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ARM Based Embedded Server – Marvell ARMADA XP

A few years ago, nobody would have considered using an embedded system to run a server. But now, with the advance of technology, more and more servers are running embedded systems from the lower end such as home-based NAS (Network Access Storage) to higher-end for data-centers, cloud computing, web 2.0… This is the higher-end that Marvell targets with its Quad Core ARM ARMADA XP MV78460 running at 1.6GHz with “16,600 DMIPS performance at less than 10 watts”. Please checkout Marvell ARMADA XP Product Brief for further details. The main selling point of such solution is the power consumption compared to traditional Intel x86 based servers. According to Marvell, 50% of the cost of running a data-center is the electricity bill to run the server and especially to cool the room with air-conditioners. So let’s do a little exercise. Let’s take the estimated power consumption of Google data-center in Oregon that […]

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Samsung Orion ARM Cortex A9 – Nexus S

Samsung recently showed off its dual-core Cortex-A9 Orion featuring quad-core Mali-400 GPU at Techcron 2010. The Samsung Orion (model name: S5PV310XH) will run at 1GHz (this frequency might be increased later on: I’ve read 1.2 GHz, 1.5GHz or even up to 2 GHz.) and use 45nm lower power manufacturing technology. Samsung already have a BSP using Linaro kernel and the development board having the following characteristics: Samsung Orion SoC Low power audio subsystem Embedded GPS 2D Graphics Acceleration TFT 24-bit true color LCD Controller MALI-400 3D Graphics TV-out and HDMI interface support Multi-format codec up to 1080p @ 30fps The device would runs Android on top of Linaro kernel which takes care of all the low level stuffs. If you are interested in developing for this platform, you can already download and play around with Linaro 10.11 which already supports Cortex A8 and A9 platforms. The Samsung Orion is rumored […]

ArmSoM CM5 Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC
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Linaro: Embedded Linux for ARM

Linaro is a Not For Profit (NFP) engineering organisation that works on Linux based open source software and tools. The organisation focuses on the ARM platform, mainly ARM v7A architecture, for example ARM Cortex-A8 or dual-core Cortex-A9 processors and is sponsored by ARM, Freescale, IBM, Samsung, ST-Ericsson, and Texas Instruments. The purpose of Linaro is to reduce the number of different Linux kernel for the ARM platform. They plan on releasing tools and Linux kernel every 6 months. And after about 6 months of existence, with around  80 engineering staff, they managed to release their first public version:  Linaro-10.11 on the 10th of November for TI OMAP4 Panda Board, IGEPv2, Freescale iMX51 and ST-E U8500 platforms. This release is based on Linux 2.6.35 kernel, GCC 4.4 toolchain and uBoot 2010.09. They released Linux 10.11 source code and tools, the hardware packs and the build instructions. Linaro also planned several technical […]

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3D capable Android 2.2 Smartphones

Lately all the rage was for 3D high definition televisions, but now 3D is also coming to mobile handsets. Softbank will release 2 smartphones –  “Galapagos 003SH” and “Galapagos 005SH” – in Japan between the end of 2010 and spring 2011. The smartphones will run Android 2.2 on a platform based on Qualcomm MSM8255 @ 1Ghz, feature a 3.8″ display and the capability to record HD videos (720p maximum). The main differences between the 2 handsets are that Galapagos 005SH will have a slide-out keyboard and a built-in 8 Megapixel camera whereas 003SH won’t have the keyboard but the camera will be 9.6 Megapixel. Both handsets will be manufactured by Sharp which also owns the 3D technology. The 3D images and videos will be viewable with the naked eyes, i.e. you won’t have to wear glasses.  This will be used for picture, videos and 3D games.  The smartphones will be […]

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Digital Signage Standard: Open Pluggable Specification (OPS)

A while ago, we discussed about Popai Digital Signage Standards, mainly focused on software and client/server interoperability. Intel has just released a new standard for Digital Signage: Open Pluggable Specification (OPS). Here’s the description of the specification on Intel website. The Open Pluggable Specification (OPS) helps standardize the design and development of digital signage devices and pluggable media players. Intel created the OPS to address digital signage market fragmentation and simplify device installation, usage, maintenance and upgrades. The OPS enables digital signage manufacturers to deploy interchangeable systems faster and in higher volumes, while lowering costs for development and implementation. Installing digital signage equipment based on Intel® architecture helps you implement scalable digital signage applications that can network easily with other equipment. This simplifies interoperability and application upgrades designed to meet the digital signage requirements of individual customers, while helping to future-proof technology investments. You’ll need to fill a form to […]

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XIBO: An Open Source Digital Signage Server/Client

Today’s post will deal with Xibo (pronounced eX-E-bO), an open source, multi-display, multi-zone, fully scheduled digital signage solution. I’ll firstly give an overview and explain how to install the client and server in Windows XP. In another post, I’ll demo the system. The server can run on Windows or Linux and requires a web server (Apache / IIS), php5 and a MySQL database. The client can only runs on Windows 2000/Xp/Vista/7 and requires .NET Framework v3.5, Internet Explorer 7 or 8, Flash Player Version 9 or later, Windows Media Player 11 or later, Microsoft Powerpoint 2003 or later. As you can see from the client description, it won’t be able to run on Linux embedded systems, but it is still interesting to study this solution to see the content management flow, what this solution has to offer and how we get development idea from this solution.  An embedded client based […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
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Accurate Time Keeping in Embedded Systems

In many embedded systems, there is a need to keep accurate time/date. This is often performed using an RTC (Real-Time Clock). However,  uncalibrated RTC are not that accurate. For example, ST Microelectronics M41T94 RTC datasheet explains that: Uncalibrated clock accuracy will not exceed ±35 ppm (parts per million) oscillator frequency error at 25°C, which equates to about ±1.53 minutes per month. . In order to improve the accuracy, you’ll need to calibrate the crystal for each board at the factory using a frequency counter, that will greatly improve accuracy, for M41T94: When the Calibration circuit is properly employed, accuracy improves to better than ±2 ppm at 25°C. However, calibrating the crystal will further increase the manufacturing costs. Another way to have a very accurate time keeping, is to use the power supply frequency (50 Hz/60 Hz) which is extremely accurate due to interoperability requirements between electricity providers. In the diagram […]

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Finding a device IP Address

If you are developing software for an Ethernet (or Wifi) device, you’ll need to access the board for debugging and/or testing purpose. If your board does not have user interface or the serial port is not available, you’ll have to find the IP address (assuming it is using DHCP) before accessing the board thru telnet or ssh. A simple way to do that is to ping the broadcast address and check the arp table. > ping -b 192.168.0.255 WARNING: pinging broadcast address PING 192.168.0.255 (192.168.0.255) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from 192.168.0.246: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.018 ms 64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.217 ms (DUP!) 64 bytes from 192.168.0.246: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.023 ms > arp -i eth0 arp -i eth1 Address                  HWtype  HWaddress           Flags Mask            Iface 192.168.0.103            ether   00:50:FC:00:00:01   C                     eth1 192.168.0.109            ether   00:13:20:01:01:01   C                     eth1 If you cannot find your device, it may be configured to […]

Boardcon EM3562 Rockchip RK3562 SBC with 8 analog camera inputs