Open a File Directly at the Requested Line with Vi

When you compile a program and an error occur, the compiler will report the file name and line number with the error. Usually, I use vi to access the file, then type “:line_num”, for example if I want to jump to line 123, I would type :123 after opening the file. But there is a way to do that directly with vi by using +line_num. For example:  vi +123 code.c To go to the last line, I would normally use the capital letter G when vi is started, but this can be done while opening the file as follows: vi +$ code.c One last tip: To go back at the top of the file in vi, simply use :0 or the capital letter H.

99 USD OMAP3 Based Overo Computer On Module by Gumstix

Gumstix has manufactured its Overo COMS based on OMAP3503 and OMAP3530 since 2008. They have now announced a new low cost version named Overa Sand that sells for 115 USD per unit or less than 99 USD per unit for orders of  1,000 units or more. Overo Sand COM is Gumstix’s most basic computer-on-module with 256MB RAM and no on-board NAND. Here are the board specifications and features: Processor: Texas Instruments OMAP 3503 Applications Processor: – ARM Cortex-A8 CPU @ 600 Mhz Memory: 256MB RAM NO On-Board NAND Included Features: microSD card slot TPS65950 Power Management Expandability: via one 140-pin expansion board of Gumstix Overo series or custom, 140-pin expansion board via 27-pin camera board Connections: – (2) 70-pin connectors with 140 signals for: – I2C, PWM lines (6), A/D (6), 1-wire – UART, SPI, Extra MMC lines – Headset, Microphone – Backup battery – High Speed USB Host and […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC

Select an ARM MCU during Development with Atollic TrueSTUDIO for ARM

Atollic has released the latest version of TrueSTUDIO development tool for ARM, a C/C++ development tool for embedded developer that looks similar to Eclipse. It supports micro-controllers from a number of semiconductor manufacturers, making it possible to switch MCU supplier during the design process. This release of TrueSTUDIO supports several ARM MCU cores such as ARM7, ARM9, Cortex-M0, Cortex-M1, Cortex-M3 and Cortex-M4 processors. It also includes device-specific support for an extensive list of ARM processor-based micro-controller families, including: Atmel AT91SAM, EnergyMicro EFM32, Freescale Kinetis, Fujitsu FM3, STMicroelectronics STM32, Texas Instruments Stellaris and Toshiba TX. As well as an optimizing C/C++ compiler and a multiprocessor-aware debugger, the tool also has serial wire viewer tracing, graphical UML diagram editors for model-based design and architecture, performs code-quality analysis via TrueINSPECTOR and TrueANALYSER and features a test-automation toolbox (TureVERIFIER). There is also an ECLIPSE-based IDE with editor, x86 C/C++ build and debug tools for development of […]

OMG! Quad Core Nvidia Tegra 3 Has Actually 5 Cores

We’ve been deceived ! All along we thought the new quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 (codename Kal-El) would just have 4 cores…right… But Nvidia has just posted a blog entry talking about a mysterious fifth core. There is also the 12-core GPU, but we already knew about that. Here’s what Nvidia has to say about the fifth core: This extra core – which we call the “companion core” – runs at a lower frequency and operates at exceptionally low power. During less power-hungry tasks like web reading, music playback and video playback, Kal-El completely powers down its four performance-tuned cores and instead uses its fifth companion core. For higher performance tasks, Kal-El disables its companion core and turns on its four performance cores, one at a time, as the work load increases. The Variable SMP architecture is also completely OS transparent, which means that operating systems and applications don’t need to […]

Archos G9 Android 3.2 Tablets Are Now Officially Available

Archos announced that Archos G9 Tablets are now available. There is of course a caveat to this… Only Archos 80 G9 Tablet can be purchased on Archos Store (limited availability) for 299.99 USD, all other models show the dreaded icon “Coming Soon”. However, all Archos G9 models can be pre-ordered on Amazon France but they are not yet available on Amazon US. The other disappointment is that the Turbo versions appear to have been clocked down to 1.2 Ghz, whereas they were previously announced at 1.5 Ghz. Having said that, if you click on “Product Information” on Archos website, it still says “ARM dual-core CORTEX A9 OMAP™ 4 up to 1.5 GHz”. There is also still a lot of confusion about the amount of RAM in the device 512 MB or 1 GB as this is not shown in the specifications. That’s quite a mess, it’s  confusing and somewhat frustrating. […]

OpenCL (Open Computing Language) Overview and SDKs

OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is a multi-vendor open standard for general-purpose parallel  programming of heterogeneous systems that include CPUs, GPUs and other processors. OpenCL provides a uniform programming environment for software developers to write efficient, portable code for highperformance compute servers, desktop computer systems and handheld devices. OpenCL standard is managed and defined by the Khronos Group. The latest version (OpenCL 1.1) was ratified by the Khronos Group on the 14th of June 2010 and adds significant functionality for enhanced parallel programming flexibility, functionality and performance including: Host-thread safety, enabling OpenCL commands to be enqueued from multiple host threads. Sub-buffer objects to distribute regions of a buffer across multiple OpenCL devices. User events to enable enqueued OpenCL commands to wait on external events. Event callbacks that can be used to enqueue new OpenCL commands based on event state changes in a non-blocking manner. 3-component vector data types. Global work-offset which […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

Windows 8 NFC (Near Field Communication) Demo

A few months back, I would have never thought I would post about Microsoft and Windows in an embedded software blog, except for the rare mention of Windows CE or Windows Embedded products. But it now seems Windows 8 will actually focus on products that were previously almost exclusively ARM based such as tablets and smartphones. I have already posted about Windows 8 Tablet and Smartphones demo at the build conference and today I’ll discuss a little bit about NFC support in Windows 8. Windows 8 will support NFC (Near Field Communication) with NXP PN544 NFC controller chip. NXP PN544 is also the NFC solution used in the Windows 8 tablets, made by Samsung, which are being distributed to attendees of Microsoft’s Build Windows conference 2011. The NFC use cases available with Windows 8 include: Windows 8 device pairing (e.g. Bluetooth headsets and speakers) Data sharing (e.g. digital business cards) […]

Window 8 ARM Platforms at Build Conference 2011

Yesterday, I mentioned the Nvidia Tegra 3 tablet running Windows 8 which is currently showcased at Build Conference 2011 and they also had a Tegra 3 laptop running Windows 8. But Nvidia was not the only company showing off ARM based processors running Windows 8. There were at least 2 other companies, namely Qualcomm and Texas Instruments. Qualcomm showcased a Snapdragon MSM8660 (Dual core 1.2 GHz) Tablet running Windows 8 and announced that the first batch of Windows 8 PC will be based on the Snapdragon processor. Texas Instruments brought a Windows 8 Tablet based on OMAP4430 (dual core 1 GHz) developed in partnership with Quanta.

Khadas VIM4 SBC