Hardware Category - Page 1029 of 1116 - CNX Software

August 15, 2013August 15, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

$20 Boogie Board is an “Etch a Sketch” LCD Tablet

If you’re old enough (or have followed the US 2012 presidential race), you must know an Etch a Sketch is a drawing board that you can erase by shaking it. The Boogie Board LCD eWriter has basically the same functionality, but instead of using aluminum powder, it’s using a Reflex LCD display and a stylus, and instead of shaking it to erase content, you’ll just press a button. Like E-Ink, reflex LCD displays do not use power when content remains unchanged. The first version was released in 2010, and appears to be relatively easy to find in the US (online retailers, Wallmart…), but not so in the rest of the world. There are 5 versions of the Boogie Board, but the last 2 that will only be available for Xmas 2013: Original 8.5 – 8.6″ display, external adhesive magnets Original 10.5 – 10.5″ display, replaceable batteries Jot 8.5 – 8.6″ […]

August 13, 2013May 25, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 50 Comments

EZCast Is a Wi-Fi Display Solution (Miracast, DLNA, etc..) to be Used With Actions Micro HDMI TV Dongles

This morning I’ve come across an interesting video via Google+ (in Chinese) that showcases the features of EZCast, an application that can be installed on Android or iOS, and supports screen mirroring, DLNA, and Miracast with HDMI TV Dongles designed by Actions Micro. The company is not to be confused with Actions Semi The company is a subsidiary of Actions Semi, an IC company that provides ATV6003 SoC used in HDMI TV Dongles such as iPush. If you’ve watched the video above, beside DLNA and Miracast, you’ve found out it can also be a nice presentation tools, allowing for PowerPoint slideshows, and notes writing via your smartphone. After further research, I found the application has recently been published on both Apple App Store and Google Play. The App description is only available in Chinese, but here’s the (unedited) Google Translation of the description: EZCast is a powerful home media sharing […]

August 13, 2013August 13, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

How to Buy an Arduino Leonardo (Clone) Kit for Less than $20

Borderless Electronics Indiegogo campaign for their $9 electronics kit with an Arduino Leonardo clone went so well that the owner of the campaign decided to limit the total number of boards to 15,000, and basically stop the campaign early to avoid production delays. For $12 ($9 + shipping), you could get a full kit with: Arduino Leonardo clone A mini breadboard with 10 Jumper wires A plug for a 9V battery A few components: 6 LEDs, 10x 330 Ohm resistors, 10x 1 KOhm resistors, 3x push buttons, 2 NPN transistors, 5 diodes, a light sensor, and a sound buzzer A micro USB to USB cable Although they may start a new one campaign in a few months, the campaign is over, and you can’t get this cheap Arduino kit anymore. But one of my reader (onebir) let me know that for less than $20, you can get an Arduino Leonardo […]

August 13, 2013August 13, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Lantronix Unveils xPico Wi-Fi Module For the Internet of Things

With Texas Instruments SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3000 and Qualcomm Atheros AR4100P embedded Wi-Fi processors that fully handle Wi-Fi internally, and transfer data to an MCU with an SPI interface, and solutions such as Electric Imp, there are already ways to add Wi-Fi at relatively low cost to appliances. There’s now another solution available on the market with Lantronix xPico Wi-Fi Module. Listed features and specification of xPico Wi-Fi: SoC – ARM Cortex M3 class processor with 1MB on-chip Flash and 128 KB SRAM Storage – SPI Flash storage Wireless LAN Interface IEEE 802.11 b/g and IEEE 802.11n (single stream) WLAN interface (2.4 GHz only) IEEE 802.11 d/h/i/j/k/w/r WPS 2.0 support u.FL connector for external antenna Serial Interface Two Serial CMOS Ports (3.3V, 5V tolerant) 300 to 921.6 Kbps Flow control XON/XOFF, RTS/CTS (SPort 1 only) Lantronix tunneling application (SPort 1 only) Host Interface – Dual Serial Port, SPI, USB 2.0 (device), […]

