CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

February 11, 2015February 22, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

Review of Zidoo X9 Android Media Player and Video Recorder

Zidoo X9 is quite a unique product on the market, as it’s the only low cost Android platform that I know of that features an HDMI input port with recording capabilities. The hardware is actually based on Kaiboer F5, with some modifications, but the latter focuses on the Chinese market, while Zidoo X9 targets oversea markets with an English firmware by default. I took pictures of Zidoo X9 and its board about a month ago, but a busy schedule and some initial issues with Google Play Store delayed the review. Finally, I’ve completed testing of the device, and ready to share my findings about performance, stability, and features in this review. OTA Firmware Update I’ve had to go through two firmware updates before carrying on with the review, and this part is working great, and they even include a detailed changelog with each release, which they also publish on their […]

February 10, 2015February 10, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 36 Comments

Intel Atom Z3735F Based Voyo Mini PC Features 64GB Storage, a 1,000 mAh Battery

Most mini PCs powered by Intel Atom Z3735F “Bay Trail-T” processor on the market only come with 16 to 32GB internal storage, and based on my experience with MeLE PCG03, even 32GB eMMC can fill up pretty quickly on a Windows 8.1 machine. Now there’s an option with 64GB storage thanks to Voyo Mini PC. Voyo mini PC specifications: SoC – Intel Atom Z3735F “Bay Trail” quad core processor @ 1.33 GHz (Bust freq: 1.83 GHz) with Intel HD graphics System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 Storage – 64 GB eMMC + SD card slot (up to 128 GB) Video Output – mini HDMI 1.4 (Does not support 4K video) Audio Output – mini HDMI, and 3.5mm audio jack Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 3x USB 2.0 host, 1x micro USB for power Misc – Power Button, power LED Battery – 10,000 mAh battery 1,000 […]

ArmSoM CM5 Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC

February 10, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Sia Lab Has Designed a $34 Medical Lab Dongle for Smartphones

Technology makes live easier, and often helps bringing down the cost of services. Medical care is one of these things that can be cumbersome, for example if you need to regularly perform some medical tests at your local hospital, and that can also be expensive. That’s why I believe we’ll see more and more affordable devices, at least for diagnostic purpose such as Scanadu Scout tricorder, and there are also some open source solutions for Prosthetics, electrocardiographs, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) equipment used to copy DNA sequences. Eventually, I even expect robots to replace most tasks currently performed by doctors. Sia Lab, a lab focusing on tissue engineering and point-of-care diagnostics, has recently published a paper entitled “A smartphone dongle for diagnosis of infectious diseases at the point of care” describing how a low cost dongle can diagnose disease like HIV or Syphilis, and targeting health professionals in developing […]

February 10, 2015February 10, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Ingenic Halley is a $20 Linux based IoT Board with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 Connectivity

Ingenic introduced Newton2 platform for wearables a few months ago, and the kit with an AMOLED display, camera board and other accessories should go on sale in March for $80. In the meantime, the company has also been working on a lower cost internet of things (IoT) module and development kit powered by Ingenic M150 with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 targeting smart appliances, Wi-Fi speakers, smart toys, industrial control applications, and other smart devices. Halley IoT module specifications: SoC – Ingenic M150 XBurst (MIPS) single-core processor up to 1.0GHz with 128MB LPDDR on-chip, 2D graphics GPU, VPU supporintg 720p30 H.264 video decoding. Storage – 8MP SPI NOR flash (GIGA GD25LQ64) Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.1 via Broadcom 43438 chip. Expansion headers (2mm pitch) 8-bit parallel LCD interface, Audio – MIC, Line-In and headphone, 2x I2S, SD card (MMC interface) USB device 2.0, and USB host 1.1 3x […]

February 9, 2015May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Linux 3.19 Release – Main Changes, ARM and MIPS Architectures

Linus Torvalds released Linux Kernel 3.19 yesterday: So nothing all that exciting happened, and while I was tempted a couple of times to do an rc8, there really wasn’t any reason for it. Just as an example, Sasha Levin used KASan and found an interesting bug in paravirtualized spinlocks, but realistically it’s been around forever, and it’s not even clear that it can really ever trigger in practice. We’ll get it fixed, and mark it for stable, and tempting as it was, it wasn’t really a reason to delay 3.19. And the actual fixes that went in (see appended shortlog) were all fairly small, with the exception of some medium-sized infiniband changes that were all reverting code that just wasn’t ready. So it’s out there – go and get it. And as a result, the merge window for 3.20 is obviously also now open. Linus Linux 3.18 improved performance of […]

February 9, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Raspberry Pi Model B+ Can Now Be Purchased for About $30 Shipped

The Raspberry Pi maybe promoted as a $35 ARM Linux board, but in reality once you had taxes and shipping the price can be quite higher. For example on Element14 Thailand, I would have to spend 1,300 Baht ($40) + shipping, or even 1750 Baht ($54) to get the board. But since Raspberry Pi 2 launch, sales numbers for R-Pi model B+ have most likely dwindled, and some sellers are trying to get rid off stock. Some deals I have found or been tipped off: $30.29 on Amazon US. Free shipping in the US on orders over $35. $31 including shipping on Aliexpress $33.99 including shipping on Bangood $37.81 including shipping on DealExtreme $37.88 including shipping on Ebay If you know of other better or similar deal for the Raspberry Pi Model B/B+, feel free to leave a link in comments. Thanks to Onebir for the tip.

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs abd SoMs

February 9, 2015February 27, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 25 Comments

$129 Hikey Board Features a 64-bit ARM HiSilicon Processor, Complies with Linaro’s 96Boards Specifications

In my post about the Embedded Linux Conference 2015, I noticed a talk entitled “Generalizing Android for Low-Cost 64-Bit ARM-Based Community Boards” to be presented by Khasim Syed Mohammed, Linaro, mentioning that “Linaro is developing an open hardware platform specification to encourage software development on low-cost boards to lower the cost and accelerate the availability of maker and embedded products based on ARM SoCs”. But at the time, I had no details about the specifications themselves. As Linaro Connect HK 2015 is now taking place, the 96Boards Consumer Edition specifications have been released, and Hikey board have been unveiled with HiSilicon Kirin 620 octa core Cortex A53 processor, 1 GB RAM, and 4GB eMMC. Hikey board specifications: SoC – HiSilicon Kirin 620 octa core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2 GHz (10,000 Dhrystone VAX MIPS) with ARM Mali-450MP4 GPU System Memory – 1GB LPDDR3 @ 800 MHz Storage – 4GB eMMC […]

February 8, 2015February 10, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 25 Comments

Orange Pi Plus Development Board Gets Upgraded to Allwinner H3 Processor

Orange Pi boards were recently launched with a form factor similar to the Raspberry Pi Model B+, and featuring Allwinner A20 and A31s processors. Orange Pi Plus was initially fitted with Allwinner A31s processor, but Shenzhen Xunlong Software has now decided to use the latest Allwinner H3 quad core processor instead for this model, adding better CPU performance, and H.265 video decoding up to 4K @ 30 fps, likely at the cost of a slower Mali- 400MP2 GPU against the PowerVR SGX544MP used in Allwinner A31s. New Orange Pi Plus specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.6 GHz with ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU up to 600 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot, SATA interface (via a USB to SATA chip), unpopulated 8GB eMMC on the back of the board (despite picture, see comments section) Video Output – HDMI, AV port Audio […]