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Easy and Safe Way to Try Linux on Popular Rockchip RK3188 mini PCs

Until recently, installing Linux on Rockchip R3188 based TV boxes or HDMI TV dongles meant you had to flash one or more binaries to your device using various type of tools for Linux or Windows. But thanks to various members of the community, it’s now as easy as flashing an image for the Raspberry Pi, as long as you own Minix Neo X7, PQ Labs iStick A350-SSD, Radxa Rock development board, or Rikomagic MK802IV (AP6210 or 8188EU Wi-Fi module versions) thanks to images provided by Ian Morrison on G+ mini PC community that can be booted from a (micro) SD card, which the added advantage that it won’t mess with your Android installation. You can do it whether you use a Windows or Linux PC, and it should also be possible on Mac OS X, but I don’t know the commands. Here are the steps to follow for MINIX NEO […]

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Texas Instruments Announces Sitara AM437x Cortex A9 SoCs and Evaluation Modules

The first time I heard about Texas Instruments Sitara AM437x was via a TechNexion EDM-CT-AM437x system-on-module back in 2012, but Texas Instruments Sitara Cortex A9 processors development seems to have dragged a little longer than expected. Nevertheless, the company has now formally announced their Sitara AM437x ARM Cortex A9 SoC targeting automation, IoT gateways, and other industrial applications, and featuring four PRUs (Programmable Real-time Units), and support for dual camera for terminals with bar code scanning. At launch there will be four AM437xprocessors: AM4376, AM4377, AM4378, and AM4379. The processors will all be based on a single Cortex A9 core  @ 800 to 1000 MHz with 64KB SRAM shared with 32KB data cache and 32KB programmable cache, 256 KB L2 and L3 caches, a 32-bit memory interface supporting LPDDR2, DDR3, and DDR3L, a 2-port Gigabit Ethernet switch , two USB 2.0 OTG + PHY and the following other interfaces: Serial Ports […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
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Linaro 14.06 Release with Linux Kernel 3.15 and Android 4.4.3

Linaro 14.06 has been released last week with Linux Kernel 3.15 (baseline), Linux Kernel 3.10.44 (LSK), and Android has been updated to 4.4.3. One interesting development this month is that Android for ARMv8 (64-bit ARM) is booting on the fast models using ARM Trusted firmware and U-Boot.  SELinux has been enabled in Android. I could not see much new member hardware, except possibly B2120 (HDK) reference board for STMicro STiH407 “Monaco” STB SoC. Here are the highlights of this release: Linux Linaro 3.15-2014.06 GATOR version 5.18 (same version as in 2014.04) updated basic Capri board support from Broadcom LT cortex-strings-arm64 topic (same as in 2014.02) updated Versatile Express ARM64 support (FVP Base and Foundation models, Juno) from ARM LT. updated Versatile Express patches from ARM LT more HiP0x Cortex A15 family updates from HiSilicon LT (hip04_eth, hip04_defconfig) updated LLVM topic Big endian support (same as in 2014.05) ftrace_audit topic from […]

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Zoomtak T8 Android TV Box Powered by Amlogic S802 Features a 2.5″ SATA Bay, an Aluminum Enclosure

There are now several Android TV boxes powered by Amlogic S802 such as Tronsmart Vega S89, SZTomato/Eny M8, and Minix Neo X8, and Zoomtak T8 hardware specifications are quite similar to these three devices, except it happens to feature an internal 2.5″ SATA bay placed under the board, and the body is made of aluminum. Zoomtak T8 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S802 quad core cortex A9r4 @ 2 GHz with Mali-450MP6 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND flash + SD/MMC/MS card reader + 2.5″ SATA bay Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi with external antenna. Video Output – HDMI 1.4a, composite output, and component output Audio Output – HDMI, stereo RCA, and optical S/PDIF Video Container Formats – DAT, MPEG, MPE, MPG, TS/TP, VOB, ISO, AVI, MP4, MOV, 3GP, FLV, MKV, M2TS, MTS, M4V, WMV, ASF, RM/RMVB, etc… Audio Formats – MP2, MP3, WMA, WAV, […]

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List of Rockchip RK3288 Android TV Boxes So Far

In the previous years, you’d normally learn about new devices as they get listed on Alibaba or Aliexpress, and that’s how I built my – now very incomplete – list of Rockchip RK3188 based devices. But now companies seem to be anxious to let people know about their new devices even before they hit the market, and albeit I’ve been told full production of Rokchip RK3288 powered Android TV boxes is only planned by the end of July, many companies are already showing off their new devices, even though only the PCBA may be ready, or in development. Let’s go through the list of Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex A17 media devices that’s known (to me) so far: No brand D368 – HDMI 1.4 TV dongle with 1 or 2 GB RAM, 4, 8 or 16 GB flash, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac + (optional) Bluetooth, and 2x USB host ports. No […]

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Low Power Mode (Suspend to RAM) in uCLinux for Freescale Kinetis K70 MCU

All ARM based micro-controllers and processors implement multiple power mode in order to save optimize power usage depending on the tasks. However, I’ve been told by some hobbyists/developers/makers that low power modes are not always implemented in Linux, especially for low cost systems either because of hardware limitations or the software is not implemented. EmCraft Systems has just released their latest embedded (uC-) Linux distributions for the MCU boards, and one of the features now available is “suspend to RAM” for their K70 SoM development kit, based on Freescale Kinetis K70 Cortex M4 MCU, which consume just around 600 to 700 uA @ 3.3V (2 to 2.3 mW) in this low power mode. They have connected a multimeter to measure the current drawn at different power modes. If you want to know all the details, you should probably read the company’s article on “Linux Low-Power Mode on Kinetis“, but I’ll […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
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Raspberry Pi Compute Module Development Kit Is Now Available for $200

The Raspberry Pi foundation announced a computer-on-module which they called the (Raspberry Pi) Compute Module that will be mostly software compatible with the Raspberry Pi board, and sell for $30 in quantities. They have now announced the availability of the development kit that includes a baseboard (called Compute IO board), display & camera adapter boards, as well as a 5V power adapter, jumper wires, and a USB cable. As a reminder the Compute Module has the following hardware specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2835 ARM 11 processor @ 700 MHz with Videocore IV GPU System Memory – 512MB RAM Storage – 4GB eMMC Flash SoM Connector – DDR2 200-pins SODIMM Dimensions – 67.6x30mm board which fits into a standard DDR2 SODIMM connector The Compute IO Board come with two micro USB connectors (one reserved for power), a USB 2.0 host port, two DSI ports for display, two CSI ports for a […]

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AllWinner A33 Quad Core Processor to Cost $5 With PMIC, Tablets Starting at $40

With their latest A33 SoC, Allwinner may have put a nail in the coffin of dual core application processor for tablets, as Eva Wu, AllWinner’s Marketing Manager,  has just released some pricing info, and AllWinner A33 with AXP223 PMIC (Power Management Integrated Circuit) reference price is only $4.99, paving the way for ultra cheap quad core Android tablets. I’ve also been given some estimates for (factory) prices for different tablet’s types powered by AllWinner A33: About $40 for 7″ tablets (800×480) with 1GB DDR3, and 8GB Flash. About $45 for 7.85″ tablets (1024×768) with 1GB DDR3, and 8GB Flash. About $50 for 8″ tablets (1280×800) with 1GB DDR3, 8GB Flash. With four ARM Cortex A7 cores, a Mali-400MP2 GPU, and limited display resolutions, you won’t get an amazing user experience, but for a first tablet, or a kid’s tablet, it looks pretty good value. I estimate that Chinese stores may […]

Boardcon CM3588 Rockchip RK3588 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications