CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

December 19, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Habey Unveils MITX-6500 mini-ITX Embedded Board Powered by Freescale i.MX53

There aren’t many mini-ITX ARM board, and the only one I can recall is Kontron KTT30/mITX based on Nvidia Tegra 3. But there’s now at least one more mini-ITX ARM board thanks to Habey MITX-6500 embedded board. This mini-ITX board feature Freescale i.MX535 or i.MX536 processors, 1GB DDR3 and a 4GB on-board SSD. Since this is mainly an industrial board, it also features 2 Ethernet NIC and a whooping 13 COM ports. The board is suitable for a range of applications such as human to machine interfaces, data acquisition, point of sale, vehicle telematics, digital signage, industrial automation, building controls and connected appliances. Contrary to many other embedded companies, Habey also sells the board available to individuals. Here are the specifications of this board: CPU – Freescale ARM Cortex A8 i.MX535 @ 1 GHz or i.MX536 @ 800 MHz System Memory – 1GB on-board DDR3 Storage – 1x SATA 3Gb/s, 1x […]

December 19, 2012December 19, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 25 Comments

MyGica A11 Android Set-top Box Powered by AMLogic AML8726-M3 Processor

Full-sized set-top boxes based on AMLogic AML8726-M3 processor have the potential to support XBMC Linux & Android with proper hardware support, but are not always priced very aggressively. But today, I’ve stumbled upon MyGica A11 Android 4.0 media player powered by AML8726-M3, with 1GB RAM and 4GB flash that sells for $65.10 on DealExtreme including shipping, and just 339 RMB (~55 USD) in China. Mygica A10 Specifications: SoC – AMLogic AML8726-M3 (Cortex A9) processor @ 1.0GHz with Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4GB Flash + microSD slot (Up to 32GB) Video Output – HDMI 1.3 (Up to 1080p) Video Formats – AVI, RM, RMVB, Ts, TP, TRP, Vob, Mkv, Mov, WMV, IOS, AFS, FLV, DAT, MPG, MPEG & SWF Video Codecs – MPEG1/2/4, H.264, AVC/VC-1, Xvid ,DivX3/4/5/6, and Real Video 8/9/10 Audio Formats – MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, FLAC, ALAC, APE, AAC, AC-D, DTS & Real […]

ArmSoM CM5 Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC

December 19, 2012December 19, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

3.95 Euros RPI-UEXT Breadboard & UEXT Adapter for Raspberry Pi is Now Available

Last month, I wrote about an upcoming T-shaped adapter for the Raspberry Pi that can easily plug into a breadboard, and provides a UEXT connector that can bring new features (RTC, GPRS, sensors, relays…) to the Raspberry Pi via low cost external UEXT modules. Olimex has just announced the RPI-UEXT adapter is now available for 3.95 Euros. To connect RPI-UEXT adapter to the Raspberry Pi, you’ll need to purchase a 26-pin ribbon cable and a breadboard if you don’t have these already. Olimex provides those 2 for respectively 2 & 2.95 Euros. That means a complete set would cost 8.90 Euros. As discussed on my first RPI-UEXT post, what makes this little board really interesting are all the existing UEXT modules (over 20) that bring new features at very low cost. Olimex uploaded a video showing the Raspberry Pi, the RPI-UEXT and the MOD-IO UEXT module connected together, with the Raspberry […]

December 19, 2012December 19, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

$66.75 Beaglebone and Other Development Boards Xmas Deals

I’ve come across Xmas deals for uCLinux, Linux and Android development boards & kits by Texas instruments and Emcraft Systems. TI offers 25% discount off five Sitara Linux/Android development kits purchased via Ti e-Store: AM3359 Industrial Development Kit – A full-featured application development platform for evaluating the capabilities and features of Sitara AM335x ARM Cortex-A8 Processors for industrial applications. AM335x processors integrate industrial communication standards that work on Ethernet, CAN, and RS-485 physical layers. Regular price: $895 AM335x Starter Kit – Low-cost development platform based on AM335x ARM Cortex-A8 processor with multiple communication options such as Dual Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, as well as a 4.3″ LCD Touchcreen (resistive). Regular price: $199 AM3359 Industrial Communications Engine (ICE) – Low cost development platform targeted for systems that specifically focus on the industrial communications capabilities of the Sitara AM335x ARM Cortex-A8 Processors. Regular price: $99 Beaglebone – Low-cost, community-supported development […]

December 19, 2012December 19, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Nvidia Tegra 4 to Feature 4 Cortex A15 Cores, 72 Graphics Cores

