CNXSoft – Embedded Software Development

AllWinner is currently a Mobile World Congress 2013, and Charbax had the chance to interview Eva, manager at AllWinner, and learn more about new processors, and future plans by the company. They spent some time discussing about AllWinner A31 and AllWinner A20 quad and dual Cortex A7 processors, but since we’ve know about those for a while I’ll skip this part. The most interesting part is about AllWinner A31s, a cost down version of A31, specifically designed for phablets (smartphones with 5″ to 7″ screens).

AllWinner A31s Block Diagram

Like AllWinner A31, AllWinner A31s is also a quad core Cortex A7 processor with PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU (8 shader engines) and the following specifications:

• CPU – ARM Cortex-A7 Quad-Core with 256KB L1-Cache/1MB L2-Cache
• GPU – POWERVR SGX 544MP2 with 8 logic cores. OpenGL ES2.0, Open CL1.x and DX 9_3 compliant.
• Memory
  • 32-bit Dual-Channel LPDDR2/DDR3/DDR3L Controller,
  • 8-bit NAND FLASH Controller with 64-bit ECC
• Video
  • UHD H.264 2160p video decoding
  • Multi-format HD video decoding including MPEG1/2,  MPEG4 SP?ASP GMC, H.263, H.264, etc.
  • BD Directory, BD ISO and BD m2ts video decoding
  • H.264 High Profile 1080P@30fps encoding
  • 3840×1080@30fps 3D decoding, BD/SBS/TAB/FP supported
  • 3840×1080@30fps 3D encoding
  • Complies with RTSP, HTTP, HLS, RTMP, MMS streaming media protocol
• Display
  • Dual-Channel LVDS/RGB/CPU LDC Interface 1024×768 resolution
  • Integrated HDMI 1.4 1920×1080@60fps
• Camera
  • Supports 0.3M/1.3M/2M/5M CMOS Sensor
  • Supports 8/10/12-bit YUV/Bayer sensor
  • Integrated ISP
• PMIC – PMIC AXP221s designed for A31s. 21-CH power output and 2.2A Flash charging. Complies with USB 3.0 power supply standard

I extracted this from the video below, and some things do not look right (e.g. 3840×1080@30fps 3D decoding), but compared to AllWinner A31, I understand that A31s “only” support 2160p video decoding, a rather low 1024×768 resolution for screens, and 1080p HDMI output. A31 camera sensor can support between 5 to 8 MP, but A31 can support lower resolution (0.3M) for front camera, to a maximum of 5MP. The PMIC is called AXP221s vs AXP221 for A31. The rest of the specifications appear to be the same. They will mention Android 4.1/4.2 support, as well as “Windows 8″.

The interview starts with AllWinner A31, at 3:04 they switch to A31s for about 2 to 3 minutes, and continue with A20.

Eva also explains A20 is pin-to-pin compatible with A10, but it appears some other modifications are required on the board. She also talks a bit about future products, including a server chipset? (not sure I heard that correctly) in Q2, and a “super processor” in Q3 (AllWinner Cortex A15 coming our way?). Finally she mentioned AllWinner has a close relationship with Ubuntu (I suppose she means Canonical), so that could bode well for AllWinner based Ubuntu tablets or smartphones in 2014.

Yesterday, Ubuntu.com displayed a time counter for an announcement reading “Tic Toc Tablet Time” that ended being about Ubuntu on Tablets, and not an HTC Tablet running Ubuntu as some blogs speculated, as both companies had a timer counter set to expire at the same time for separate, and unrelated, announcements.

The interface looks very much like Ubuntu for Phones with a similar “Welcome Screen”, except multiple users are supported, no icons (except for apps), and you can swipe around the 4 edges to access the dash, opened applications, notifications, and more. Canonical highlights 5 key features for Ubuntu on Tablets:

• Real multitasking – Run mobile and tablet apps at the same time on the same screen
• Secure multi-user
• Voice controlled HUD productivity
• Edge magic for cleaner apps – As I said previously no buttons, you control eveything from the edges.
• Content focus – Messages and media are easily accessible from  the Welcome screen.

Canonical also disclosed the hardware requirements for potential partners, and the company clearly redefines what low-end tablet means…

	Entry level consumer Ubuntu tablet	High-end Ubuntu enterprise tablet
Processor architecture	Dual-core Cortex A15	Quad-core A15 or Intel x86
Memory	2GB preferred	4GB preferred
Flash storage	8GB minimum	8GB minimum
Screen size	7-10 inch	10-12 inch
Multi-touch	4 fingers	4-10 fingers
Full desktop convergence

This is not completely unexpected, but still disappointing, as that means that most tablets sold today may not be able to run Ubuntu on Tablets optimally, or maybe even not run at all. If you want desktop convergence, it’s simple, there’s currently no existing ARM hardware that supports Ubuntu for Tablet requirements, except possibly some (undisclosed) Exynos 5 Octa development boards.

Marc Shuttleworth gave a short 6 minutes introduction to Ubuntu on Tablets, and as for the phone version, I really like the user interface Canonical came up with.

App development will be similar to Ubuntu for Phone, with support for both Web/HTML5 apps and native apps written using QML/Javascript/C++ in Eclipse giving access to OpenGLES runtime. Visit Ubuntu Tablet App Ecosystem page for details, and on the 21st of February, you’ll be able to download the Touch Developer Preview to develop apps specific to Tablets, and try it on your Nexus 7 (Tegra 3 with 1GB RAM) or Nexus 10 (Exynos 5250 with 2GB RAM) tablet.

Marcin Juszkiewicz, software engineer at Canonical, explains how ARMv8 was bootstrapped with OpenEmbedded with fast model simulation at the Embedded Linux Conference in Barcelona on November 7, 2012.

