brillo News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

December 14, 2016December 16, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Android Things OS for the Internet of Things Supports Raspberry Pi 3, Intel Edison, and NXP Pico Boards

Google introduced Project Brillo a little over a year ago, an operating system based on Android, but with a smaller footprint optimized for Internet of Things applications. Brillo has now just become Android Things OS, with Google releasing a developer preview of Android Things working on Raspberry Pi 3, Intel Edison, and NXP Pico boards. The company has also updated the Weave platform to simplify connection of all types of devices to the cloud, and interaction with services like the Google Assistant. The Weave Device SDK currently supports schemas for light bulbs, smart plugs, switches, and thermostats, with more type of device supported in the future, as well as a mobile app API for both Android and iOS. Using an Android based OS instead of a pure Linux OS should make it easier for Android app developers to create smart devices thanks to the use of familiar Android APIs and […]

September 6, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

MinnowBoard Turbot SBC Gets a Quad Core Atom E3845 Processor, Better Ethernet, and a Fansink

MinnowBoard Turbot open source hardware SBC was released in 2015 with an Intel Atom E3826 dual core Bay Trail-I processor, 2GB RAM, SATA and Gigabit Ethernet support, and a new version – MinnowBoard Turbot Quad – with a more powerful quad core processor, an heatsink and fan, and better Ethernet connectivity will be launched in December. MinnowBoard Turbot Quad “MBT-4210” board specifications: SoC – Intel Atom E3845 quad core Bay Trail-I processor @ 1.92 GHz with Intel HD graphics @ 542 / 792 MHz (10W TDP) System Memory – 2GB DDR3L 1067 MT/s (Soldered) Storage – 1x SATA2 3Gbs, 1x micro SD card slot, , 8 MB SPI Flash for firmware (Tianocore UEFI, Coreboot, SeaBIOS) Video & Audio Output – 1x micro HDMI connector Connectivity – 10/100/1000M Ethernet RJ-45 connector (Intel i211 instead of Realtek NIC on first board) USB – 1x USB 3.0 host, 1x USB 2.0 host Debugging […]

August 3, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Embedded Android (Marshmallow) and Brillo / Weave Internals Presentation Slides

Karim Yaghmour – founder of Opersys, a company specializing in Embedded Linux and Android training and development – is currently at Android Devcon 2016 were he gave a full day Embedded Android Workshop on August 1st, as well as a separate 1+ hour talk about Brillo/Weave internals on August 2, and more talks scheduled on the next two days about Android memory management, debugging and development, and Project Ara. He has just released the presentation slides on Slideshare, with the first “Embedded Android Workshop with Marshmallow” presentation totaling 175 pages, and dealing with Linux and Android concepts, overall architecture, system startup, the Linux kernel, hardware support, native user-space, Java for Android, JMI, AOSP, and more… The second presentation is much shorter with 29 slides, and deals specifically with Brillo / Weave internals including Embedded Linux, Android, Binder, DBUS, HAL, the source tree architecture, and so on. While you’d probably learn […]

June 14, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Marvell IAP220 “IoT” Processor Targets Low Power Touchscreen Enabled Appliances

After IAP140 quad core Cortex A53 processor found in Brillo compatible AndroMeda Box Edge, Marvell has recently introduced another IAP processor for the Internet of Things with IAP220 dual core Cortex A7 processor targeting “low power cost sensitive home automation, industrial, security, and wearable applications”. IAP220 SoC specifications: Processor – Dual ARM Cortex-A7 core up to 1.0 GHz GPU – 3D GPU with OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 support MCU – ARM Cortex M4F Memory I/F – LP-DDR2/3, DDR3 Storage – eMMC and SDIO interfaces Display – MIPI video and command mode; LCD display Video – Full HD encode and decode with H.264, MPEG-4, H.263, MJPEG and more Camera – Digital video camera interface, 2x, 2-lane CSI Audio – I2S, TDM; support for multiple PDM (pulse-density modulation) microphones and speakers Sensor hub • Low power sensor processing Management I/O – SPI, GPIO, PWM? (the product brief says PWD instead), UART, 1-wire, I2C […]

