Raspberry Pi News - Page 125 of 182 - CNX Software

June 26, 2019June 26, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

4K Video Playback on Raspberry Pi 4 with LibreELEC (Alpha)

In my short Raspberry Pi 4 review, I tested 4K video output and playback in Raspbian, and sadly neither are working properly, with video output stuck to 1080p60 even after selecting 4K HDMI in the settings and yes, I double checked for “hdmi_enable_4k=1” in config.txt, while H.265 video playback is still clearly using software decode in both VLC and omxplayer. However, LibreELEC team announced support for Raspberry Pi 4 in LibreELEC 9.2 Alpha1 release based on Kodi 18.3 and Linux 4.19.x. So I downloaded LibreELEC-RPi4.arm-9.1.001.img.gz and flash it to a microSD card with balenaEtcher. The good news is that I could manually set the resolution to 3840×2160 and confirm it works with my TV, but the refresh is limited to 30 Hz maximum. Other refresh rates currently available include 23.98 Hz, 24 Hz, 25 Hz, and 29.97 Hz. The hardware is capable if 4K 60Hz, so it’s just a question […]

June 24, 2019June 30, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 63 Comments

Raspberry Pi 4 Benchmarks & Mini Review

Raspberry Pi 4 has just been released with many improvements over Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ including a faster processor, a proper Gigabit Ethernet port, USB 3.0 interfaces, and 4K video support. That’s the theory, but how does it work in practice? I can now let you know as I’ve received a Raspberry Pi 4 sample courtesy of Cytron, and ran some tests and benchmarks on the very latest boards from the Raspberry Pi foundation. System Info Before starting with the benchmarks, let’s go through some basic system info:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /etc/issue
Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 \n \l

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ uname -a
Linux raspberrypi 4.19.46-v7l+ #866 SMP Fri Jun 7 18:00:39 BST 2019 armv7l GNU/Linux

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/root        13G  4.7G  7.4G  39% /
devtmpfs        334M     0  334M   0% /dev
tmpfs           463M     0  463M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs           463M  6.4M  456M   2% /run
tmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs           463M     0  463M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/mmcblk0p6  253M   40M  213M  16% /boot
tmpfs            93M     0   93M   0% /run/user/1000
/dev/sda4       200G  175G   24G  89% /media/pi/USB3_BTRFS
/dev/sda2       241G  181G   48G  80% /media/pi/USB3_EXT4
/dev/sda1       245G  182G   63G  75% /media/pi/USB3_NTFS

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo 
processor	: 0
model name	: ARMv7 Processor rev 3 (v7l)
BogoMIPS	: 270.00
Features	: half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm crc32 
CPU implementer	: 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant	: 0x0
CPU part	: 0xd08
CPU revision	: 3

....
processor	: 3
model name	: ARMv7 Processor rev 3 (v7l)
BogoMIPS	: 270.00
Features	: half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm crc32 
CPU implementer	: 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant	: 0x0
CPU part	: 0xd08
CPU revision	: 3

Hardware	: BCM2835
Revision	: a03111
Serial		: 00000000ea51204b

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /etc/issue

Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 \n \l

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ uname -a

Linux raspberrypi 4.19.46-v7l+ #866 SMP Fri Jun 7 18:00:39 BST 2019 armv7l GNU/Linux

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ df -h

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/root 13G 4.7G 7.4G 39% /

devtmpfs 334M 0 334M 0% /dev

tmpfs 463M 0 463M 0% /dev/shm

tmpfs 463M 6.4M 456M 2% /run

tmpfs 5.0M 4.0K 5.0M 1% /run/lock

tmpfs 463M 0 463M 0% /sys/fs/cgroup

/dev/mmcblk0p6 253M 40M 213M 16% /boot

tmpfs 93M 0 93M 0% /run/user/1000

/dev/sda4 200G 175G 24G 89% /media/pi/USB3_BTRFS

/dev/sda2 241G 181G 48G 80% /media/pi/USB3_EXT4

/dev/sda1 245G 182G 63G 75% /media/pi/USB3_NTFS

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo

processor : 0

model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 3 (v7l)

BogoMIPS : 270.00

Features : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm crc32

CPU implementer : 0x41

CPU architecture: 7

CPU variant : 0x0

CPU part : 0xd08

CPU revision : 3

....

processor : 3

model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 3 (v7l)

