education News - Page 19 of 22 - CNX Software

February 14, 2016February 14, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

CTL NL6x Rugged Chromebook Doubles as a Whiteboard

Chromebooks are used by all kind of people, but they appear to be especially popular in classrooms. However, pupils can be “brutal” with their toys and tools, so that’s probably why CTL designed NL6x rugged Chromebook which can basically be walked on as the top cover resists up to 365 pounds pressure, includes anti-peel keys and a water-resistant keyboard, as well as reinforced ports, hinges, and power plug ports. It can also withstand 70cm high drops, and the back of the screen also doubles as a whiteboard. CTL NL6x Chromebook specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N2940 quad core processor @ 1.83 GHz / 2.25GHz (Burst freq.) with Intel HD graphics (7.5W TDP; 4.5W SDP) System Memory – 4GB Storage – 16GB eMMC + 2-in-1 SDHC/MMC card reader Display – 11.6″ LED LEC with 1366 x 768 resolution Video Output – HDMI Audio – HDMI output, 3.5mm combo jack for microphone […]

January 13, 2016January 13, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

BeagleBone Blue Board is Designed for Robots and UAVs

Beagleboard.org organization already tried to go Blue with BeagleBone BlueSteel-Basic that was supposed to a the single board computer to be used by OEM to integrate into their design instead of BeagleBone Black development board. For some unknown reasons this never happened, but they’ve now reused the color to introduce BeagleBone Blue board designed for robotics and UAVs. BeagleBone Blue specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments Sitara AM3358 Cortex A8 @ 1 GHz + PowerVR SGX530 GPU System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 Storage – 4 GB 8-bit on-board flash storage Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 LE USB – USB 2.0 client and host Motor Control – 8x 6V servo out, 4x DC motor out, 4x quad enc in Sensors – 9 axis IMU, barometer “Easy connect Interfaces” – GPS, DSM2 radio, UARTs, SPI, I2C, analog, buttons, LEDs Power / Battery – 2-cell LiPo support with balancing, 6-16V charger input […]

January 6, 2016January 6, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Outernet Shares Knowledge via their Lighthouse Satellite Receiver

While many of us take Internet access for granted, about 60% of the world population did not have access to Internet at the end of 2014, and Outernet initiative aims to provide educational, emergency, and news content to this segment of the population, which still represents the majority, at a rate of 1GB per day via a satellite receiver called Lighthouse. Let’s check the hardware first: SoC – Amlogic AML8726-MX dual core Cortex A9 @ 1.5GHz with Mali-400MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4 GB NAND flash + 1x micro SD slot Video Output – HDMI, AV (CVBS + R/L audio) Audio Output – HDMI, AV, and optical S/PDIF Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi with up to 5 clients Tuner – DVB-S2 tuner with two antenna connectors (only one used) USB – 3x external USB 2.0 ports, 2x internal USB 2.0 ports (used) Misc – […]

November 25, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

One Education’s Infinity is a Rugged Modular Laptop for Kids (Crowdfunding)

Could 2016 be the year where modular / DIY laptops take off? Several projects has now in progress for modular laptops with Olimex’ OLinuXino DIY laptop project, Rhombus Tech’s MIPS based laptop with EOMA-68 module, and now One Education, has taken the footsteps of the OLPC (One Laptop Project per Child) project, by launching Infinity modular laptop on Indiegogo (flexible campaign) with delivery scheduled for September 2016. Infinity laptop / tablet hybrid specifications (subject to change): SoC – Quad core processor @ 1.4 GHz System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 8GB + micro SD slot Display – 8.9″ capacitive touchscreen display with 2560×1600 resolution Audio – Dual mode audio In/Out Connectivity – WiFi and Bluetooth USB – USB type C connector Misc – Dock with keyboard and touchpad Battery – 7,000 mAh The laptop prototype currently runs Android Lollipop with a Linux distributions (Ubuntu) in development. The laptops will […]

November 14, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

$99 pi-topCEED Raspberry Pi 2 Based Desktop Computer Includes a 13.3″ Display (Crowdfunding)

