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Ubuntu 18.04 LTS for ODROID-C1

Posted on by neal.kim

We’ve released a new Ubuntu 18.04 image for C1 with many useful features. This LTS version will be supported until April of 2023.


Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Bionic Beaver with Mate Desktop
OpenGL ES 2.0 driver for Mali 450MP2 GPU
Kernel header package is improved to support the DKMS driver build
OpenGL ES enabled Qt5 library
OpenGL ES enabled SDL library
Kodi 17.6 playback Full-HD H.264 and H.265 video files
“c2play” command line video player compatible
WiringPi GPIO/SPI/I2C/ADC/IRQ library
And many other features

Click this image to see the OS information in detail.  This shows a nice GPU accelerated Qt5 Widget example.

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS for ODROID-C1

You can find the OS image link from this official release note.
https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid-c1/os_images/ubuntu/v3.0

Ubuntu Minimal image will be available in two weeks later hopefully.

If you are interested in running the mainline Kernel 4.17 or higher, visit this forum thread.
https://forum.odroid.com/viewtopic.php?f=111&t=19292#p226181
As far as I heard, there are some critical issues with display output.

So it is useful only for headless application like a server or IoT area,

Note that we couldn’t find any way to upgrade to 18.04 from 16.04 due to very complicated dependencies.
So you have to backup your important data and freshly flash the OS image.

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Benchmark results for Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, ODROID-C1+, ODROID…

Posted on by neal.kim

We ran several benchmark tests to measure the computing power of the XU4. The same tests were performed on the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, ODROID-C1+, ODROID-C2 and ODROID-XU4. The values of the test results were scaled uniformly for comparison purposes. The computing power of the XU4 was measured to be ~7 times faster than the latest Raspberry Pi 3 thanks to the 2Ghz Cortex-A15 octa-core and much higher 64bit memory bandwidth. Using the XU4 as a computer provides a “desktop like” experience, unlike the industry wide sluggish performance of most single-board computers! Particularly for developers, compiling code on the XU4 is super fast. The coveted high-performance 2GB DDR3 RAM is an additional advantage allowing most programs to be compiled directly on the XU4.

Benchmarks (Index Score) Raspberry Pi 3 ODROID-C1+ ODROID-C2 ODROID-XU4
Unixbench: Dhrystone-2 865.4 1571.6 2768.2 5941.4
Unixbench: Double-Precision Whetstone (x3) 1113 1887.3 3076.8 6186.3
Nbench 2.2.3: Integer (x40) 619.92 1173.6 1808.92 2430.52
Nbench 2.2.3: Floating-Point (x100) 781.8 1245.3 2300.3 3787.3
mbw100: Memory Bandwidth (MiB/s) 542.912 616.339 1472.856 2591.461
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Volumio Audiophile Music Player for Odroid C1 released

Posted on by neal.kim

Time to enjoy the great Volumio audiophile music player on the ODROID-C1.

Michelangelo Guarise (The creator of Volumio) has announced the Volumio OS image for the ODROID-C1 today.

We have a 1.5 Ghz quad Core CPU, which on paper is faster than many competitors (not only the PI). I’m not able to say how those figures are actually a sensible improvement, as I just started looking at the Amlogic SOC ( which seems quite ubiquitous in embedded multimedia appliances).

But what makes it really interesting for Volumio based scenarios are the Gigabit Ethernet, the eMMC memory slot (sold separately) and the integrated IR receiver. Add that Hardkernel seems to have the widest range of accessories for their boards, and you get that we can consider the C1 one of the best candidates to power a Volumio system.

Talking about real-world performances: the Odroid C1 delivers one of the smoothest Volumio experiences. It boots faster, and loads faster than the high-specs comparable quad-core boards (UDOO, Cubox-i).


More exciting news.

ODROID-C1+ is coming with a native I2S interface to support the HiFi DAC add-on boards. It will be available in the middle of August.
Volumio 2 is coming with four exciting key words Speed, Modularity, High Fidelity and Future Proof.

For those of you with an ODROID-C1, grab the image from the DOWNLOADS page as usual, and drop your feedbacks on this thread !

Setup

Setting up your C1 as a Volumio music player is dead easy, and the project’s website has documentation to guide you though the steps.

– Download Volumio image for C1 from http://volumio.org/get-started/
– Install the image on an SD card (2GB or larger). Installation guide is here.
– Connect the C1 and a USB-DAC to your amplifier and the network
– Boot the C1
– On any PC/Mac/Phone/Tablet, browse to http://volumio.local
– Configure NAS locations, Samba shares, etc,
– Add file to the playlist, sit back and listen !

First impressions

On the C1+, 192Khz/24bit FLAC/WAV files in a NAS server could play back flawlessly thanks to the 1.5Ghz quad-core processor and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity of ODROID-C1.
We could control the full features of Volumio with iPhone or Android smartphones. The Web UI does well on mobile.

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Android for the Embedded System

Posted on by neal.kim

Do you want to control various GPIO/ADC/PWM/I2C/UART/1-Wire devices on Android?
Quick & Easy to make a nice GUI application with Java on Android ?
Can we call it “Embedded Android” ?

We’ve prepared 5 examples with some proper Kernel drivers for the ODROID-C1.
It is very basic and essential to learn the Embedded Android.
Note that you must update the Android OS image to enjoy below examples.

LED on GPIOs control with ADC input

PWM Duty control GUI

I2C sensor access and Display temperature, pressure, humidity, UV index, illumination and so on.

UART read/write access. You can test Tx and Rx signals.

1-wire access example can read the DS1820 sensor values from two nodes.

Source code and how-to guide are available now!
http://odroid.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=en:c1_enhancement_gpio40_on_android

Android OS image v1.5 for C1 is here.
http://odroid.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=en:c1_android_release_note_v1.5

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$35 Quad core ARMv7 PC : ODROID-C1

Posted on by neal.kim
Quad Core Linux computer is now $35.00.

Don’t put up with the slow single core computer anymore.
If you are considering a tiny computer for general purpose computing, software development or as a project platform,
the ODROID-C1 will give you a lot more satisfaction and fun with incredible performance for a very low price.

* Amlogic Cortex-A5(ARMv7) 1.5Ghz quad core CPUs
* Mali-450 MP2 GPU (OpenGL ES 2.0/1.1 enabled for Linux and Android)
* 1Gbyte DDR3 SDRAM
* Gigabit Ethernet
* 40pin GPIOs
* eMMC4.5 HS200 Flash Storage slot / UHS-1 SDR50 MicroSD Card slot
* USB 2.0 Host x 4, USB OTG x 1,
* Infrared(IR) Receiver
* Ubuntu 14.04 or Android KitKat

for more detail >>

 odroid-C1.jpg
OpenGL ES and XBMC on Ubuntu