Canonical may have stopped working on Unity, Mobile & Convergence for Ubuntu last April, but since then, at least two teams have worked on Unity and mobile convergence alive with respectively yunit and UBPorts projects. There has not been much activity on the former, but UBPorts has recently announced the first OTA-1 stable release for supported devices, minus Nexus 4 and 5 for now.

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This release brings bug fixes, experimental AGPS support, he UBports Welcome app, the OpenStore, and the Terminal and File Browser are preinstalled.  It should work on OnePlus One, FairPhone 2, Optimus L90, BQ Aquaris M10 HD / FHD, and possibly some other models.

They also mentioned work on Halium – a project aiming to standardize the Android hardware compatibility layer between many Linux distributions – has been progressing nicely, and it can now boot both Ubuntu Touch and Plasma Mobile. Convergence still needs some work, but one of the developers demoed it on a Nexus 5 here. Anbox support is also planned in order to support Android apps in Ubuntu, but it’s a low priority for now.

If you are interested in learning about future releases, or helping fix bugs, you can do so on the Milestones page.

Tweet Canonical may have stopped working on Unity, Mobile & Convergence for Ubuntu last April, but since then, at least two teams have worked on Unity and mobile convergence alive…

Marvell has introduced the new 88W8987xA wireless chip with 802.11ac, 802.11p and Bluetooth 5 Connectivity for V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) and IVI (In-Vehicle Infotainment) automotive applications such as Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) systems, and secure wireless Gateway systems.

Key features of Marvell 88W8987xA family:

• Connectivity
  • WiFI – IEEE 802.11ac (wave2) up to 433 Mbps / IEEE 802.11p WAVE (Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments) / 1609.x
  • Bluetooth 5 including Bluetooth Low Energy Angle of Arrival and Departure (AoA/AoD)
  • 2x antenna configuration for Wi-Fi/Bluetooth coexistence
• Host Interfaces – SDIO 3.0 interface (4-bit SDIO and 1-bit SDIO) @ up to 208 MHz;  high-Speed UART interface (for Bluetooth only)
• Audio Interfaces – Digital audio interfaces (PCM)
• Temperature Range – -40°C to +105°C (AEC-Q100 Grade 2 Qualification)
• Package – pin 8×8 mm QFN with wettable flanks

Click to Enlarge

The family now includes three pin-to-pin compatible SoCs:

• 88W8987A with 802.11ac + Qualified Bluetooth 5 Functionality
• 88W8987PA with 802.11p + Qualified Bluetooth 5 Functionality
• 88W8987SA with switchable 802.11ac/802.11p + Qualified Bluetooth 5 Functionality

The first time I read the SoC supported 802.11p, I though it might be a typo, but it’s just another WiFi standard specifically designed for automotive applications operating in the 5.9GHz range as explained on Wikipedia:

IEEE 802.11p is an approved amendment to the IEEE 802.11 standard to add wireless access in vehicular environments (WAVE), a vehicular communication system. It defines enhancements to 802.11 (the basis of products marketed as Wi-Fi) required to support Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) applications. This includes data exchange between high-speed vehicles and between the vehicles and the roadside infrastructure, so called V2X communication, in the licensed ITS band of 5.9 GHz (5.85-5.925 GHz). IEEE 1609 is a higher layer standard based on the IEEE 802.11p.[1] It is also the base of a European standard for vehicular communication known as ETSI ITS-G5.

88W8987xA drivers are readily available for the Android, Linux and QNX drivers are available for 88W8987xA, and the family of SoC is sampling today, with mass production starting in Q4 2017.

Via eeNews Europe

Tweet Marvell has introduced the new 88W8987xA wireless chip with 802.11ac, 802.11p and Bluetooth 5 Connectivity for V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) and IVI (In-Vehicle Infotainment) automotive applications such as Dedicated Short Range…

VR headset prices range from just a few dollars for cardboard ones used with your smartphone to close to a thousand dollars for the most advanced models. The large price differences are because some models rely on your smartphone, while others leverage your computer’s processing processor, and the rest include all the electronics and display needed to work without external hardware. Companies started to launch Android All-in-One VR headset last year, but they were either rather expensive, or not quite good enough for anything except watching videos. Pico may have found the right balance between performance and price with their Goblin Virtual Reality Headset with a 5.5″ display with 2560 x 1440 resolution, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor couple with 3GB of RAM, and a $249 price tag.

Pico Goblin specifications:

• SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (or 821?) CPU
• System Memory – 3GB LPDDR4-1866 RAM
• Storage – 16GB eMMC 5.1 flash + micro SD card up to 128 GB
• Display – 5.5″ TFT LCD display with 2560×1440 resolution @ 70 Hz; 92 degrees field of view (FoV)
• Audio – 3.5mm audio jack for stereo headphones, mono speaker
• Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (2.4 GHz only), and Bluetooth 4.2
• USB – 1x micro USB 2.0 port
• Battery – 3,500 mAh battery good for about 2 hours and half gaming
• Dimensions & Weight –  TBD

A motion sensor with with 3 degrees of freedom motion tracking is also included with the headset. The specifications are not quite complete, as the company did not mention any information about the lenses, IPD adjustment or weight.

There’s not a single mention of “android” or “operating system” either on the company’s website, but it’s most certainly running some version of Android like Nibiru. It’s also unclear whether Google DayDream is supported.

Pico claims 50 games will be supported at launch, and you’ll get 5 premium games when you purchase the headset. As mentioned in the introduction the price is $249 for a limited time after which it will cost $269, and includes worldwide shipping. You may find a few more details, and the Buy link on Pico Goblin’s product page.

Via Liliputing

Tweet VR headset prices range from just a few dollars for cardboard ones used with your smartphone to close to a thousand dollars for the most advanced models. The large…

Axiomtel tBOX100-838-FL is a fanless Bay Trail rugged embedded computer powered by an Intel Bay Trail-I E3845 processor with 5 BNC input ports for video and audio, and targeting vehicle, railway and marine markets.

Axiomtek tBOX100-838-FL rugged mini PC’s specifications:

• SoC –  Intel Atom E3845 quad core Bay Trail-I processor @ up to 1.91 GHz with Intel HD graphics
• System Memory – 4 GB DDR3L-1333
• Storage – 1x 2.5” SATA slot up to 9.5mm, 1x mSATA connector, flash for AMI BIOS
• Video Output – 1x VGA port
• Video / Audio Input – 4x video in BNC connector, 1x audio in BNC connector
• Connectivity – 2x M12 A-coded GbE LAN or 2x RJ-45 GbE LAN (via Intel i210)
• Serial – 1x RS-232/422/485 (DB9)
• USB – 2x USB 2.0 port
• Expansion – 1x Full-size PCIe Mini Card with mSATA; 1x SIM card slot
• Misc – 1x remote switch; 1x reset button; watchdog timer; 6x status LEDs
• Power Supply – 9 to 36 VDC via 1x M12 DC power input or 1x Phoenix DC power input; typical: 12/24VDC
• Enclosure
  • Dimensions – 163.8 x 108 x 44 mm
  • Aluminum extrusion and heavy-duty steel
  • 4x antenna opening
• Weight – 770 grams
• Temperature Range
  • -40°C ~ +70°C with SSD
  • -25°C ~ +55°C with HDD
• Relative Humidity – 5% ~ 95%, non-condensing
• Vibration
  • 3 Grms w/ SSD (5-500Hz, X, Y, Z direction; random)
  • 1 Grms w/ HDD (5-500Hz, X, Y, Z direction; random)
• Shock – Complies with EN 61373 section 10 table 3 category 1 class A and class B up to 5 Grms (30ms, ±X/Y/Z direction)
• Certifications – CE (Class A), E-Mark, ISO 7637 certified; EN 50155, EN 50121, and DNV 2.4, IEC 60945 compliance

The mini PC supports Windows 10, WE8S, WES 7, Linux, and VxWorks7 operating systems, and can be mounted to a wall or a DIN rail.

The picture above shows Ethernet and power connector option with waterproof M12 connectors (option 1) better suited for marine application, or in any situation where you’d need some waterproofness. The company also mentions a mini PCIe DVR capture card without much details likely to be used with the BNC connectors.

The computer is expected to become available in mid August 2017. More details may be found in the product page.

Tweet Axiomtel tBOX100-838-FL is a fanless Bay Trail rugged embedded computer powered by an Intel Bay Trail-I E3845 processor with 5 BNC input ports for video and audio, and targeting…

You may own one or more old computer towers with an ATX power supply that just gather dust, but since the ATX connector provides +12V, -12V, 5V, 3.3V and GND signal it could be converted into an bench power supply. People have been doing this for a while, but elliotboney’s solution looks neater than most with a 3D printed part that’s attached on top of the power supply.

Once you have printed the part, which may need to be adapted to to your power supply, you just need a few banana jacks, and a power switch before connecting with the cables:

I basically kept 3 wires of each voltage, a 3 black wires for each ground. So 3 yellow for 12V, 3 Red for 5V and 3 Orange for 3V. Any extra wires I cut as close to the board as possible and put a little piece of heat shrink over the cut wires just to prevent shorts.

For the switch, you’ll use the green wire and a ground. Internally, you’ll want to connect the gray wire and an extra 5V (red) wire. This is the power_ok to let the PSU know it’s outputting the correct voltage.

That post clearly explains ATX to bench power supply conversion in details, and provides a ATX connector pinout diagram.

Once all the connections are done, the back of the 3D printed part looks like that:

Via Adafruit Blog.

Tweet You may own one or more old computer towers with an ATX power supply that just gather dust, but since the ATX connector provides +12V, -12V, 5V, 3.3V and…

What I call “Android-on-TV” boxes are some sort of TV boxes, usually with a webcam, that are meant to be placed on top of the TV instead of on the furniture, and apart from being used to watch videos like other TV boxes, are also well-suited for videoconference over Skype or Google Hangout. Over the years. we’ve had a few of those products such as  HD23 TV box, but recently I don’t recall having seen new Android-on-TV boxes. That’s until today, and I found out about HD3S TV box running Android 6.0 on Amlogic S905X processor.

