Allwinner H3 processor has become popular on hobbyist boards thanks to several Orange Pi board, especially Orange Pi PC and Orange Pi One due to their ultra-low prices, respectively $15 and $10. Olimex is also involved with their H3-OLinuXino-NANO board, and now at least one more company is about to release another Allwinner H3 board with SinoVoip’s Banana BPI-M2+. Banana BPI-M2 Plus specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.2 GHz with an ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU up to 600 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot up to 64GB, optional 8GB eMMC flash Video & Audio Output – HDMI with CEC support Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, optional 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (AP6212). More options: AP6181, AP6335 USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB OTG port Camera – CSI Interface Expansions – 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible header Debugging – 3-pin UART […]
Raspberry Pi 3, ODROID-C2 and Pine A64+ Development Boards Comparison
Raspberry Pi 3 and hardkernel ODROID-C2 launched the same day, and together with Pine A64/A64+, are the only ultra low cost (<$40) 64-bit ARM development boards available or soon-to-be available, so I’ve decided to make a comparison of the three boards the same way I did with ~$10 boards with a Raspberry Pi Zero, C.H.I.P, and Orange Pi One comparison. I’ve used features of Pine A64+ instead of Pine A64 since features and price are closer to the other two boards. Text highlighted in green means a board is clearly better than the other two for a given features, while a red highlight means it’s the weakest of the three. Raspberry Pi 3 ODROID-C2 Pine A64 Plus Processor Broadcom BCM2837 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2 GHz(4x ~2760 DMIPS) Amlogic S905 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 2.0 GHz(4x ~4600 DMIPS) Allwinner A64 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ […]
ODROID-C2 64-Bit ARM Development Board is Now Available for Purchase for $40
ODROID-C2 is a quad core 64-bit ARM development board based on Amlogic S905 processor with 2GB RAM that was planned to launch in early March, but maybe unsurprisingly, Hardkernel decided to launch their latest board, the very same day as Raspberry Pi 3 launch. We already knew the specifications, but it’s always useful to mind ourselves of the details: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core cortex-A53 processor @ 2.0 GHz with 3+2 cores Mali-450 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 SDRAM Storage – eMMC module socket with 8, 16, 32, or 64GB module by Toshiba or Sandisk + micro SD slot supporting UHS-1 SD cards. Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60 Hz Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet (Realtek RTL8211F) USB – 4x USB 2.0 host ports + micro USB OTG port Expansion Header 40-pin header with GPIO, I2C, UART, and ADC ; All I/Os are 3.3V, except […]
Variscite DART-SD410 Snapdragon 410 SoM Comes with WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1 & GPS
Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 is the 64-bit ARM processor used in DragonBoard 410c 96Boards platform, but it’s also found in several phones, some single board computers such as Inforce 6309, and we’ve also seen it in system-on-modules includes Graperain G8916 and Intrinsyc Open-Q 410. Variscite has developed their DART-SD410 system-on-module based on the processor with up to 2GB RAM, up to 16GB storage, and on-board 802.11b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1. DART-SD410 module specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2GHz with Adreno 306 GPU @ 400 MHz System Memory – 1 to 2GB LPDDR3 @ 533 MHz Storage – 8 to 16 GB eMMC 4.5 flash Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n + Bluetooth 4.1 LE (WCN3620), GPS (WGR7640), and two u.FL antenna connectors Audio – PM8916 PMIC/Audio codec I/Os available via 2x 90-pin board-to-board connectors: Display 4-lane DSI up to 720p60/1080p30, 24-bit On-carrier DSI to HDMI […]
Android, Chromium OS, and Ubuntu on Intel Atom x5 Compute Stick. What Works, What Doesn’t.
