Rockchip RK32xx Category - Page 27 of 28 - CNX Software

April 23, 2014April 23, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Linux Kernel Source Code and Chromium OS Overlay for Rockchip RK3288

A few days ago, we’ve seen Chromium OS running on Rockchip RK3288 development platform. I’ve been informed the source code could have already been released via the newly registered rkchrome github account with Linux kernel 3.10.30 and the overlay files to build Chromium OS for RK3288. There’s also a u-boot repository but it is currently empty. This Linux kernel can also boot Rockchip RK3188 based Radxa Rock development board, but more tests are needed to see if it’s really usable. I’ll have a look at the Linux kernel, and try to build it, and leave the Chromium OS part for later or other people. Let’s retrieve the source code:

git clone https://github.com/rkchrome/kernel.git
cd kernel

1 2	git clone https://github.com/rkchrome/kernel.git cd kernel

We’ve got two kernel config files related to Rockchip in arch/arm/config:

ls arch/arm/configs/ | grep rock
rockchip_chromium_defconfig
rockchip_defconfig

ls arch/arm/configs/ | grep rock

rockchip_chromium_defconfig

rockchip_defconfig

But since this is a recent 3.10 kernel with support for Flattened Device Tree support, and multi-platform support, there’s not much to be seen in these files, and […]

April 14, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Rockchip RK3288 based Android and Chromium OS Tablets and TV Boxes (Video)

After the first RK3288 Android TV boxes started to be promoted on Alibaba, and the first RK3288 board was shown, Rockchip is currently showing their quad core Cortex A17 processor in reference designs, tablets, and TV boxes running Android or Chromium OS at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair. Charbax interviewed the company, and the first demo was a development board connected to an LCD display running Chromium OS, which is said to handle 30 tabs without issues. Rockchip RK3288 is now advertised as being a quad core Cortex A17 with a Mali-T764 GPU, but when Rockchip representative was asked, he strangely denied to comment on whether it was a Cortex A12 or A17, as both are very similar. He also said the GPU was a Mali-T760MP4… If this seems all confusing that’s because it is… Some interesting things are H.265/HEVC support for 4K2K videos, and HDMI 2.0 for 4K @ […]

April 11, 2014May 28, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 31 Comments

Ugoos UT3 Rockchip RK3288 based Android TV Box (Board Pictures and Specs)

We’ve already seen RK3288 based Android TV boxes and sticks started to be advertised on Alibaba, and today Ugoos contacted me and shared some pictures and specs of their PCBA for Ugoos UT3 Android 4.4 TV box based on Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex A17 + Mali-T764 GPU SoC. Here are the specs of the board and product: SoC – Rockchip RK3288 quad core CortexA17 @ 1.8GHz + Mali-T764 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 /3.0, and OpenCL 1.1 System Memory – 2GB DDR3 (Option: 4GB) Storage – 8GB NAND Flash (Options: 16, 32 or 64GB) + micro SD card slot (up to 32 GB) Connectivity – 100M/1000M Ethernet, dual band WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz/5GHz) and 802.11 a/c using external Wi-Fi antenna, Bluetooth 4.0 (option?) Video I/F HDMI 1.4a output (female) up to 4k2k @ 30 fps, 1080p60 AV output (3.5mm jack) HDMI input (female) up to 1080p Audio I/F […]

April 9, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

Rockchip RK3288 based Android Mini PCs and TV Boxes Are Starting to Show Up (Wholesale)

Rockchip RK3288 based devices should be available soon. At the end of last month, I read Pipo was about to introduce RK3288 Tablets at the Hong Kong electronics fair this month, and yesterday I’ve been informed some RK3288 mini PCs and TV Boxes had started to appear on Alibaba. RK3288 HDMI TV Dongle (D368) D368 mini PC is said to come with the following specs according to a product page on Alibaba: SoC – Rockchip RK3288 quad core ARM Cortex-A17 with Mali-T7xx 3D GPU (OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 /3.0,and OpenCL 1.1) System Memory – 2GB DDR3 (Optional:1GB) Storage – 8GB NAND Flash (Options: 4GB and 16GB), micro SD card (up to 32GB) Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4a (Resolution 4K and 1080p60 support) Connectivity – Dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and 802.11ac, optional Bluetooth 4.0. Video Codecs Decode – H.265, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4,H.263, H.264, AVS, VC-1, RV, VP6/VP8, Sorenson Spark, MVC […]

