odroid-c2 News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

May 20, 2019May 31, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 30 Comments

Top 5 Raspberry Pi Alternatives in 2019

The Raspberry Pi boards are great little Arm Linux SBC’s with a low price and great community support. But the Broadcom processors used in the boards are also fairly old so they may not be suitable for some projects. If your application needs or would benefit from modern features such as memory over 1GB RAM, an actual Gigabit Ethernet port, USB 3.0 port(s), 4K video output, or H.265 hardware video decoding you’ll have to find Raspberry Pi alternatives. I’ll point out 5 alternative single board computers in this post from the point of view of existing Raspberry Pi users, who will want good software support and a board with the same or similar form factor as Raspberry Pi 3 Model B/B+ in order to reuse their add-on boards and/or enclosures. Price has to be competitive as well, so nothing above $80 will be mentioned. The boards are not listed in […]

November 21, 2018November 21, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Diskio Pi 13.3″ DIY Tablet Kit for Raspberry Pi – Take 2 on Kickstarter

Diskio Pi was a DIY tablet kit for Raspberry Pi, ODROID-C2/XU4 and other compatible boards with a 13.3″ Full HD display that launched last year on Kickstarter. But the project failed likely due to the high costs (350 Euros and up for early bird pledges without battery nor SBC) and an elevated funding target of 400,000 Euros. But the team did not give up, worked on reducing costs, improved the design, and recently relaunched Diskio Pi on Kickstarter with a more achievable 52,096 Euros target, and reasonable pricing with rewards starting at 189 Euros including VAT. Diskio Pi “basic” DIY tablet kit content and main specifications: Display – Innolux 13.3″ TFT/IPS display with 1920×1080 resolution, WLED backlight + 10-point touch capacitive panel connected over USB 2.0 Video control board with HDMI 1.4 to eDP converter, stereo amplifier, and 2x 1W speakers Daughter board with Genesys USB hub, 9V to 5V/4A […]

May 4, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

VolksPC OS Runs Android and Debian Simultaneously on ODROID-C2 Board

Most development boards and some TV boxes offer a dual boot image with Android and a Linux distribution. To run an Android app, you need to boot to Android OS, and if you decided you need to run Linux, you then need to reboot to the Linux OS, and you can’t simply use Alt+Tab to easily and quickly switch between Android and Linux apps. But VolksPC offers just that: the ability to run Android and Debian side-by-side, and I tested their MicroXWin unified distributions with MK808B TV stick powered by Rockchip RK3066 processor a few years ago. It was early stage at the time (July 2014), and there was some stability issues.The company has kept working on their solution, but focused on more powerful hardware, and they have now released VOLKSPC OS for ODROID-C2 with Debian XFCE and Android Marshmallow, which will run both Android and Debian applications at the […]

March 16, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments

SupTronics X800 2.5″ SATA Drive Expansion Board and Cases for Raspberry Pi 2/3 and ODROID C2 Boards

I wrote about SupTronics expansion boards for Raspberry Pi a few year ago. Those add features like WiFi, Bluetooth, RTC, SATA, VGA, S/PDIF, etc… I’ve just stumble upon a new model Suptronics X800 specifically designed for 2.5″ SATA hard drive and SSDs that I found on DealExtreme for $32.73 with a 5V/4A power supply, or $21.43 with just the expansion board and accessories. SupTronics X800 board features: SATA connector for 2.5″ SATA drivers up to 1TB implemented via GL830 USB to SATA bridge HDMI port – Duplicate Raspberry Pi HDMI output USB – Connects to Raspberry Pi Power Supply 5V via 5.5/2.5 power jack Optional & recommended power supply – AC 100 – 240V input ~50 / 60Hz, 5V/4A output with US and EU snap plugs Powers the Raspberry Pi, i.e. a USB power supply is not needed Dimensions – 109mm x 85mm Compatibility – Raspberry Pi Model B+, […]

