Orange Pi Plus Development Board Gets Upgraded to Allwinner H3 Processor

Orange Pi boards were recently launched with a form factor similar to the Raspberry Pi Model B+, and featuring Allwinner A20 and A31s processors. Orange Pi Plus was initially fitted with Allwinner A31s processor, but Shenzhen Xunlong Software has now decided to use the latest Allwinner H3 quad core processor instead for this model, adding better CPU performance, and H.265 video decoding up to 4K @ 30 fps, likely at the cost of a slower Mali- 400MP2 GPU against the PowerVR SGX544MP used in Allwinner A31s. New Orange Pi Plus specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.6 GHz with ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU up to 600 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot, SATA interface (via a USB to SATA chip), unpopulated  8GB eMMC on the back of the board (despite picture, see comments section) Video Output – HDMI, AV port Audio […]

Raspberry Pi 2 / ODROID C1+ Development Boards Comparison

Raspberry Pi 2 Model B board has just been released, and although it’s not a direct answer to ODROID-C1, as Broadcom started the design for BCM2836 SoC for RPI2 a long time ago, both low cost development boards have similar specifications, with a quad core processor, 1GB RAM, Ethernet, and four USB ports, as well as the exact same price: $35. So I’ve decided to compare both in details to find out the actual differences, and which one may be more suitable to a particular application. Let’s get straight to the comparison table. [Updated on November 24 to use ODROID C1+ instead of ODROID C1] Hardkernel ODROID C1+ Raspberry Pi 2 Model B Comment Processor Amlogic S805 quad core Cortex A5 @ 1.5 GHz (Overclockable to 1.7 GHz or more) Broadcom BCM2836 quad core Cortex A7 @ 900 MHz (Overclockable to 1.1GHz or more) Despite the architecture advantage for Cortex […]

Raspberry Pi 2 Model B Features Broadcom BCM2836 Quad Core Processor

The Raspberry Pi foundation has finally released an upgraded version of the Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi 2 model B features much of the same ports and form factor as Raspberry Pi Model B+, by replaces Broadcom BCM2835 ARM11 processor  @ 700 MHz with a much faster Broadcom BCM2836 quad core ARMv7 processor @ 900 MHz, and with an upgrade to 1GB RAM. Raspberry Pi 2 Model B specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2836 quad core Cortex A7 processor @ 900MHz with VideoCore IV GPU System Memory – 1GB LPDDR2 (PoP) Storage – micro SD card slot (push release type) Video & Audio Output – HDMI and AV via 3.5mm jack. Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet USB – 4x USB 2.0 ports, 1x micro USB for power Expansion 2×20 pin header for GPIOs Camera header Display header Power – 5V via micro USB port. Dimensions – 85 x 56 mm I could not […]

FOSDEM 2015 Schedule – January 31 – February 1 2015

FOSDEM (Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting) takes place every year during the first week-end of February. This year the developer-oriented event expects to bring over 5000 geeks to share ideas and collaborate on open source projects. Contrary to most other events, it’s free to attend, and you don’t even need to register, just show up. FOSDEM 2015 will take place on January 31- February 1 in Brussels. There will be 551 sessions divided into 5 keynotes, 40 lightning talks, 6 certification exams, and with the bulk being developer rooms and main tracks,  divided into 7 main tracks this year: Languages, Performance, Time, Typesetting, Hardware, Security and Miscellaneous. I’m not going to attend, but it’s still interested to see what will be talked about, and I’ve concocted my own little virtual program out of the main tracks and developers’ rooms. There’s a few minutes overlap between some talks […]

GrovePi+ Starter Kit Adds Multiple Sensors, Relays, an LCD, a Buzzer… to the Raspberry Pi Boards

Seeed Studio and Dexter Industries has introduced the GrovePi+ Starter Kit for the Raspberry Pi (All models) that includes the GrovePi+ board, and various Grove modules adding sensors, buttons, a buzzer, LEDs and more. GrovePi+ board connects to the GPIO header of the Raspberry Pi, and features several Grove connectors to interface with Groves modules part of the starter kit Grove Light Sensor Module Grove Sound Sensor Module Grove Temperature and Humidity Sensor Module (not the ‘PRO’ version) Grove Button Module Grove Rotary Angle Sensor Module Grove Buzzer Module Grove Relay Module 3x Grove LED Modules (One Red, Green, and Blue LEDS, all replaceable with user LED) Grove Ultrasonic Sensor Module Grove LCD RGB Backlight Module Grove cables, and a GrovePi+ guidebook are also included. The GrovePi+ board is an Arduino compatible board featuring ATMEGA328 microcontroller, and can be programmed with C/C++, Python, and experimental Go and node.js coding is […]

Crowdfunding Report for 2014 on CNX Software Blog

Following up on my 2013 Crowdfunding Report, I’ve gone through all 55 Kickstarter and Indiegogo crowdunding projects featured on CNX Software between December 2013 and November 2014 (inclusive) to see how well they fared. The table below sort projects chronologically as they were published on this very blog. Date Project Crowdfunding Site Funded? Pledged amount / Goal Expected Delivery Actual Delivery Comments 2. Dec. 2013 Micro Python Kickstarter Yes 97,803 GBP / 15,000 GBP 03/2014 04/2014 Available @ https://micropython.org/store/#/store 5. Dec. 2013 Plugaway Kickstarter Yes $162,835 AUD / $50,000 AUD 04/2014 – People upset because of lack of updates. Project might be dead, and backers lost their money 6. Dec. 2013 AIRTAME Indiegogo Yes $1,268,332 / $160,000 05/2014 12/2014 People have started received the beta versions, after a massive 8-month delay 7. Dec. 2013 Crystal Board Kickstarter No $14,574 / $200,000 04/2014 – The project appears to be dead 10. […]

Top 10 Posts of 2014 and Stats on CNX Software

Wow! After a slow start of the year, 2014 has been a busy year as new devices based on newer processor from Amlogic started to flood the market in Q2, soon followed by even more Rockchip RK3288 based media players, and then some more Amlogic S805 and Allwinner A80 boards and devices. It’s now the last day of the year, so just like in 2013, it’s time to look back on the main trends of the year, and based on the list of the top 10 most visited posts below, the new generation of ARM Android media players were the most important story of the year on CNX Software, but we also saw more IoT devices and board like Vidonn X5 or LinkIT One, lots of new Wi-Fi modules, and by the end of the year ESP8266 seemed to have won that fight, but being found in $3 Wi-Fi modules. […]

OpenELEC 5.0 Linux Distribution Released with Kodi 14

OpenELEC (Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center) is a lightweight Linux distribution aiming at turning your computer or device into a Kodi media center. So instead of installing Kodi as a program or app on a desktop OS or Android, you could have a dedicated machine, which boots faster, has lower requirements (90-125 MB required for a full installation), and supported external tuners to watch live TV, as well as PVR & timeshifting functions out of the box. The developers have now announced OpenELEC 5.0 release, the successor of OpenELEC 4.2. Key changes for OpenELEC 5.0 include: Update from XBMC 13 (Gotham) to Kodi 14 (Helix) Update from Linux 3.16 to Linux 3.17 Switch from OpenSSL to LibreSSL Freescale i.IMX6 support for SolidRun CuBox-i, CuboxTV, and Hummingboard AppleTV support has been discontinued Beside build for the CuBox devices, OpenELEC 5.0 can be downloaded for x86 (32- and 64-bit builds), and the […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC