allwinner News - Page 13 of 22 - CNX Software

September 2, 2015May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Linux 4.2 Release – Main Changes, ARM and MIPS Architectures

Linus Torvalds released Linux Kernel 4.2 last Sunday: So judging by how little happened this week, it wouldn’t have been a mistake to release 4.2 last week after all, but hey, there’s certainly a few fixes here, and it’s not like delaying 4.2 for a week should have caused any problems either. So here it is, and the merge window for 4.3 is now open. I already have a few pending early pull requests, but as usual I’ll start processing them tomorrow and give the release some time to actually sit. The shortlog from rc8 is tiny, and appended. The patch is pretty tiny too. Go get it, Linus Some notable changes made to Linux 4.2 include: File systems New features for F2FS including per file encryption CIFS support SMB 3.1.1 (experimental) Cryptography – Jitter Entropy Random Number Generator, Chacha20 stream cipher and Poly1305 authentication (RFC7539),New RSA implementation. See lwn.net […]

June 7, 2015June 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Allwinner R8 Module Datasheet and Price. Is the $9 C.H.I.P Computer Selling at a Loss?

Allwinner R8 Cortex A8 processor, very similar to Allwinner A13, but optimized for IoT applications, was first unveiled via the $9 C.H.I.P computer crowdfunding campaign, but at the time we did not have that many technical details. However, Olimex had already made several Allwinner boards in the past, such as A20-OLinuXino-LIME, so they decided to investigate if they too could use Allwinner R8 processor, or rather Allwinner R8 Module (R8M) with R8 SoC, 4/8GB NAND Flash and 512 MB RAM. So they managed to get R8M datasheet, and got quoted $4.8 for Allwinner R8 and $16 for Allwinner R8M with 512 MB RAM and 8GB NAND Flash for 5,000 unit orders. Wait… If R8M module is $16, how can C.H.I.P sell it for $9? One difference is that C.H.I.P module only has 4GB NAND flash, but the module quoted to Olimex appears to come with 8GB flash, but it’s not […]

June 5, 2015June 5, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Allwinner R58 Octa-core Processor Targets 2-in-1 Android Laptops

Allwinner R-series processor family, such as Allwinner R8, is supposed to target “IoT applications”, but IoT must have recently taken a whole new meaning as the latest Allwinner R58 octa-core processor targets 2-in-1 laptops running Android. Allwinner website however lists R58 as an high-end IoT platform for virtual reality and robotics. Allwinner R58 specifications: CPU – Octa-Core Cortex-A7 CPU up to 2.0 GHz GPU – PowerVR SGX544 GPU @ 600 MHz with support for OpenGL ES 2.0/1.1, OpenCL 1.1, DX 9_3 Memory 32-bit DDR3/DDR3L/LPDDR3/LPDDR2 SLC/MLC/TLC/EF NAND with 64-bit ECC eMMC V4.5 Video 1080p@60fps video playback multi-format video playback, including H.264, MPEG1/2, MPEG4 SP/ASP GMC, H.263 including Sorenson Spark, WMV9/VC-1, JPEG/MJPEG, etc H.264 1080p@60fps or 720p@120fps video capture Display LVDS up to 1366×768@60fps or RGB LCD up to 2048×1536@60fps 4-lane MIPI DSI up to 1920×1200@60fps HDMI up to 1080p@60fps, HDCP V1.2 supported Dual display supported with LCD up to 720p@60fps and […]

June 4, 2015June 4, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Allwinner T2 Dual Core Processor is Made for Automotive Infotainment and Navigation

Allwinner already has several processor families, the most famous being the A-series for tablets, followed bythe H-series for home entertainment, the V-series for video application, the R-series for IoT as found in R8 module used in C.H.I.P $9 computer, and now I’ve just found out the company launched T-series with Allwinner T2 and T8 for “Transportation”/automotive applications. I don’t have any details about T8 processor, but the company kindly shared a product brief with the specs for Allwinner T2: CPU – Dual core Cortex A7 CPU – Mali-400MP2 supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 Memory – DDR2, DDR3, and DDR3L controller, NAND flash controller with 64-bit ECC Video Inputs – 4x AV Inputs Video – H.264 2160p video decoding, multi-format decoding, h.264 encoding @1080p30 / 720p60. Display – Multi-channel HD display with integrated HDMI 1.4 transmitter, CPU/RGB/LVDS display interface, support for VGA/CVBS/YPbPr, and integrated TV decoder. Camera – Integrated parallel 8-bit interface YUV sensor, […]

