NetBSD 9.0 Released with Aarch64 Support, Arm ServerReady Compatibility

NetBSD 9.0

Yesterday, we wrote about Raspberry Pi 4 getting UEFI+ACPI firmware for Arm SSBR compliance allowing the board to run operating systems designed for “Arm ServerReady” servers out of the box. NetBSD 9.0 was just released on February 14, 2020, with support for Aarch64 (64-bit Arm) which had been in the works for a few years, and includes support for “Arm ServerReady” compliant machines (SBBR+SBSA). NetBSD 9.0 main changes related to hardware support: Support for AArch64 (64-bit Armv8-A) machines Compatibility with “Arm ServerReady” compliant machines (SBBR+SBSA) using ACPI. Tested on Amazon Graviton and Graviton2 (including bare metal instances), AMD Opteron A1100, Ampere eMAG 8180, Cavium ThunderX, Marvell ARMADA 8040, QEMU w/ Tianocore EDK2 Symmetric and asymmetrical multiprocessing support (big.LITTLE) Support for running 32-bit binaries via COMPAT_NETBSD32 on CPUs that support it Single GENERIC64 kernel supports ACPI and device tree based booting Supported SoCs Allwinner A64, H5, H6 Amlogic S905, S805X, S905D, […]

A Day at Chiang Mai Maker Party 4.0

The Chiang Mai Maker Party 4.0 is now taking place until December 9, and I went there today, as I was especially interested in the scheduled NB-IoT talk and workshop to find out what was the status about LPWA in Thailand. But there are many other activities planned, and if you happen to be in Chiang Main in the next few days, you may want to check out the schedule on the event page or Facebook. I’m going to go though what I’ve done today to give you a better idea about the event, or even the maker movement in Thailand. Booth and activity area should be the same over the 4 days, but the talks, open activity, and workshop will be different each day. Today, people could learn how to solder in the activity area. The even was not really big with manufacturers/sellers like ThaiEasyElec, INEX, or Gravitech closer […]

Getting Started with OpenCV for Tegra on NVIDIA Tegra K1, CPU vs GPU Computer Vision Comparison

This is a guest post by Leonardo Graboski Veiga, Field Application Engineer, Toradex Brasil Introduction Computer vision (CV) is everywhere – from cars to surveillance and production lines, the need for efficient, low power consumption yet powerful embedded systems is nowadays one of the bleeding edge scenarios of technology development. Since this is a very computationally intensive task, running computer vision algorithms in an embedded system CPU might not be enough for some applications. Developers and scientists have noticed that the use of dedicated hardware, such as co-processors and GPUs – the latter traditionally employed for graphics rendering – can greatly improve CV algorithms performance. In the embedded scenario, things usually are not as simple as they look. Embedded GPUs tend to be different from desktop GPUs, thus requiring many workarounds to get extra performance from them. A good example of a drawback from embedded GPUs is that they are […]

Christmann RECS|Box Atlas Quad Apalis Microserver Evaluation Kit Supports Four Toradex Apalis SoM

System-on-modules are normally used in low volume embedded systems, but they can also be used in microservers, for example to upgrade capacity as needed. Christmann informationstechnik + medien GmbH has developed a microserver evaluation kit taking up to 4 Toradex Apalis SoMs for example based on Nvidia Tegra K1 processor, and also offers full rack systems with up to 72 modules. Christmann RECS|Box Atlas Quad Apalis specifications: Modules – 4x Slots for Apalis SoM Connectivity – 1 GBit/s Compute Ethernet, 1 GBit/s Management Ethernet Video Output – 1x HDMI USB – 3x USB host ports, 1x micro USB port Misc – 5 Status LEDs for USB, communication, and serial console, 4x fan connectors, KWM switch, 5x temperature sensors, 6x current sensors, 1x voltage monitor, fan speed monitoring Power Supply – 12V via a 4-pin jack Dimensions – 300 x 145 x 68 mm The evaluation kit includes an Atlas board […]

Xiaomi Mi Pad Tablet with Tegra K1 Processor, 64GB Flash Sells for $120 (Promo)

Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9″ tablet powered by Nvidia Tegra K1 processor was launched in 2014 with either 16 or 64 GB flash, and on July on that year you could buy the version with 64GB storage would sell for $370 and up from sites like Aliexpress. A little over two years, the price has dramatically dropped, and there’s now a promotion for Xiaomi Mi Pad with 64GB storage for $119.99 on GearBest with MiPad64G or MP64GBCSMO coupon. Let’s refresh our memory with the specifications of the tablet: SoC – Nvidia Tegra K1 quad core Cortex A15 processor @ 2.2 GHz with Nvidia 192-core Kepler GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 Storage – 64GB eMMC, extensible to 128GB via microSD card Display – 7.9” IPS display, 2048×1536 resolution; 326 PPI Camera – 8MP rear camera, 5MP front-facing camera Connectivity – 802.11ac 2×2 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, speaker […]

Parrot S.L.A.M Dunk is a Ubuntu & ROS Computer with 3D Depth Cameras for Drones & Robots

Parrot and Canonical have partnered to develop the Parrot S.L.A.M.dunk development kit for the design of applications for autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance, indoor navigation and 3D mapping for drones and robots, and running both Ubuntu 14.04 and ROS operating systems. The name of the kit is derived from its “Simultaneous Localization and Mapping algorithm” (S.L.A.M) allowing for location without GPS signal. Parrot S.L.A.M Dunk preliminary specifications: SoC – NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor Camera – Fish-eye stereo camera with a 1500×1500 resolution at 60fps Sensors – Inertial-measurement unit (IMU), ultrasound sensor up to 15 meters range, magnetometer, barometer Video Output – micro HDMI USB – 1x micro USB 2.0 port, 1x USB 3.0/2.0 port Weight – 140 grams Parrot S.L.A.M dunk can be fitted various drones and robotic platforms such as quadcopters and fixed-wings, rolling robots and articulated arms using mounting kits. The computer module is then connected to the host […]

e-Con Systems Propus Nvidia Tegra K1 Development Board Features 3 MIPI-CSI Camera Interfaces

I mostly know e-Con Systems because of their camera modules, but the Indian company has also been manufacturing system-on-modules and development kits, and has just launched Propus development board based on their eSOMTK1 computer-on-module powered by Nvidia Tegra K1 quad core Cortex A15 processor, and including three camera interfaces with two 4-lane and one 1-line MIPI-CSI2 connectors. Propus specifications: Computer-on-module – eSOMTK1-F16G-R2G-WB-IM: SoC – Nvidia Tegra K1 4-plus-1 ARM Cortex-A15 processor @ up to 2.3 GHz with 192-core Kepler GPU. System Memory – 2GB 64-bit DDR3L SDRAM Storage – 16GB eMMC flash Connectivity – 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.1 module with 2 u.Fl antenna connectors Sensors – 3D digital accelerometer and a 3D digital gyroscope (6 axis) Power Management IC (5V and 12V inputs) SoM connectors – 4x 100-pin board to board connectors Storage – SATA connect, micro SD slot Video Output – 1x HDMI 1.4 Audio – Audio Codec […]

Embedded Linux Conference 2016 and OpenIoT Summit 2016 Schedule

The Embedded Linux Conference 2016 and the OpenIoT summit 2016 will take place on April 4 – 6, 2016 in San Diego, California, and over 800 attended will meet including kernel & system developers, userspace developers, and product vendors. The Linux Foundation has recently published the schedule, so I’ve had a look at some of the talks, and designed my own virtual schedule to find out more the current development focus although I won’t attend. Monday April 4 10:40am – 11:30am – Linux Connectivity for IoT by Marcel Holtmann, Intel OTC There are many connectivity solutions that available for IoT. For example Bluetooth Low Energy, 802.15.4, Zigbee, OIC, Thread and others. This presentation will provide and overview of the existing technology and upcoming standard and how they tie into the Linux kernel and its ecosystem. 11:40 – 12:30 – BoF: kernelci.org: A Million Kernel Boots and Counting by Kevin Hilman, […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case