hardkernel News - Page 10 of 14 - CNX Software

June 7, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Hardkernel Releases Amlogic S905 Datasheet

When you design a board and/or write drivers for an SoC it helps a lot to get info about electrical characteristics, memory map, registers’ addresses and values to understand how the hardware works, especially for custom applications, but many silicon vendors only distribute such documents under NDA to their business customers, with exception from companies such as Freescale (now NXP), and Texas Instruments. Hardkernel, the company developing ODROID boards, is also trying to release as much documentation as possible for their board such as Amlogic S805 datasheet for ODROID-C1/C1+ boards, and the Korean company has now released Amlogic S905 processor datasheet as the processor is used in their ODROID-C2 board. Some of the information available in the datasheet include Memory map Power domain CPU and GPU sub-system Clock & Reset Unit System Boot General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) Interrupt Controller Direct Memory Access Controller (DMAC) Timers Crypto Etc… ODROID-C2 was launched […]

February 29, 2016March 1, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 46 Comments

ODROID-C2 64-Bit ARM Development Board is Now Available for Purchase for $40

ODROID-C2 is a quad core 64-bit ARM development board based on Amlogic S905 processor with 2GB RAM that was planned to launch in early March, but maybe unsurprisingly, Hardkernel decided to launch their latest board, the very same day as Raspberry Pi 3 launch. We already knew the specifications, but it’s always useful to mind ourselves of the details: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core cortex-A53 processor @ 2.0 GHz with 3+2 cores Mali-450 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 SDRAM Storage – eMMC module socket with 8, 16, 32, or 64GB module by Toshiba or Sandisk + micro SD slot supporting UHS-1 SD cards. Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60 Hz Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet (Realtek RTL8211F) USB – 4x USB 2.0 host ports + micro USB OTG port Expansion Header 40-pin header with GPIO, I2C, UART, and ADC ; All I/Os are 3.3V, except […]

February 15, 2016February 15, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

$25 ODROID-C0 Development Board Targets IoT, Wearables, Robots and Drones

Hardkernel started to mention ODROID-C0 board last November, a cost-down and smaller version of ODROID-C1+ board powered by Amlogic S805 quad core Cortex A5 processor with 1GB RAM, dropping Ethernet, and a few USB port, but gaining a Li-po battery management unit. The company has now officially launched the board, which can be purchased for $25 on Hardkernel website or via distributors such as Ameridroid. ODROID-C0 specifications: SoC- Amlogic S805 quad core ARM Cortex-A5 @ 1.5GHz with ARM Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 @ 792Mhz Storage – eMMC Module Socket, micro SD card slot up to 128GB Video Output – HDMI Audio Output – HDMI, I2S USB – 2x unpopulated USB2.0 ports Expansion Headers Unpopulated 40-pin header with GPIO, UART, SPI, I2C, and ADC signals Unpopulated 7-pin header for I2S Debugging – Unpopulated serial debug header Misc – On-board RTC function with battery connector, unpopulated IR receiver Power […]

February 3, 2016February 3, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 57 Comments

Hardkernel ODROID-C2 64-Bit ARM Development Board to Sell for $40 Next Month

We previously knew ODROID-C2 was in development thanks to a document and source code from Amlogic themselves. We did not have the full details at the time, and Amlogic’s document even got the RAM capacity wrong. Hardkernel has finally announced ODROID-C2 development board based on Amlogic S905 will be selling on March 2016 for $40, and released specifications and some photos. ODROID-C2 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core cortex-A53 processor with 3+2 cores Mali-450 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 SDRAM Storage – eMMC module socket with 8, 16, 32, or 64GB module by Toshiba or Sandisk + micro SD slot supporting UHS-1 SD cards. Video Output – HDMI 2.0 Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet (Realtek RTL8211F) USB – 4x USB 2.0 host ports + micro USB OTG port Expansion Header 40-pin header with GPIO, I2C, UART, and ADC ; All I/Os are 3.3V, except ADC that is limited to […]

December 31, 2015January 29, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

Ten Most Popular Posts of 2015 and Statistics on CNX Software

In the second part of 2014, we saw a big jump in performance thanks to Cortex A15 and A17 based SoCs, and higher clocked Cortex A9 processors such as Rockchip RK3288 and Amlogic S812, but in 2015, TV box companies have focused on lowering the price and adding features such as HDMI 2.0, instead of looking for higher and higher CPU and GPU performance, and they’ve also moved to 64-bit ARM platform. Intel also continued its foray into low cost HDMI sticks and mini PCbased on Bay Trail, and later on Cherry Trail based devices. The development boards story was also very much about lower cosst with the $15 Orange Pi PC, follow a few months later by the $5 Raspberry Pi Zero, although people looking for performance at any price still saw the release of Nvidia Jetson TX1 board. It’s was also a big year for IoT with the […]

December 28, 2015December 29, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

ODROID-C2 Amlogic S905 Development Board is in the Works

Hardkernel ODROID-C1 and later ODROID-C1+ boards, both based on Amlogic S805 SoC, have been a popular alternatives to Raspberry Pi 2 board this year. But now that Amlogic S905 quad core 64-bit ARM Cortex A53 processor has been available for a few months, people have been wondering whether the Korean company would launch an Amlogic S905 board, and it looks like ODROID-C2 might not be too far off based on firmware files on odroid.in website. The firmware includes a device tree file, which combined with other files give some clues about ODROID-C2 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz with penta-core (3+2) Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1GB RAM (in doc), 2GB RAM (in Device tree) Storage – 1x micro SD card Video Output – 1x HDMI out USB – 1x USB hub, 1x USB OTG I don’t have much more information […]

December 27, 2015May 2, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Hardkernel ODROID-XU4 Development Board Now Supports Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Android 6.0 source code was released in October, but so far few development boards are supporting it properly. There’s Android 6.0 for Raspberry Pi 2, but without GPU hardware acceleration is not really usable, and Intrinsyc Open-Q 820 board that will start shipping in a few days with Android 6.0 on Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, is pricey and with limited availability. So there are only two options that I’m aware of LeMaker Hikey with Android 6.0 as part of the Reference Platform Release 2015.12, and Hardkernel ODROID-XU4 with an unofficial port for Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow by voodik odroid community member, which should also work for ODROID-XU3 and XU3 Lite boards. Despite being an alpha version, the current image looks pretty good, as most required features seem implemented: Android 6.0.1 Lollipop Cyanogenmod 13.0 with Linux kernel 3.10.9 OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.0 (GPU acceleration) OpenCL 1.1 EP (GPU acceleration) Multi-user feature is enabled […]

December 18, 2015December 18, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

DietPi is Lightweight, Easy to Use Debian Based Distribution for Raspberry Pi, ODROID, and Orange Pi Boards

Raspberry Pi, Hardkernel ODROID, and Orange Pi are some of the most popular and cost effective development boards on the market today, and one British developer, going under Fourdee nickname, has released a lightweight distribution called DietPi working for all Rasbperry Pi boards, ODROID-C1(+), ODROID-XU3/XU4, and Orange Pi PC, with Orange Pi 2 and Orange Pi Plus support coming soon, as well as a VMWare virtual machine also available for evaluation. The compressed downloads are about 80 to 100MB depending on the target, the image that can be dump with dd or Win32DiskImager requires a 1GB or greater micro SD card as the image itself is about 500MB large, Internet access (Ethernet or Wifi), and optionally a USB Drive to allow installation on a USB drive for better performance, which of course does not apply if you have an eMMC module with your ODROID board. The image also contains some […]