smartphone

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Ubuntu Touch 20.04 OTA-2 adds support for Fairphone 3, Volla Phone X23, F(x)tec Pro1 X smartphones

Ubuntu Touch 20.04 OTA-2 adds support for Fairphone 3, Volla Phone X23, F(x)tec Pro1 X smartphones

Ubuntu Smartphone with physical keyboard

UBPorts has just released Ubuntu Touch 20.04 OTA-2 based on Ubuntu 20.04 with three new phones supported namely the Fairphone 3, the Volla Phone X23, and F(x)tec Pro1 X with the latter being introduced in 2020 in a crowdfunding campaign claiming Ubuntu Touch support. Ubuntu Touch was initially an initiative by Canonical for desktop/mobile convergence, but when the company decided to refocus its efforts on cloud and IoT, the UBPorts community took over and eventually outed the first stable Ubuntu Touch release in June 2017. Work has continued since then and with the Ubuntu Touch 20.04 OTA-2 release, the community-supported distribution now supports 15 smartphones with the Fairphone 4, Google Pixel 3a and 3a XL, Oneplus 5 and 5T, OnePlus 6 and 6T, Vollaphone and Vollaphone X, Vollaphone 22, Xiaomi Mi A2, Xiaomi Poco M3, Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 and 7 Pro, besides the three new mobile devices added to […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Linux 6.4 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.4 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.4 release

Linux 6.4 has just been released by Linus Torvalds on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML): Hmm. Final week of 6.4 is done, and we’ve mainly got some netfilter fixes, some mm reverts, and a few tracing updates. There’s random small changes elsewhere: the usual architecture noise, a number of selftest updates, some filesystem fixes (btrfs, ksmb), etc. Most of the stuff in my mailbox the last week has been about upcoming things for 6.5, and I already have 15 pull requests pending. I appreciate all you proactive people. But that’s for tomorrow. Today we’re all busy build-testing the newest kernel release, and checking that it’s all good. Right? Released around two months ago, Linux 6.3 brought us AMD’s “automatic IBRS” Spectre defense mechanism, additional progress on the Rust front with User-mode Linux support (on x86-64 systems only), the NFS filesystem (both the client and server sides) gained support for […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Broadcom unveils 2nd generation WiFi 7 chipsets: BCM6765, BCM47722, BCM4390

Broadcom unveils 2nd generation WiFi 7 chipsets: BCM6765, BCM47722, BCM4390

Broadcom WiFi 7 Gen2: BCM6765, BCM47722, BCM4390

Broadcom has announced its second generation WiFi 7 chipsets: the BCM6765 residential WiFi 7 access point chip, the BCM47722 enterprise WiFi 7 access point chip with dual IoT radios that support simultaneous operation for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Zigbee, Thread, and Matter protocols, and the BCM4390 low-power Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth, and 802.15.4 combo chip designed for use in mobile devices. This follows the introduction of Broadcom’s first WiFi 7 chipsets in April 2022 with residential and enterprise WiFi 7 access point chips, and a WiFi 7 client chip, but the second generation access point chipsets support 320 MHz 2-stream Wi-Fi operation and add extra features, and the BCM4390 optimized costs bringing WiFi 7 to lower-prices phones and devices. BCM6765 residential Wi-Fi access point chip highlights: CPU – Quad-core ARMv8 CPU with 10Gbps Ethernet PHY WiFi 7 Dual 2×2 tri-band (2.4, 5, and 6 GHz) capable radios that support simultaneous operation […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on NexDock XL 15.6-inch touchscreen laptop shell for smartphones supports wireless charging

NexDock XL 15.6-inch touchscreen laptop shell for smartphones supports wireless charging

15.6-inch laptop shell for smarphone

The NexDock XL is a 15.6-inch touchscreen laptop shell for a smartphone with wireless charging support and a 360-degree flip capability that can transform it into a laptop or a tablet, and be used in tent mode. With its USB-C 3.1 with DisplayPort and mini HDMI 1.4a input ports, the laptop shell can also potentially be used with other devices that output video, audio, and data through USB-C or/and HDMI. The phone can be secured with a magnet on the area between the display and keyboard both for wireless charging or even to use the phone as a touchpad. NexDock XL specifications Display 15.6-inch IPS touch screen with 1920 x 1080 FHD resolution, 120Hz, 16:9 aspect ratio Brightness: 300 nits, Contrast 800:1, Color Gamut: NTSC 72% / sRGB 100% Audio 4 x 2W speakers (THX approved) 3.5mm audio jack Full-sized backlit keyboard with multitouch trackpad on the side. Storage – […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Arm unveils Cortex-X4, Cortex-A720, Cortex-A520 CPUs, Immortalis-720 GPU

Arm unveils Cortex-X4, Cortex-A720, Cortex-A520 CPUs, Immortalis-720 GPU

Arm Cortex-X4 Immortalis-G720 SoC block diagram

Arm has just announced the new Total Compute Solutions 2023 (TCS23) with Cortex-X4, Cortex-A720, and Cortex-A520 Armv9.2 CPU cores, and the 5th generation (i.e. no Valhall) Immortalis-720 GPU that will initially be found in SoC for premium smartphones and laptops before reaching the other markets over the years. The announcement follows TCS22 platform announced in June 2022 with Cortex-X3, Cortex-A715 and 510 cores plus the Immortalis-715 GPU that was eventually found in the MediaTek Dimensity 9200 SoC integrated into OPPO and Vivo smartphones, and the new TCS23 CPU cores offer up to 15% performance improvement, 40% higher efficiency, while the Immortalis-720 GPU offers similar performance and efficiency improvements on the graphics front. A typical TCS23 mobile SoC will have a Cortex-X4 premium core, a few Cortex-A720 high-performance cores, and a few Cortex-A520 efficiency cores managed by the new DynamIQ Shared Unit DSU-120 capable of handling up to 14 cores in […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Linux 6.3 release – Notable changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.3 release – Notable changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.3 release

Linux Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 6.3 on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML): It’s been a calm release this time around, and the last week was really no different. So here we are, right on schedule, with the 6.3 release out and ready for your enjoyment. That doesn’t mean that something nasty couldn’t have been lurking all these weeks, of course, but let’s just take things at face value and hope it all means that everything is fine, and it really was a nice controlled release cycle. It happens. This also obviously means the merge window for 6.4 will open tomorrow. I already have two dozen pull requests waiting for me to start doing my pulls, and I appreciate it. I expect I’ll have even more when I wake up tomorrow. But in the meantime, let’s enjoy (and test) the 6.3 release. As always, the shortlog […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 review – A multi-function 10-in-1 educational robot kit

Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 review – A multi-function 10-in-1 educational robot kit

Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 robot kit review

Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 is an educational robot kit that can be used to easily create up to 10 different types of robots. An Arduino-compatible Mega 2560 MCU board serves as the main controller and there are over 550 mechanical parts and electronic modules. The robot can drive up to 4 encoder and stepping motors, control up to 10 servo motors to work simultaneously, and can also be connected to Arduino and Raspberry Pi boards for more complex projects. The review/tutorial is fairly long, so if you are short on time, you can jump to different sections by clicking on some of the links below: MegaPi control board and main modules description mBlock 5 visual-programming IDE installation Programming of DC Encoder motors, Ultrasonic sensor, Line follower module, motion sensor, RJ25 adapter, and shutter module mBlock mobile app Building the ten models for the Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 robot kit (as shown in […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Scrcpy 2.0 Android screen mirroring and control utility for PCs released with audio forwarding support

Scrcpy 2.0 Android screen mirroring and control utility for PCs released with audio forwarding support

Srcpy 2.0

Scrcpy 2.0 Android screen mirroring and control utility for Windows, Linux, and macOS has just been released with support for audio forwarding that enables audio to be played back into the computer/laptop, instead of the smartphone, at least for mobile devices running Android 11 or greater. We first reported about Scrcpy open-source utility in 2018, and at the time, it worked relatively well in Ubuntu 16.04 but required quite a few steps for the installation, and it would lag from time to time. I could still use the mouse and keyboard to control my phone, send SMS, chat, browse the web, play games, switch between landscape and portrait modes, and so on. Five years later, Scrcpy 2.0 has been released, the installation is much easier, and new features have been implemented. Scrcpy 2.0 highlights: Quality – 1920×1080 or above Performance – 30~120fps, depending on the device Latency – 35~70ms Startup […]

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