assemble it, quickly check the paper documentation, and give […]
Instreamer App Streams Zidoo X8/X9S/X10 HDMI Video Input to YouTube Live / RTMP Servers with FFmpeg
Zidoo X8, X9S and the upcoming X10, are TV boxes powered by Realtek RTD1295 processor with an HDMI input. The stock firmware already supports UDP broadcasting, but robbi5 decided he needed more, and designed Instreamer “HDMI IN Streamer” app leveraging work from Danman’s ZidoStream app for Mstar TV boxes and Zidoo’s own VideoAndHdmiIN app. Instreamer app supports the following: Streaming as MPEG-TS to network (unicast/multicast) Streaming in FLV format to RTMP server (e.g. Youtube) No need for intermediate recording file – thus no length limit Streaming runs in background HDMI out is usable as pass-through That looks good. Installation is easy. Download and install the latest Instreamer APK release Download and extract FFmpeg Android binaries to /mnt/sdcard You’ll be able to adjust a few video and audio settings after launching the app (not tested as I don’t have X9S anymore). You can now start a terminal, and stream HDMI input […]
CubieBoard6 Development Board Powered by Actions Semi S500 Processor Comes with SATA, LiPo Battery Support
CubieTech launched Cubieboard with Allwinner A10 processor in 2012, and while they may not be as popular as some other boards like Raspberry Pi, ODROID, or Orange Pi boards in 2017, the company is still around after around 5 years, and their latest board is Cubieboard6 powered by Action Semi S500 quad core Cortex A9 processor with 2GB RAM, 8GB flash, HDMI, wired & wireless connectivity, SATA, battery support and more. Cubieboard6 specifications: SoC – Actions Semi S500 quad core ARM Cortex-A9 processor with Imagination PowerVR SGX544 GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 Storage 8GB eMMC flash SATA 3.0 port for 2.5″ HDD/SSD up to 4TB micro SD card slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 1.4b up to 1080p60 Audio I/O – Via HDMI output, 3.5mm audio output (HP) jack, 3.5mm audio input (MIC) jack Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE (AP6212) with u.FL […]
GnuBee Personal Cloud 1 Low Cost Linux NAS Supports Up to Six 2.5″ SATA Drives (Crowdfunding)
Networked Access Storage (NAS) with a large number of SATA bays usually cost several hundreds dollars up to thousands of dollars depending on the features set and performance, but there’s a new a project called GnuBee Personal Cloud 1, or GB-PC1, that delivers a MIPS Linux system supporting up to six 2.5″ SATA drives for less than $200. GB-PC1 NAS specifications: Processor – MediaTek MT7621A dual core, quad thread processor @ 880 MHz, overclockable to 1.2 GHz System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot tested up to 64 GB, 6x 2.5” SATA HDD or SSD Connectivity – Dual Gigabit Ethernet USB – 1x USB 3.0 port, 2x USB 2.0 ports Serial port – 3-pin J1 connector or 3.5 mm audio-type jack Power – 12 VDC @ 3 A via 5.5 mm x 2.1 mm, center-positive barrel jack Dimensions – 21.6 cm (L) x 7 cm […]
Atomo is a Raspberry Pi Compatible Modular Electronics Prototyping System (Crowdfunding)
Atomo is a modular electronics protyping system comprised of four elements: Control, I/O, Power, and Connector, with the PCBs for each category color-coded with respectively red, blue, green, and black. The connector board connects power, I/O and control(ler) boards together in a way that’s supposed to be neater than most hand made prototypes. The whole ecosystem includes 15 different boards: Controllers with 26-pin Raspberry Pi compatible header 2 IO Module Controller (CM-M2K22-A) based on NXP Kinetis K22F MCU 4 IO Module Controller (CM-M4K64-A) based on NXP Kinetis K64F MCU 8 IO Module Controller (CM-M8K64-A) based on NXP Kinetis K64F MCU Connectors 8 IO Module Connector (GM_M8P2_A) – Dim: 145mm x 100mm; power up to 40V @ 64A 4 IO Module Connector (GM_M4P1_A) – Dim: 71mm x 100mm; power up to 40V @ 32A 2 IO Module Connector (GM_M2P1_A) – Dim: 71mm x 65mm; power up to 40V @ 16A 2 IO Module Low-Power Connector […]