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$18 Matchstick is an HDMI TV Stick Running Firefox OS (Crowdfunding)

A few month ago, a Firefox OS HDMI streaming stick (codenamed netcast) by Mozilla that would compete with Google Chromecast was previewed. It is now called Matchstick, based on Rockchip RK3066 and has just been launched on Kickstarter. MatchStick technical specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3066 dual core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.2 GHz with Mali-400 MP4 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 (micron) Storage – 4 GB flash.  (FORSEE, NCEFES86 eMMC) Video Output – HDMI Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi (AP6181?), but the board supports other Wi-Fi modules include AP6210 and AP6330, and many people are asking for dual band Wi-Fi in comments, so maybe a stretch goal… USB – 1x micro USB port for power Power – 5V via micro USB port. TPS659102 PMIC. Dimensions – 110 x 40 x 11 mm The Firefox OS dongle will come with an HDMI extension Cable, a micro USB Cable, and a […]

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Finally… An Android TV Stick with an Ethernet Port

Ever since MK802 hit the market in April 2012, I’ve been expecting HDMI TV Sticks with Ethernet ports, but it never really materialized. There have been many small TV boxes, but AFAIK none of which could simply be insert in the back of your TV. Thanks to MK802 V we now have an HDMI TV dongle, powered by Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex A12/A17 processor, featuring an Ethernet port. MK802 V specifications: SoC – Rockchip 3288 quad core ARM Cortex A12/A17 up to 1.8 GHz with Mali-T764 GPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB NAND flash (16GB optional) + micro SD slot (up to 32GB) Video / Audio Output – HDMI 2.0 (male) Video Codecs – MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, H.265, AVS, VC-1, RV, VP6/VP8, MVC (1080p) Sorenson Spark, MVC up to 4K2K @ 60fps Audio Formats – MP1, MP2, MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, OGA, […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
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Review of Nagrace HPH NT-V6 Android Mini PC Powered by RK3288 with 4GB RAM, 32GB Internal Storage

Last week-end, I finally received TP-Link TL-WDR7500 router (Chinese variant of Arched C7) router, so I could complete my review of Nagrace HPH NT-V6 including 802.11ac Wi-Fi. I’ve already listed the specifications, and taken a few pictures of the device and the board, and today I’ll focus on the test results. I’ll start by giving my first impressions, going through the user interface and settings, before testing video playback, as well as benchmarking networking, storage and overall system performance, playing some games, and testing most hardware features of this mini PC. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions A simple infrared remote control is provided with the device, and I’ve quickly tried it by inserting two AAA batteries, and it works fine, but for the rest of testing I switched to Mele F10 Deluxe air mouse to control the device, as it’s much more user friendly than any IR remote. Before […]

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Arduino Compatible Microduino JoyPad with TFT Display Lets You Play Games, Control Devices, and More (Crowdfunding)

Last year, Microduino successfully launched their tiny Arduino board and shields via Kickstarter, and they are now back on Kickstarter with Microduino Joypad, an other Arduino compatible board that also happens to be a gamepad with a small OLED display. It can be used in standalone to control games on the tiny display, as a gamepad for PC or game console, a control interface for quadcopters and robots etc… Microduino Joypad (main board) specifications: MCU – Atmel ATMega328p/1284p/644p or 32U4 via Microduino Core, Core+, CoreUSB boards. (Not part of board but included in all perks) Display I/F – TFT and OLED headers. Separate TFT display board included in all perks. Controls – Left and right joysticks, 4 buttons, and left and right switches. Audio – Microphone Sensors – Light sensor, temperature sensor USB – 2x micro USB ports: one for power and one for charging Expansions – 2x UPin27 headers for […]

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FVIEW U2 Rockchip RK3188 Media Player with 2GB RAM, Ethernet, and Camera Sells for $53

