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How to install update image for Android Beta 1.7 or higher.

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We released Android Beta 1.6 (Jelly Bean) for ODROID-X/X2/U/Q/Q2 24-April-2013.
This version includes the UPDATER feature which support the OTA like system software installaion/upgrade.
It will reduce the pain of flashing or anoying ADB method.

Here is a brief instruction to install the latest OS image.
Click the image to enlarge it.

1. Check your OS version is higher than Beta 1.6
Settings --> System --> About Tablet
The Build Number has a date code. It must be something of April-2013 or later. This ODROID-X2 image is 24-April-2013.

2. Run Web browser in ODROID and visit “http://dn.odroid.com/Android_Beta_1.7/” home page.
If you are using X2 with eMMC, click X2 and eMMC directory. Click “odroidx2-ota-eng.codewalker.zip” to download it.

3. Download a file manager from this link and install it.
If you already installed, you can skip this process.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4485660/Astro%20File%20Manager.apk


4. Creat “updater” directory in sdcard and copy the “odroidx2-ota-eng.codewalker.zip” from “Download” directory to “updater” directory.
If you already have the “updater” directory, you don’t need to make it.

5. Select Settings -> About tablet -> ODROID Update. Choose the “odroidx2-ota-eng.codewalker.zip”
And it will reboot and start installation of the OS image.


6. If you select “Update”, it starts the OS update.

7. You need to reinstall the GMS again due to system partition has been changed.
Here is the instruction of GMS installation.
https://staging.hardkernel.com/ko/blog/how-to-install-t…ta-1-6-or-higher/

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How to install the GMS apps for Android Beta 1.6 or higher.

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We released Android Beta 1.6 (Jelly Bean) for ODROID-X/X2/U/Q/Q2 24-April-2013.
This version includes the UPDATER feature which support the OTA like system software installaion/upgrade.
It will reduce the pain of flashing or anoying ADB method.

Here is a brief instruction to install the GMS(Google Play, Gmail and other Google Mobile Service applications).
Click the image to enlarge it.

1. Check your OS version is higher than Beta 1.6
Settings --> System --> About Tablet
The Build Number has a date code. It must be something of April-2013. This ODROID-X2 image is 24-April-2013.

2. Run Web browser in ODROID and visit “http://goo.im/gapps/” home page.
Click “gapps-jb-20121011-signed.zip” to download it.

3. Download a file manager from this link and install it.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4485660/Astro%20File%20Manager.apk


4. Creat “updater” directory in sdcard and copy the “gapps-jb-20121011-signed.zip” from “Download” directory to “updater” directory.

5. Select Settings -> About tablet -> ODROID Update. Choose the “gapps-jb-20121011-signed.zip”
And it will reboot and start installation of GMS apps.


6. If you select “Update”, it starts the GMS installation.

7. Run Play Store and Sign in Google Account. That’s it. Time to enjoy~

Blog

USB-UART Module Kit

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There is a system console port in all of ODROID series to monitor the low-level information of target system.
This is very useful and important tool for platform software development.

The system console port uses UART(Universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter) of CPU for communication between your host PC and target board.
Protocol is 115200bps / no-parity / 8bit / 1-stop-bit / No-flowcontrol as usual.
You can use any tty terminal software such puTTY, minicom or hyperTerminal in your host PC.

The UART of CPU has simple 2 signals Tx and Rx with a ground level for communication.
Please note most of new comming mobile processors have 1.8V of IO voltage to minimize power consumption.

In traditional design, there should be a RS-232C level converter MAX232 or MAX3232 or MAX3218 on board.
Addtionally your Host PC must have a RS-232C port.
Note that all of modern PC / Laptop have no built-in RS-232C port you have to buy a USB-RS232 converter.
So this solution is expensive, uncomfortable and bigger footprint.

Fortunately, there are many IC makers have introduced USB-UART bridge ICs.

To meet the low voltage interface specification. we chose the CP2104 USB-UART bridge IC from the Silicon Labs.
You can find the datasheet of CP2104 and its drivers from this link.
http://www.silabs.com/products/interface/usbtouart/Pages/usb-to-uart-bridge.aspx

CP2104 has internal oscillator, LDO, Tx/Rx indicating LED drivers and 1.8Volt IO with reasonable price in 4mmx4mm package.


USB-UART Module kit contains below 3 items.- Micro-USB cable
– USB-UART board with CP2104
– 4pin wire harness to connect to ODROID-X

 

Let’s look into USB-UART board.
You can find Micro-USB connector, 4-pin Wire-connector, USB-UART bridge IC CP2104 and 3 LED inticator on top side.
D1 is Tx LED, D2 is Rx LED and D3 is power indicator. Note this board is powered by USB of host PC.
On bottom side, there are some passive devices and USB signal conditioner of L1.

