CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

May 10, 2016May 11, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 31 Comments

How to Run Ubuntu 16.04 Aarch64 (64-bit ARM) Cloud Images on Your Intel/AMD Linux Computer with QEMU

With the recent launch of several low cost Cortex A53 development boards, 64-bit ARM hardware is now pretty common and inexpensive, but if you want to run 64-bit ARM code on your x86 Linux computer, Riku Voipio, a software engineer working for Linaro, wrote some instructions to run Ubuntu 16.04 Aarch64 Cloud image in QEMU. Ubuntu cloud images are “the official Ubuntu images and are pre-installed disk images that have been customized by Ubuntu engineering to run on public clouds that provide Ubuntu Certified Images, Openstack, LXD, and more. ” So the instructions are also useful if you want to easily try such packages on 64-bit ARM platform. I’ve tried those instructions myself on my Ubuntu 14.04 machine with and AMD FX8350 processor, and they worked pretty well, and the only things I had to find out by myself was to install a recent version of qemu. First, we’ll need […]

May 10, 2016June 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

LX IoT Cores Are Made for IoT and Wearables with Bluetooth LE, ANT+, 2G/3G, Sigfox, LoRa, and More

LX Group, an Australian company specializing in electronics design and embedded systems, has introduced three wireless modules for IoT and wearables which they call “LX IoT Cores”, and embeds various wireless protocol such as Bluetooth LE/Ant+, 2G/3G connectivity, WiFi, Lora, Sigfox, Taggle, etc… Let’s go though the main technical specs for the three modules, one of which it itself modular (hence the max and min size) depending on your requirements. LX Cellular Core (Right) MCU – STMicro STM32F217IGH6 ARM Cortex-M3 MCU @ 120 MHz with 1MB flash, 128kB RAM Storage – 1x micro SD card reader Communication Interfaces Radios – 2G/3G, WiFi, BLE, ANT+, provision for LoRa, Taggle, SigFox, optional GPS via daughter board Wired – USB, RS485, UART, SPI, I2C, Digital IO, ADC Sensors – Ambient Luminosity, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, temperature, humidity, air pressure, microphone USB – 1x micro USB port Misc – Reset and 2x user buttons, 2x […]

ArmSoM CM5 - Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC

May 10, 2016May 10, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

OSD3358 SiP Integrates TI Sitara AM3358 SoC, Memory, PMIC, LDO and Passive Components into a Single BGA System-in-Package

Octavo Systems has created a BeagleBone Black reference design that’s exactly like the original board, except for one detail: It’s based on the company’s OSD3358 system-in-package (SiP) that combine Texas Instruments AM3358 Cortex A8 processor with up to 1GB RAM, TI LDO and PMIC, and over 140 passive components into a single 400-ball BGA package. The only three other main components on the reference design are the eMMC flash, Ethernet transceiver and HDMI framer. Key specs of OSD3358 SiP: Texas Instruments AM335x (AM3358 or AM3352) Cortex A8 processor @ 1 GHz 256MB, 512 MB or 1GB DDR3 memory Texas Instruments TPS62217C PMIC Texas Instruments TL5209 LDO Over 140 passive components Package – 400 1.27mm pitch BGA – 27 x 27 mm package size Temperature Range – Base version: 0 to 85°C; Industrial version: -40° to 85° C Some of the advantages of a SiP package over using multiple chips include faster […]

May 9, 2016June 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

Orange Pi Lite Quad Core ARM Linux Development Board with WiFi is Now Available for $12

Shenzhen Xunlong Launched Orange Pi One Allwinner H3 board with Ethernet for $9.99 a couple of months ago, and the company has now started to sell Orange Pi Lite featuring a WiFi module, two full-size USB ports, an IR receiver, and an on-board microphone for $12 + shipping. Orange Pi Lite specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.2 GHz with an ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU up to 600 MHz System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot up to 64GB Video & Audio Output – HDMI with CEC support Audio Input – Built-in microphone (not part of the listed specs, but clearly on the board) Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi via Realtek WiFi module with u.FL connector USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB OTG port Camera – CSI Interface Expansions – 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible header Debugging – 3-pin […]

May 9, 2016July 7, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Xiaomi Yi 4K Action Camera 2 Offers an Alternative to GoPro HERO4 Black Camera

