tools News - Page 15 of 15 - CNX Software

April 24, 2013May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Using ARM Development Studio 5 (DS-5) Streamline with MK802II mini PC

MK802-II is an Android 4.0 mini PC powered by AllWinner A10 (ARM Cortex A8) with 1GB RAM and 4GB flash. Instructions are also available to run Ubuntu, or other Linux distributions. ARM Development Studio 5 (ARM DS-5) is software development tool suite for ARM processors that can be used for both Linux and Android debugging, and available in 2 versions: professional edition and community edition, the latter being free of charge. I’m writing about both today, because Bob Peng, Technical Marking Engineer for ARM China, recently wrote a blog post in Chinese [Update: An English version is now available] showing how to use MK802-II, preloaded with the required drivers and daemon, with DS-5 Streamline Performance Analyzer with is part of both versions. The community edition may be missing some features of Streamline however. Streamline Performance Analyzer allows you to: Find out which modules or functions to take up most of […]

February 15, 2013February 16, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Gumstix Introduces Geppetto Web Platform to Design Custom Embedded Boards

Gumstix, the company behind the Overo computers-on-module (COMs), has recently announced an online platform called Geppetto that allows anybody with a proper web browser (e.g. Chrome or Firefox) to design and order a complete baseboard for the Overo COMs. You don’t need to know anything about schematics, PCB layout, or other lecrtical engineering knowledges. The program lets you set the board size, add modules (e.g. USB, HDMI, Ethernet…) as you wish, tells you which connections are required, and once the board is done, you can see your 3D rendered board. You can then save it to the cloud with an option to share it with the community, and you can just order it. The learning curve is very short, and once you know how to use it, it probably takes around 10 minutes to design a complete board. Your fearless CNXSoft had to give it a try… First, point your […]

February 14, 2013February 14, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

Electronics Shop in Thailand – What Will $33 Buy?

Since I was in urgent need for a 5V/3A power adapter, I decided to go shopping locally (in Chiang Mai, Thailand) at some computer shopping malls, where they also have some spare parts. We spent about 1h30 visiting around 10 shops with no success: most of them did not have 5V power supply for sale, and those who did, could only provide 5V/2A power adapters. Finally, one guy at a shop was very helpful, and tried to help us without success, but finally he said you should go to “Amorn“, and after driving a few kilometers we got there. When I entered the shop I started to see some pretty interesting equipments: multi-meters, full sized oscilloscopes from 11,000 Bath (~370 USD), electronics cards for appliances (ventilators washing machine, car audio, amplifiers…), soldering irons, ribbon cables, components (capacitors, but no resistors), and much more. It turns out “Amorn Electronics Center” has […]

February 5, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

linaro-android-tools Scripts Upgrade Android Kernel & Initrd via ADB

With Linaro 13.01 release, Linaro announced linaro-android-tools (aka Kernel Update Tools), a set of tools to improve development time for kernel developers. Today, they published a blog post explaining those scripts allow developers to update the kernel without having to take out the SD card from their development board, and instead update the firmware via ADB with a PC connected via the network or USB. Currently there are 2 shell scripts: update-android.sh – To update kernel files in boot partition such as boot.tar.bz2, single files (e.g. uImage) or kernel modules. Usage:

update-android.sh [--serial|-s serial] [--partition|-p boot-partition] &lt;boot.tar.bz2|uImage|board.dtb|...&gt;
Update the kernel files in the boot partition of the specified
android device with the specified boot.tar.bz2 file
update-android.sh [--serial|-s serial] kernel-source-directory
Push all the module files in the specified kernel directory
into the /system/modules directory of the specified android device

Update the kernel files in the boot partition of the specified

android device with the specified boot.tar.bz2 file

update-android.sh [--serial|-s serial] kernel-source-directory

Push all the module files in the specified kernel directory

into the /system/modules directory of the specified android device

For example:

./update-android.sh out/target/product/pandaboard/boot.tar.bz2

1	./update-android.sh out/target/product/pandaboard/boot.tar.bz2

update-uInitrd.sh – To update files in the initrd Usage:

update-uInitrd.sh [--serial|-s &lt;serial&gt;] [--partition|-p &lt;boot-partition&gt;] [--target|-t &lt;target-file&gt;] &lt;source-file&gt;
Update the target file in uInitrd of the specified device
with the specified source file
When the target file is not specified, will update the file in
the root directory that has the same file name of the source file

update-uInitrd.sh [--serial|-s <serial>] [--partition|-p <boot-partition>] [--target|-t <target-file>] <source-file>

Update the target file in uInitrd of the specified device

with the specified source file

When the target file is not specified, will update the file in

the root directory that has the same file name of the source file

For example:

./update-uInitrd.sh /tmp/init.rc

1	./update-uInitrd.sh /tmp/init.rc

Those 2 scripts are available in Linaro git repository:

git clone http://android.git.linaro.org/git-ro/platform/external/linaro-android-tools.git

1	git clone http://android.git.linaro.org/git-ro/platform/external/linaro-android-tools.git

Currently the scripts only support Pandaboard, Origen, Versatile Express, and Versatile Express A9 boards,but they could be easily modified to support other boards supporting linaro packages. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software […]

January 16, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

BoFs: Developer Tools and Methods: Tips & Tricks – ELCE 2012

Tim Bird, senior staff software engineer at Sony Network Entertainment, hosts a BoF session about tools & methods for embedded Linux developers at ELCE 2012. Abstract: In this Birds-of-a-Feather-session, Tim will share some of his favorite tips for developing embedded Linux software. This will include tips for using ‘git’, how he does multi-platform development, and tips for other tools that other developers might find useful. Prior to the event, Tim will do a survey and solicit ideas from other developers as well. Please come to this BoF prepared to share your own productivity tips for embedded Linux development. Tim talks is divided into the following key points: Git tips – How to finds info about commits (git log, git show), use aliases (e.g. for colored output), find a commit that caused problem (git bisect), and more Patch management – quilt patch managing tool, diffinfo, and splitpatch (to break patches apart) […]