Hardware Category - Page 826 of 1117 - CNX Software

March 1, 2016May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 71 Comments

Raspberry Pi 3, ODROID-C2 and Pine A64+ Development Boards Comparison

Raspberry Pi 3 and hardkernel ODROID-C2 launched the same day, and together with Pine A64/A64+, are the only ultra low cost (<$40) 64-bit ARM development boards available or soon-to-be available, so I’ve decided to make a comparison of the three boards the same way I did with ~$10 boards with a Raspberry Pi Zero, C.H.I.P, and Orange Pi One comparison. I’ve used features of Pine A64+ instead of Pine A64 since features and price are closer to the other two boards. Text highlighted in green means a board is clearly better than the other two for a given features, while a red highlight means it’s the weakest of the three. Raspberry Pi 3 ODROID-C2 Pine A64 Plus Processor Broadcom BCM2837 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2 GHz(4x ~2760 DMIPS) Amlogic S905 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 2.0 GHz(4x ~4600 DMIPS) Allwinner A64 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ […]

March 1, 2016May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

64-bit ARM (Aarch64) Instructions Boost Performance by 15 to 30% Compared to 32-bit ARM (Aarch32) Instructions

Yesterday was quite an eventful day with the launch of two low cost 64-bit ARM development boards, namely Raspberry Pi 3 and ODROID-C2, and as usual there were some pretty interesting discussions related to the launch of the boards in the comments section. One of the subject that came is that while Raspberry Pi 3 board is using a 64-bit processor, the operating systems are still compiled with 32-bit instructions (Aarch32) and even optimized for ARMv6, and they intend to keep it that way according to Eben Upton interview: Eben readily admits that not all the capabilities of the new parts are going to be used at launch, however. “Although it is a 64‑bit core, we’re using it as just a faster 32-bit core,” he reveals about the Pi 3’s central processing unit. “I can imagine there’d be some real benefits [to 64-bit code]. The downside is that you do […]

February 29, 2016March 1, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Geniatech ATV195e 4K TV Stick Features Amlogic S905 Processor, 802.11ac WiFi

While there are way too many Amlogic S905 TV boxes to keep up, the number of TV sticks based on the processor is fairly low, and until today I had only heard about Guleek A8 a few months ago, but I can’t even see it for sale anywhere.Potential reason include people have released TV stick are not that convenient, or electronic design houses had issues to cool the thing down, as we’ve seen even some full-size TV boxes have issues with cooling. Nevertheless, Geniatech has designed their own Amlogic S905 TV stick called ATV195e with 1GB RAM, 8GB flash, and 802.11ac WiFi. Geniatech ATV195e preliminary specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta core Mali-450MP GPU up to 750MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash (2 to 32GB on-request) Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60Hz […]

February 29, 2016March 1, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 46 Comments

ODROID-C2 64-Bit ARM Development Board is Now Available for Purchase for $40

ODROID-C2 is a quad core 64-bit ARM development board based on Amlogic S905 processor with 2GB RAM that was planned to launch in early March, but maybe unsurprisingly, Hardkernel decided to launch their latest board, the very same day as Raspberry Pi 3 launch. We already knew the specifications, but it’s always useful to mind ourselves of the details: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core cortex-A53 processor @ 2.0 GHz with 3+2 cores Mali-450 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 SDRAM Storage – eMMC module socket with 8, 16, 32, or 64GB module by Toshiba or Sandisk + micro SD slot supporting UHS-1 SD cards. Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60 Hz Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet (Realtek RTL8211F) USB – 4x USB 2.0 host ports + micro USB OTG port Expansion Header 40-pin header with GPIO, I2C, UART, and ADC ; All I/Os are 3.3V, except […]

February 29, 2016February 29, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 32 Comments

Raspberry Pi 3 Board is Powered by Broadcom BCM2837 Cortex A53 Processor, Sells for $35

Raspberry Pi 3 board was first found on the FCC website, and thanks to various other leaks we had a pretty good idea of the board specifications including a Broadcom 64-bit ARM processor coupled with 1GB RAM, WiFi and Bluetooth, as well as basically the same features and ports as Raspberry Pi 2 Model B. But with the fourth anniversary of the Raspberry Pi Model 1 board, Raspberry Pi 3 has now officially been launched, and you can now purchase the board for $35. Raspberry Pi 3 specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2837 64bit ARMv8 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2GHz with dual core VideoCore IV GPU @ 400 MHz supporting OpenGL ES 2.0, hardware-accelerated OpenVG, and 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode. Capable of 1Gpixel/s, 1.5Gtexel/s or 24GFLOPs with texture filtering and DMA infrastructure System Memory – 1GB LPDDR2 Storage – micro SD slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4 […]

February 29, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Hubpixed is a Neat and CableFree USB Hub for the Raspberry Pi Zero (Crowdfunding)

While the Raspberry Pi Zero is not exactly broadly available, there are still several tenths of thousands who own, and I’ve seen several use a USB to OTG adapter combined to a USB hub to add USB devices such as a WiFi dongle, or/and keyboard. This works, but it’s quite messy. That’s why Vikas Shukla created Hubpixed USB hub for the Raspberry Pi that does not require any cables and cleverly uses the test pins on the back of the board for USB data and power. The board’s spring pins are the only electrical connections between Raspberry Pi Zero and the hub, with both boards attached with spacers, screws and bolts using the four mounting holes of RPi0. Vikas also showed the hub in action with a USB WiFi dongle. I’m not sure how it would fare with a USB hard drive however. Hubpixed is on Kickstarter, and has already exceeded […]

February 28, 2016November 4, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 231 Comments

Review of K1 Plus Android TV Box with Combo DVB-S2/DVB-T2 Tuner

VideoStrong has launched K1 Plus TV box powered by Amlogic S905 processor last year, and I had the chance to review their model last November. But here I am reviewing K1 Plus again. Why? That’s because the company’s has several K1 Plus models: the “standard” version that’s just like any Android TV boxes, and the DVB version with DVB-S2, DVB-T2/C, or DVB-T2/C + DVB-S2 combo, and the latter is the one I’m reviewing today. K1 Plus DVB combo teardown revealed that the main board was exactly the same as K1 Plus “standard”, and that only a tuner card was added. So I’ll have a two part review with the first part checking if they fixed any of the bugs found on K1 Plus “Standard” with “November 2015” firmware in the new “January 27, 2016 DVB” firmware, and the second part will focus on testing DTV app with DVB-S2 and DVB-T2, […]

February 27, 2016February 27, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 75 Comments

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Board Features a 64-Bit ARM Processor, Adds WiFi and Bluetooth Connectivity

The Raspberry Pi foundation is working on yet another model of the popular Raspberry Pi boards, as the Raspberry Pi 3 model B board has showed up on the FCC website. The new board looks very similar to Raspberry Pi 2 model B, but adds on-board WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz only) and Bluetooth 4.0. Let’s play “spot the difference” with Raspberry Pi 2 at the top and Raspberry Pi 3 under. The processor looks the same as the BCM2836 quad core Cortex A7 SoC found on model 2 B, but one redditer claims it could be a 64-bit processor due to some MagPi ad. [Update: that’s the MagPi ad which confirms Raspberry Pi 3 will feature a 64-bit ARM processor @ 1.2 GHz. Thanks Gabe! ] We’ll find the WiFi/BT chip antenna on the top left corner, and two through holes on the right of the 40-pin connectors, likely the […]