[Update: While Xiaomi is a minority investor of YI in China, and YI products are sold in Xiaomi stores, Xiaomi does not own YI Technology nor does it own, produce or design any of its products. Therefore any mentions of Xiaomi in the article should be read instead as “YI Technology.”] Xiaomi is about to launch a new 4K sports camera with Xiaomi Yi 4K powered by Ambarella A9SE dual core Cortex A9 processor and supporting video recording up to 4K @ 30 fps. The specs of the new camera is actually pretty similar to what you’ve got on GoPro HERO4 Black camera, plus some improvements as the comparison table below shows. I found the data on GeekBuying blog, so it could not be entirely unbiased, but it still gives an idea. Yi 4K Action Camera GoPro HERO4 Black Processor Ambarella A9SE Ambarella A9 Image Sensor Sony IMX377 12MP ½ […]

May 9, 2016May 9, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Olimex iCE40HX1K-EVB Open Source Hardware Lattice FPGA Development Board To Sell for 22 Euros

Olimex has showcased a prototype of their small (5×5 cm) iCE40HX1K-EVB development board powered by Lattice Semi iCE40 FPGA, programmable with OLinuXino development boards via the UEXT interface, and compatible with Project Icestorm open source toolchain for Lattice iCE40. iCE40HX1K-EVB specifications: FPGA – Lattice Semi iCE40HX1K-VQ100 FPGA @ up to 533 MHz with 1280 gates, 160 Logic Array Blocks, and 64 kbit memory System Memory – 256Kx16 SRAM (Samsung K6R4016V1D-TC10 ) Storage – 2MB serial flash Expansion UEXT connector for programming 34-pin header to access FPGA I/Os Misc – 2x user buttons, reset button, 2x user LEDs Power Supply – 5V via power jack Dimensions – 5×5 cm (4-layer PCB) The company has also made four stackable add-on boards to connect to the 34-pin expansion header: iCE40-ADC fast 100Mhz ADC with BNC input connector for Digital Storage Oscilloscope (DSO) with up to 512 KB buffer iCE40-DAC fast 100Mhz DAC with […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

May 9, 2016May 9, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Moly PcPhone Runs Windows 10 Continuum on Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 Processor, Costs Less than $400

Mobile and PC convergence is slowly happening both on Ubuntu with devices like BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition tablet, and various Windows 10 Continuum smartphones. The most affordable offering is likely to come from mainland China vendors, such as Moly PcPhone 6″ smartphone based on Qualcomm 617 octa-core Cortex A53 processor with 3GB RAM, and running Windows 10 Continuum. Moly PcPhone specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 Octa core Coretex A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with Adreno 405 GPU System Memory – 3 GB RAM Storage – 32 GB flash + micreo SD slot up to 200 GB Display – 6″ Full HD (1920×1080) LTPS display; Gorilla Glass 3 Cellular Connectivity Dual SIM Dual Standby, Adaptive SIM Slot 2G GSM: Band 2/3/5/8 3G WCDMA: Band 1/6/8/9/19 4G FDD-LTE: Band 1/2/3/4/7/8/9/19/26/28B 4G TDD-LTE: Band 38/40/41 Wireless Connectivity – Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, and NFC Camera – 13MP auto-focus rear camera […]

May 8, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Qualcomm DragonBoard 600c 96Boards Development Board Includes Ethernet and SATA

A few weeks ago, I was informed that some code about DB600c board powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor (APQ8064T) was making it into mainline Linux, and more recently I found a website listing DragonBoard 600c with a low resolution picture of the board. While we don’t have the complete specifications yet, the form factor of the board is quite interesting, as we’ll find the typical 96Boards CE form factor on the right, and some extra interfaces on the left with Ethernet and SATA. It turns out, as we’ll see below, it’s perfectly compliant (hardware wise) with 96Boards CE “Extended Version” specifications. Preliminary specifications of DragonBoard 600c board: SoC- Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 (APQ8064 Fusion 3) quad-core Krait processor @ 1.7 GHz with Adreno 320 GPU @ 400MHz System Memory – 1GB or more RAM (TBD) Storage – eMMC Flash + micro SD slot + SATA port Video Output – HDMI […]

Boardcon Rockchip and Allwinner SoM and SBC products