HD3S specifications:

• SoC –  Amlogic S905X quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5GHz with a penta-core Mali-450MP GPU
• System Memory – 1GB DDR3
• Storage – 8GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot up to 64GB
• Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz, and AV port (composite video)
• Audio – Output via HDMI, and AV port (stereo audio); dual speaker and built-in dual microphone (up to 3 meters range)
• Video Codecs – 4K VP9 @ 60 fps, 4K 10-bit H.265 @ 60 fps, 4K H.264 up to 30 fps
• Webcam – 1.0 MP webcam up to 720p (Omnivision OV9712 sensor)
• Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz only), and Bluetooth 4.0
• USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports
• Misc – Power button, IR receiver, WiFi and camera status LED
• Power Supply –  5V/2A
• Dimensions- 210 mm (L) x 52 mm (D) x 54 mm (thickness)

The box ships with an AC adapter, a HDMI cable, an IR remote control, and a user guide.

HD23S can be purchased on Aliexpress for $119.99 including shipping. The price is quite steep considering you could achieve pretty much the same with a low-end Amlogic S905X TV box (<$30), and a USB webcam ($5). Having said that, there are sometimes compatibility issues with Skype and Hangout in TV boxes, and we’d hope those would have been tested in HD23S. I could only find one seller, so price may come down over time. I also tried to look for the manufacturer, but all I could find was Sumhen on Alibaba, a company that resells products from various manufacturers.

Via AndroidPC.es

Tweet What I call “Android-on-TV” boxes are some sort of TV boxes, usually with a webcam, that are meant to be placed on top of the TV instead of on…

RAK Wireless has launched a new development board powered by Mediatek MT7628A processor running OpenWrt with built-in WiFi and Ethernet connectivity, and audio codec and microphone to support Amazon Alexa voice service. Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Z-wave will also be supported via UART modules.

Wiscore Specifications:

• Processor – Mediatek MT7628A MIPS24KEc CPU @ up to  580MHz
• System Memory –  128MB DDR2 (64 MB optional)
• Storage – 16 MB flash + micro SD card

  Block Diagram – Click to Enlarge

• Audio
  • MicroSemi ZL38062 for audio in and out
  • MicroSemi ZL38067 to handle “Alexa” keyword
  • single or dual digital microphone up to 5 meter range
  • Far field voice wake up
  • Support for echo cancellation
• Connectivity
  • 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 2×2 MIMO up to 300 Mbps
  • 2x 10/100M Ethernet (LAN and WAN)
  • Optional UART modules for Bluetooth, ZigBeem Z-Wave
• USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port
• Expansion – Arduino headers with UART, I2C, SPI and GPIOs
• Power Supply – 5V via power barrel or mini USB port

As you can see from the photo below, the main components are on separate boards (for some reasons) with a “mother board”, MT7628 module, and an audio sub-board.

As mentioned in the introduction, the MT7628 module runs an OS based on OpenWrt with RAK iGate middleware, and the company provides an SDK allowing you to develop solutions based on Amazon Alexa thanks to one codec that will detect “Alexa” keyword and wake up to the board, and another codec handling audio capture and output. The software architecture is shown below, Wiscore app for Android and iOS is provided to pair the EVK with Alexa, and more documentation and software can be found in the Wiki on Github.

WisCore Software Architecture

The solution can be used to build voice controlled home automation gateways or appliances, smart speakers, and robots. RAK Wireless sells a development kit with the three boards, an Ethernet cable, a speaker, a USB cable, two antennas, some Dupont wires, some jumpers, and a Quick Start Guide for $49 plus shipping. Visit the product page for a few more details.

[embedded content]

Tweet RAK Wireless has launched a new development board powered by Mediatek MT7628A processor running OpenWrt with built-in WiFi and Ethernet connectivity, and audio codec and microphone to support Amazon…

OnePlus 5 is a premium smartphone powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, 6 to 8 GB LPDDR4x RAM, 64 to 128 GB UFS 2.0 storage and a 5.5″ Full HD display, as well as the usual LTE, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS.. connectivity. It was launched yesterday for $479 with 6GB RAM/64GB storage, $539 with 8GB RAM/128GB storage, and today, I’ve just read on XDA developers that the company had already released the source code for the phone. Beside the official Google Nexus/Pixel smartphones, many manufacturers will drag their feet before they eventually open the source code that they are legally required to release.

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Some companies will release the source code as tarballs, which works, but OnePlus has done better with Linux 4.4.21 source code available on Github.

You should also be able to get the Android 7.1 Nougat source code as indicated here:

The source code should lead to improvements by the community, as well as the eventual release of unofficial “ROM’s”. The company already released the Linux kernel and Android for their OnePlus 3 model on the day of the launch last year, so they are making an habit of it…

Tweet OnePlus 5 is a premium smartphone powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, 6 to 8 GB LPDDR4x RAM, 64 to 128 GB UFS 2.0 storage and a 5.5″ Full…

Last year, Olimex launched their first FPGA board with iCE40HX1K-EVB. The board is very cheap at 22 Euros, but what you can do with it is limited since it only comes with 1280 logic cells. The company has now introduced an upgraded model called iCE40HX8K-EVB with 7680 logic cells, and more I/O headers.