BogoMIPS : 270.00

Features : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm crc32

CPU implementer : 0x41

CPU architecture: 7

CPU variant : 0x0

CPU part : 0xd08

CPU revision : 3

Hardware : BCM2835

Revision : a03111

Serial : 00000000ea51204b

$ inxi -Fc0
System:
  Host: raspberrypi Kernel: 4.19.46-v7l+ armv7l bits: 32 Console: tty 1 
  Distro: Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:
  Type: ARM Device System: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.1 details: BCM2835 
  rev: a03111 serial: 00000000ea51204b 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: ARMv7 v7l variant: cortex-a72 bits: 32 
  type: MCP 
  Speed: 1500 MHz min/max: 600/1500 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1500 2: 1500 
  3: 1500 4: 1500 
Graphics:
  Device-1: bcm2835-vc4 driver: vc4_drm v: N/A 
  Device-2: bcm2835-hdmi driver: N/A 
  Display: tty server: X.org 1.20.4 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev 
  tty: 80x24 
  Message: Advanced graphics data unavailable in console. Try -G --display 
Audio:
  Device-1: bcm2835-audio driver: bcm2835_audio 
  Device-2: bcm2835-hdmi driver: N/A 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.46-v7l+ 
Network:
  Message: No ARM data found for this feature. 
  IF-ID-1: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full 
  mac: dc:a6:32:00:9e:9c 
  IF-ID-2: wlan0 state: up mac: dc:a6:32:00:9e:9d 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 946.35 GiB used: 540.58 GiB (57.1%) 
  ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 vendor: SanDisk model: SL16G size: 14.84 GiB 
  ID-2: /dev/sda type: USB vendor: Seagate model: Expansion size: 931.51 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 12.68 GiB used: 4.71 GiB (37.1%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/mmcblk0p7 
  ID-2: /boot size: 252.0 MiB used: 39.3 MiB (15.6%) fs: vfat 
  dev: /dev/mmcblk0p6 
Sensors:
  Message: No sensors data was found. Is sensors configured? 
Info:
  Processes: 179 Uptime: 4h 37m Memory: 1000.5 MiB used: 324.1 MiB (32.4%) 
  gpu: 76.0 MiB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Shell: bash inxi: 3.0.32

$ inxi -Fc0

System:

Host: raspberrypi Kernel: 4.19.46-v7l+ armv7l bits: 32 Console: tty 1

Distro: Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)

Machine:

Type: ARM Device System: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.1 details: BCM2835

rev: a03111 serial: 00000000ea51204b

CPU:

Topology: Quad Core model: ARMv7 v7l variant: cortex-a72 bits: 32

type: MCP

Speed: 1500 MHz min/max: 600/1500 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1500 2: 1500

3: 1500 4: 1500

Graphics:

Device-1: bcm2835-vc4 driver: vc4_drm v: N/A

Device-2: bcm2835-hdmi driver: N/A

Display: tty server: X.org 1.20.4 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev

tty: 80x24

Message: Advanced graphics data unavailable in console. Try -G --display

Audio:

Device-1: bcm2835-audio driver: bcm2835_audio

Device-2: bcm2835-hdmi driver: N/A

Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.46-v7l+

Network:

Message: No ARM data found for this feature.

IF-ID-1: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full

mac: dc:a6:32:00:9e:9c

IF-ID-2: wlan0 state: up mac: dc:a6:32:00:9e:9d

Drives:

Local Storage: total: 946.35 GiB used: 540.58 GiB (57.1%)

ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 vendor: SanDisk model: SL16G size: 14.84 GiB

ID-2: /dev/sda type: USB vendor: Seagate model: Expansion size: 931.51 GiB

Partition:

ID-1: / size: 12.68 GiB used: 4.71 GiB (37.1%) fs: ext4

dev: /dev/mmcblk0p7

ID-2: /boot size: 252.0 MiB used: 39.3 MiB (15.6%) fs: vfat

dev: /dev/mmcblk0p6

Sensors:

Message: No sensors data was found. Is sensors configured?

Info:

Processes: 179 Uptime: 4h 37m Memory: 1000.5 MiB used: 324.1 MiB (32.4%)

gpu: 76.0 MiB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Shell: bash inxi: 3.0.32

For reference, you’ll find Raspberry Pi 4 Linux boot log here. Phoronix benchmarks Let’s go ahead and install the latest version of Phoronix benchmarks:

sudo apt install php-cli php-gd php-xml php-zip 
wget http://phoronix-test-suite.com/releases/repo/pts.debian/files/phoronix-test-suite_8.8.1_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i phoronix-test-suite_8.8.1_all.deb

sudo apt install php-cli php-gd php-xml php-zip

wget http://phoronix-test-suite.com/releases/repo/pts.debian/files/phoronix-test-suite_8.8.1_all.deb

sudo dpkg -i phoronix-test-suite_8.8.1_all.deb

Now let’s run the test to compare the performance of Raspberry Pi 4 model B to some other Arm Linux boards including Raspberry Pi 3 Model B.

phoronix-test-suite benchmark 1709271-TY-1704029RI26

1	phoronix-test-suite benchmark 1709271-TY-1704029RI26

For reference, my office has an […]

June 24, 2019June 24, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

Raspberry Pi 4 vs Pi 3 – What are the differences?