February 26, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

LibreELEC v8.0.0 Released with Kodi 17.0 (Krypton)

LibreELEC is a JeOS (Just enough Operating System) based on Linux that creates a media center appliance platform for Kodi (formelly XBMC), and a fork of OpenELEC. The developers have now released LibreELEC v8.0.0 with the latest Kodi 17.0 “Krypton”. Beside the update to Kodi 17, some of the changes since the last stable version (v7.95.3) include: Fix for TVheadend issues in the WeTek Play 2 DVB driver Fix for interactive governor causing slowdown issues on the WeTek Core Fix for missing Bluetooth “connect and trust” option when pairing Fix for missing ir-keytable streamzap support after recent changes Updates to refine lirc repeat timing changes Update WeTek Play 2 remote keymap to expose more buttons Updates to linux-amlogic 3.10 (arm) and 3.14 (aarch64) kernels Add hexdump busybox applet needed for Odroid_C2 overclocking The full list of changes can be found on github. While it’s possible to update from an existing […]

January 17, 2017August 31, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

RailPi 2.0 DIN Rail Enclosure & Industrial Expansion Board is Designed for Raspberry Pi 3 & ODROID-C2 Boards

We’ve already seen the Raspberry Pi compute module used for industrial applications with RevolutionPi RevPi Core industrial computer with a DIN rail enclosure, support for digital I/O modules and fieldbus gateways. Hagedorn Software Engineering GmbH, another German company has designed a similar industrial computer, called RailPi 2.0, with a DIN rail enclosure integrating an add-on board designed for Raspberry Pi 3 and ODROID-C2 boards. RailPi 2.0 specifications (adapted from Google Translation of website): I/Os 4x digital outputs, short-circuit-proof, PWM-compatible, with diode for the connection of inductive loads such as relays. 2x optically decoupled inputs, current-limited, with dimensions compliant with the S0 standard to allow them to be used with pules counters / current meters. RS485 interface 1-Wire bus placed at the front of the RailPi Bus connector for extensions with GND,I2C Clock (5V), I2C data (5V), 5V, and 12V Misc – Real-time clock Power Supply – Input voltage range of […]

December 31, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Ten Most Popular Posts of 2016 on CNX Software and Some Stats

The last day of the year is a good time to look back at what the year brought us, and I have to say it has been a fun and interesting year on CNX Software. The TV boxes news cycle has been dominated by Amlogic products, but most products have now switched to 64-bit ARM SoC, with 4K and HDMI 2.0 support, and price have kept going down, so you can now get a 4K TV box for as low as $20, although many people will prefer spending a bit more for extra memory and support. Intel based Bay Trail & Cherry Trail mini PCs have continued to be released with Windows, and in some cases Ubuntu, but the excitement seems to have died off a bit, maybe with the expectation of upcoming Apollo Lake mini PCs that should be more powerful. The year have been especially fruitful in the […]

December 6, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Hardkernel ODROID-VU8C is 8″ LCD Display and Case Kit for ODROID C1+ and C2 Boards

While it’s quite easy to find displays for development boards, they do not always come with a case, so you’d have to make your own. One easier option for the Raspberry Pi boards is the official Raspberry Pi 7″ LCD touch screen Display, plus RS Premium touchscreen case that selling for $132 in total including Raspberry Pi 3 board. But Hardkernel has now launched their own ODROID-VU8C 8″ Touch Display Shell Kit compatible with ODROID-C1+ and ODROID-C2 boards. Specifications and Kit Contents: 8-inch TFT-LCD with 1024×768 resolution (4:3 ratio) 10 finger capacitive touch input Back-light brightness control with ODROID GPIO PWM Viewing angle : Left 75, Right 75, Up 75, Down 75 degree Screen Dimensions : 189 x 149 x 29 mm Viewable screen size : 162 x121.5 mm (active area) Power Supply – 5V/4A DC to power barrel (powering both the LCD and ODROID ARM Linux board) Power consumption […]