Olimex iCE40HX8K-EVB specifications:

• FPGA – Lattice Semi iCE40HX8K-CT256 FPGA with 7680 logic gates, 960 Logic Array Blocks, and 128 Kbit memory
• System Memory – 256Kx16 SRAM (512KB SRAM)
• Storage – 2MB serial flash
• Expansion
  • 34-pin connector to access FPGA I/Os
  • 4x 40 pin connectors for GPIOs
• Debugging / Programming – 10-pin “PGM” connector
• Misc – 2x user buttons, reset button, 2x user LEDs, power & programming status LEDs
• Power Supply – 5V via power jack
• Dimensions – 67×65 cm

The board is open source hardware with the KiCAD schematics and PCB layout, BoM, and Gerber files available on Github. Lattice IceCube2 or Project IceStorm can be used to program the board. So that means we have an open source FPGA board designed with an open source CAD software (KiCAD), and programmable in Verilog with an open source tool (Project IceStorm).

iCE0-ADC Board

You can use the 34-pin connector to connect add-on boards such as:

• iCE40-ADC with 100Mhz ADC
• iCE40-DAC with 100Mhz DAC
• iCE40-IO with VGA, PS2 and IrDA transceiver
• MOD-DIO with logic analyzer level shifter with programmable 1.5-5.5V threshold.

The modules can be daisy chained with up to 4x DAC and 4x ADC modules.

Olimex iCE40HX8K-EVB can be purchased for 39.95 Euros on Olimex store, where you’ll also find the aforementioned add-on boards for 9.95 to 15.95 Euros.

Tweet Last year, Olimex launched their first FPGA board with iCE40HX1K-EVB. The board is very cheap at 22 Euros, but what you can do with it is limited since it…

Japanese semiconductor vendors have mostly stayed away from the maker market, at least outside Japan, as most people would be hard-pressed to come up with a hobbyist development board powered by processor or micro-controller from Toshiba, Sony, Renesas or other Japanese companies, despite the three aforementioned names being in the top 20 semiconductors companies. I can only remember having written about Fujitsu F-Cue 96Boards, as well as Renesas GR-PEACH mbed board since I started this blog 7 years ago. Renesas seems to be the only company to have a real community behind with their “Gadget Renesas” pink-colored development boards, and the latest and seventh board is GR-LYCHEE powered by Renesas RZ/A1LU ARM Cortex-A9  processor, and equipped with a WiFi & Bluetooth module, and a camera.

GR-LYCHEE Prototype – Click to Enlarge

Renesas GR-LYCHEE board preliminary specifications:

• Micro-processor – Renesas RZ / A1LU (R7S721030VCFP 176-pin QFP) ARM Cortex-A9 Processor  @ 384 MHz with 3MB on-chip SRAM
• Storage – 8 MB flash+ micro SD card
• Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1 LE via ESP32 wireless module
• Audio – 3.5mm audio jack (heaphone + mic)
• USB – 1x USB host port
• Camera – 1x camera interface for VGA (640×480) camera
• Expansion – Arduino UNO headers
• Debugging & Programming – 1x micro USB port, JTAG interface
• Misc – 32.768 Hz RTC clock, 2x user buttons, reset button, 4x user LEDs
• Power Supply – 5V via 1x micro USB port; operating voltage: 3.3 V / 1.18 V

The board is mbed compatible so at launch you’ll be able to use the mbed compiler with the board. The board is still in beta version, documentation is still being worked on, and launch is scheduled for the end of November 2017. While most Gadget Renesas’ users are likely in Japan, Renesas also organized events in India, ASEAN, and Oceania with GR-PEACH board earlier this year as you’ll find out by visiting the community’s English page.

Documentation and more details about GR-LYCHEE board should eventually surface in the product page (in Japanese only for now).

Tweet Japanese semiconductor vendors have mostly stayed away from the maker market, at least outside Japan, as most people would be hard-pressed to come up with a hobbyist development board…

NXP Semiconductors has expanded LPC800 series MCUs with the new LPC84x family of 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0+ microcontroller said to offer 10 times the performance, three times more power saving savings, and 50 percent smaller code-size than 8- or 16-bit microcontrollers.

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Key features of LPC84x MCU family (LPC844 / LPC845):

The LPC84x MCUs target applications typically making use of 8- or 16-bit MCUs such as sensor gateways, gaming controllers, motor control, fire & security, climate control, lighting, etc.. The company has already provided code samples that can be used in MCUXpresso, Keil, and IAR IDEs, as well as a datasheet, and a user guide for the microcontrollers on the product page.

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NXP also unveiled LPCXPresso845-MAX development board (OM13097) to help quickly evaluating the new MCUs. The board comes with the following key features:

NXP did not disclose pricing for LPC84x MCUs, but it should be priced competitively against 8-bit micro-controllers. LPCXpresso845-MAX development board (OM13097) can be purchased for $19 directly on NXP website.

Tweet NXP Semiconductors has expanded LPC800 series MCUs with the new LPC84x family of 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0+ microcontroller said to offer 10 times the performance, three times more power saving…

Yesterday, we reported about Olimex’s open source hardware iCE40HX8K-EVB board with a Lattice iCE40 (HX8K) FPGA, and today, another iCE40 FPGA board, also open source hardware, appeared in my news feed with Trenz Electronic’s IceZero board specifically designed to be programmed using a Raspberry Pi Zero board.

Click to Enlarge

IceZero board specifications:

• FPGA – Lattice ICE40HX4K with 3520 logic gates, and 80 Kbit memory
• Storage – SPI Flash for FPGA self-configuration
• Misc – 3x User LEDs;  User Clock: 100 MHz
• Expansion – 4x unpopulated PMOD Connectors; 40-pin Raspberry Pi female header
• Dimensions – 56 x 30.5mm (Raspberry Pi HAT Compatible)

The board is supported by icoTC open source FPGA toolchain for Windows and Linux, which you can use in Raspberry Pi Zero (W), and other RPi board with a 40-pin header running Raspbian, as explained in that simple example in Github. Trenz electronic only shared part of the documentation, but you’ll find everything on a blog post on Black Mesa Labs with the design files licensed with the CERN Open Hardware License v1.2, and more technical details about the board.

Block Diagram with Raspberry Pi

Trenz Electronic sells IceZero board for 34 Euros excluding VAT and shipping, but in case you’d like to make it yourself, you can also order the bare PCB on OSH Park.

Tweet Yesterday, we reported about Olimex’s open source hardware iCE40HX8K-EVB board with a Lattice iCE40 (HX8K) FPGA, and today, another iCE40 FPGA board, also open source hardware, appeared in my…

VIA has just announced their latest ALTA DS 4K digital signage player with a “quad core Cortex A17 processor”, which I first assumed must be Rockchip RK3288 processor since it’s one of the few with that processor core. But the processor is actually from a company I had never heard before: Shanghai Zhaoxin Semiconductor that does both x86 and ARM SoCs for various markets.

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But let’s check out the product fir with VIA ALTA DS 4K Digital Signage specifications:

Click to Enlarge

• SoC – Zhaoxin ZX-2000M quad core ARM  Cortex-A17 processor @ up to 1.4GHz with 2D/3G GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.0, and a video processing unit
• System Memory – 2GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz
• Storage – 8GB eMMC Flash memory, SD card slot
• Video Output – HDMI 1.4 with CEC support
• Video Codecs –  MPEG-2, VC-1, H.264 and H.265 video decoding up to 3840x2160p @30fps; H.264 encoding
• Connectivity – 1x Gigabit Ethernet port (Realtek RTL8211FS-CG), 1x 10/100M Ethernet port, optional 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 ( EMIO-5531 USB module)
• Audio – WM8960 Audio Codec; 2x 3.5mm audio jacks: Line-out and Mic-in
• USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports, 1x USB 3.0 port, 1x mini USB 2.0 port for COM (Tx/Rx)
• Misc – Power on/off button with power indicator LED, CIR receiver, antenna hole for Wi-Fi, Kensington lock, Wake-on-LAN, Watchdog timer
• Power Supply – 12V DC-in
• Dimensions – 175mm(W) x 25mm(H) x118mm(D)
• Weight – 500 grams
• Temperature Range – Operating: 0°C ~ 40°C; storage: -20°C ~ 70°C
• Operating Humidity – 0 ~ 90% @ 40°C (non-condensing)
• Compliance – BSMI, CE, FCC, NCC

The player runs Android 5.1.1, and can be placed vertically with a stand holder, or mounted behind a monitor via an optional VESA mount. Beside digital signage, the device is also expected for automated kiosks, check-out counters, and POS systems, and works with the company’s Android Signage Content Management apps. The dual Ethernet ports are designed to connect an IP camera while getting overlay data from the cloud.

ZX-2000M processor seems to be part of ZX-2000 family with M and D parts. While I could not find the differences between the variants, the silicon vendor listed ZX-2000 specifications as follows:

• CPU – Quad-core ARM Cortex-A17 CPU @ up to 1.6 GHz with 22000 DMIPS
• GPU – Zhaoxin independent intellectual property GPU with support for 1080p and 4K UI interface; 60 GFlops Smoothly
• VPU
  • H.265 [email protected] decoding;  H.264 4Kx2K decoding; full format HD video decoding
  • Lossless compression efficiency of video content is above 70%, saving an average of more than 50% memory bandwidth
• Tuner Support – Built-in two-way DVBC QAM demodulator, supporting a maximum TS stream output of 4-way
• Security / DRM – SARFT’s downloadable CA; ARM TrustZone; Secure Boot; DRM copyright protection; built-in OTG; Hardware based authentication mechanism preventing illegal software and flashing
• Process – TSMC’s 28 nm HPM technology

So the amount of information is rather limited, although the claim of a GPU designed in-house is intriguing.

ALTA DS 4K digital signage player can be ordered with or without a wireless module, as well as optional VESA mount, COM cable, and debug cable, but pricing is not publicly available. You may want to visit the product page for more information and documentation, such as the operating guide, and potentially inquire about the solution.

Tweet VIA has just announced their latest ALTA DS 4K digital signage player with a “quad core Cortex A17 processor”, which I first assumed must be Rockchip RK3288 processor since…

Allwinner H3 boards such as Orange Pi PC and NanoPi NEO are mostly interesting due to their ability to run Linux and control I/Os, and while they also support Android, most people wanting to run Android are better served with TV boxes instead, as they come with enclosure, power supply, HDMI cable, and an IR remote control. That does not mean there’s no use case for Android on development boards, and that’s why probably KotCzarny, and other developers, have decided to work on H3Droid project to provide better Android images for Allwinner H3 boards and devices than the firmware released by manufacturers.

Some of the improvements include “sane DRAM/CPU settings”, support for Custom recovery system, Google Play Store and more USB network adapters, as well as the removal of apps and feature unusable for people outside out China. You’ll also be able to access the board via SSH if you add your public key to the image. You’ll need a Linux computer (or board) to install the image, as it relies on an installer and there are a few steps to complete the installation on the SD card:

1. Download image from one of the mirrors
2. Extract the tar file (tar -xf filename.tar) in a folder with enough space to hold the contents (~450MB)
3. Update 00_conf file to set OUTDEV variable. It should contain either device or plain file path (ex: OUTDEV=/dev/mmcblkX or OUTDEV=/dev/sdX or OUTDEV=/some/path/to/somefile.img)
4. Copy your PUBLIC SSH key(s) to the install folder (Optional, but required to have root access via SSH) (ex: cp /root/.ssh/my_key.pub ./)
5. Execute 10_init_new_card.sh to write image to your SDCard or somefile.img (in case of a file, you can use it later with dd/etcher/winimager to write to real device)
6. Note: run only 10.. script, other files are meant to be called from it in order. (for example 20.. prepares partitions.dat used in 30..)

The FAQ indicates that the image has been tested on Orange Pi PC, Orange Pi Plus 2E, Orange Pi PC Plus, and Orange Pi Lite, but it should also work on other Allwinner H3 boards as long as you change the FEX file (script.bin). Also note that the first boot may take a while, and H3droid is still considered beta with for example Bluetooth, and power off not working yet, and a few other bugs still lingering. If you try the image on your board, you can provided feedback on #H3droid IRC channel on Freenode, or via the website. There’s also a forum thread on Orange Pi forums.

Tweet Allwinner H3 boards such as Orange Pi PC and NanoPi NEO are mostly interesting due to their ability to run Linux and control I/Os, and while they also support…

Husarion CORE2 is a board designed to make robotics projects simpler and faster to complete with pre-configured software and online management. Projects can start using LEGOs, before moving to 3D printed or laser-cut version of the mechanical parts without having to spend too much time on the electronics and software part of the project.

CORE2 and CORE2-ROS Boards – Click to Enlarge

Two versions of the board are available: CORE2 combining STM32 MCU with ESP32 WiFI & Bluetooth module, and CORE2-ROS with STM32 instead coupled to a Raspberry Pi 3 or ASUS Tinkerboard running ROS (Robot Operating System). Both solutions share most of the same specifications:

• MCU -STMicro STM32F4 ARM CORTEX-M4 MCU @ 168 MHz with 192 kB RAM, 1 MB Flash
• External Storage – 1x micro SD slot
• USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port with 1A charging capability; 1x micro USB port for debugging and programming via FTDI chip
• Expansion Headers
  • hRPi expansion header for
    • CORE2-ROS –  a single board computer Raspberry Pi 3 or ASUS Tinker Board
    • CORE2 – an ESP32 based Wi-Fi module
  • 2x motor headers (hMot) with
    • 4x DC motor outputs with built-in H-bridges
    • 4x quadrature encoder inputs 1 A cont./ 2 A max. current per output (2 A/4 A current when paralleled)
  • 6x servo ports with selectable supply voltage (5 / 6 / 7.4 / 8.6 V) 3 A cont./4.5 A max. current for all servos together
  • 6x 6-pin hSens sensor ports with GPIOs, ADC/ext. interrupt, I2C/UART, 5 V out
  • 1x hExt extension port with 12x GPIO, 7x ADC, SPI, I2C, UART, 2 x external interrupts
  • 1x CAN interface with onboard transceiver
• Debugging – DBG SWD (Serial Wire Debug) STM32F4 debug port; micro USB port for serial console
• Misc – 5x LEDs, 2x buttons
• Power Supply – 6 to 16V DC with built-in overcurrent, overvoltage, and reverse polarity protection
• Dimensions – 94 x 85 mm

On the software side, Husarion provide a set of open source libraries for robots as part of their hFramework, using DMA channels and interrupts internally to handle communication interfaces. The company has also prepared tutorials dealing with ROS introduction, creating nodes, simple kinematics for mobile robot, visual object recognition, running ROS on multiple machines, and SLAM navigation. CORE2 board can also be programming using the Arduino IDE, and finally Husarion Cloud allows you to securely create a web user interface to control the robot, and even program the robot firmware from a web browser.

That means you can program your robot using either the Web IDE, or offline with an SDK plus Visual Studio Code and the Husarion extension. The development work flow is summarized above.

CORE2 boards can be used for a variety of projects such as robotic arms, telepresense robots, 3D printers, education robots, drones, exoskeletons, and so on. If you want to learn about robots, but don’t have LEGO Mindstorms and don’t feel comfortable making your own mechanical parts yet, ROSbot might be a good way to start with CORE2-ROS board, LiDAR, a camera, four DC motors with encoders, an orientation sensor (MPU9250), four distance sensors, a Li-Ion battery (3 x 18650 batteries) and a charger, as well as aluminum mechanics. It also happens to be the platform they use for their tutorials.

ROSbot

You’ll find all those items, and some extra add-on boards, on the CrowdSupply campaign, starting at $89 for CORE2 board with ESP32 module, $99 for CORE2-ROS board without SBC, and going up to $1,290 for the complete ROSbot with ASUS Tinker Board. Shipping is free to the US, and $8 to $20 depending on the selected rewards, with delivery scheduled for September 2017, except for ROSbot that’s planned for mid-October 2017.

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Tweet Husarion CORE2 is a board designed to make robotics projects simpler and faster to complete with pre-configured software and online management. Projects can start using LEGOs, before moving to…

Orange Pi i96 board was first unveiled at Linaro Connect US 2016 in September of that year, as one of the first boards compliant with 96Boards IoT Edition specification, and expected to sell for just $9.99. The good news is that the board is now finally available for $8.80 plus shipping on Aliexpress ($12.19 in total in my case)

Orange Pi i96 specifications:

• SoC – RDA Micro 8810PL ARM Cortex A5 processor @ up to 1.0 GHz with 2Gbit (256 MB) on-chip LPDDR2 RAM, 4Gbit (512 MB) on-chip SLC NAND flash , 256KB L2 cache, and Vivante GC860 3D GPU
• External Storage – micro SD slot
• Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n + Bluetooth 2.1/EDR module (RDA5991)
• Camera – MIPI CSI-2 connector for camera sensor up to 5MP
• Video – 1080p30 H.264 encoding
• USB – 1x USB host port, 1x micro USB OTG port
• Expansion – 40-pin GPIO header with SPI, I2C, GPIOs, etc…
• Debugging – 3x pin UART for serial console
• Misc – 8 selection jumpers, power button, power LED, boot selection header
• Power Supply – 5V via micro USB port; optional support for battery power
• Dimensions – 60 x 30 mm as per 96Boards IoT Edition specification
• Certifications – CE and FCC based on the silkscreen

The hardware is a cost-down version of Orange Pi 2G-IoT board without 2G / GSM support, no display interface, no heaphone jack, and a smaller PCB (60×30 mm vs 68×42 mm). The company claims the board supports Android 4.4, Ubuntu, and Debian, and we already have Android SDK with Linux and u-boot source code. Note that the board is not listed on 96Boards IE page yet, and I’d like to remind readers that while 96Boards specifications target both hardware and software, many companies do not comply with the software part of the specifications, and having a 96Boards compliant board does not mean Linaro engineers themselves are working on it. RDA Micro 8810PL processor on development boards is also pretty new, so you can’t expect everything to mostly work out of the box, like you would on Allwinner H3 boards, and for example booting Linux from NAND (Android is OK), and controlling GPIOs may still be an issue at this stage.

Nevertheless, the price, features, and dimensions of this Linux board could make it an alternative to ESP32 boards such as Wemo LoLin32 for some IoT projects, especially where the RAM and storage might be tight. The board could also be interesting for connected camera applications.

Thanks to theguyuk for the tip.

Tweet Orange Pi i96 board was first unveiled at Linaro Connect US 2016 in September of that year, as one of the first boards compliant with 96Boards IoT Edition specification,…

We have a decent choice of Amlogic S905 development boards like ODROID-C2 or NanoPi K2, but I was recently asked whether I knew of any Amlogic S912 development boards. I’m sure Amlogic has one for internal development, but those are hard to get, and probably expensive, and while you could probably get an S912 TV box board those lack I/Os, and software support may truly be a challenge. So I’m pleased to announce that Shenzhen Wesion will soon provide an update to their Khadas VIM Pro board with Khadas VIM2 powered by Amlogic S912 octa-core processor.