March 3, 2014March 3, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

ARM Interview about Cortex A17 Processor [Video]

When ARM announced their new Cortex A17 core, I could not quite understand why they would release another core with performance and features somewhat similar to Cortex A12 and Cortex A15. Charbax interviewed Nandan Nayampally, ARM VP of Processor Marketing, at Mobile World Congress 2014 and everything is much more clear now. Cortex A17 is based on A12, but adds support for big.LITTLE processing support with Cortex A7, and further improves performance. In some work loads Cortex A17 can currently match Cortex A15 performance, and by 2015, Cortex A17 will have performance similar to A15, and replace it in mid range devices as it has a lower footprint and lower cost. High-end products will switch to 64-Bit with Cortex A53 or A57 next year. The interviewee did not say this explicitly but it could be many companies will simply skip Cortex A12, and directly use Cortex A17, just like Rockchip […]

February 27, 2014November 23, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

Rockchip RK3288 Specifications Released

Somebody working for a Chinese manufacturer informed me Rockchip RK3288 specifications have been released on rk3288.com. We’ve already known the application processor was based on a quad core Cortex A17 processor with a Mali-T76X GPU, but this website provides some more details which appears to have been taken from RK3288 technical reference manual. I can’t confirm the source nor the accuracy of the data, but I doubt somebody would have just put up something with detailed fake information. They mention RK3288 is an application processor destined to be used in high-end tablets, notebooks, all-in-one devices, smart monitors and TV Boxes, and that it features 4Kx2K support.. Let’s have a look at the details. CPU Quad-Core Cortex-A17 Separately Integrated Neon and FPU per CPU 32KB/32KB L1 ICache/DCache per CPU Unified 1MB L2 Cache LPAE (Large Physical Address Extensions), support up to 8GB address space Virtualization Extensions Support DVFS support 3D GPU […]

February 11, 2014February 11, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

ARM Unveils Cortex A17 Processor, First Used in Mediatek MT6595 and Rockchip RK3288 SoCs

Finally all these ARM Cortex A17 marketing materials for Rockchip RK3288 were not some typos, but Rockchip marketing team may just have not received the memo reading “Confidential”, as ARM has now officially announced Cortex A17 processor based on ARMv7-A architecture, with support for big.LITTLE with Cortex A7, and that can be coupled with Mali-T720 mid-range GPU and Mali-V500 VPU. After Cortex A15, and Cortex A12, you may wonder “Why? But Why did ARM had to launch yet another new core?”. Here’s the company answer to that question: The Cortex-A17 processor offers 60% performance uplift over the Cortex-A9 processor, the current leader in mid-range mobile market, and betters the best efficiency enabling optimized solutions to address existing and new products. The Cortex-A17 processor is based on the popular ARMv7-A architecture, today’s most successful architecture in the mobile market. With over 1M apps supporting the ARMv7-A architecture, the Cortex-A17 processor is […]

January 10, 2014May 10, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 35 Comments

Rockchip RK3288 vs RK3188 Performance Comparison

We were expecting some new processors at CES 2014, but this CES turned out to be mostly disappointing, and the vast majority of reporters present at the conference, do not seem interested in covering Chinese SoC vendors. Some information however surfaced on several foreign languages blogs and news sites about Rockchip RK3288. First, RK3288 is indeed based on ARM Cortex A12 as initially announced, and not some mysterious ARM Cortex A17 cores, but somebody at Rockchip likely made an embarrassing mistake, and Edward Weinert reported it was corrected at Rockchip booth with pieces of paper as shown below. So Rockchip RK3288 has four of these Cortex A12 core, a 4L2K H.265 / HEVC video decoder, and an high-end Mali T764 T624 GPU supporting OpenGL ES3.0 and OpenCL 1.1 that vastly outperforms Mali-400 MP4 found in RK3188, and is even significantly faster than Adreno 330 GPU found in Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 […]