According to Nvidia Tegra roadmap, the first Tegra 4 (T40) is due in Q1 2013, before T43 & AP40 come out in Q3 2013. Information is still sparse, but somebody posted a leaked slide on Chip Hell which gives a few more details about the upcoming Tegra 4 processors. So this is what we currently know about the Tegra T40 processor: CPU – 4x Cortex A15 (Eagle) cores @ 1.8 GHz + a battery saving core (aka companion core). GPU – Geforce GPU with 72 cores providing 20x Tegra 2 performance and 6x Tegra 3’s. Memory – Support for DDR3L, LPDDR2 and LPDDR3 Video – 1440p video encoding and decoding with VP8 and H.264 High Profile hardware acceleration Display – 2560×1600 24-bit, 1080p @ 120Hz, 4K displays via DSI and HDMI interfaces. Power – Lower power than previous generations thanks to 28nm HPL process (low power with high-k metal gates). Tegra […]

December 18, 2012May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Rhombus Tech EOMA-68 CPU Card Prototype

Do you remember Rhombus Tech AllWinner A10 EOMA-PCMCIA CPU card that targets a BOM cost of $15 US, that was announced at the end of last year? Well, after much wait, the first prototype is now available. This CPU module is based on AllWinner A10 Cortex A8 processor, with 1GB RAM, a NAND Flash, one USB OTG port, microSD slot, HDMI, PMIC, an Ethernet PHY (at the back), an expansion header, and the EOMA-68 connector giving access to peripherals signals (SATA, Ethernet, RGB/TTL, I2C etc…). It can act as a Linux/Android stand-alone computer or be connected to a baseboard. One of the first project will be a laptop for the Chinese market. AllWinner A10 SoC may be a little underpowered to be used in laptop compared to the latest ARM processors, but since EOMA-PCMCIA is a standard, pin-to-pin compatible modules will eventually be designed and manufactured with different/faster (ARM) processors. […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs abd SoMs

December 17, 2012December 17, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

libavg on Raspberry Pi

libavg development team has recently announced a beta port of their multimedia library to the Raspberry Pi. libavg is a high-level development platform for media-centric applications using Python as scripting language and written in C++. I came to know this platform as I tried Xibo Digital Signage, and I tested it on ARM platforms. Up to know this would only work using software rendering/decoding, and everything was painfully slow on ARM, but libavg developers are now making use of OpenGL ES to boost graphics speed. More work is needed, and they intend to eventually support features such as hardware video decoding (OpenMAX possibly via gstreamer) and compressed textures. Installing libavg on Raspberry Pi. Pre-built packages are available for Raspberry, so installation is pretty straight forward:

sudo apt-get install libxml2 libpango1.0-0 librsvg2-2 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 \
  libavcodec53 libavformat53 libswscale2 libboost-python1.49.0 \
  libboost-thread1.49.0 libsdl1.2debian libxxf86vm1
wget https://www.libavg.de/site/attachments/download/190 -O libavg-raspberry.tar.bz2
sudo tar -C /usr/local -xjf libavg-raspberry.tar.bz2

sudo apt-get install libxml2 libpango1.0-0 librsvg2-2 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 \

libavcodec53 libavformat53 libswscale2 libboost-python1.49.0 \

libboost-thread1.49.0 libsdl1.2debian libxxf86vm1

wget https://www.libavg.de/site/attachments/download/190 -O libavg-raspberry.tar.bz2

sudo tar -C /usr/local -xjf libavg-raspberry.tar.bz2

Running Samples Apps 32 samples are located in /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/libavg/samples/ directory, and they rely on X11, so first start LXDE:

startx

startx

Open a serial console (LXTerminal) […]

December 16, 2012February 13, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

$135 ARMBRIX Exynos 5 Dual Cortex A15 Development Board

If you want to develop on a Cortex A15 processor, but Arndale development board is a bit expensive for you, don’t despair as ARMBRIX development board featuring Samsung Exynos 5 Dual processor is currently being developed and should be available in Q1 2013 for $135. The preliminary specifications include: SoC – Samsung Exynos 5 Dual Cortex A15 CPU + Mali T604 GPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 @ 800 MHz Storage – microSD slot Video Output – HDMI Audio In/Out – HDMI, SPDIF, Line In/Out. USB – 2x USB 2.0 Host, 1x USB 3.0 host and 1x USB 2.0 device Ethernet – Via USB to Ethernet hub. SATA – The connector is on the left of the micro SD slot. Expansions – 3 headers. Dimensions – 85 x 95 mm This board is based on Arndale design, and will be software compatible. Currently, Arndale officially support Android only, but […]