Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on Crowdfunding Report 2013 on CNXSoft Blog

Crowdfunding Report 2013 on CNXSoft Blog

Crowdfunding has really took off in 2013, with sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, as they enable start-ups to launch new and innovative products, and some established, even large companies, I’m thinking Canonical with Ubuntu Edge here, have also tapped into that market, actually shifting part of the risks from shareholders, to customers / individual funders. In this post, I’ll go through all the crowdfunding projects, 16 Indiegogo and 25 Kickstarter campaigns, featured on cnx-software.com between the beginning of December 2012 till the end of November 2013, to find out which ones have been a stellar success in terms of funding and on-time delivery, and those that have failed in one way or another, with some being close to looking like scams. There was a wide range of products with dealing home automation, the Internet of things, wireless Arduino compatible boards, Linux development boards, media players and more. Let’s go straight […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Canonical Releases Ubuntu and Android Dual Boot Developer Preview

Canonical Releases Ubuntu and Android Dual Boot Developer Preview

Canonical announced Ubuntu for Phones at the very beginning of the year, and the operating systems have been ported to several phones since then. The only problem is that if you just want to try it, you’d have to replace your Android installation. To work around this problem, Canonical just released Ubuntu and Android dual boot developer preview, that installs both OS on your smartphone, and one app in Ubuntu and Android, let you choose whether you want to boot Ubuntu or Android. The installation requires rewriting the Android recovery partition, and changes the partition layout, so Canonical only recommends Ubuntu Dual boot to developers, in case something goes wrong during installation. Having said that, the installation instructions do not seem particularly difficult to follow, as it’s just the case of running one script (dualboot.sh), after you’ve made sure your device is rooted, connected your phone to a Linux PC […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments on Hardkernel Unveils $59 ODROID-U3 Board Powered by Exynos 4412 Prime Quad Core SoC

Hardkernel Unveils $59 ODROID-U3 Board Powered by Exynos 4412 Prime Quad Core SoC

Hardkernel ODROID board family already features of the most cost effective development / hobbyist boards in the market. But the company has done it again, with ODROID-U3 a quad core board, software compatible with ODROID-U2, that sells for just $59 + shipping. ODROID-U3 specifications: SoC – Samsung Exynos 4412 Prime @ 1.7 Ghz with ARM Mali-400MP4 GPU @ 440MHz System Memory – 2GB @ 880MHz Storage – microSD slot, eMMC module socket USB – 3x USB 2.0 Host ports, 1x USB 2.0 device for ADB/mass storage Ethernet – 10/100Mbps (LAN9730) Video Output – micro HDMI Audio Output – 3.5mm Jack, micro HDMI System Console – UART (1.8Volt) DC Power – 5V/2A PCB Dimension – 83 x 48mm Weight – 48g with heatsink The company provides images and source code for Xubuntu 13.10, Android 4.x with u-boot 2010.12 and kernel 3.8, as well as the schematics (PDF). Support is available on […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on SliceCase is a Modular & Customizable Case for Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and Soon More (Crowdfunding)

SliceCase is a Modular & Customizable Case for Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and Soon More (Crowdfunding)

When you design hardware around Arduino or Raspberry Pi boards, most likely that not, the enclosures available on the market won’t be usable with your project, and you’ll have to design your own which may end up not quite looking as nice as you expected. Two Hornets, a startup based in the Netherlands, is trying to provide a solution with SliceCase, a modular and customizable casing system, that at first looks similar to some other enclosures like Pimoroni PiBow case. But there’s more than meets the eye, as SliceCase is composed of standard components, that allow you to build the casing around your hardware, and even order custom top covers and sides online. At first, they’ll focus on the most popular boards such as Arduino Standard and Mega boards, and the Raspberry Pi, but if this concept takes off more boards will be added. The enclosure system is composed of […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on OLIMEXINO-85S Arduino Compatible Board is About the Size of a micro SD Card

