Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on Shuttle Fanless mini PCs Powered by Intel Celeron J1900 Quad Core Bay Trail SoC Sell for $200 and Up

Shuttle Fanless mini PCs Powered by Intel Celeron J1900 Quad Core Bay Trail SoC Sell for $200 and Up

A little while ago, Bay Trail-D (Desktop) motherboards started to show up for about $60 to $70, and I estimated a complete system with RAM, enclosure, and 1TB storage would cost around $250. Thanks to Shuttle XS35V4 and XS36V4, you can now buy such quad core system pre-assembled for well under $300, or just around $200 for a barebone system without RAM or storage. Shuttle XS35V4 / XS36V4 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J1900 Quad core processor (Bay Trail-D) @ with Intel 7th generation graphics. System Memory – 1x DDR3L SO-DIMM, up to 8GB DDR3 1333 MHz Storage – 1x 2.5″ SATA HDD / SSD bay, 1x SD card reader. XS35V4 only: optical drive. Connectivity – 10/100/1000M Ethernet (Realtek RTL8411), 802.11b/g/n WLAN support (1T1R), Audio – Realtek ALC269, 2.1 channel High Definition Audio Front panel Power button Power & HDD LEDs SD Card reader 1x USB 2.0 port XS36V4 only […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Element14 Design Center Helps You find a Development Board and Tools for Your Project

Element14 Design Center Helps You find a Development Board and Tools for Your Project

Element14 has just launched a Design Center, currently in beta version, which let’s you do parametric searches for development kits, debuggers, software tools, by tools vendor, silicon manufacturers, board features, and processor architecture / type. So for example if you want to work on a low power Linux based gateway with Ethernet and Zigbee, you may search for a board with Ethernet and Zigbee, and comes with an ARM Cortex A5 processor. In this example, the website returned four SAMA5D3x evaluation kits from Atmel which support Ethernet, as well as Zigbee via an external module. Then if you want to find which tools are available from Atmel, you can select “Emulation and Debugging”, “IDE & Compiler”, and “Operating Systems & Stacks”, as well as “Atmel” and “ARM” core architecture which will return Atmel Studio 6, and a JTAG emulator. It’s not quite perfect, as the only features you can search […]

ArmSoM CM5 Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Acme Systems Arietta EDU Open Hardware Baseboard for Arietta G25 SoM (ARM9)

Acme Systems Arietta EDU Open Hardware Baseboard for Arietta G25 SoM (ARM9)

Arietta G25 is a tiny system-on-module (SoM) powered by Atmel SAM9G25 ARM9 processor and running Linux that sold for a discount earlier this year (9.9 Euros) for early backers, and is now available for 20 Euros, and support an optional Wi-Fi module for as low as 7 Euros extra. Acme Systems, the company who made the board, is now considering designing and manufacturing an open source hardware baseboard for the module, and is asking for feedback from the community before going ahead. Currently the idea is to have a baseboard with the following: Arietta G25 SoM connector (Vertical mount) 1x USB Host port I2C Sensors –  Temperature and Humidity sensor,  Light sensor Mosfet output for RGB led strip 2x relay output 1x filtered dry input 2x servo RC motors output Audio interface with embedded microphone and jack for PC speakers using Wolfson WM8731 codec Expansion headers for external modules already […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Rockchip RK3288 Based OTT928 / CS928 Android Media Player Sells for $114 and Up

Rockchip RK3288 Based OTT928 / CS928 Android Media Player Sells for $114 and Up

In my list of RK3288 TV boxes, I mentioned that although many products had been announced with Rockchip’s quad core Cortex A17 SoC, no reliable company had listed prices yet, except for one selling for $99.99 on Aliexpress, but with no clear shipping date, and nobody to answer potential customer requests. One reader left a comment about OTT-928 Android TV box also featuring a 5MP retractable camera and (pre-)selling on Asiapads for $119.99 including shipping with delivery currently scheduled for July 20, but it can also be purchased via one vendor on Aliexpress for as low as $114 under the name CS928 but with only 8GB flash, instead of 16GB on OTT928. CS928 / OTT928 hardware specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3288 quad core CortexA17 @ 1.8 GHz + Mali-T764 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 /3.0, and OpenCL 1.1 System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage OTT928 – 16GB NAND […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments on Zoomtak T8 Android TV Box Powered by Amlogic S802 Features a 2.5″ SATA Bay, an Aluminum Enclosure

