Kobo SOC upgrade ever?

[NiLuJe]

True, but AFAICT, no-one has yet deigned to come up with a board designed around an armv8 core paired with an EPDC :/.

The "best" NXP has to offer appears to be the i.MX7D used in the Oasis 2, which is a dual core A7 paired with an M4 (and I have no idea if/how lab126 may be utilizing that extra M4).

[Derf]

When I first paid attention to that fact, that hardware kept changing but the internal CPU/SOC remained pretty much unchanged, I too was a little frustrated. But I was coming from the perspective of a mobile smart phone, where every year there is development of faster CPUs to drive faster and more capable experiences. But that is a different world. The cell phone makes calls, browses the web, runs apps, plays games, decodes and encodes video, runs camera optimization, autofocus and bokeh algorithms. It even runs AR applications, has voice interaction capabilities, GPS and turn by turn navigation, and multitasking of all of these things at once.

The eReader, by contrast, is pretty simple and basic. It is essentially just like running Adobe Acrobat. It just has to display text content and allow a user to move through that content, and it does that -did that- just fine with technology from yesteryear.

If it were to keep pushing the boundaries of what is capable, sure it could render PDFs faster, and render web pages faster in the browser, then it could decode and display YouTube videos and encodes video, so slap a camera on it and do video conferencing, and pretty soon you are in a race to be .... A tablet?

The eReader is a golf cart. It lets you get around 18 holes without having to walk or carry your clubs. It's a niche use vehicle. Saying the engines aren't getting any bigger or faster doesn't make it less of a golf cart. If you want something that can rip around city streets and haul kids and pass on the highway and have a backup camera and GPS, then buy a car. They get faster and better all the time.

Once I started thinking about it that way, I wasn't so worried that e-readers are running an older CPU SOC that isn't very powerful and isn't actively being developed for more capabilities, and hardware companies aren't pushing to use something radically newer in their newest devices.

[heyman]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

True, but AFAICT, no-one has yet deigned to come up with a board designed around an armv8 core paired with an EPDC :/.

The "best" NXP has to offer appears to be the i.MX7D used in the Oasis 2, which is a dual core A7 paired with an M4 (and I have no idea if/how lab126 may be utilizing that extra M4).

the sony thing is imx8, no frontlight, kinda meaningless if you actually see it with your eyes, contrast is bad compares to 6" screens

[NiLuJe]

If by "Sony thing", you mean their 13" CAD thingy, that'd be a custom SoC then, which would be moderately interesting...

[pazos]

The sony DPT-RP1 is based on Marvell Armada PXA1908 SoC

Brand: Sony
Model: DPT-RP1
Product: FPX_1010
Hardware: pxa1908
Platform: mrvl

Not sure about its EPDC

[heyman]

Originally Posted by pazos

The sony DPT-RP1 is based on Marvell Armada PXA1908 SoC

Brand: Sony
Model: DPT-RP1
Product: FPX_1010
Hardware: pxa1908
Platform: mrvl

Not sure about its EPDC

yeah, a53 imx8, epd driver self written

[pazos]

Originally Posted by heyman

yeah, a53 imx8, epd driver self written

a link proving your points would be awesome, because I think you are confused between imx8 (a non-existent platform?) and the Armv8-A ISA, which in fact is implemented in https://developer.arm.com/ip-product...x-a/cortex-a53.

And a link about the Electric Paper Driver will be nice, too. Since you are suggesting that you know they wrote a different driver.

Thanks!

[PorcupineLTD]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

It really helped in closing the gap between Amazon and Kobo in terms of how well the screen is exploited (Amazon is still miles ahead, because $$$, but, still).

Each new Kobo 'Mark' introduced a new SoC. Mk.6 was basically just Kobo playing catch up by following Amazon in moving towards i.MX6 boards (A9, slightly more recent EPDC).

Is the EPDC integrated in the SoC or separate and if it's separate does the Oasis 2 use the EPDC integrated in the IMX7 or a different dedicated one (that is still superior to the one used in the Forma)?

[NiLuJe]

Integrated in all cases for i.MX SoCs used on eReaders, and everyone (Kobo Mk.7 (Forma, Clara) & Kindle Zelda (Oasis 2) & Rex (PW4/KT4)) is currently using the same EPDC generation.

[PorcupineLTD]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

everyone (Kobo Mk.7 (Forma, Clara) & Kindle Zelda (Oasis 2) & Rex (PW4/KT4)) is currently using the same EPDC generation.

I was under the impression that the IMX7 has an improved EPDC (witch seems confirmed by NXP https://community.nxp.com/thread/386850) that's why I thought the Forma used a dedicated EPDC to match the Oasis 2 EPDC generation.

[heyman]

Originally Posted by PorcupineLTD

Is the EPDC integrated in the SoC or separate and if it's separate does the Oasis 2 use the EPDC integrated in the IMX7 or a different dedicated one (that is still superior to the one used in the Forma)?

why you think separated EPDC ???

if one Soc has no integrated EPDC, it's not support Eink

this is "IC"

[heyman]

Originally Posted by PorcupineLTD

I was under the impression that the IMX7 has an improved EPDC (witch seems confirmed by NXP https://community.nxp.com/thread/386850) that's why I thought the Forma used a dedicated EPDC to match the Oasis 2 EPDC generation.

A7 actually has worse peroformace than A9, means slower

if this "Oasis 2" does not use A7 Dual core, it's slower than one-core A9

look at here
https://www.cnx-software.com/2015/04...-64-bit-cores/

[heyman]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

Integrated in all cases for i.MX SoCs used on eReaders, and everyone (Kobo Mk.7 (Forma, Clara) & Kindle Zelda (Oasis 2) & Rex (PW4/KT4)) is currently using the same EPDC generation.

it means hardware imx6sll and imx7d are using same EPDC

the earlier imx6sl or imx6 use older EPDC

I know, they have "imx6" in the name but they are different

[NiLuJe]

@PorcupineLTD: as we've been saying, i.MX6 is incredibly vague. The 6sll used on Mk.7 definitely has the same EPDC as the 7d used on Zelda.

[heyman]

@PorcupineLTD it's not so vague if you read these through, well, it's long, "EPD" labeled is what we need

https://www.nxp.com/products/process...s:IMX6X_SERIES
https://www.nxp.com/products/process...rs:IMX7-SERIES
https://www.nxp.com/products/process...rs:IMX8-SERIES