Video Category - Page 164 of 324 - CNX Software

November 6, 2017November 6, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

EasyVolts USB Dongle Outputs 0-24V DC, Exposes UART, GPIO/PWM, RS-485 Signals

A while ago, I wrote about USBminiPower, a USB power supply with 3.3V, 5V, and one variable DC output up to 14.3V adjustable with a rocker switch, and equipped for a 4-digit LED display showing current intensity and voltage. But recently, I was made aware of another USB power supply – EasyVolts USB dongle – that supports 0 to 24V DC, and also exposes either UART pins, or RS-485 signal, plus two GPIO/PWM pins. EasyVolts specifications: USB – 1x USB port for power, communication Power Supply function: Input voltage: 5V from USB port Output voltage: 0-24V Max output current: 1A Max output power: ~2.4W (e.g. 24V/0.1A; 3.3V/0.55A) Voltage resolution: <50mV Current resolution: <2mA I/O expansion 4- pin to be used as UART (Tx/Rx) or RS-485 + 2x GPIO/PWM UART – speed: 300-230400 bit/sec; resistance of Tx/Rx pins: 300 Ohm PWM – Base frequency: 240kHz.; frequency division configuration: 1-65535; duty cycle […]

November 3, 2017November 3, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Learn More About Linux’s New GPIO User Space Subsystem & Libgpiod

Sysfs was used to control GPIOs on Linux system with the GPIOs defined in /sys/class/gpio, but starting with Linux 4.8, a new GPIO interface for user space was introduced, with gpiochip becoming char devices foudn in /dev/gpiochip0, dev/gpiochip1, etc.. , and sysfs allegedly become deprecated. But a quick check in NanoPi Duo with Linux 4.11 shows both GPIO user space interfaces appear to be enabled:

ls /sys/class/gpio/
export gpiochip0 gpiochip352 unexport
ls /dev/gpiochip
gpiochip0 gpiochip1

ls /sys/class/gpio/

export gpiochip0 gpiochip352 unexport

ls /dev/gpiochip

gpiochip0 gpiochip1

Nevertheless overtime, sysfs will die out, and the new subsystem will likely be used by all systems, so it might be useful to learn more about it. One way to do that is to watch Bartosz Golaszewski’s ELCE 2017 talk entitled “New GPIO Interface for User Space” with the video embedded below. But I first I’ll summarize some of the key points. Now GPIO handling from user space becomes similar to other char driver with ioctl, poll and read functions, and beside assigning numbers […]

October 31, 2017November 2, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 76 Comments

Giveaway Week – Muses-β DTV Modulator and Video Encoder

The next item for giveaway is rather specialized hardware, as V-Bridge Muses-β allows you to take raw video input via HDMI or video composite, encode it and module to your DTB standard (DVB-T, ATSC… ) and get the video through your TV tuner via a cable, or over-the-air if you add your own an amplifier and antenna. The system is controlled by an STM32 board with LCD display and button, and you can operate directly from the board, selecting various option. I used a TV box as input, and U4 Quad hybrid set-top box to get the video signal and output it to my TV when I reviewed the system with DVB-T / QPSK modulation. The system is limited to MPEG-2 up to 1080p30 encoding since it’s what the SoC supports. I’m giving away the complete “turn key solution” shown in the first photo to one lucky winner. To enter […]

October 28, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Intel Speech Enabling Developer Kit Works with Alexa Voice Service, Raspberry Pi 3 Board

We’ve known Intel has been working on Quark S1000 “Sue Creek” processor for voice recognition for several months. S1000 SoC is based on two Tensilica LX6 with HiFi3 DSP, some speech recognition accelerators, and up to 8x microphones interfaces which allows it to perform speech recognition locally. The solution can also be hooked to an application processor via SPI, I2S and USB (optional) when cloud based voice recognition is needed. Intel has recently introduced their Speech Enabling Developer Kit working with Amazon Alexa Voice Service (AVS) featuring a “dual DSP with inference engine” – which must be Quark S1000 – and an 8-mic array. The kit also includes a 40-pin cable to connect to the Raspberry Pi 3 board. Intel only provided basic specifications for the kit: Intel’s dual DSP with inference engine Intel 8-mic circular array High-performance algorithms for acoustic echo cancellation, noise reduction, beamforming and custom wake word […]