Pi-Top, a laptop kit based on Raspberry Pi 2 board and a 13.3″ display, and which cost about $299.99 with the board, and had a successful crowdfunding campaign despite the price nearly matching equivalent laptops on the market. CEED is now back on Indiegogo with pi-topCEED desktop computer also based on a Raspberry Pi 2 board and a 13.3″ display, but which much more aggressive pricing, as the kit could be yours for $99 with the board, or $70 without, and shipping was included to the few countries I checked out. pi-topCEED Specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2836 quad core Cortex A7 processor @ 900MHz with VideoCore IV GPU System Memory – 1GB LPDDR2 Storage – micro SD card slot Display – 13.3″ HD LCD screen screen with eDP 1.2 interface; 1366×768 resolution; 262K colors; 60Hz refresh rate; 3W power consumption. Video & Audio Output – HDMI (connected to display board […]

September 23, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

RePhone Kit Create is a DIY Phone and Cellular Development Kit (Crowdfunding)

Seeed Studio has design a modular and open source phone it calls RePhone Kit Create. The kit allows you, or/and your kid(s), to assemble their own phone based on building blocks including a 2G or 3G core module, a touchscreen display module, an audio module, and pre-cut, seawable, washable, and easily drawable Kraft paper to make the case. The kit can also be used for IoT applications using cellular and Bluetooth connectivity, and extra Xadow modules GPS, NFC, motion sensors, camera and more.. Two cellular “core” module can be used: RePhone GSM + BLE module with the “world’s smallest System-on-Chip (SOC) for Wearables and Internet Of Things”, GSM, GPRS and Bluetooth 2.1 and 4.0 support. RePhone Core Module 3G with a “powerful microcontroller”,a standard Xadow interface (USB, GPIO, I2C, SPI, UART, EINT), support for speaker, two microphones and a headset, a Nano SIM, and support for HSPA/WCDMA:850/1900 and GPRS/EDGE:850/1900. Voltage: […]

August 21, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Orchard is an Open Source Hardware Multi-Radio IoT Board Used to Learn Coding, Hardware Design and Manufacturing

Sutajio Ko-Usagi’s wiki is the place where you find documentation for open source hardware projects such as Novena laptop or Fernvale IoT board. There’s another IoT board supporting 900 MHz and Bluetooth radios called Orchard. Orchard board specifications: MCU – Kinetis MKW01 ARM Cortex-M0+ MCU @ 48 MHz with 128KB flash, 16KB RAM Connectivity 900 MHz radio with +13dBm transmit power (for long-range applications) Bluetooth LE radio (for short-range, low power connection to IP gateways) Display – 128×64 OLED Sensors – 3-axis Accelerometer, microphone sensor Debugging – FTDI serial port header, SWD provisioning & debug header Misc Captouch button controller WS2812B LED strip driver Lithium ion battery solution Gas gauge for accurate battery life determination Charging solution that can support high-capacity batteries Integral 5V boost The hardware files and ChibiOS 3.0 firmware source code are all available. The board does not appear to be for sale, but instead students taking […]

April 7, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

$50 Mimas V2 Spartan 6 FPGA Development Board Comes with a VGA Port, 64MB RAM

Just last week, I wrote about miniSpartan3, an FPGA board powered by Xilinx Spartan 3A. It costs as low as $25, features an HDMI output port, but lacks RAM. Numato Lab’s Mimas V2 is another low cost FPGA board with a more powerful Spartan 6 FPGA, 512 Mb LPDDR memory, and instead of HDMI output, a VGA port has been included on the board. The board can be used for prototype development, signal processing, learning digital electronics and as an educational tool for schools and universities. Technical specifications: FPGA – Xilinx Spartan XC6SLX9 in CSG324 package System Memory – 512Mb LPDDR @ 166 MHz (MT46H32M16LF/W949D6CBHX6E) Storage – 16 Mb SPI flash memory (M25P16) + micro SD card slot Video Output – VGA connector Audio – Stereo jack USB – 1x mini USB 2.0 port for on-board flash programming Expansion Headers – Four 6×2 header with access to 32 I/O pins, […]