CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

August 8, 2016August 8, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

ESP8266 Gets USB Support Thanks to ESPUSB Software Stack

Neither ESP8266 nor ESP32 support USB, so what am I babbling about? No, ESP8622 did not suddenly grow a USB PHY, but cnlohr decided to implement virtual USB support using two GPIOs (12 & 13) for the D+/D- USB signals, meaning you can connect any ESP8266 module through USB, or even update the firmware through USB without external hardware, apart from a single extra resistor. The source code is available on espusb repo on github. Please note that the code is currently work in progress, and USB implementation currently only works at 1.5 Mbit/s, with potentially future support for 12 Mbit/s. That’s the demo, and an explanation about the design process.

August 7, 2016September 5, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Coowell V4 is an RK3368 Android TV Box with a Retractable Camera

Coowell V4 looks like another typical Rockchip RK3368 Android TV box with 2GB RAM and 16GB flash, except for one little detail: it features a retractable camera to use with Skype, Google Hangouts and other video conference apps. Most Android mini PCs already claim support for USB UVC cameras, but in my past reviews I noticed that my camera were not always properly recognized in one or more apps, so in theory. the built-in camera is more likely to work with all app, since the company has (probably) tested it. Coowell “Smart Media Hub” V4 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3368 octa core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with PowerVR G6110 GPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K60, and AV ports Audio Output – HDMI, AV, and optical S/PDIF […]

ArmSoM CM5 - Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC

August 6, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments

Inside LG 4K TV, and My (Unsuccessful) Attempt at Repairing It

Long time readers of this blog may remember that I organized a crowdfunding event aiming at raising funds to buy equipment to test 4K TV boxes and mini PCs in early 2015, and one of the items I ended up purchasing was LG 42UB820T 4K television. It worked well for over a year, but I started to notice a single vertical appear on the TV in June, or about 18 months after purchase. A few more lines appeared in the following week, and it appears to have stabilized as shown in the picture below. While I understand that in Europe a 2-year warranty period is legally required, I’m based in Asia, and all I got was a one year warranty for the TV. So I had three choices: Ignore the problem Pay for the repairs Try to repair it myself So far, I’ve selected solution 1. because that’s the easiest […]

August 6, 2016August 8, 2016 by Karl Johnson - 116 Comments

How to Customize Amlogic Android Firmware – A Tutorial with NEXBOX A95X (S905) TV Box

CNXSoft: Bear in mind that there are multiple versions of Nexbox A95X. Yesterday, I published the review of Nexbox A95X with Android 6.0, with the model based on Amlogic S905X processor. In this article, Karl had a look at Nexbox A95X with Amlogic S905 processor, which he purchased a couple of months ago, but since he was not happy with the Android 5.1 firmware, he decided to customize it. Karl here with a review of the Nexbox A95X S905 box. This took a while to even start. I received the box about 2 months ago and I dived right in and broke it. I didn’t have factory firmware, and wasn’t cautious enough and bricked it. I found some firmware that worked but it didn’t work very well for me. Email’s to Nexbox directly didn’t help and I was stuck with a bricked box… I later found someone who had factory […]

August 5, 2016August 5, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Intel Smartwatches are Hot! So Hot, They May Burn Your Skin

Low power in constrained spaces is a tricky business, even for ARM based SoCs with the Qualcomm 810 overheating saga a few months ago. Now it’s time for Intel to feel the heat, as the company has has to recall Basis Peak smartwatches / fitness trackers due to potential overheating causing skin burns. Josh Walden – senior vice president and general manager of the New Technology Group at Intel Corporation – stated: On behalf of the Basis Science team, I want to personally apologise for this situation, we know that many of you love using your Basis Peak watches and have made them part of your daily lives, and we are very sorry for the disruption this will cause you, we had hoped to update the software on your watch to address the problem, unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we aren’t able to develop such a solution without completely compromising […]

August 5, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Minimal Ubuntu 16.04 Image for ODROID-C2, and C1/C1+ Boards, Ubuntu Core Image for Bubblegum-96 Board

If you’ve been wanting minimal Ubuntu distributions for your server, IoT, or other headless projects, there are some good news from Hardkernel with the release of a minimal Ubuntu 16.04 image for ODROID-C2 and ODROID-C1+ boards, and Canonical has recently announced Actions Semi S900 based BubbleGum-96 board was getting support for Ubuntu Core distribution. If you’re using an ODROID board you can download ubuntu64-16.04-minimal-odroid-c2-20160803.img.xz (196MB) firmware, which become 1.7 GB once uncompressed and flash it 2GB or greater micro SD card. After Raspberry Pi 2 and Samsung Artik 5/10, Bubblegum-96 is the third officially supported board that can run Ubuntu Core. You can download the 3.63GB beta image and instructions to flash it from an Ubuntu 16.04 machine on Mega. Bugglegum-96 is a 96boards compliant development board based on an quad core Cortex A53 processor with 2GB RAM and 8GB flash manufactured and sold by ucRobotics for $89.

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

August 5, 2016May 8, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 120 Comments

NEXBOX A95X (Amlogic S905X) TV Box Review – Part 2: Android 6.0 and Kodi 16.1

Last week I publish the first complete review of an Amlogic S905X device with MINI M8S II TV box review, and while the device work in a smooth and stable manner, some features did not work as expect such as HDMI audio pass-through. I’ve now had the change to compare it to another S905X with NEXBOX A95X, not to confuse with its “homonym”: NEXBOX A95X with Amlogic S905 processor. I’ve already taken pictures of the device and accessories, and checked out the hardware in the first part of the review, so today, I’ll report my finding playing with Android 6.0 firmware, Kodi video and audio capabilities, and check whether bugs and issues found on MINI M8S II are also present in the device. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions NEXBOX A95X is really a tiny device, so it’s no surprise that it only comes with two USB 2.0 ports, and […]

August 4, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 74 Comments

R-BOX Pro Octa-core Android TV Box Comes with 3GB RAM, Pre-sells for $83

The vast majority of TV boxes on the market only come with 1 or 2GB RAM, although some Rockchip RK3288 based devices ship with up to 4GB RAM, such as Nagrace HPH NT-V6, but so far the maximum I could see only 64-bit ARM platforms was 2GB RAM. R-BOX Pro changes that with an Amlogic S912 processor with 2 or 3GB RAM and 16GB flash. R-BOX Pro specifications: SoC – Amlogic S912 octo-core ARM Cortex A53 processor @ up to 2.0GHz with ARM Mali-820MP3 @ up to 750MHz System Memory – 2 or 3 GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0a with HDR and CEC support up to 4K @ 60 fps, and AV port for composite output Audio Output – HDMI, AV (stereo audio), and optical S/PDIF Video codecs – VP9-10 profile 2 up to 4K @ […]