Archive for the ‘core’ category

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Hawkboard

April 3rd, 2010

Hawkboard, similar to Beagleboard is open hardware platform for developer community. It uses OMAP L138 SoC, which contains ARM9 processor core along with floating point DSP. AM1808 is similar chip-set but with only ARM9 core.

Hawkboard logo

The board has direct serial console connector for debugging.  Board has VGA, USB Host & Gadget, SATA, Audio IO peripheral options, making it useful for various home & industrial application.

Pros:

- Angstrom Linux distribution supports hawkboard. Besides that, users have successfully used Android on hawkboard.

- Both cores, ARM9 & Floating point DSP of Hawkboard can execute upto 456 MHz, which is fairly good processing power.

- VGA video output makes easy to connect to low end display device (e.g. CRT monitor).

- Fairly good price of 110 USD.

Update: Hawkboard’s recent batch has some hardware problem. Although solution is published, some users are still reporting problem. So do take this into account.

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Posted in ARM 9, Development Platform, DSP, OMAP Series, Sitara

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Ben NanoNote from Qi Hardware

March 19th, 2010

Qi Hardware has introduced Ben NanoNote, pocket computer based on JZ4720 chipset. JZ4720 is 433 MHz MIPS processor from Ingenic Semiconductor.

Ben Nanonote comes with 59 key keypad, 3 inch screen, mini SDHC slot, 32 SDRAM & USB mini B host. All this suggests the miniature nature of device.

Pros:
- Ben Nanonote has full linux support & OpenWrt distribution. QT & GTK2 are avaiable to generate better user interface based applications.
- At 99 USD, Nanonote certainly worth it is money.

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Posted in Ingenic, MIPS Core, Product

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Txtr : Open digital reading platform

March 16th, 2010

txtr reader is product of Txtr, Berlin based company engaged in building tools & services for digital reader.
Interesting part is, txtr provides hardware details of txtr reader device. It is based on Freescale i.Mx31 SoC which contains ARM11 processor core.

Txtr aims to integrate digital reading tools & services, while service can be used on various platform, having own open platform attracts community to also launch services on txtr platform. It can also encorages existing device vendor to integrate txtr service on there platform.

Reader hardware consist of Bluetooth, Wifi, Near field communication & EDGE modem to communicate with device. Interface such as, 3D Acceleratormeter, Touch screen based Eleectronic ink display, vibrator motor makes it more attractive platform for developing entertainment applications.

Note: Device is not available as of date.

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Posted in ARM 11, Freescale, Product

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Micro 2440 & Mini 2440 from Friendlyarm.net

March 8th, 2010

FriendlyArm has two boards, Micro 2440 & Mini 2440 based on Samsung S3C2440A SoC which contains ARM9 processor core.
Both board have common 64 MB SDRAM, NAND & NOR flash, LCD interface, Touch panel interface, camera interface, Ethernet & Audio In/Out, RTC, SD Card slot, Serial port & JTAG for debug & one USB device port.
While Micro 2440 has 1 USB Host, Mini 2440 has 4 port of USB Host. [Detailed comparison]
FriendlyArm also has 3.5 & 7 inch LCD & VGA board for expansion. Also USB Wifi & CMOS camera module is available as extra accessories.
Linux, Android & Win CE 5 & 6 support is available, which should be very handy. Schematics, User Manual & Data sheets are also available. Forum to discuss about board is quite active.
Quick Pros:
- Good form factor with compact design.
- 400 MHz is fairly good clock rate & device should be use full for hand held application.

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Posted in ARM 9, ARM Core, core, Development Platform, Samsung, System On a Chip

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Neuros OSD2 : Open Internet Television Platform

January 30th, 2010

Neuros Technology offers Open Internet Television Platform with simple aim to bring internet to TV. Neuros OSD1 was first in this series of product, which was upgraded to OSD2 with better functionality.

Neuros OSD2 is based on Texas Instruments Davinci Series of SoC TMS320DM6446 having ARM 9 processor core. It has capability to be used as capture AV content as well as playback content from USB storage device or network. OSD2 developer guide contains good list of available resources.

Pro:

- One can efficiently use Neuros OSD2 for Personal Video Recorder or Network Media Player.

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Posted in ARM 9, Davinci Series, Product

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Neo FreeRunner from Openmoko

January 20th, 2010

Neo 1973 was first first major open hardware platform by Openmoko. Neo Freerunner was follow up of Neo 1973. Building open hardware mobile is challenge in itself. Primary because GSM chipset vendor do not provide small quantity of baseband chipset & would also not like to provide support for same.Neo Freerunner snap

Neo FreeRunner uses ARM9 processor based SC32442 from Samsung. FreeRunner is complete smartphone with LCD, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, Accelerometer besides GSM Baseband support for call & GPRS.

Neo FreeRunner is support by multiple Linux distribution & holds capabilities to support multi boot, This is clearly big feature on smartphone. Neo FreeRunner provides good platform for developing any hardware or software for Smartphone. Schematics, hardware reference manual etc are available to community for use.

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Posted in ARM 9, Product, Samsung

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