Place the 4pin wire harness between USB-UART board and your ODROID-X/X2/U2/U3/C1/XU3/XU as below picture.
And place the Micro-USB cable between your host PC and USB-UART board.

You can download proper device drivers for your host PC.
Click “Tools” tab to get drivers for Windows, Mac and Linux in this link.
http://www.silabs.com/products/interface/usbtouart/Pages/usb-to-uart-bridge.aspx

I want to let you know some information of CP2104 device driver for your host Linux PC.
If your host Linux PC runs Kernel 3.2 or higher, the CP2104 works without any addtional installation/compilation.
Note Ubuntu 12.04 is based on Kernel 3.2.

This is a USB-UART board for ODROID-Q model which also has CP2104.
We call it “Debug board” from time to time.

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ODROID-X & ODROID-Q Shipment Ready

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ODROID-X and ODROID-Q production has started this week. We will start the shipment from next week. Please refer to the below for the shipment schedule.

– 1st batch from 30th of July : your order between 1st of July and 11th of July : Shipped out 
– 2nd batch from 6th of August : your order between 12th of July and 15th of July : Shipped out 
– 3rd batch from 13th of August : your order between 16th of July and 31st of July :  Shipped out 
– 4th batch from 27th of August : your order between 1st of August and 6th of August : Shipped out
– 5th batch from 3rd of September : your order between 7th of August and 17th of August : Shipped out
– 6th batch from 10th of September : your order between 18th of August and 31th of August : Shipped out

– After all :  in two weeks after your purchasing!
 
The delivery takes around 3-5 days after you receive the tracking number. But, it depends on your country’s customs process. The tracking number will be sent via paypal linked email or Fedex system. Please check your order’s delivery status after you get the tracking number here. 
Fedex : http://www.fedex.com/
The pictures of production line are below. 
 
1. First stage of  process. The machine is “Solder cream printer”.

 

2. SMT machine: Mouting devices on the PCB.

 

3. Entering into reflow soldering machine.

 

4. SMT soldering is done. Ready to inpection process.

* Note: Each board has 2×2 array of actual PCB to increase the production efficiency.

5. X-ray inspection to check soldering quality.

 

6. Factory Lines

The PCBs will move to another soldering machine for various connectors after inspection process.
And then we will perform all the functionality tests.

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Full-HD Video play with Quad-Core Exynos.

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A lot of people inquired about the performance of ARM Cortex A9 1.4Ghz Quad-core.

So we decided to show it with high definition video play ability.
Even the Exynos contains hardwired MPEG4/H.264/WMV decoder inside, we tried pure software driven media decoder.

We’ve tested several different 720p(HD) and 1080p(Ful-HD) video clips with MX player on ODROID-X which has Android 4.0.4.
MX player is one of the best video player in Google Play(Android Market) which is based on the famous FFMPEG media decoder.
They support Multi-core decoding with ARMv7 NEON SIMD feature. It means they utilize the 4 cores in parallel to decode video.

Most of clips could play well with ARMv7 NEON + Multi-core enabled FFMPEG codec library. It is really amazing.
The quad-core can decode Full-HD video even in a small ARM embedded board.
Seek and Sub-title functions are also working well.

Note that most clips contains H.264 video and we could use the hardware accelerated codec too in Android.
But, we performed this test without the hardware accelerator.

Please look into this video.

BTW, we have two issues.
1. Software driven video decoding makes a lot of heat due to heavy computing.
We may need to add a small heatsinks. We will measure the temperature more carefully.

2. 1080p contents in SDHC card doesn’t play well due to limited data transfer rate.
720p contents in SDHC are not a problem.
The eMMC storage has no problem because it is fast enough.

So we need more investigation the HW and SW codecs as well as burden of flash strorage access time.

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Exynos-4412 ARM Cortex-A9 Quad-Core

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Hardkernel has just announced new development boards ODROID-Q and ODROID-X which are powered by Samsung Exynos-4412 1.4Ghz processor.

ODROID-Q    Slim, Light, Mobile and Smart soluntion for professional developers.
First shipping will be end of July.

ODROID-X    Affordable and attractive platform with 6-ports USB 2.0 host !
First shipping will be end of July.

Here is a simple benchmarking result of ODROID-Q with Exynos-4412. We used the Quadrant app.
It is much faster than OMAP/Tegra/Snapdragon series. How amazing!  

 

We made interesting videos of ODROID-Q and ODROID-X for the developers.
If you want to enjoy the powerful quad-core processor, dive deep into ODROID!