Socionext shows their new SC2A11 ARMv8 server SoC featuring 24 ARM Cortex-A53 cores and their SC2A20 Interconnect bridge. SC2A11 is a highly integrated low-power server system suitable for edge computing which processes data at the edge of the cloud in the IoT era. Large amount of data can be processed faster in memory by adopting the 64bit ARMv8 architecture. Up to 1536 cores can be configured in a system for uses such as web serving, indexing, cloud computing.
Category: Chip provider
Arrow Dragonboard 820c Extended 96Boards, the Enterprise Edition Oxalis NXP ARMv8 Layerscape LS1012A
Posted by – March 14, 2017
Arrow shows an early prototype of their upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 based extended edition 96Boards and they are showing their first Enterprise Edition 96Board named Oxalis. Based on NXPs latest ARMv8 Layerscape LS1012A Processor running at 800MHz, this board delivers up to date connectivity with two USB-3.0 ports, SATA, 2x Gigabit Ethernet and PCIe.
Arrow also has a whole bunch of other new development boards such as the Meercat, an i.MX7 based ARM Cortex-A7 board with ARM Cortex-M4 and the Chameleon, the first Intel / Altera FPGA based 96Boards. You can read Arrow’s article about maker’s experiences with the 96Boards here.
Also check back in the days to come as I will be filming Arrows presenting their latest 96Boards at the Embedded World in Nürnberg 14th-16th February, you can get your free pass here.
Robert Wolff featured in this video is the comunity manager at 96Boards hosting the weekly 96Boards Open Hours.
Freedreno enables Linux distros on Dragonboard 820c 96Boards
Posted by – March 14, 2017
Rob Clark, maker of the open source GPU driver Freedreno shows off his latest Freedreno open source GPU working on an upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 based Dragonboard 820c development board, one that is going to use an expanded 96Boards specification to add PCI-E and Gigabit Ethernet ports among other things to the development board. This Freedreno and 820 board provides a significant jump in performance for the GPU, possibly 4x to 5x between the Adreno 306 in a Dragonboard 410c and the Adreno 530 in a Snapdragon 820 based board. The availability of the Freedreno open source GPU driver on Qualcomm based development boards means that these development boards can run all sorts of Linux distributions, including Debian, not just Android. You can read more about the Dragonboard 820c here.
Linaro RDK with GStreamer-V4L2 video accelerator and Freedreno graphics overlay
Posted by – March 14, 2017
The Linaro Digital Home Group (LHG) has extensive experience working with the Comcast RDK. LHG has been instrumental in leading open source initiatives in the RDK. At Linaro Connect (BUD17), the LHG Director, Mark Gregotski, along with 2 Comcast assignee engineers (Siva Patchaiperumal and Kalyan Nagabhirava) are demonstrating a port of the RDK to the Qualcomm 96Boards Dragonboard 410c. This demo shows the RDK media framework taking advantage of the GStreamer-V4L2 support provided by the DBD410C to use the hardware video decoder. The HD video is scaled and then a rotating triangle is overlaid using the open source Freedreno graphics support available with DB410C. The demo shows smooth video playback without any stuttering with smooth graphics overlay. Since the video decode is offloaded to the video hardware, the CPU is not heavily loaded.
Linaro Android AOSP TV, making Android TV Boxes and Smart TVs better
Posted by – March 13, 2017
Interview with the core team behind the Linaro’s AOSP TV project. The project lead Khasim Syed Mohammed and team members Show Liu and Vincent Chou demonstrate Android TV running on the 96Boards HiKey platform. The team shares the goals of the AOSP TV project, how it will benefit the SoC vendors, OEMs and ODMs of Smart TVs and Advanced Set-top box manufacturers and Android TV application developers. They clarify the project goal, its to create AOSP TV as the open source subset of Android TV and is not to fork the Android TV work from Google. They also share the details on upcoming LHG’s AOSP TV m-lcr release, OPTEE security framework integration, DRM support to be added and a lot more.
Secure IoT updates bootloader on NXP FRDM-K64F ARM Cortex-M4
Posted by – March 12, 2017
David Brown at Linaro demonstrates the mcuboot project. mcuboot started as the bootloader for the Mynewt project. David has ported this to Zephyr, and the bootloader is now its own project.
Oliver “Ogra” Grawert talks Ubuntu Core on Dragonboard 410c at Linaro Connect Budapest 2017
Posted by – March 7, 2017
Category: Internet of Things, Development Boards, Exclusive videos, Qualcomm, Linaro Connect, Ubuntu
Robert Wolff of the weekly 96Boards Open Hours show interviews Oliver “Ogra” Grawert of Canonical about the status of Snappy Ubuntu Core on the 96Boards including the Dragonboard 410c and more about Ubuntu Core, Canonical’s strategy in IoT, security and updates through the Build.Snapcraft.io platform. You can watch the 96Boards Open Hours episode featuring Robert Wolff and Ogra here.
Ubuntu Core, Snapcraft.io IoT package support/update, Dragonboard 410c, Raspberry Pi and more
Posted by – March 7, 2017
Canonical shows some of the latest development boards where Ubuntu Core is supported, includes the 96Boards Qualcomm Dragonboard 410c, Raspberry Pi 3, Raspberry Pi Nano expecting to ship on a coin sized board. Also shipping on Samsung Artik, NXP i.MX6/i.MX7/i.MX8 and on Intel powered development boards also. Canonical also promotes their http://build.snapcraft.io platform to package any app for every Linux desktop, server, cloud or device, and deliver updates directly.
Koen Kooi talks about Kodi on ARM, V4L2, OpenCDM, EME for HTML5
Posted by – March 7, 2017
Koen Kooi, release manager at Linaro, talks about wanting to watch Netflix from inside Kodi and the work going on to make that possible. This video was filmed at the Linaro Connect Budapest 2017.
MotoMods on Indiegogo and Hackathons for the ultimate Moto Z modular Smartphone platform
Posted by – March 5, 2017
The Lenovo Moto Z MotoMods ecosystem team got 700 submitions, launching 35 of those campaigns for ideas for new MotoMods on Transform the Smartphone challenge on Indiegogo with ideas ranging from barcode scanners, Edge Light LED lights for notifications wireless charging, sliding physical keyboard and many more ideas for new MotoMods that can be made for the Moto Z ecosystem. Motorola organized a Hackathon in San Francisco and one New York You can also see my video of the Moto Z and its MotoMods here and my 32-minute interview with the Motorola team about the Moto Z and its MotoMods ecosystem here
Voice control powered by NXP i.MX ARM Processors in Amazon Echo, Google Home and more
Posted by – March 5, 2017
NXP Semiconductors has on display the Amazon Echo, for which they are partners. An NXP representative explains the different applications for which NXP provides solutions, and how voice recognition can be run on multi-core ARM processors for power-efficient computing. The IMX 6, 7 and 8 series cover the full range from low-power to high-performance solutions, with applications for the 8 being consumer high-performance video and audio, automotive, and heavy industrial usage. NXP supplies everything from the CPU to the I/O to the software. The Kindle series use IMX 6 and 7 processors, for example. NXP talks about the upcoming i.MX8 Quad max, i.MX8M for multimedia and another i.MX8 coming for the embedded world.
549€ Avegant Glyph, dual 720p DLP headmounted personal mobile theatre
Posted by – March 5, 2017
The Avegant Glyph is a VR headset with a 720p DLP resolution display in each eye. The Avegant Glyph offers cinematic experience similar to a real movie theater. The displays use DLP technology to project an image onto your eye for the best viewing experience. The Glyph works over HDMI with supported devices. There is a built headset for sound. The price is 549€.
Nokia Android Phones are finally coming, 139€ Nokia 3 , 229€ Nokia 5, 189€ Nokia 6
Posted by – March 5, 2017
Nokia branded Android smartphones are being launched by ex-Nokia employees having formed a new company HMD Global. Nokia Android phones are aimed at providing highest possible specs at budget prices running stock Android 7.0. The Nokia 5 and 6 features a unibody Aluminum design while the Nokia 3 features a polycarbonate design.