So now that the Raspberry Pi 4 model B has just been launched, it may be worth checking out the differences against the previous latest single board computer from the Raspberry Pi foundation, namely Raspberry Pi 3 model B+. Let’s get straight to the Raspberry Pi 4 vs Pi 3 B+ comparison table. Features/Specs Raspberry Pi 4B Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Release date 24th June 2019 14th March 2018 SoC Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 @ 1.5 GHz Broadcom BCM2837B0 quad-core Cortex-A53 @ 1.4 GHz GPU VideoCore VI with OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0, 3.0 VideoCore IV with OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0 Video Decode H.265 4Kp60, H.264 1080p60 H.264 & MPEG-4 1080p30 Video Encode H.264 1080p30 Memory 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB LPDDR4 1GB LPDDR2 Storage microSD card Video & Audio Output 2x micro HDMI ports up to 4Kp60 3.5mm AV port (composite + audio) MIPI DSI connector 1x HDMI 1.4 port up […]

June 24, 2019June 25, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 140 Comments

Raspberry Pi 4 Features Broadcom BCM2711 Processor, Up to 4GB RAM

Long expected, the Raspberry Pi 4 model B has finally launched, and it should not disappoint with a much more powerful Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor clocked at up to 1.5 GHz, 1 to 4GB LPDDR4, 4K H.265 video decoding and output support, a proper Gigabit Ethernet port, as well as USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports. Raspberry Pi 4 comes with all those extra features, but the form factor remains the same, and importantly the price is still $35 for the version with 1GB RAM, making Raspberry Pi alternatives suddenly much less interesting. Raspberry Pi 4 specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 (ARMv8) @ 1.5GHz with VideoCore VI GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.0 graphics System Memory – 1GB, 2GB or 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – microSD card slot Video Output & Display I/F 2x micro HDMI ports up to 4Kp60 (Currently 1080p60 max. in dual-display configuration, although 2x 4Kp30 is […]

June 20, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Obsidian ESP32 Board Follows Raspberry Pi Model A Form Factor (Crowdfunding)

When Thomas McKahan‏ had been playing with ESP32 for a while, he found the need to use Raspberry Pi HAT boards and enclosure with his new hardware, so he went ahead and designed his own ESP32 board compatible with Raspberry Pi accessories, and following the smaller Raspberry Pi Model A / 3 Model A+ form factor. Obsidian ESP32 specifications: Wireless module – Espressif Systems ESP32-WROVER-B 802.11 b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth 4.2 / BLE module with 16 MB flash, 8 MB PSRAM USB – 1x micro USB port for power and programming Audio – 3.5mm TRS audio jack connected to ESP32 DACs Expansion 40-pin GPIO header compatible with popular HAT expansion boards with 3.3 V signalling, I²S for audio DAC, I²C and SPI, Serial UART available on header or via microUSB, I²C GPIO expander with interrupts & address selection 8-pim unpopulated header from remaining I/Os accessible through GPIO expander 5-pin unpopulated […]

June 14, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Strawberry4Pi Enables Home Automation on Raspberry Pi Boards (Crowdfunding)

Strawberry4Pi is an ecosystem of hardware, firmware, and software to create home automation and IoT projects with for Raspberry Pi boards. The project offers a pre-configured Linux operating system, a mobile app for Android and iOS, as well as two boards with four relays: Strawberry4Pi baseboard Zero for Raspberry Pi Zero (W), and Strawberry4Pi shield A/B for the larger boards such as Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ or Model A. Strawberry4Pi boards specifications: 4x SONGLE relays Misc – Temperature sensor and Wifi configuration button Power Supply Baseboard Zero – 100V-220V via 3-pin terminal block Shield A/B – 5V via 2-pin terminal block Dimensions Baseboard Zero – 97 x 75 mm Shield A/B – 65 x 56 mm Certifications – CE/FCC A 3D printed case and a DIN rail mount are also offered as options. There’s no a whole lot of information about the operating system as most people won’t need […]

June 13, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments

Banana Pi BPI-M4 RPi 3+ Lookalike Board with 4K Video, M.2 Socket Launched for $38

Banana Pi BPI-M4 was unveiled at the beginning of the year as an alternative to Raspberry Pi 3B+ with the same form factor, but equipped with a more capable processor, namely Realtek RTD1395 with support for 4K video output and decoding, Gigabit Ethernet support, PCIe, etc.. SinoVoIP has however made the choice not to go with Gigabit Ethernet, and opted for a cheaper design with Fast Ethernet instead. Having said that, the 4K capabilities of the processor, and PCIe via an M.2 socket are still leveraged in the company’s latest Banana Pi board. What’s changed is that Banana Pi BPI-M4 is now available on Aliexpress for $38 plus shipping in 1GB RAM + 8GB flash storage configuration. Banana Pi BPI-M4 specifications have not changed: SoC – Realtek RTD1395 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor with Mali-470 MP4 GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR4 (option 2 GB) Storage – 8G eMMC flash […]

June 6, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

MOVI Shield Enables Offline Speech Recognition of 150 Sentences on Arduino and Raspberry Pi

Smart speakers normally work both offline and online, but their offline ability is usually limited to just one or two wake words, that when detected let the speakers listen to speech that it will send the cloud for further processing. It’s done that way because the speakers would not have enough resources, e.g. processing power, storage to contain the whole data required for natural speech processing, and wake words reduce the number of requests to the cloud, and improve privacy. But in some cases, you may not need the full language, and instead would like to use several voice commands to control a device without the need or the ability to connect to the Internet/Cloud. So Audeme has designed an Allwinner A13 based Arduino shield named MOVI (My Own Voice Interface), and that can recognize and/or synthesize up to 150 full sentences of your choice in English, Spanish or German. […]