Video Category - Page 166 of 327 - CNX Software

November 15, 2017November 17, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

Xiaomi Mi A1 Smartphone Review – Part 2: Android 7.1.2 Firmware

Google recently announced several Android One smartphones, which are supposed to get 2 years of firmware updates, including to the latest version of Android, such as HTC U11 Life and Android One Moto X4. Many of those phones are limited to some specific countries, but Xiaomi Mi A1 will be launched in over 40 countries, and thanks to Chinese online shops is really available worldwide. GearBest sent me the latter last month, and in the first part of Xiaomi Mi A1 review I simply went through unboxing, booted the phone, perform an OTA update, and ran Antutu 6.x on the phone for a quick estimate of performance. Since then, I’ve had around four weeks to play with the smartphone running Android 7.1.2 (still), so I’m ready to report my experience in the second part of the review. General Impressions In the past year, I used Vernee Apollo Lite smartphone powered […]

November 13, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Texas Instruments MSP430 Value Line Sensing MCUs Sell for 25 Cents and Up

Texas Instruments MSP430 16-bit mixed signal microcontroller has been around since at least 2004, and the last time I played with the MCU was with eZ430-Chronos wireless watch development kit in 2011. Over the years, the company has added more parts to its MSP430 MCU portfolio, and they recently added two new MSP430 Value Line Sensing MCUs that offer up to 25 functions (timers, I/Os, reset controller, EEPROM…) for as low as 25 cents, as well as a new MSP430FR2433 LaunchPad development kit . MSP430FR2000 and MSP430FR2100 MCUs have the same features set, except for the memory (512 vs 1024 bytes): 16-Bit RISC Architecture up to 16 MHz Memory / Storage MSP430FR2000 (new) – 0.5KB of Program Ferroelectric RAM (FRAM) + 512 Bytes of RAM MSP430FR2100 (new) – 1KB of Program FRAM + 512 Bytes of RAM MSP430FR2111 – 3.75KB of Program FRAM + 1KB of RAM MSP430FR2110 – 2KB of Program FRAM + 1KB of RAM Supply Voltage […]

November 10, 2017November 14, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

It’s a Soda Can. No! It’s Nebula Capsule Smart Projector Running Android 7.0 (Crowdfunding)

I have reviewed two Android smart pico-projectors in the last couple of years, namely Doogee Smart Cube P1 and Rikomagic RKM R1. Both are battery powered, and worked well in the dark, but the Rikomagic model is my favorite of the two because it works without any major bugs, and I really like the touchpad on top as it made configuration and control really easy. There’s now another model on Indiegogo that’s been very popular so far with over one million dollars raised. Nebula Capsule may look like a soda can, but it integrates a pico-projector, a 360° speaker, a board running Android 7.0, and a battery allowing you to carry it around and use it on any a flat surface. Capsule projector specifications: SoC – Quad core Cortex A7 processor with Adreno 304 GPU (likely Snapdragon 210/212) System memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB eMMC flash Projector […]

November 10, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Zidoo H6 Pro (Allwinner H6) TV Box Review – Part 2: Android 7.0 Firmware

Zidoo H6 Pro is the very first Allwinner H6 based 4K TV box. The Android 7.0 device support H.265, H.264 and VP6 4K video decoding, comes with fast interfaces such as USB 3.0, and network connectivity with Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11ac WiFi. I’ve already checkout the hardware in the first part of the review entitled “Zidoo H6 Pro (Allwinner H6) TV Box Review – Part 1: Unboxing & Teardown“, and since then, I’ve had time to play with the TV box, and report my experience with Android 7.0 in this second part of the review. First Boot and OTA Firmware Update I’ve connected a USB keyboard and a USB dongle with RF dongles for an air mouse and gamepad on the two USB ports, a USB 3.0 hard drive to the single USB 3.0 ports, as well as HDMI and Ethernet cables before powering up the TV box. I also […]

November 8, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

Sunvell R69 Allwinner H2 TV Box Sells for $19.99 (Promo)

$20 Android TV box promotions are fun. After last month, Rockchip RK3229 based A95X R1 TV box promotion, GearBest has another one with Allwinner H2(+) based Sunvell R69 TV box powered by Allwinner H2 processor sold for $19.99 with coupon R69GB. If you have no interested in Android, the good news is that since it’s based on Allwinner H2+, you can likely run Armbian images, or the recently released RetrOrangePi 4.0 with minor modifications, to have a $20 Linux server or game console. Sunvell R69 TV box specifications: SoC – Allwinner H2 quad core Cortex A7 processorwith Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB flash + micro SD slot up to 32GB Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4 output up to 1080p60, AV port (composite video + stereo audio) Video Codec – H.265 / H.264 up to 1080p Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (via […]

November 7, 2017October 13, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

MINIX based Intel Management Engine Firmware & UEFI are Closed Source & Insecure, NERF to the Rescue!

You may have heard a few things about Intel Management Engine in recent months, especially as security issues have been found, the firmware is not easily upgradeable, and the EFF deemed it a security hazard asking Intel for ways to disable it. In recent days, I’ve seen several media reports about the Management Engine being based on an Intel Quark x86-based 32-bit CPU running MINIX open-source operating system. Keep in mind, there’s nothing nefarious about MINIX, it’s just that Intel keeps its own developments on top closed. One of sources for the information is a blog post explaining how to disable Intel ME 11, but ZDNET also points to one of the talks at the Embedded Linux Conference Europe 2017 entitled “Replace Your Exploit-Ridden Firmware with Linux” by Ronald Minnich, Google which explains the problem, and proposes a solution to (almost) disable Intel’s ME, and replace UEFI by a small […]

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 […]