chromebook News - Page 6 of 8 - CNX Software

February 1, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

NayuOS is a Developer Friendly Chromium OS Fork without Google Services

People at Nexedi, an European based open-source software publisher, are doing a lot of development work on Chromebooks, but with Chrome OS, all your data is kept on Google servers when you login, and by default the OS basically runs Chrome browser with barely any development tools. So the company leveraged Chromium OS, the open source version of Chrome OS, to create their own operating system, called NayuOS, that does not run any proprietary software, does without Google servers, and comes with git, nmp and other developer tools by default. The operating system should also provide a better Chromebook experience in China, thanks to the company’s re6stnet app and GrandeNet system allowing to have IPv6 available even when ISPs only provide IPv4, and to work around the unreliable Internet infrastructure in China. The source code and instructions to build an image yourself are available, but the company also released binary […]

July 3, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Arch Linux ARM Can Now Be Installed on Rockchip Based Hisense Chromebook

Hisense Chromebook C11 is one of the $149 Chromebooks powered by Rockchip RK3288 processor recently launched. So far, I could not find instructions to install any Linux desktop distributions on this type of platform, but now Hisense Chromebook (codename: veyron_jerry) appears to be the first Rockchip platform officially supported by Arch Linux ARM (ALARM). Hardware video decoding won’t work, 3D graphics acceleration is most probably not working either, and it’s not clear if all hardware parts are supported, and the built-in wireless module is said to break under high throughput, so a USB WiFi dongle or Ethernet adapter is recommended instead. But at least if you follow the installation instructions, you won’t modify your Chrome OS installation on the eMMC flash, as Arch Linux ARM will boot from external storage, either from an SD card or a USB flash drive, so it should be completely safe to try it out. […]

July 2, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

CTL H4 is a $200 Rockchip RK3288 Chromebook with 4GB RAM

Several Chromebooks with Rockchip RK3288-C processor were launched last quarter, but most models come only with 2GB RAM, and other laptop with 4GB tend to cost over $200. But CTL has now announced CTL H4 Chromebook for Education also based on RK3288 and featuring 4GB RAM for just $199. CTL H4 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3288-C Quad-Core Cortex-A17 processor up to 1.8GHz with Mali-T764 GPU System Memory – 4GB DDR3L RAM Storage – 16GB storage + Micro SD slot Display – 11.6’’ HD wide screen LED-backlit display; 180 Degree Lay Flat Design/Hinge Video Output – 1x HDMI Audio – headphone jack; stereo speakers; built-in microphone Connectivity – WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0. USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports Camera – Built-in Battery – Up to 10 hours battery life Misc – Multi-gesture touchpad Dimensions – 2.54 cm thick Weight – 1.09 kg The laptop also comes with a carry handle, has […]

June 2, 2015June 3, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Chromebooks with Mediatek MT8173 Cortex A72 Showcased at Computex 2015

Chromebooks were originally all based on Intel processor, but eventually ARM based Chromebooks got launched starting with Samsung Exynos, more recently Rockchip RK3288, and soon we’ll have Mediatek Chromebooks based on their latest Cortex A72 + A53 processor. The platform is still in development, but some prototypes are being shown up at Computex 2015 in Taipei. The full specs are not available but we do know the laptop features MT8173 SoC with 2x Cortex A72 cores, 2x Cortex A53 cores, and a PowerVR GX6250 GPU. NotebookItalia is at Computex and in their short video below with can hear the spokesman claiming support for 4K video playback, 2K display, and the presence of Type C USB port that can be used to connect device, but also charging the laptop. Mediatek Chromebooks should offer about twice the single thread performance as Rockchip RK3288 devices, thanks to the use Cortex A72 cores instead […]

April 1, 2015August 7, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

$149 Rockchip RK3288 Chromebooks by Haier and HiSense Launched

Just ten days ago, Asus C201 Chromebook powered by Rockchip RK3288 processor was spotted on a product catalog. Today, Google unveiled two Rockchip Chromebooks, except the Asus Chromebook is not there yet, but instead Haier Chromebook 11 HR-116R and Hisense Chromebook both available for pre-order for $149 respectively on Amazon US and Walmart. Both laptops have very similar specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3288-C quad core Cortex A17 processor @ 1.8 GHz with ARM Mali-T764 GPU. (Wallmart claims a 2.5GHZ processor frequency, but this has to be an error). System Memory – 2 GB DDR3L SDRAM Storage – 16 GB eMMC Flash Storage + micro SD slot + 100GB Google drive storage, free for 2 years Display – 11.6” HD wide screen LED-backlit display; 1366 x 768 resolution Video Output – HDMI Audio – HDMI, stereo speakers, headphone jack, Connectivity – Dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 2×2 (MIMO) a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 USB […]

March 30, 2015March 30, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Tegra X1 Chromebooks Likely in the Works

When Nvidia announced Tegra X1 processor, the company’s main focus appeared to be the automotive market as it introduced Drive PX and CX board for this very market. Since then, Tegra X1 based SHIELD console was unveiled, and I’ve been informed some development activity related to Tegra X1 (Model: Tegra210 / T210) was taking place in Chromium and especially Coreboot source code. There appears to be two hardware platforms based on Tegra X1: smaug and foster which could end-up being Chromebooks or Chromeboxes likely with 4GB RAM. Thanks to David for the information. 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 reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com

March 20, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Asus C201 Chromebook to be Powered by Rockchip RK3288 Processor

If you’ve been following this blog, you should know that Rockchip is working with Google on Chrome OS, so it was just a matter of time before a Rockchip powered Chromebook or Chromebox sees the light of the day. The first Rockchip RK3288 chromebook might end up being Asus C201 Chromebook with apparently a custom version of the Cortex A17 processor dubbed Rk3288-C, as OMG Chrome found out in Troxell’s 2015 brochure for K-12 education. So far we only know a few details about the specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3288-C quad core Cortex A17 processor @ up to 1.8GHz System Memory – 2 to 4 GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC Display – 11.6″ display with 1366×768 resolution Webcam – VGA resolution The exact model name should be C201PA. Rockchip RK3288 should provide performance quite similar, and in some cases even better, to Intel Atom Z3735F, except possible when it comes […]

February 23, 2015February 23, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

ARM Releases Kernel Drivers for Mali-T880 / T860 GPUs, User Space Drivers for Mali-T76x GPUs

ARM Mali GPU drivers includes both open source kernel drivers, and binary userspace drivers supporting framebuffer and/ior X11 implementation. The former is rarely an issue and is quickly released, but the latter requires porting and testing for a specific hardware platform, as well legal work, which greatly delay the releases. Mali-T880 GPU was announced at the beginning of the month together with ARM Cortex A72, and on February 17, 2015, ARM released an update to their Mali-T600 series, Mali-T700 series & Mali-T860/T880 GPU kernel device drivers with revision r5p1-00rel0 that adds supports to Mali-T860 and Mali-T880 GPU. These open source drivers are available for Android and Linux, and also support early Mali-T700 and T600 GPUs. Separately, the company has also released Mali-T76X GPU drivers for Firefly board powered by Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex A17 processor featuring a Mali-T764 GPU. The first release only supports the framebuffer driver, but ARM […]