mini pc News - Page 134 of 149 - CNX Software

July 27, 2013July 27, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Chromecast Open Source Code: Linux Kernel, Toolchain, Bootloader, and More

Google has made quite a stir by introducing Chromecast, and entering the HDMI TV Stick market. We already know the device is based on Marvell 88DE3005 SoC with 512 MB, and since the product are already been shipped to customers in the US, it was just a question of time before the release of the open source code, and everything you need appears to be available at https://code.google.com/p/chromecast-mirrored-source/ Let’s have a look at what we have in the different repositories: Wiki – Empty… Kernel – Linux 3.0.8 source code Prebuilt – Binary toolchain: arm-unknown-linux-gnueabi-4.5.3-glibc Toolchain – Source code for the toolchain above. External – Source code for alsa-libs, dnsmask, libexit and nss sdk – bootloader and DirecFB 1.6.1 vendor – Looks like qt source used in some netflix app (not sure) Chromium – README explaining how you can download Chromecast Chromium source code: 1.8GB tarball + you need to contact […]

July 26, 2013July 26, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

Rikomagic Announces MK802III LE and MK802IV LE mini PCs Preloaded with Linux (Picuntu)

If you’ve been following the ARM based mini PC space, you may already know about Rikomagic MK802 III and MK802 IV HDMI TV Sticks, respectively based on Rockchip RK3066 and RK3188, running Android Jelly Bean. Rikomagic and Cloudsto Electronics have just announced they will launch a “Linux Edition” (LE) for those two devices called MK802III LE and MK802IV LE Quad Core, running Picuntu (Ubuntu) Linux. Since Linux on RK3188 is still work on progress, Cloudsto MK802III LE will be available first, with the following specs: SoC – Rockchip RK3066 dual core Cortex A9 @ 1.6Ghz + Mali-400 MP4 GPU System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 16GB Micro SD card preloaded with PicUntu, but no word about NAND flash Video Output – HDMI (1080p) Connectivity – Wifi 802.11 b/g/n USB – 2 x USB ports It’s not very clear if the hardware will be slightly tweaked (e.g. smaller NAND flash, […]

July 25, 2013July 26, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

Google Unveils $35 Chromecast HDMI TV Stick

For over a year now, we’ve seen many Android HDMI TV Sticks (which I often call mini PCs), a few Linux ones, but Google has just announced its own stick based on a strip down version of Chrome OS. It’s not as versatile as others as it only streams video and music, but it make sharing media easy, and is controlled via your Android or iOS mobile device, or your Windows PC or Mac via Chrome web browser. The connection is just the same as other HDMI dongles. Connect it to the HDMI port of your TV, power it via USB, and setup Wi-Fi. When I first saw the demonstration, I was disappointed as it just seemed like you could do the same thing with a DLNA dongle, but it’s actually quite different. First, Chromekey only works with online services such as YouTube, Netflix, Google Play Movie & TV and […]

July 19, 2013July 19, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

A Preliminary XBMC Image is now Available for Wandboard, GK802

Yesterday, Stephan Rafin left a message on Wandboard mailing list saying he had released a preliminary (Linux) XBMC image that can run on Wandboard Quad development board. GPU and VPU acceleration work, but this is still work in progress, so if you want something that just works, this is not for you. But if you just want to give it a try, it should work on any hardware based on Freescale i.MX6, such as Wandboard Dual or GK802 mini PC, with some minor modifications. If you’ve got a Wandboard Quad board, the installation is straightforward from a Linux machine: Download the SD card image Decompress it with xz or 7x:

 7z x wand.bin.xz

1	7z x wand.bin.xz

Dump the resulting to a 2GB or greater microSD card:

dd if=wand.bin of=/dev/sdx bs=4M

1	dd if=wand.bin of=/dev/sdx bs=4M

Where /dev/sdx is the sdcard device (e.g. /dev/sdc). You can check with lsblk command. If you’ve got a machine running Windows only, you can use Win32DiskImager for step […]

July 16, 2013July 16, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Risun D05 is an Android TV Stick Powered by Rockchip RK3068 SoC

I’ve just discovered another dual core Rockchip SoC called RK3068, but it may not be new, as I can find some references as far back as September 2012. Amazingly, I can’t seem to find any announcement, and details are scarce. Very few products feature this chipset, but Risun D05, an Android mini PC, is one of them, so let’s have a closer look. Risun D05 specifications based on Alibaba listing: SoC- Rockchip RK3068 dual core ARM Cortex A9 @ 1.6 GHz with dual core Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 4 GB NAND Flash, with option for 8GB or 16GB, + micro SD card slot (Up to 32GB) Video Output – HDMI 1.4 male Video Codecs – MPEG 1, MPEG-2, MPEG 4,H.263, H.264, AVS, VC 1, RV, VP6 VP8, Sorenson Spark, MVC 1920x1080P 60FPS. Video Encoder – H.264,VP8,MVC(1080P) Audio Formats – MP1, MP2, MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, […]

July 12, 2013May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Reko QT800 mini PC Based on AllWinner A20 Comes with Dual Band 300Mbps Wi-Fi (Maybe)

In an HDMI TV stick market now dominated by Rockchip RK3066 and RK3188 based devices, Reko QT800 is one of the rare AllWinner A20 mini PCs. It comes with 1 GB RAM, 4 to 8 GB flash, as well as dual band Wi-Fi (2.4/5.0Ghz) that is said to support up a Wi-Fi connection up to 300Mbps. Reko QT800 Specifications: SoC – Allwinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 @ 1.5GHz (yeah, right… 1GHz is more like it) with Mali-400 MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4 to 8 GB Nand Flash + micro SD slot (up to 32 GB) Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4/5.0 GHz – 300 Mbps) Video Output – HDMI 1.4 (1080p) USB – 1x micro USB OTG port, 1x micro USB port for power, and 1x USB 2.0 Host port Button – Recovery button Dimensions – 106*33*14mm Weight – 34g The devices runs Google […]

July 11, 2013May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Firmware Update for CS868 mini PC Version 2.06 (Android 4.1.1)

If you’ve got a Rockchip RK3188 mini PC, there’s usually no issue with finding firmware updates, or even custom ROMs. But if you’ve bought an AllWinner A31 mini PC, such as CS868, you may feel everybody dropped the ball, as the system is not stable, and it seemed there would never be any upgrade. I’ve recently been made aware that there’s some activity on a Chinese bulletin board, and a new firmware is available for CS868: V2.06-4.1.1-20130610. As the name implied, the firmware is based on Android 4.1.1, and has been release on the 10th of June 2013. Here’s the Changelog against V2.05: Add video color brightness, contrast and saturation settings Output to HDMI output by default Other systems optimization and the Changelog against V2.04 (22nd of May): Reduce DDR frequency to improve system stability. Fixed potential sound failure. Optimize USB OTG interface to fix issues with Air mice. Increase […]

July 11, 2013July 11, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Control your DSLR Camera via Wi-Fi using an Android mini PC and a Tablet

DSLR Controller is a paid Android app (beta) that uses your Canon EOS DSLR camera USB port in order to control it and access the camera live view with a tablet or smartphone. That may be useful, but it’s much better if you can roam a bit, and are not limited by the USB cable length. That’s why the application has been improved some time ago in order to use 2 Android devices, usually smartphones or tablets. One device is connected via USB to the DSLR camera, and act as a Wi-Fi access point, and the other device connects via Wi-Fi to allow full control of the camera. However, you don’t really need a screen on a Wi-Fi access point, so instead of using mobile devices, the developers decided to use an Android mini PC, specifically CX-919, which is just one of the many RK3188 mini PC available today, coupled […]