Hardware Category - Page 939 of 1114 - CNX Software

November 19, 2014November 19, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments

DWA8 ESP8266 Wi-Fi Module Features a 10-bit ADC, Up to 8 GPIOs, 4 PWM Outputs, and More (Crowdfunding)

Espressif ESP8266 based ESP-01 module may now cost $3, but it’s limited to only two GPIOs, so a Dooao, a Chinese company based in Beijing, has decided to make a new ESP8266 module with more GPIOs, PWM signals, SPI, UART. and a 10-bit ADC. Dooao DWA8 module specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP8266 32-bit RISC processor @ 80 MHz with 120KB RAM (40KB usable), built-in 802.11 b/g/n support. Wi-Fi – 802.112 b/g/n, STA/AP/STA+AP modes, WEP/WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK security Interfaces: Up to 8x GPIOs Up to 4x PWM SPI (master & slave) up to 40MHz UART with hardware FC up to 4Mbps 1x channel 10bit ADC Power supply – Single 3.3V (2.8 to 3.6V) Power consumption – Max: 70 mA @ 3.3V (230 mW); typical: 12mA; standby < 200 uA; “soft power off” < 10uA. Dimensions – 27.13 x 17 x 2.3 mm (a bit larger than ESP-01) Temperature Range – Operating: -40 […]

November 19, 2014November 20, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Nokia N1 is a 7.9″ Quad Core Intel Tablet Running Android 5.0 Lollipop

Since Microsoft bought Nokia’s smartphone division, the company is not allowed to sell smartphones until after the end of 2015, but that does not mean Nokia is standing still, and they’ve just unveiled Nokia N1 tablet based on Intel Atom Z3580 quad core processor, with a 7.9″ display, 2GB LPDDR3, and 32GB eMMC. The tablet runs Android 5.0 Lollipop, and it’s also the first device I’ve seen with a micro USB 2.0 type C reversible connector. Nokia N1 specifications: SoC – Intel Atom Z3580 (Bay Trail-T) quad core processor up to 2.33 GHz (burst frequency) with PowerVR GC6430 GPU up to 533 MHz System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3L @ 800 MHz Storage – 32 GB eMMC 5.0 flash (no micro SD slot) Display – 7.9″ IPS display, 2048×1536 resolution, 4:3 aspect ratio, Gorilla Glass 3. Audio – 3.5mm audio port, 2x 0.5W speakers, digital MIC, Wolfson WM8958E audio codec Connectivity […]

November 18, 2014December 9, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 37 Comments

MK808B Plus Android HDMI TV Stick Based on Amlogic S805 Sells for $36

You can get a cheap an decent H.265 capable Android TV box for less than $50 with MXQ S85, but MK808B Plus may be the cheapest H.265 capable player on the market, as the Amlogic S805 based Android TV stick sells for just $35.99 on Aliexpress including shipping (promotion valid for 6 days). [Update: Apparently the seller “changed his mind”, and nobody could actually buy for $35.99, so the best option is with GeekBuying for $39.99, also a promotion for the first 1,000 pieces or 10 days whichever comes first] [Update Dec 9, 2014: Promotion for $29.99 on Gearbest with MK808BCN coupon valid until January 9, 2015]. MK808B Plus specifications: SoC – Amlogic S805 quad core ARM Cortex A5 @ 1.5GHz with quad core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB NAND flash + micro SD slot up to 32GB Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, […]

November 18, 2014December 12, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

MINIX NEO X6 Media Hub Review

Last week-end, I took a few pictures of MINIX NEO X6 media hub, and had a look at the company’s firmware and forum support which indeed seems to be good. Today, I’ve completed the full review of MINIX NEO X6, and I will compare it to two of its lower priced competitors: MXQ S85 and EM6Q-MXQ. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions The IR remote control works fine, including continuous up ad down pressing, but I switched to using Mele F10 Deluxe air mouse for convenience. I’ve connected an Ethernet cable, an HDMI cable, a micro SD card, a USB hard drive, and a USB hub with two RF dongles for my air mouse and gamepad, a USB flash drive, and a UVC webcam. I’ve connected the power, pressed the power button on the side of the box, but nothing happened at first… You have to press the button one […]

