HardKernel ODroid-X Development Board Unboxing and First Boot to Android

I’ve just received the ODroid-X development board based on Samsung Exynos 4412 quad-core processor together with lots of accessories: WiFi-Modules Kit USB-UART Module Kit 16 GB eMMC Module 5V/2A Adaptor 10.1″ LCD Module (1366×768) BlueTooth Dongle Camera Module HDMI Cable Since there is quite a lot of things to cover, today I’ll just show some unboxing pictures, how to connect all those modules to the board and run Android pre-loaded in the eMMC module, and I’ll do a more detailed review with Android and Ubuntu in another post. I received the kit in a large box sent via EMS. Here’s a picture with  the board and all accessories present in the Box. From top left to bottom right: 10.1″ LCD Modules, ODroid-X development board, HDMI to mini HDMI cable, micro USB to USB cable (for debugging), 5V/2A power supply for the board, 9V/1.5A power supply for the LCD module, WiFi […]

RasPiComm – Raspberry Pi Expansion Board

Daniel Amesberger has designed a tiny expansion board called the RasPiComm to make use of the extension header of the Raspberry Pi board. It connects to the RPi in a similar way to the shields for the Arduino board. The board comes with the following extensions: RS-485 port – Mainly used to control stepper motors. RS-232 (‘serial’) port – It can be used to access the serial console over “/dev/ttyAMA0″ serial device, which can be very useful for headless systems. 5 inputs connected to an onboard joystick and screw terminals 2 outputs (5V) with LEDs (green and red) also connected to screw terminals I2C connection – There are plenty of things you can do with I2C connections (Sensors, RTC, …), and Daniel successfully connected a tiny 128×64 I2C OLED display. Real time clock (RTC) with backup battery – Very useful for offline use if you need to keep track of the […]

HackBerry AllWinner A10 Board is Now Available for $60

The Hackberry “development board” is now available for sale on Miniand. This board powered by AllWinner A10 processor comes in 2 versions: 512 MB RAM version – Available now for $60 1GB RAM version – Available by the end of the month for $65. Both boards features a 4GB Flash, a SDHC slot, 2x USB 2.0 port, 10/100 Ethernet, Wi-Fi, HDMI & composite outputs,  headphone & microphone ports and a IR sensor. The good thing is that serial interface and FEL connectors will be soldered on the board for easy debugging and recovery. The FEL recovery port allows to reflash the board using Livesuit. As a side note, Henrik, a developer involved in Allwinner A10 software development, has done some work to reverse engineer FEL USB protocol, wrote a small program to enter into Livesuit mode with an SD card (Go to the bottom of the page section “Forcing FEL […]

$39 Variscite VAR-SOM-AM33 SoM Powered by TI Sitara AM335x

Variscite has announced a new system-on-module based on Texas Instruments Sitara Cortex A8 AM335x processors (AM3352 or AM3354) named VAR-SOM-AM33, which sells for as little as $39 US (in large quantities I assume). This SoM is available in commercial and industrial grades, and the company expects the module to be used in applications such as automotive, control systems, lighting, refining and processing. Here are the specs of this module: CPU – Texas Instruments AM335x Processor @ up to 720 MHz withPowerVR SGX530 GPU (AM3354 only) System Memory – 256MB 606MHz DDR3 Storage – 128 to 512MB SLC NAND Flash Display interface – LCD interface – Parallel RGB Supporting 1400×1050 24bit and4/5/8-Wire touch panel interface Audio – Line-in, line-out, stereo headphone out, digital microphone, analog microphone and S/PDIF Out Connectivity: 10/100Mbps Ethernet PHY 10/100/1000Mbps RGMII Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (via TI WiLink 6.0) Bluetooth V4.0 + EDR (via TI WiLink 6.0) Interfaces: 2 […]

AllWinner A10 Based H6 Android 4.0 Netbook Sells for $140

I’ve been tipped yet another time by one of my reader (Thank you Alex!) about an interesting low cost ARM device. H6 Netbook is powered by AllWinner A10 processor with 1 GB RAM and 4GB Flash, features a 10″ display (non touch) and runs Android 4.0.3. I wrote about the Sunlike UMPC-1021 in April, but the H6 is the first AllWinner A10 netbook – that I know of – that is available for retail. Here are the specs of this ARM netbook. CPU – AllWinner A10 @ 1.0GHz (Cortex A8;) with Mali 400 GPU System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 4GB Flash + SD Card slot (up to 32 GB) Display – 10″ LCD Display (no touchscreen) with 1024×600 resolution. Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n built-in 3G support via external 3G dongle: E1916, ZTE AC2736, HUAWEI E1750, HUAWEI EC122, HUAWEI EM770W… USB – 3x USB 2.0 Host ports […]

Gumstix Waysmall Silverlode Linaro Ubuntu Computer based on TI Sitara AM3703

Gumstix has just announced the Waysmall Silverlode computer, a small form factor device running Linaro ARM optimized Ubuntu and designed for developers of commercial and industrial applications such as digital signage players and remote servers. It’s based on Overo EarthSTORM Computer-on-Module (Texas Instruments Sitara AM3703 @ 1 GHz, 512MB Flash and 512MB RAM) and consumes less than 2.5 W. Here are the specs of the device: Processor Texas Instruments Sitara AM3703 processor (ARM Cortex-A8 ) @ 1 GHz 800 MHz is recommended for reliable performance System Memory 512 MB RAM Storage 512 MB NAND flash microSD card slot Video Output HDMI (DVI-D) Audio I/O Stereo Audio In /Out jacks Connectivity 10/100Mb Ethernet USB USB Host, USB OTG and USB Console Connectors 2 x 70-pin AVX connectors 1 x 27-pin Hirose camera connector Battery holder for 6mm rechargeable coin Dimensions 11.0 x 4 .4 x 1.8 cm Power 5V The computer […]

Fedora To Give Away Raspberry Pis, OLPC 1.75 Laptops and Arduinos to Developers

Fedora will give away over 200 open hardware devices as part of its Summer of Hardware initiative to Fedora contributors. 150 Raspberry Pi boards, 50 OLPC 1.75 laptops and 20 Arduino boards and shields will be freely distributed to randomly selected candidates. In order to qualify, you must have a Fedora Project account, have signed the Fedora Project Contributor Agreement, be a member of at least one non-CLA / FPCA Fedora Group and be resident in one of the following country/region: Australia (excluding the states of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory), Belgium, Canada (excluding Quebec), Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, or the United States (excluding New York and Florida). To apply, you need to fill an application form by the 15th of August where you select your preferred device and enter your full name, Fedora account information and […]

$77 Mini Xplus Media Player with Android 4.0 and 1GB RAM

I previously wrote about Mini X media player, an Android mini Media Player powered by AllWinner A10 with 512 MB RAM that runs Android 2.3. Its price has been reduced by about $10 to $67.60, and it now has a big brother called Mini Xplus that looks exactly the same except it runs Android 4.0 and comes with 1GB RAM according to Deal Extreme. Here are the device specifications based on Deal Extreme overview: CPU – AllWinner A10 (Cortex A8) with Mali-400 GPU @ 1.2 GHz Memory – 1GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 4GB NAND Flash, microSD slot Video Output – HDMI 1.3 and Composite USB – 2x USB 2.0 host Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Video Formats –  MKV, TS, TP, M2TS, RM/RMVB, BD-ISO, AVI, MPG, VOB, DAT, ASF, TRP, FLV etc Video Codecs – MPEG1/2/4, H.264, VC-1, Divx, Xvid, RM8/9/10, VP6 Subtitle – SRT, SUB, IDX, SSA, SMI […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC