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$60 MK805 II Android STB Features AllWinner A20 SoC, HDMI and AV Outputs

Almost exactly one year ago, I wrote about MINI X (aka MINI XPlus H24, or MK805), an Android 2.3 media player powered by AllWinner A10 with 4GB flash and 512MB Flash, and it sold for $77.50. Today, I’ve come across an updated version, called MK805 II or MINI XPlus H34, with AllWinner A20 dual core SoC, 1GB RAM, 4GB Flash, and running Android 4.2.2. Here are the specifications of the device: SoC- AllWinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 processor @ 1.2GHz + Mali-400 MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 4GB NAND Flash + micro SD card slot Connectivity – Built-in WiFi 802.11b/g/n, and firmware is said to support external USB Ethernet and 3G dongles. Video Output – HDMI 1.3 (1080p) + AV Video Codecs – MPEG1/2/4, H.264, HD AVC, VC-1, Divx, Xvid, RealVideo8/9/10, VP6 Video Container Formats – MKV, TS, TP, M2TS, RM/RMVB, AVI, MPG, VOB, […]

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Emcraft Systems STM32F4 SoM and Starter Kit Run uCLinux From On-Chip Flash

Emcraft has recently announced a new system-on-module based on STMicro STM32F437 Cortex M4 micro-controller, as well as a starter kit based on the module that can run uCLinux directly from STM32F437’s 2MB on-chip flash, allowing a faster boot time, and AFAIK, this is the only Linux-ready STM32 platform available on the market. Here are the specifications of Emcraft Systems SOM-STM32F4: MCU – STMicro STM32F437 Cortex M4 @ 168 MHz with 256KB RAM and 2MB flash External Memory – 16MB PSRAM External Storage – 16MB NOR Flash Ethernet PHY (Optional) Connectors – 2x SoM Connectors with access to I/Os: USB, Ethernet, I2C, SPI, UART, LCD I/F, ADC, DAC, GPIO… Dimensions – 30 mm x 46 mm To speed-up development and for evaluation, the company also provides a starter kit composed of the STM32F4 SoM, and a baseboard (SOM-BSB-EXT) with the following main features: USB interface using USB-UART bridge connected to UART […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
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G-Box Midnight MX2 Giveaway

I reviewed Matricom G-Box Midnight MX2 Android set-top box about a month ago, and I was pretty happy with the device with regards to performance, stability, and XBMC support. During my initial review, Wi-Fi was really excellent, the best, by far, I had seen in the dozen of devices I had tested, although an upgrade to my router firmware somehow changed that. This is also one the rare device that will support OTA firmware update. There were still some problems in the firmware I tested: some videos could not play, composite output did not work…, but overall I find it’s a pretty good device. The company also seems committed to fix issues, as they even have a public bug tracking system for the MX2. If you plan to use Android app, and not only XBMC, the IR remote provided may not be the ideal input device, and you’ll probably need […]

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$32 iPush Wi-Fi DLNA / Miracast Adapter for Android

Last time I wrote about Miracast / DLNA dongles, the price was about $55, but today I’ve found a new device closer to my target price ($25) with IPUSH Miracast adapter that sells for $31.90 on DealExtreme. [Update: Several users report it’s only a DLNA dongle, and it does not support Miracast yet] Here are the specifications according to DealExtreme: SoC – Allwinner A10s Cortex A8 + Mali-400 GPU Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n USB – 1x micro USB port for power Video Output – HDMI 1.4 Supports DLNA and Miracast mode Power – 5V / 0.5A The device comes with an HDMI cable and a micro USB cable used to connect the device to your TV HDMI and USB ports, or if your TV lacks USB, a USB power adapter. However, I’ve done a little more research, and it turns out iPush is also a product designed by Action Semi, that just […]

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Linaro 13.05 Release With Linux Kernel 3.10, Android 4.2.2, and Ubuntu Raring Ringtail

Linaro 13.05 has just been released with Linux Kernel 3.10-rc2 and Android 4.2.2. This is the first release with Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail) images. There’s also Linux Linaro Stable (LSK) preview based on kernel 3.9.4. BeagleBone Black support has been added and preliminary hwpack and images are available, an Android Arndale image with virtual framebuffer is also available. You can now get a desktop environment (XFCE) on Aarch64 / ARMv8. Hardware packs with Real-time Linux kernel (PREEMPT_RT) can be downloaded for Pandaboard and Arndale. More work has gone into Aarch64, big.LITTLE HMP, and ARM virtualization (KVM). Finally an UEFI is available not only for Vexpress boards, but also Samsung Origen and Arndale boards, as well as Texas Instruments Pandabord and Beagleboard. Here are the highlights of this release: LAVA First prototype production run of LAVA Lmp completed, tested functional. Beaglebone Black is now running in LAVA. TC2s is now running […]

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Wimoto Motes are Tiny Bluetooth Sensors for iOS, Android, and Linux Devices

Wimoto Motes are small (30x30x8mm) wireless sensors that communicate temperature, humidity, soil moisture… values to your iPhone, iPad, Android, and Linux (yes, including the Raspberry Pi) devices via Bluetooth. They are said to last for about a year on a single CR2032 battery and don’t require an Internet connection to work, but you can still upload your data to Wimoto cloud service via the app, or use an optional mote.cloud bridge to do it for you in realtime via Wifi. There are currently 4 Motes: Climote – Measures light (0 to 60,000 lux), temperature (-25 to 85 C) and humidity. Used to monitor a room environment (bedroom, cellar, greenhouse,…), and tell you if you need to make adjustment Growmote – Measures sunlight (0 to 60,000 lux), soil moisture (5 levels) and temperature (-25 to 85 C), to make sure your lawn or flowers are not  thirsty. Thermote – Measures an object temperature […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
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EnSilica eSi-ZM1 System-on-Module Features Xilinx Zynq XC7Z020 SoC

EnSilica has introduced the eSi-ZM1 SoM powered by Zynq ZC7Z020 SoC featuring 2 ARM Cortex A9 core, and an Artix-7 FPGA with 85K logic cells. The module also comes with 1GB RAM, 1GB NAND flash, and 16MB QSPI Boot Flash. ZC7Z020 SoC is notably used in ZedBoard development board, so if you have developed an application around this board, and want to commercialize it, using eSi-ZM1 module with your own custom baseboard could be an option. eSi-ZM1 system-on-module specifications: SoC – Xilinx Zynq XC7Z020 dual-core Cortex A9 processor @ 666 MHz, 85 K logic cells, 560 KB block RAM, and 220 DSP Slices. CLG484 package type System Memory – 1 GB, 1.35 V, 32-bit wide DDR3 SDRAM @ 533 MHz Storage: 1 GB, 1.8 V, 8-bit wide NAND FLASH 16 MB QSPI flash 1 or 2 Kb I2C EEPROM (and not 1MB as mentioned in the block diagram ) uSD card […]

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Olimex A20-OLinuXino Prototype, AllWinner A20 SoM In The Work

Yesterday, Olimex showed their new A20-OLinuXino board. This AllWinner A20 board is still a prototype, and there are currently 3 of them only, but the good news is that it appears to be working, 50 developer edition boards will be manufactured shortly, and mass production should start in June. AllWinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 can clearly be seen in the middle of the board, but if you look close to the top left, you’ll see a marking: “A10-OLINUXINO-MICRO”. That’s because, as planned, they managed to design one PCB for both AllWinner A10 and A20 processors, and they’ll sell both versions. Olimex A10/A20-Olinuxino boards have the followings specifications: SoC – AllWinner A10 Cortex A8 processor or AllWinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 processor, both  running @1Ghz System Memory – 512MB or 1GB DDR3 memory depending on model Storage – 4GB NAND Flash (optional), 2x microSD card slot, and SATA connector […]

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