Category: Rockchip RK33xx

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 164 Comments on Ugoos UT4 TV Box Giveaway

Ugoos UT4 TV Box Giveaway

Ugoos UT4 is an actively cooled Android TV box powered by Rockchip RK3368 octa-core processor, and I did notice a better overall performance in my review compared to other RK3368 mini PCs I tested. However, I did find some issues, such as power off not working properly, a lack of DRM support, Kodi video and audio capabilities could be improved and so on. Since the review, Ugoos released two firmware updates fixing several of the issues I noticed during my testing, and the company has asked me if I could organize a giveaway for one Ugoos UT4, so here it is. I’ve organized the giveaway a little differently, as I’ll use Rafflecopter form below with three options, each optional, but if you do all three you’ll get more chances to win. The contest will run for 4 days until February 15 10am (GMT+7), I’ll select the winner randomly rthrough RaffleCopter, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Ugoos UT4 Android 5.1 TV Box Review

Ugoos UT4 Android 5.1 TV Box Review

Ugoos UT4 is one of many Rockchip RK3368 TV boxes available on the market today, but it’s one of the model with higher-end specifications including  2 GB RAM, and 16 GB flash, as well as Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11ac WiFi, Ugoos offers regular firmware updates for their devices, and as I found out in Ugoos UT4 specs and teardown post, the mini PC features a fan to keep the device cool at all times. Today, I’ll focus on reviewing the firmware including video playback capabilities, performance and whether advertised features work as they should. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions Before powering on the device, I connected some cables (Ethernet, HDMI, optical audio, AV to speakers), and made use of all four USB ports with a USB hard drive, a webcam, a keyboard, and a USB hub with two RF dongles for MINIX NEO A2 Lite air mouse and Tronsmart […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments on Rockchip RK3229 and RK3399 32-bit and 64-bit Processors Support 4K 10-bit H.265 and HDMI 2.0

Rockchip RK3229 and RK3399 32-bit and 64-bit Processors Support 4K 10-bit H.265 and HDMI 2.0

Rockchip RK3288 was the first SoC from the company that was supposed to support HDMI 2.0 and 4K 10-bit HEVC, but the HDMI implementation was not perfect since it did not support YUV420 colorspace available on cheaper 4K television like mine (LG 42UB820T), and so I’m limited to 4K @ 30 Hz on RK3288, Rorkchip RK3368 fixed that, but the low cost processor does not support 10-bit HEVC. Rockchip is about to launch two new processor that should bring both features to the low end and high end of the market with RK3229 quad core Cortex A7 processor, and RK3399 hexa core Cortex A72/A53 processor. Rockchip RK3229 specifications: CPU- Quad Core ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.5 GHz GPU – ARM Mali-400MP2 Memory I/F – DDR3-1866/LPDDR3-1333 Video Output – HDMI 2.0 with HDCP 1.4/2.2 + CVBS Video Codec – 4K2K 10-bit H.265 @ 60 fps (Up to 200 Mbps),  4K 10-bit […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Unboxing and Teardown of Ugoos UT4 Android TV Box with a Cooling Fan

Unboxing and Teardown of Ugoos UT4 Android TV Box with a Cooling Fan

Most Android TV box ship with simple heatsink, which may lead to performance degradation due to throttling if you push your device a little too hard, and Ugoos UT3s was one of the few Android TV boxes to feature a fan. The company now have a new model model with Ugoos UT4 powered by Rockchip RK3368 octa-core processor, and they’ve sent me an early sample for review. Today, I’ll start by taking pictures of the device, and taking it apart to check the hardware and how cooling is implemented, before reviewed the unit in a few weeks. Ugoos UT4 specifications Before this, since I’ve only shortly mention Ugoos UT4 in Rockchip RK3368 TV boxes list, I’ll go through the specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3368 octa core Cortex A53 processor with PowerVR G6110 GPU up to 700 MHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC + micro SD slot […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Review of Light Biz OS Operating System for Desktop Use (Writing a Blog Post)

Review of Light Biz OS Operating System for Desktop Use (Writing a Blog Post)

This is take 2 of using an Android mini PC as a desktop PC, as I’m currently writing this post from GeekBox TV box with Rockchip’s Light Biz OS, an operating systems based on Android 5.1 with some optimizations for desktop use. I’ve already installed various productivity apps such as Gimp and Microsoft Excel, and at first this was a problem sinc Light Biz OS “internal storage” partition was too small to install some programs, so I had to resize the “userdata” partition to 6GB to make it usable. I normally blog with Firefox in Ubuntu 14.04, so right now, I’m writing with Firefox for Android, and not WordPress Android app, which would have been another option. One of the first challenge was to create links, and I could copy links with a long click providing access to copy tools in Firefox, and copy the links with Ctrl+V in Firefox. […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on Tronsmart Orion R68 TV Box Discounted to $39? Nope.

Tronsmart Orion R68 TV Box Discounted to $39? Nope.

Tronsmart Orion R68 is an octa-core Android TV box powered by Rockchip RK3368 processor with 2GB RAM, and 16GB internal storage. I actually received a sample a a few months ago, but I have not reviewed it yet as I’ve been waiting for a firmware upgrade to fix some of the issues I had in Beelink i68, but it has yet to come. Nevertheless, the device which normally sells for $75 on GeekBuying, is now sold for $39 shipped on Aliexpress in what looks like am amazingly good deal reported by AndroidPC.es. At first, I was about to write a post about this excellent deal, especially as I saw the link indicated 114 orders, but then on the top left corner, I noticed “Hot CCTV” seller had no feedback score and the store opened on December 9, 2015. It’s quite possible a store will do a promotion to gain attention, but […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on How to Resize Android’s Internal Storage Partition in Rockchip Devices

How to Resize Android’s Internal Storage Partition in Rockchip Devices

I installed Light Biz OS firmware on GeekBox yesterday, but I’ve quickly realized many applications such as Gimp Inkscape would not install due to the small 1.94GB “internal partition”, so I asked how to increase the partition size in GeekBox forums last evening, and got an answer overnight from “dewet”. The good news is that it worked so I’ll share the steps I followed in a computer running Ubuntu 14.04. It might also be possible to perform the same tasks within a Windows machine with Rorkchip’s Factory tools First let’s download the utils with relevant scripts and binaries:

Now copy your device or board’s firmware file “update.img” to the working directory, and unpack it:

The output should look like:

The files will be in the “output” directory. For our purpose “parameter” file, and especially the last line (CMDLINE) where we will want to adjust the userdata partition […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on How to Upgrade Rockchip Firmware in Linux for RK3288, RK3328, RK3368, RK3399, etc..

How to Upgrade Rockchip Firmware in Linux for RK3288, RK3328, RK3368, RK3399, etc..

I’ve been looking for ways to upgrade firmware on Rockchip RK3368 based GeekBox in a computer running Ubuntu 14.04, but while they’ve provided firmware update instructions for Windows, which remains basically the same as upgrading firmware on Rockchip RK3288, there’s no such information for Linux. However, I could remember than Radxa Rock supported upgrade_tool utility, but since the tool linked on Radxa website might be outdated, I instead searched for some RKtools repository on Geekboxzone Github account, and I was lucky enough to find one. Here’s what I did to flash Light Biz OS to GeekBox with my Linux computer: Get the tools, and make sure upgrade_tool is there.

Download and extract the firmware, e.g. Cross_Lollipop_BizOS_V151208.7z:

Now connect a USB cable to the USB OTG port of your device or board. In case of GeekBox that’s the micro USB port. Now as the board is powered on, keep […]

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