November 17, 2014September 29, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 30 Comments

Unboxing of Eny M8S H.265 / 4K Android Media Player Powered by Amlogic S812 Processor

M8S and M8C Android TV boxes are updates of M8 / TM8 box, replacing Amlogic S802 quad core processor with Amlogic S812 processor which has about the same feature except it bring HEVC/H.265 hardware video decoding. M8S comes with 2GB RAM, whereas M8C features only 1GB RAM. Eny Technology decided to send me M8S for review. As usual, I’ll start with some pictures of the package, box, and board, and will do the full review in the next few days. M8S Unboxing Pictures The company send me the parcel via DHL which I promptly received with the product in the package below marked “4K OTT TV BOX” and a predominant “HEVC”. The back of the package list the main specifications: quad core processor, octo core Mali 450 GPU, Android Kitkat. and so on. There’s also a sticker showing the MAC address, which starts with C4:4E:AC for those interested. The box […]

November 17, 2014November 17, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Add Wi-Fi to Arduino Boards for $3 with ESP8266 Wi-Fi Serial Module

There has been some buzz around ESP8266 Wi-Fi module, mostly because of its low price, and SDK availability, meaning it could become the Wi-Fi equivalent of ENC28J60 Ethernet module, and that for $5 you could potentially add Wi-Fi to your Arduino board for example. Since then, the price has come down even further, and if you are prepared to buy 5 pieces, you can now get the module for less than $3 / piece shipped, alternatively a single module costs $4, and a complete Wi-Fi + Arduino Uno (clone) kit goes for $15. A community has also been built around the chip, and a several project have been made with Arduino boards and ESP8266 module. The best way to find information is to go to ESP8266 community forum, as well as read the Wiki on github. There’s currently a GCC toolchain for Espressif Systems ESP8266, open source tools for working […]

November 17, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

How-to Install Ubuntu on Allwinner A80 Powered pcDuino8 and A80 OptimusBoard

Last month, pcDuino released Android 4.4 and Ubuntu images for pcDuino8 board powered by Allwinner A80 octa core processor, and since it’s the same board layout as A80 OptimusBoard, I decided to try it out, but it failed as the update script would try to flash it to a partition that’s too small for the root file systems. But last week, Ian Morrison and Minidodes gave it another try, and successfully booted Ubuntu, or more exactly Lubuntu, on A80 OptimusBoard. Both their screenshot reports sun9i platform in /proc/cpuinfo, so that’s definitely Allwinner A80, but only one core is shown. I’m not sure if it’s because the other are idled and don’t show, or for some reasons, the kernel only supports one core at this stage. Anyway, here’s how they did to install Lubuntu: Flash the kernel (pcduino8_kernel_livesuit_20141008.img) with PhoenixCard or Livesuit first. See instructions to use Livesuit with A80 OptimusBoard. […]

November 16, 2014November 16, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Zsun SD111 Is Now “Officially” an Hackable Wireless Flash Drive

Zsun SD11x are Wi-Fi flash drives for 8 to 128 GB eMMC, alternative to Sandisk or Kingston. Yesterday, I soldered the UART pins to Zsun SD111 (8GB) flash drive to access the serial console, but I did not manage to enter the terminal as it was password-protected. I posted my results anyway, as I was convinced I would get some clever ideas from my readers, some of which appeared to be a little time consuming, but Zoobab offered a simple solution that consisted in changing the boot parameters, by replacing /sbin/init by /bin/sh. The first step is to interrupt the boot by pressing space or another key, in order to access U-boot. Now we can check the U-boot environment ar7240> printenv bootargs=console=ttyS0,115200 root=31:02 rootfstype=jffs2 rw init=/sbin/init mtdparts=ar7240-nor0:64k(u-boot),64k(u-boot-env),6720k(rootfs),1216k(uImage),64k(NVRAM),64k(ART) bootcmd=bootm 0x9f6B0000 bootdelay=4 baudrate=115200 ethaddr=0x00:0xaa:0xbb:0xcc:0xdd:0xee ipaddr=10.168.168.1 serverip=10.168.168.10 stdin=serial stdout=serial stderr=serial ethact=eth0 Environment size: 361/65532 bytes Let’s keep everything the same, except the init, […]