August 12, 2013October 12, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

$275 HackRF Open Source Software Defined Radio (SDR) Platform

HackRF is an open source hardware project to build a Software Defined Radio (SDR) supporting a frequency range between 30 MHz and 6GHz in both directions (Tx and Rx, half-duplex) with a maximum bandwidth of 20MHz. Jawbreaker (shown below) is a beta hardware that has been tested by several developers and beta testers, and applications such as Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), Bluetooth monitoring, spectrum sensing, wireless microphones, AIS, FM radio, etc.. have already been ported to the platform. In order to lower the cost of the hardware, Michael Ossmann has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund mass production. There seems to be many SDR enthusiasts as the campaign has already reached its funding target ($80,000) and received for over $300,000 in ledges. What is Software Defined Radio (SDR) and What Can it Be Used for? Before providing details about the hardware and software, it may be useful to provide some […]

August 11, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Fritzing Open Source Software Designs PCB Layouts from Breadboard Drawings

Earlier this year, I’ve tried Gumstix Geppetto, a web-based application that let you easily design and order boards. You can just add some building blocks in Chrome browser, connect them, and you’re ready to order a PCB. However, the setup fee of $1999 reserves it to businesses. Don’t worry If you’re just a hobbyist as Fritzing, an open source software supporting Windows, MacOS and Linux, allows you to draw breadboard connections, and automatically route the schematics, and the PCB layout. You can then export the gerber files, or order directly from Fritzing Lab. The software is not exactly new, but it’s the first time I’ve come across it. I’m using Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit, so let’s download, install and run the corresponding version:

wget http://fritzing.org/download0.8.3b/linux-64bit/fritzing-0.8.3b.linux.AMD64.tar.bz2
tar xvf fritzing-0.8.3b.linux.AMD64.tar.bz2
cd fritzing-0.8.3b.linux.AMD64/
./Fritzing

wget http://fritzing.org/download0.8.3b/linux-64bit/fritzing-0.8.3b.linux.AMD64.tar.bz2

tar xvf fritzing-0.8.3b.linux.AMD64.tar.bz2

cd fritzing-0.8.3b.linux.AMD64/

./Fritzing

I’ve decided to connect an LED on the breadboard, and control it with an Arduino Leonardo board to try the software. Alternatively, you could also play around […]

August 9, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Huawei MediaQ M310 Is Now Available For Purchase

Huawei MediaQ M310 is a media player based on Hisilicon K3V2 quad core SoC, the company unveiled at CES 2013. The company expected the product to be released in Q3 2013 (about now), and the good news is that it has started to pop-up on Aliexpress for $109 including shipping. The bad news is that the only seller has no feedback at all, so you take an extra risk if you buy right now, and I’m sure it will show up in more places in the days or weeks ahead. Let’s remind us of the specifications: SoC – Hisilicon K3V2 Quad-core Cortex A9 processor with Vivante GC4000 GPU System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 4GB Flash + microSD card slot Video I/O – 1x HDMI In,1x HDMI Out Audio I/O – HDMI, SPDIF, 3.5mm stereo jack, Mic mono USB – 2x USB 2.0 (1 extension from Y cable) + […]

August 9, 2013August 9, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

$85 Jesurun K8 (Hi720) Android 4.2 STB Powered by Rockchip RK3188

It looks like MK888 (aka CS918 or K-R42-1), or more exactly MK888B (Includes Bluetooth support), is now getting some competition with Jesurun K8, another Rockchip RK3188 set-top box with 2GB RAM, 8GB Flash, and Bluetooth support, that sells for as low as $80 on Aliexpress (called Hi720), and $85 on DealExtreme. Here are the specifications listed on DX: SoC – Rockchip RK3188 quad core Cortex A9 @ 1.6GHz + Mali-400 MP4 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB Flash + SD card slot (up to 32GB) Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n Bluetooth V2.1 10/100M Ethernet USB – 3x USB 2.0 port Video Output – HDMI 1.4 + AV Audio Formats – MP3 / WMA / WAV / OGG/OGA / FLAC / APE / AAC/M4A / RM Video Codecs – H.264 / VP8 / RV / WMV / AVS / H.263 / MPEG4 Power supply – 5V/2A Dimensions – 14.9 cm x […]