May 25, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Raspberry Pi 3 Repository Has Been Added to Android Open Source Project

Android has been ported to the Raspberry Pi boards in the past, but the images were not really usable because the implementation lacked 2D & 3D graphics support. The good news is that Raspberry Pi 3 is likely to officially support the latest version of Android soon, because rpi3 repository has been created in AOSP about 5 weeks ago. That’s all we know for now. Raspberry Pi 3 could then be part of the second wave of boards officially supported in Android “mainline”, as currently 96Boards Hikey is the only supported board in AOSP. However, If we go down in the git repo to android/device, we can also see MIPS Creator CI40, Aaeon Upboard, i.mx6ul picoimx board, Intel Edison and Minnowboard, and a few others. Some of the boards will run Brillo instead of Android however, or it could be a different project, so we’ll have to see what happens […]

March 4, 2016May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Embedded Linux Conference 2016 and OpenIoT Summit 2016 Schedule

The Embedded Linux Conference 2016 and the OpenIoT summit 2016 will take place on April 4 – 6, 2016 in San Diego, California, and over 800 attended will meet including kernel & system developers, userspace developers, and product vendors. The Linux Foundation has recently published the schedule, so I’ve had a look at some of the talks, and designed my own virtual schedule to find out more the current development focus although I won’t attend. Monday April 4 10:40am – 11:30am – Linux Connectivity for IoT by Marcel Holtmann, Intel OTC There are many connectivity solutions that available for IoT. For example Bluetooth Low Energy, 802.15.4, Zigbee, OIC, Thread and others. This presentation will provide and overview of the existing technology and upcoming standard and how they tie into the Linux kernel and its ecosystem. 11:40 – 12:30 – BoF: kernelci.org: A Million Kernel Boots and Counting by Kevin Hilman, […]

February 9, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Wandboard Introduces $69 Hobbitboard Made for Brillo Powered by NXP i.MX6 UltraLite Processor

Wandboard was one of the first to launch boards based on Freescale i.MX6 Solo, Dual and Quad in early 2013. The boards are comprise of an EDM system-on-module and a carrierboard, that makes it not only suitable as a single board computer, but you could also use the boards to start developing software, while making your own carrierboard to match your application. Wandboard.org community sent me an email last night to let me know about their latest board called Hobbitboard, or in full “Hobbitboard Made for Brillo”, powered by NXP i.MX6 UltraLite Cortex A7 processor, which follows the same principle, and includes Hobbit Compute Module and Hobbit I/O Carrierboard. Hobbit Compute Module specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX6 UltraLite Cortex A7 processor @ 528 MHz System Memory – 256MB DDR3 Storage – 4GB eMMC flash Connectivity – 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 (Ampak AP6335) Board Connectors – Two Pico Expansion header […]

November 23, 2015November 23, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

MIPS Creator Ci40 Development Board Powered by cXT200 SoC Launched for $53 on Kickstarter

Last year, Imagination Technologies launched their first community development board with MIPS Creator CI20 powered by Ingenic JZ4780 dual core MIPS processor running both Android and Linux, and now supported by various projects. The company has been teasing about its MIPS Creatort Ci40 for a few weeks, and was already announced as the MIPS platform of choice for Google Brillo operating system, but the board has now officially been launched via a Kickstarter campaign where you can get the board for $53, as well as some add-on boards. But instead of using a processor from one of their partner, Imagination just designed their own MIPS interAptiv SoC for the board. Creator Ci40 board specifications: SoC – Imagination Technologies Creator cXT200 with 2x MIPS interAptiv core @ 550MHz, 512KB L2 cache, and an Ensigma C4500 RPU (for 802.11ac/ BT 4.1 LE) System Memory – 256 MB DDR3 Storage – 512 MB […]