Category: Testing

QA & Testing procedure, software and more.

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Android 4.4 KitKat on Galaxy Nexus – ROM, Linaro, and Petition

Android 4.4 KitKat on Galaxy Nexus – ROM, Linaro, and Petition

Google has already released the binaries for Android 4.4 “KitKat” for the Nexus 5, and images are coming for Nexus 4, Nexus 7, and Nexus 10, in the next few weeks. Source code is also available in AOSP (Android Open Source Project). However, even though KitKat has been optimized for older devices, the Galaxy Nexus won’t an official Android 4.4 released because it was released at the end of 2011, which is over the 18 months update window guaranteed by Google. Many people are upset about this decision, and several people have started working on KitKat for Galaxy Nexus. The Linaro team found a solution within minutes by going to the convenience store, and providing KitKat on Galaxy Nexus as shown below. However, usability was not really ideal, so they had some more work to do… In the meantime, Grabak, a developer and member of XDA Forums, provided an alpha […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Linaro 13.08 Release With Linux Kernel 3.11 and Android 4.3

Linaro 13.08 Release With Linux Kernel 3.11 and Android 4.3

Linaro 13.08 has been released with Linux Kernel 3.11-rc6 (stating), Kernel 3.10.9 (LSK – beta), and Android 4.3. This month is the first release based on Android 4.3, which was only pushed to AOSP at the end of last month. I can also see work on new SoCs/hardware this month with Texas Instruments Keystone II ARM Cortex A15+DSP SoC and Fujitsu AA9 board (Which processor?, I could not find out). A lot of work also appears to have gone in OpenEmbedded, further optimizations have gone into NEON optimized AES encryption in OpenSSL, and more. It’s also the first time I can see a Ubuntu Raring engineering build image for HighBank (Calxeda Energycore). Here are the highlights of this release: Android Engineering Android stack was tuned to achieve 100% CTS pass result on Android 4.3 Analyzing the UEFI EDK II boot loader for Android completed, implementation of fastboot application and USB […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on LinuxCon Europe 2013 Schedule – Web Technologies, Debugging Techniques, Wayland, and More

LinuxCon Europe 2013 Schedule – Web Technologies, Debugging Techniques, Wayland, and More

I’ve just received an email from the Linux Foundation saying the schedule for LinuxCon and CloudOpen Europe 2013 had been made available. The conference will take place for 3 days (October 21-23, 2013) in the Edinburgh International Conference Center, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. There will be over 100 conference sessions, and several co-located events including: Automotive Linux Summit, the Embedded Linux Conference, Gluster Workshop, KVM Forum, Tizen Summit, Xen Project Developer Summit. As I’ve recently done with LinuxCon North America 2013 and ARM TechCon 2013, I’ll make a virtual schedule with selected developer sessions using the event’s schedule builder. You may find out several sessions will also be given in LinuxCon North America. Monday – 21st of October 11:00 – 11:50 – Bluetooth Smart Devices and Low Energy Support on Linux by João Paulo Rechi Vita, INdT This presentation will cover a brief introduction on how the Bluetooth Low Energy technology […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on KVM on 64-Bit ARM with AppliedMicro X-Gene Developement Platform

KVM on 64-Bit ARM with AppliedMicro X-Gene Developement Platform

Applied Micro announced X-Gene 64-Bit ARMv8 Server-on-Chip at ARM Techcon 2011, and later in 2012, they showcased Apache2 on an FPGA implementation of the chip. More recently, they showcased KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) on their X-C1 hardware platform with an actual X-Gene SoC at Linaro Connect Europe 2013, and Linaro has just uploaded the video of the demo. The development board features 8 ARMv8 64-­bit processors, PCI network, up to 6 SATA drives (but only one used in the demo), and they also have hardware fitted into a 1U rack. The demo below runs 4 SMP Linux virtual machines (with 2 VCPUs), including 2 ARMv7 32­-bit, and 2 ARMv8 64-­bit guests, running web servers concurrently on each VM using VirtIO-based network virtualization. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments on Texas Instruments OMAP5432 EVM Benchmarked Against ODROID-U2, BeagleBone Black, GK802… and an Intel Core i7-2600K based PC

Texas Instruments OMAP5432 EVM Benchmarked Against ODROID-U2, BeagleBone Black, GK802… and an Intel Core i7-2600K based PC

Texas instruments and SVTronics announced an OMAP5 evaluation board a couple of months ago. The board features OMAP5432 dual Cortex A15, dual Cortex M4 SoC, 2GB RAM, a 4GB eMMC module, USB 3.0, SATA and more. SVTronics sent a board to Linux.com, where they wrote a short review, followed by an article benchmarking the OMAP5 EVM against AllWinner A10, Freescale i.MX6, Exynos 4412 Prime, and TI Sitara platforms, namely Cubieboard, GK802, ODROID-U2, and BeagleBone Black, all running Linux. Ben Martin, the writer, also benchmarked the board against a Linux PC powered by an Intel Core i7-2600K processor (4 cores, 8 thread, clocked at 3.4GHz, with a turbo frequency up to 3.8GHz). The board used was an early version, clocked at 800MHz, and later in September, all boards will be clocked at 1.5Ghz, so for benchmarks that stress the CPU, you could expect almost double the performance. With that in mind, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on CheapCast Chromecast Emulator for Android (Beta) is Available for Download

CheapCast Chromecast Emulator for Android (Beta) is Available for Download

Yesterday, I wrote developers were working on making any media App and any Android device compatible with Chromecast. Sebastian Mauer has taken care of the latter, by publishing CheapCast (Beta) in Google Play. Several people have been trying it successfully, including in iMito MX1 mini PC. I’ve been less lucky. I’ve tried it by running YouTube App in Zopo ZP900S smartphone (Android 4.0.4) with 4 devices: Tronsmart T428 – “Works” but the video won’t start playing. (Bug reported in Github’s issue tracker) [Update: It now works with the latest version in Google Play]. MK908 – Refused to install anything in Google Play today… (Older Android 4.1 firmware) Wandboard Quad – “Works” but the video won’t start playing. CX-01 – CheapCast will crash when playing video I can’t really play YouTube videos over 360p without buffering here, so the reason the video won’t start in T428 or Wandboard Quad might be […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Fritzing Open Source Software Designs PCB Layouts from Breadboard Drawings

Fritzing Open Source Software Designs PCB Layouts from Breadboard Drawings

Earlier this year, I’ve tried Gumstix Geppetto, a web-based application that let you easily design and order boards. You can just add some building blocks in Chrome browser, connect them, and you’re ready to order a PCB. However, the setup fee of $1999 reserves it to businesses. Don’t worry If you’re just a hobbyist as Fritzing, an open source software supporting Windows, MacOS and Linux, allows you to draw breadboard connections, and automatically route the schematics, and the PCB layout. You can then export the gerber files, or order directly from Fritzing Lab. The software is not exactly new, but it’s the first time I’ve come across it. I’m using Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit, so let’s download, install and run the corresponding version:

I’ve decided to connect an LED on the breadboard, and control it with an Arduino Leonardo board to try the software. Alternatively, you could also play around […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on MK908 Rockchip RK3188 mini PC Android 4.2.2 SDK Leaked

MK908 Rockchip RK3188 mini PC Android 4.2.2 SDK Leaked

We’ve had the Linux source code for RK3188 for a little while, which allowed a preliminary Ubuntu image to boot on devices such as Tronsmart T428. But AFAIK, we did not have any Android SDK for RK3188 HDMI TV Stick, until now. A new user on ARMTvTech has uploaded 5 rar files that can be decompressed into a single 3.2GB file called mk908_RK3188_R-BOX_ANDROID4.2.2-SDK.tar.gz. I’ve had a look, and this is the content of the file which appears to be a complete Android 4.2.2 SDK for MK908. There’s 2 documents in Chinese: mk908_checklist.doc – Apparently some instructions, or recommendations specific to Android MK908_checklist_kernel.docx – Some details about the kernel config There are also more documents and directories in RKTools/docs, but I haven’t checked the details:

Back to the root directory, we’ve got a Makefile, and mkimage.sh script, but both are called by 3188.sh script which apparently builds all, and generates […]

EmbeddedTS embedded systems design