Zoomtak T8 Android TV Box Powered by Amlogic S802 Features a 2.5″ SATA Bay, an Aluminum Enclosure

There are now several Android TV boxes powered by Amlogic S802 such as Tronsmart Vega S89, SZTomato/Eny M8, and Minix Neo X8, and Zoomtak T8 hardware specifications are quite similar to these three devices, except it happens to feature an internal 2.5″ SATA bay placed under the board, and the body is made of aluminum. Zoomtak T8 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S802 quad core cortex A9r4 @ 2 GHz with Mali-450MP6 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND flash + SD/MMC/MS card reader + 2.5″ SATA bay Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi with external antenna. Video Output – HDMI 1.4a, composite output, and component output Audio Output – HDMI, stereo RCA, and optical S/PDIF Video Container Formats – DAT, MPEG, MPE, MPG, TS/TP, VOB, ISO, AVI, MP4, MOV, 3GP, FLV, MKV, M2TS, MTS, M4V, WMV, ASF, RM/RMVB, etc… Audio Formats – MP2, MP3, WMA, WAV, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Giveaway Week Winners Announced

Giveaway Week Winners Announced

Regular readers will know that I organized a giveaways last week, with Linux and Android based TV boxes and TV dongles based on Amlogic, Rockchip, and Telechips processors, a total of 8 devices with a combined value closed to $1,000 if purchased new. I’ve now selected all the winners, and send the devices, so it may be nice to list them in one post, even I announced each individual winners in the comment section of each contest. Without further delays, let’s go through the winners and their country of residence, with links to the original individual winner announcements: Jynxbox M1V2 Pure Linux Richard, USA (Facebook contest) Pavlos, Greece (Comment contest) Mele X1000 – Vedas, USA Measy U2C – Umaar, Germany Matricom Gbox Midnight MX2 – Starsolaris, Ukraine Beelink A9 – Alcides, Brazil Jynxbox Live – Greg, Canada Tronsmart Prometheus – Roberto, Portugal All parcels have been sent today by Airmail […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs abd SoMs
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Google Formally Launches Android TV. Android TV Set-Top Boxes and TVs to be Available in H2 2014

Google Formally Launches Android TV. Android TV Set-Top Boxes and TVs to be Available in H2 2014

After Android L for mobile devices, and Android Wear for wearables, Google also announced Android for your television at Google I/O 2014, and after definitely killing “Google TV”, renaming it to “Google Services for Smart TV”, the company went for the obvious and called it “Android TV”, which will get messy with all the Chinese “Android TV” boxes that do not run “Android TV” but simply “Android”… Google apparently used an Android TV reference platform (ADT-1) based on Nvidia Tegra 4 K1 at I/O to showcase their latest implementation of Android the the living room. I’ve embedded the video of the demo below, but the key part of the demo can be summarized as follows: Android TV’s “TV Input Framework” can overlay notifications and other data on top of various video sources such as HDMI, TV tuners, and IP TV receivers Voice control demo (with smartphone) with requests such as: […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Google Releases Android Wear SDK, LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live Smartwatches Are Now Available

Google Releases Android Wear SDK, LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live Smartwatches Are Now Available

I’ve just covered what’s new in Android L?, and I’m going to focus on Google I/O 2014’s announcements related by Android wear starting with hardware with LG G Watch ,and Samsung Gear smartwatches, followed by some details about the first official release of Android Wear SDK. LG G Watch Specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 @ 1.2 GHz System Memory – 512MB RAM Storage – 4GB eMMC Display – 1.65” IPS display (280 x 280) Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0 LE Sensors – 9-Axis (Gyro / Accelerometer / Compass) IP Rating – IP67 dust and water resistant Battery – Li-ion 400mAh Dimensions – 37.9 x 46.5 x 9.95 mm Weight – 62.5 grams LG G watch will run Android Wear (as it’s the subject of this post), and it currently available on Google Play for $229 (US only?) with shipping scheduled for early July. Samsung Gear Live Specifications: Processor – Unnamed […]

Boardcon Rockchip RK3588S SBC with 8K, WiFI 6, 4G LTE, NVME SSD, HDMI 2.1...