The Nokia 6 is the most fully featured device offered featuring a featuring FHD 5.5″, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor. The front camera is 8-megapixel and the back camera is 16mp. The Arte Black version of the Nokia 6 features 4gb of ram and 64gb of storage. The Arte Black version will sell for 299 euros. The Standard Nokia 6 will retail 229 euros.
The Nokia 5 has is similar to the Nokia 6 but has a curved edge display. The Nokia 5 has a 5.5″ (720p) display, Snapdragon 430 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and microSD. The Nokia 5 will sell for 189 Euros.
The Nokia 3 features a 5″ (720p) display, an MTK 6737 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and Microsd support. The Nokia 3 will sell for a price of 139 Euros.
HP Elite x3 with Lapdock with 1D and 2D barcode scanner
Posted by – March 5, 2017
HP Elite x3 and Lapdock was my “Best of MWC 2016” as you can see in my video from last year, the HP Elite X3 can be docked into a Lapdock or desktop dock via USB Type C connectivity and be used in Windows Continuum mode offering functionality similar to a full computer. The Lapdock offers a full hd 12.5″ screen and full laptop keyboard.
SafeMotion smartwatch for personal alarm, safety for kids and the elderly
Posted by – March 5, 2017
SafeMotion provides mobility safeguarding assistance service for their consumer, here they are showing off their SmartWatch which works in entire Europe with multiple network provider without requiring to swapping the SIM card, instead, it chooses the best network available in the area. The watch allows user to generate SOS alerts which include calling up to 10 people automatically when the SOS button is pressed where user can add the company’s call center number in case if other people are not available, it also has feature of calendar, reminder, voice calling service and active GPS tracking facility which scans the user and generates an alert if the user goes outside of predefined area the monthly subscription for the service is USD 14.90 / month and price of smart watch is USD $249.
Oppo shows 5X lossless optical dual camera zoom
Posted by – March 5, 2017
Oppo showcases their technology that allows 5X zoom inside a smartphone body. The technique used involves a periscope-style structure that diverts light through a prism and onto a wide-angle lens, that allows for a claimed lossless 5X zoom. It is demonstrated on a prototype Oppo phone using a 6″ QHD with Oppo VOOC fast charging.
$799 Lenovo Yoga 520
Lenovo Yoga 520 is a 14″ or 15″ convertible laptop with a FHD display, Kaby Lake processors, and Nvidia GeForce 940MX GPU. There is room for both an SSD and HDD, with ram options up to 16 GB. There is also a fingerprint reader for security. There is an activie digitizer pen. Prices for the Yoga 520 series range from $799 and up depending on region and configuration also with the optional stylus pen input and an optional fingerprint sensor.
Qualcomm X50 modem for 5G New Radio
Posted by – March 5, 2017
The next step in cellular technology, 5G, is demonstrated here by Qualcomm. It is in the research phase, and the current application shown involves the broadcasting of RF power to a moving target at a frequency of 28GHz. A major limitation of 5G is the easy dissipation of the signal when faced with even minor obstructions, which Qualcomm aims to overcome by installing multiple towers and handing over users between them.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 with Gigabit LTE
Posted by – March 4, 2017
Qualcomm demonstrates their X16 Cat16 Gigabit LTE modem integrated in the upcoming Sony Xperia XZ Premium using Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 which features 4×4 MIMO (multiple input multiple output). The phone uses 4 LTE antennaes instead of the usual 2 to boost throughput speeds to 1Gbps using carrier aggregation. The technology is expected to be more power efficient since the faster downloads would finish quicker, effectively lessening the time cellular data is used.
Rockchip OP1 in Samsung Chromebook Plus
Rockchip made the OP1 the world’s most optimized Chromebook processor. OP1, also known as RK3399-C, Hexacore dual ARM Cortex-A72, quad ARM Cortex-A53 with Mali-T860MP4 GPU. Rockchip is the only chip maker which has been optimizing processors for Chromebooks over the past 3 years, with all the lessons they learned with the RK3288 quad-core ARM Cortex-A17 which shipped in several Chromebooks in 2015, they were able to improve on that, optimize every detail and in collaboration with Google and Samsung.