The latest “STK1AW32SC” Intel Compute Stick, also called Sterling City, is powered by an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor with 2GB RAM and 32GB storage, and pre-loaded with Windows 10. There’s also a version with operating systems dubbed STK1A32SC, but currently only the Windows version is available on Amazon US. That doesn’t not mean you can’t try to install other operating systems on the TV stick, and that’s exactly what Ian Morrison has done with Android 4.4 & 5.1, Phoenix OS, Remix OS (alpha), Chromium OS, and Ubuntu. If you want to know how to install the operating systems, you can follow the instructions for Ubuntu , Chromium OS, or Android/ Remix OS/ Phoenix OS. Bear in mind that installing Android also require that you install Ubuntu first, and there are quite a lot of steps, and once you’ve installed Chromium OS, you could also run Ubuntu using Crouton. So […]
Canonical Introduces SoDeRa Software Defined Radio Solution for Base Stations and IoT Gateways
Canonical and Lime Micro have jointly announced SoDeRa low-cost software defined radio (SDR) which can be programmed to support any type of wireless standard including UMTS, LTE, LoRa, Bluetooth, Zigbee, RFID, Digital Broadcasting, and more, and aiming at helping operators reducing costs & complexity, while speeding up time to market and providing greater flexibility. The kit will include a board with the following specifications: FPGA – Altera Cyclone IV EP4CE40F23 Altera FPGA (compatible with EP4CE30F23) System Memory – 256 MB DDR2 SDRAM RF Lime Microsystems LMS7002M Transceiver with continuous Frequency range of 100 kHz – 3.8 GHz 4 x TxOut and 6 x RxIn U.FL connectors for RF cables Power Output (CW): up to 6.5 dBm Wi-Fi, 2G, 3G, LTE, any other air interfaces USB – 1x micro USB3 via CYUSB3014-BZXC Cypress Microcontroller for control, data transfer and power Misc – Status LEDs, RGB LEDs, 4x switches Dimensions – 100 mm x […]
Samsung Artik IoT Boards and Devkits with WiFi, Bluetooth LE, and Zigbee Available, Partners Announced
Samsung Artik IoT boards will finally start selling on February 22 via Digikey. With the many fascinating developments in the IoT space over the year, you’d be forgiven if you completely forgot about Samsung Artik boards. So let’s have a quick recap. The Korean company previously announced three boards all supporting Bluetooth LE: Artik 1 – Ineda Systems Dual Core microAptiv MIPS32 processor with 1MB on-chip RAM, no GPU, and 4MB SPI flash Artik 5 – Dual core Exynos ARM processor @ 1GHz with ARM Mali 400 MP2 GPU, 512MB RAM and 4GB eMMC flash (both on-chip), with WiFi & Zigbee/Thread connectivity Artik 10 – Octa core Exynos processor with 4x ARM Cortex A15 @ 1.3GHz, 4x ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.0 GHz with ARM Mali-T628 GPU, 2GB LPDDR3 (on-chip), 16GB eMMC flash, and WiFi & Zigbee/Thread connectivity Samsung also partnered with multiple companies working on: Operating Systems – Tizen, […]
Meizu PRO 5 Ubuntu Edition Smartphone is Powered by Exynos 7420 Processor, Does NOT Support Desktop Mode Yet
So far most smartphones with alternative operating systems had rather low-end to mid-end hardware specifications, but according to OMG! Ubuntu!, Canonical and Meizu are about to change that, as they should be about to launch an Ubuntu Edition of Meizu PRO 5 smartphone with an Exynos 7420 octa-core Cortex A57/A53 processor coupled with 3 to 4GB RAM, 32 to 64GB storage., and a 5.7″ display with 1920×1080 resolution. The device will support convergence, meaning it could work in mobile or desktop mode, just like the recently announced BQ Aquaris M10 tablet. [Update: Finally, the USB-C port on Meizu PRO 5 does not support external display, so no convergence, unless Canonical decides to implement convergence over Miracast…]. Meizu PRO 5 Ubuntu Edition specifications: SoC – Samsung Exynos 7 Octa (Exynos 7420) octa core processor with 4x Cortex A57 core @ 2.1GHz + 4x Cortex A53 cores @ 1.5Ghz, and Mali-T760 MP8 GPU […]