If you are looking for deals, when new products come to market, older devices are usually sold at a deep discount, and sometimes you also have the advantage of getting a firmware that has gone through various iterations, and that’s  more stable than the ones pre-loaded on new devices. We’ve already seen MK813 quad core TV box selling for less than $50, but it lacks Ethernet, and today I’ve been informed of another Rockchip RK3188 device with similar specifications but with an Ethernet port called FVIEW U2 that’s currently selling for $53 on Buyincoins. FVIEW U2: SoC – Rockchip RK3188 quad Cortex-A9 CPU @ 1.6 GHz + Mali-400 MP4 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND Flash +  SD slot (Up to 32GB) Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet WiFi 802.11 b/g/n with external antenna Bluetooth 3.0 Video Output – HDMI Audio Output – HDMI + optical S/PDIF Video Codecs […]

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Linaro 14.09 Release with Kernel 3.17 and Android 4.4.4

Linaro 14.09 has just been released with Linux kernel 3.17-rc4 (baseline), Linux 3.10.54 & 3.14.19 (LSK), and Android 4.4.2 & 4.4.4. Linaro has kept working on their member boards such as IFC6410 (Qualcomm), D01 (Huawei/Hisilicon), Ardnale (Samsung), and Juno (ARM). They’ve also announced they’ll change the tools to build GCC by using cbuild2 instead of cbuild1 for next release, and they’ve enabled a build with gcov (for code coverage analysis) which may mean they’ll work on reducing the kernel size by getting rid off unused code. I’ve also noticed the Arndale and Arndale Octa Ubuntu images are now based on Linux LSK with Mali GPU support since last month. Here are the highlights of this release: Linux Linaro 3.17-rc4-2014.09 GATOR version 5.19 updated topic from Qualcomm LT (ifc6410 board support) and HiSilicon LT updated Versatile Express ARM64 support (FVP Base and Foundation models, Juno) from ARM LT. updated Versatile Express […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
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Test Your 4K Device True Resolution With a 4K UHD / 2160p Video Test Pattern

Now many products are sold on the market advertising 4K video output, but how to test and check if it just a lie with only part of the system support 4K (e.g. physical video output), but the rest of the system makes you lose quality? When I worked on DVD players, we had some special DVDs with video pattern allowing us to test different video quality. You can read about different video test patterns in “AVSHD 709 DVD document“. There are also some expensive equipments such as DVDO AVLab TPG – 4K Test Pattern Generator that generate test patterns to calibrate video equipments, but if all we want to do is to check the resolution has not been tempered with there must be a cheaper and easier way. After having a discussion about this issue on Google+,  Dan Car decided to create a 2160p (3840×2160) test pattern image with some […]

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Toradex Colibri i.MX6 SoM with Freescale i.MX6 Solo and DualLite Processors

Toradex has added a new system-on-module to its Colibri family with Colibri IMX6 SoM powered by either Freescale i.MX 6Solo singl core processor, or i.MX 6DualLite dual core core processor. The SoMs are available in both both commercial and industrial temperature grade, come with up 4GB eMMC, 256 to 512MB RAM, and support Linux or Windows Embedded operating systems. Specifications listed for the Toradex Colibri i.MX6 module include: SoC – Freescale i.MX6 Solo single core or DualLite dual core Cortex-A9 core @ 800MHz (Industrial temp.) or 1GHz (Commercial temp) with Vivante 2D/3D GPUs. System Memory –  256MB (Solo) or 512MB (DualLite) DDR3 Storage – 4GB eMMC flash I/Os available via the 200-pin SO-DIMM connector: 3x 8-bit SDIO/SD/MMC 10/100M Ethernet (Micrel KSZ8041NL PHY) USB 2.0 host, USB 2.0 OTG Video Output HDMI 1.4a up to 1080p resolution RGB up to 1920×1200 (24bpp) Camera – 2x Camera Parallel inputs Audio – Audio line-in […]

Boardcon EM3562 Rockchip RK3562 SBC with 8 analog camera inputs