October 27, 2017October 27, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Emcraft Releases Linux BSP for NXP i.MX RT1050 Cortex M7 Evaluation Board

NXP iMX RT series is a family of ARM Cortex M7 processors clocked at 600 MHz, making the solution a “crossover embedded processor” bridging the gap between real-time capabilities of micro-controllers and the performance of application processors. This week, NXP provided some benchmark numbers for i.MX RT1050 processor, which delivers a CoreMark score of 3020, DMIPS of 1284, and 20ns interrupt latency at 600 MHz, which means it could be a good candidate for embedded Linux, and Emcraft Systems has just released a uCLinux BSP for the NXP i.MX RT1050 EVK board. The BSP features U-Boot v2017.09-rc1, Linux Kernel 4.5 with relevant device drivers such as key I/O interfaces, Wi-Fi, SD card, LCD, etc…, and GNU development tools such as a GCC 4.7 toolchain, GDB, and so on. The company has made a demo with a GUI application designed with Crank Software’s Storyboard Suite, and running in Linux on the […]

October 27, 2017November 8, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

A95X R1 4K Android TV Box Sells for $20 (Promo)

Rockchip RK3229 quad Cortex A7 processor powers some of the cheapest TV boxes on the market. One of them is A95X R1 with 1GB RAM, 8GB flash, which likeother RK3229 boxes supports both 4K H.265 and H.264, and outputs up to 3840×2160 @ 60 Hz via its HDMI 2.0 interface. GearBest is now selling the device for $19.99 shipped using coupon AA95XR1. A95X R1 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3229 quad core ARM Cortex A7 processor @ 1.5 GHz with ARM Mali-400MP2 System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB flash + micro SD card slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60 fps, and 3.5mm AV output (composite) Audio Output – HDMI, AV, and coaxial S/PDIF Connectivity – 100Mbps Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (RTL8189) USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports Power Supply – 5V Dimensions – 9.3 x 9.3 x 1.5 cm Weight […]

October 27, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Sonoff Wireless Switch Family Gets a $3 IP66 Waterproof Enclosure

ESP8266 powered ITEAD Studio Sonoff wireless switches have been popular because they are inexpensive, highly customizable thanks to work from the community leading to open source projects such as ESPurna and Sonoff-Tasmota, and come fully packaged so you don’t need to make your own case for it. That works well for indoor projects, but if you needed to control outdoors lights, gate, water pump, etc… you had to protect the device from humidity/rain. That may not be necessary anymore as the company is now selling Sonoff Basic with an IP66 waterproof enclosure for $7.75, or the case only for $2.90.Sonoff waterproof case: Ingress Protection Rating – IP66 Material – PC V0 Dimensions – 132.2 x 68.7 x 50.1mm (See details) Weight – 145.0g IP66 rating is not suitable for prolonged immersion, but it should be good to protect against rain or high humidity. The box ships with two standardized PG7 […]

October 26, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

MeLE PCG35 Apo Apollo Lake Mini PC Review – Part 3: Ubuntu 17.10

I completed the review of MeLE PCG35 Apo with Windows 10 Home a few days ago, and as promised, I’ve now installed the freshly released Ubuntu 17.10 in the Intel Celeron J3455 “Apollo Lake” mini PC. I’ll start by shortly explaining the step to install Ubuntu 17.10 in the M.2 slot, although you could also install it to the internal eMMC flash replacing Windows 10, then show what works and what does, and finally include a video reproducing the tests I usually do in Windows 10. How to Install Linux in MeLE PCG35 Apo This partially follows the procedure I used to run (not install) Ubuntu 16.04 on MeLE PCG03 Apo mini PC. First you’ll need to download the ISO of your choice (ubuntu-17.10-desktop-am64.iso in my case), and prepare a bootable USB flash drive with the software of your choice be it Rufus, Startup Disk Creator or others. I did […]