May 8, 2015June 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 62 Comments

CHIP is a $9 Linux Development Board Powered by Allwinner R8 (Crowdfunding)

It’s quite common to find MCU board for less than $10, but if you want to run Linux, you’ll need to spend a bit more, unlessit’s sponsored, and today, the cheapest you can get is probably the $20 Raspberry Pi Model A+, unless you go with some OpenWRT compatible routers. But there’s now a new board in development, called CHIP, with Allwinner R8 Cortex A8 processor, 512MB RAM, and 4GB NAND flash, as well as wireless connectivity, that will bring cost even lower, as you can pledge $9 on Kickstarter to fund its development. C.H.I.P specifications: SoC – Allwinner R8 Cortex A8 processor @ 1 GHz with Mali-400 GPU (Compatible with Allwinner A13) System Memory – 512 MB RAM Storage – 4GB NAND flash Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 Video Output – 3.5mm jack for composite video and audio (HDMI and VGA available via adapters) USB – […]

April 2, 2015April 2, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Allwinner V3 SoC Targets 1080p60 Action Cameras, Supports Linux or Camdroid OS

I’ve previously written about Allwinner V10 and V15 SoC for video applications such as cameras, digital video recorder, and so on. So far, I’ve not found devices based on these, but Allwinner already announced another V-series processor with Allwinner V3 designed for Action camera recording up to 1080p resolution at 70 frames per second. Key specifications are listed below: CPU – ARM Cortex-A7 @1.2GHz Memory 16-bit DDR3/LPDDR3/DDR3L SDRAM controller, up to 1333Mbps 16-bit DDR2 up to 800Mbps, 16-bit LPDDR2 up to 1066Mbps up to 2GB RAM Video / Picture Up to 1080p@60fps or 2-channel 1080p@30fps H.264 video encoding 8M JPEG encoding H.264 1080p@60fps decoding, MJPEG 1080@30fps decoding Integrated ISP up to 8M pixels (HawkView ISP) 2 channel outputs for display and encoding respectively Supports various input and output formats Supports AE/AF/AWB Saturation adjustment, 2D/3D noise reduction, defect pixel correction, and distortion correction Audio Codec Integrated 92dB audio codec 2x ADC […]

March 23, 2015May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 29 Comments

Allwinner CedarX Media Codec Library GPL/LGPL Compliance Update

Last month, I wrote about potential open source licenses and VP6 copyright infringement by Allwinner with their CedarX media codec library, and then since there’s been a few developments. First, Allwinner sent me an email saying they’ve now updated Cedarx library and referring my previous article. Here’s an extract: Here, I have some update of the Allwinner’s open-source status. We have done a lot of discussion with the developers from the linux-sunxi communication about the software license of CedarX. For each question or requirement asked by the developers, Allwinner has identify and try to give the best solution. Now, we believe Allwinner’s CedarX license is fully compliant and resolves concerns from the community. And you can take the announcement https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg10597.html as a reference. Allwinner is always supporting the open-source, and try to do better and better. You can see some update on the github https://github.com/allwinner-zh, and some feedback from developers: […]

March 12, 2015May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

(Most of) FOSDEM 2015 Videos Are Now Online

FOSDEM 2015 took place on between the 31st of January and 1st of February, and while some sessions were not recorded on videos, most of them were, and the organizers are now slowly processing and uploading 402 videos to their server. So far 210 videos have been uploaded, including the Embedded Devroom. You can follow the upload status to check out when your preferred track/devroom sessions are uploaded. For example, “internet of things” videos have not been uploaded so far, so you’d need to be a bit more patient for this topic. One of such videos is “Upstream Allwinner ARM SoC (A10 / sunxi) support status” by Hans de Goede, which includes the slides on the left and video of the right. This makes the presentation easy to follow (despite the slides being cropped), but probably explains why it takes so long to process the videos. http://video.fosdem.org/2015/devroom-embedded/allwinner_upstream__CROPPED_PRES.mp4 You can also […]