Click to Enlarge

The company will actually offer three variants of Khadas VIM2 boards (Basic/Pro/Max) specifications with highlights in bold showing differences with Khadas VIM Pro board:

• SoC –  Amlogic S912 octa core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5 GHz with ARM Mali-820MP GPU
• System Memory
  • Basic – 2 GB DDR4
  • Pro/Max – 3 GB DDR4
• Storage
  • micro SD card and 2MP SPI flash
  • eMMC Flash – Basic: 16GB; Pro: 32GB; Max: 64GB
• Video & Audio  Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz with CEC support
• Connectivity
  • Basic – Gigabit Ethernet with WoL support, 802.11 b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.1 via Ampak AP6356S module
  • Pro/Max – Gigabit Ethernet with WoL support, 802.11 b/g/n/ac with RSDB and Bluetooth 4.2 via Ampak AP6359SA module
• USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports supporting 900mA and 500mA loads, 1x USB 2.0 type C port supporting power and data only
• Expansion header
  • 40-pin 2.54mm pitch header with USB, UART, I2C, ADC, PWM, I2S, SPDIF, and ISO7816
  • 10-pin FPC connector with I2C and IOs
  • 8 “pin” pogo pads array with USB, I2C, DVB bus, and I/Os
• Misc – Blue LED, white LED, dual channel IR, power/function/reset buttons, header for RTC battery, fan header
• Power Supply –  5V to 9V via USB type C, 4-pin VIN 1.25mm pitch header, or pogo pads for VIN (5V recommended for better efficiency); programmable current limit switch up to 4A (Set to 3A by default)
• Dimensions – 82.0 x 57.5 x 11.5 mm (4x M2 mounting holes)

We can see that it’s not just a processor update with many new features added to the new boards. If like me, you’ve never heard about RSDB, it stands for Real Simultaneous Dual Band, and allows to use both 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz at the same time, while for most dual band modules only one frequency can be used at a given time. That’s a clear advantage if you’re going to use the board as an access point.

Click to Enlarge

The company will provide Android 7.1 Nougat and Ubuntu 16.04 or greater operating systems and SDKs for the board, and work on UEFI support is in progress. The board will be launched last that month, and for now, the only VIM2 specific documentation provided is Amlogic S912 datasheet, but you can be sure there will be a lot more on Khadas Docs page at launch, although I expect many of the instructions available for Khadas VIM (Pro) will still work on VIM2 board.

You’ll find more details on the announcement forum post, such as Linux hardware video decoding not working natively, i.e. without libhybris and Android libraries, and the board has been designed with micro servers in mind with features like WoL and SPI flash for network boot, as well as UEFI support.

Thanks to Geokon for the tip.

Tweet We have a decent choice of Amlogic S905 development boards like ODROID-C2 or NanoPi K2, but I was recently asked whether I knew of any Amlogic S912 development boards….

Most people won’t need this, but if you are working on HDMI, HDFury Vertex HDMI 2.0b splitter and scaler could be a very useful product. It comes with one HDMI 2.0b input port, two HDMI 2.0b output ports, some audio ports, an OLED display showing EDID, HDR, and other information, and a Windows tool allowing you to find out the full details about your HDMI connection over USB.

HDFury Vertex hardware specifications:

• HDMI revision: HDMI 2.0b (Level A) 600Mcsc – 18Gbps
• Max Resolution: 4K60 4:4:4 8b, 4K60 4:2:2 12b, 4K120 4:2:0 8b or 8K30 4:2:0 8b
• I/O – 2 HDMI In, 2 HDMI Out, IR, RS232, USB, Analog Jack, Optical Out.
• Upscale port – FHD 1080p to UHD 2160p & 4K/DCI
• Downscale port – UHD 2160p & 4K/DCI to FHD 1080p
• Signal Conversion – Resolution, Chroma Subsampling, Color Space, Color Depth, HDCP
• HDCP Conversion – Any HDCP to any HDCP with CST1 support
• Operating Modes – 18Gbps Scaler, Splitter & Matrix with CEC, ARC and EDID management
• Special Modes – CEC Command, HTPC, Disable HDR, HDMI Doctor and booster.
• EDID Modes – 10 EDID Flags, 100 EDID Banks (10 custom)
• Infoframe Modes -: Capture, edit, block or replace HDR metadata, AVI & VSIF, Read SPD, Audio, HDMI Vendor, HDMI Forum
• On Screen Display – Editable with custom text and mask. (cover TV channel logo)
• OLED Display – 3.12″ diagonal, 256×64, 32 green colors
• Dimension – 10 x 6 x 3 cm
• Weight – 130g

The unit ships with a power supply and  a mini USB cable by default, but the company also optionally offers a Smart PSU for power monitoring, HDMI cables, and a GoBlue kit to add Bluetooth connectivity in case you want to use the Android/iOS app for monitoring data.

Sample Info Displayed on OLED Display

The picture above shows what kind of info you can expect to show on the OLED display with info about HDMI in, HDMI out, etc… But if you really to get the full HDMI details and control, you can connect the device to your computer USB port, and install VERTEX UTILITY Windows GUI 0.5.

There’s also a public API/DLL (but where? I could not find it…) to develop your own program for Vertex. You’ll find more details including the mobile apps, the Windows program, the user guide, and other documentation in the product page, where you can also pre-order HDFury Vertex for $349 with delivery scheduled for November 2017…

Tweet Most people won’t need this, but if you are working on HDMI, HDFury Vertex HDMI 2.0b splitter and scaler could be a very useful product. It comes with one…