OLIMEXINO-85S Arduino Compatible Board is About the Size of a micro SD Card

Several Arduino boards have been designed to be as small as possible this year, including Microduino (25.40 x 27.94mm) and OLIMEXINO-NANO (30 x 30 mm). But Olimex has gone a step further, or should I say smaller, with OLIMEXINO-85S that just a little bit bigger than a micro SD card at 16.9 x 12.7 mm, and may currently claim the title of the smallest Arduino compatible board ever. A board that tiny comes with pretty short specifications: MCU – Atmel ATTiny85 @ 20MHz with 8 KB Flash, and 512B RAM. Misc – two LEDs one for power supply and one user programmable I/O – All 6 I/O pins (I2C, SPI, up to 4 ADC), as well as power pins, available via through holes Power – Via USB micro connector or by LiPo battery The board will be programmable by the Arduino IDE made by Digispark. OLIMEXINO-85S will be available at […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on X100 Raspberry Pi Expansion Board Adds VGA Output, RTC and More

X100 Raspberry Pi Expansion Board Adds VGA Output, RTC and More

Suptronics X100 is an expansion board that connects on top of the Raspberry Pi in order to add VGA output, RTC, four USB ports, a micro SD card slot, an RS232 DB9 connector, and an 8-channel servo port. Key features of X100 expansion board:   Input Voltage – 6V to 23V converted to 5V, 3A via step-down DC/DC converter to power the Raspberry Pi. VGA – HDMI to VGA converter supporting up to UXGA (1600×1200) and 1080p with 10-bit DAC USB – self-powered USB hub with 4 ports Storage – micro SD card reader RTC – NXP PCF2127AT / PCF2129AT with included CR2032 battery Debugging – RS232 DB9 connector (via MAX3232) to be used with a null-modem cable. I/Os – Reset switch for RPi reset, headers to access S1 & S5 on top of the Raspberry Pi Servo support – 8-channel Darlington driver chip  (ULN2803) allowing to control electronic circuits […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on $15 and Up NavSpark is a tiny GPS / GNSS Arduino Software Compatible Board (Crowdfunding)

$15 and Up NavSpark is a tiny GPS / GNSS Arduino Software Compatible Board (Crowdfunding)

[Update: I’ve been told the project is actually launched by SkyTraq. But later, after Indiegogo perks are shipped, they expect to have our customer NAVIN handle later orders and manufacturing, the non-engineering development side of things. Updated post accordingly] Navin, a Taiwanese start-up specialized in location products, SkyTraq, a fabless semiconductor company, which develops GPS chipset for consumer navigation and tracking applications, has recently launched an Indiegogo campaign for NavSpark, their low cost GPS / GNSS board with a 32-bit LEON3 SPARC V8 MCU that can be programmed with the Arduino IDE. Two other models are available:  NavSpark-BD for GPS/Beidou, and NavSpark-GL for GPS/GLONASS. NavSpark NavSpark specifications: GSP Receiver – SkyTraq Venus 822 LEON3 Sparc-V8 MCU @ 100MHz with IEEE-754 Compliant FPU, 1024KB Flash Memory, 212KB RAM. GPS – quad-GNSS engine capable of handling 34 GPS / GLONASS/ Beidou / Galileo signals in parallel I/Os – 1x full duplex asynchronous […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Linaro 13.12 Release with Linux Kernel 3.13, Android 4.4, and Ubuntu Saucy Salamander

Linaro 13.12 Release with Linux Kernel 3.13, Android 4.4, and Ubuntu Saucy Salamander

Due to the end of year celebration, Linaro release is a little earlier at this time, and Linaro 13.12 has already been released with Linux Kernel 3.13-rc3 (baseline), Linux Kernel 3.10.24 (LSK), Android 4.4, and Ubuntu Linaro 13.12, which for the first time is based on Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander. Other interesting development include an initial arm64 Ubuntu saucy rootfs (that one?), work to support octa-core 4x Cortex A53, 4x Cortex A57 SoCs, an Android 4.4 KitKat LEB for the Galaxy Nexus, and ARMv8 LSK and Nexus7_2013-AOSP builds have been setup and Android can be now built using llvm-clang toolchain with the related patches submitted to upstream. On a related note, there are also some Midway and Highbank engineering build images for Calxeda server processors, which may not be that useful going forward, as unfortunately the company has just closed door after running out of cash. Here are the highlights of this […]

Boardcon Rockchip and Allwinner SoM and SBC products