Abstract:

The time has come – there is ARM 64-bit architecture right behind a corner. In this talk I will present how OpenEmbedded was used to build root filesystem for fast models simmulating not-yet-existing hardware. Presentation is targeted at developers interested in cross compilation, handling new architectures in existing projects.

Agenda of the talk:

• Introduction to Aarch64 – aka arm64 or ARMv8,  the new 64-bit version of the ARM architecture
• Introduction to OpenEmbedded – Build system capable to build everything from package to
  whole distribution with repositories
• First steps:
  • Create own layer for AArch64 stuff
  • Adding basic support into OE classes
  • Machine definition
• Toolchain – Based on  gcc 4.7 + ARM patches
• Build results – As of October 2012, 800 packages have been built, and LAMP and SDK images are available
• Typical problems – configure scripts, old config files, and CPU/Architecture definitions
• Current status – Merged into OpenEmbedded, Available in meta-linaro layer and meta-aarch64 layer
• Build Instructions:

  git clone git://git.linaro.org/openembedded/meta-aarch64.git
  bash meta-aarch64/scripts/init.sh
  bitbake nano

• Lessons learnt

You can download the slides for the presentation. You can also read one of my previous post entitled “Getting Started with 64-bit ARM Development: Hello World and Linux on ARMv8 Fast Models” to have a go.

Canonical has just announced the Ubuntu for Phones platform that will allows users to have similar experience on desktops (Ubuntu Desktop),  TVs (Ubuntu TV) and smartphones, avoiding the need to learn 2 different platform for the desktop and mobile devices.

The user interface replaces the “Lock screen” with the “Welcome screen”  (As shown in the middle of the picture above), which shows notifications and user data as you turn on your device. The user interface mostly eliminate buttons, and you can access features by swiping the edge of the phone. A swipe on the left edge will show the dash bar, giving access to most used apps and dash search, a swipe on the right edge will cycle through your opened apps, a swipe at the top will give access to notifications and allow changing settings right from there, and a swipe at a button will allow you to customize controls. Global search is also part of the OS, as a single search will bring local and network search results.

The best way to experience the OS is to watch the virtual keynote by Mark Shuttleworth. In the first 5 minutes or so, he discusses they key milestones reached by Ubuntu on 2012, but the real discussion about Ubuntu for Phones takes place between 5:10 and 13:40.

I found this mobile OS pretty neat. From 13:40 onwards, some industry testimonies are shown, and some information is provided for developers. Ubuntu for Phone will support both Web/HTML5 apps and native apps written using QML/Javascript/C++ in Eclipse giving access to OpenGLES runtime. He explains that porting Web apps running in Android or iOS to Ubuntu should be straight forward. For native apps, you’ll need to install Qt 5 and Ubuntu QML toolkit preview. Developers can get further information on Ubuntu for Phones developers page.

Marc Shuttleworth said the platform would be truly open with the development following the processes used for Ubuntu desktop. There are 2 key markets for this new phone OS:

• Enterprise. As companies may want to streamline their operations by using a single device to be used as a phone, thin client and desktop. Management should also be easier.
• Consumer. For those who want a different user experience.

One last very interesting point brought by Marc Shuttleworth is that Ubuntu for Phones can work with Android kernel and drivers, which means if your phone can run Android, it can also run Ubuntu for Phones.

Arstechnica reports that although no carriers and handset makers were announced, Canonical is aiming for a phone to be released in Q4 2013/Q1 2014. If you have a Galaxy Nexus (based on TI OMAP 4460), you’ll be able to test Ubuntu for Phones on your device within a few weeks. Ubuntu 14.04 will be one image that works across phones, tablets, and desktops.

There will be several other Linux based mobile platforms (Tizen, Sailfish OS and Firefox OS) coming out this year, so we’ll have to see how this will pan out, but it should be pretty interesting.

Via: Liliputing

Ricardo Salveti de Araujo, developer platform lead for Linaro, displays the improvements Linaro have added to Ubuntu on ARM.

Abstract:

Since Linaro’s start, there was a need to have a supported platform for ARM, that could use the Linaro changes, to improve the ARM experience in general and to show the results of the work done by Linaro. In this session, it’ll be presented why Ubuntu was selected as the base platform for Linaro, describing the benefits and the areas Linaro is continuously investing to improve it. It’ll also be described the current state of the platform, showing some of Linaro’s achievements and also how we’re working to support the main SoC boards available, like Panda, Beagle, Origen, iMX53 and Snowball with the latest development by Ubuntu and Canonical, like Ubuntu TV, Phone and Tablet.

You can also download the presentation slides.

Canonical is pushing to move Ubuntu beyond Desktop PC, and we’ve already seen some mockups for Ubuntu Smartphones and the recent Ubuntu TV announcement. The Ubuntu smartphone is not there yet, but Canonical has another idea: running Ubuntu Desktop on your multi-core Android smartphone connected to a TV/Monitor via its HDMI or MHL interface, making Canonical, another company joining “your smartphone is your laptop” trend.

Ubuntu Desktop on Android

Ubuntu for Android will provide a full desktop experience and include office software (which apparently is Google Docs…) , web browsers (Chromium and Firefox), an email clients (Thunderbird) and media applications on Android phones docked to a screen and keyboard. Canonical claims the transition between Android and Ubuntu is seamless thanks to tight integration with the Android service layer.

Ubuntu and Android share the same kernel. When docked, the Ubuntu OS boots and runs concurrently with Android. This allows both mobile and desktop functionality to co-exist in different runtimes. When you are on the go, Ubuntu switches off and all CPU cores are used by Android.

Shared services and applications are delivered using a Convergence API module which ensures the tight integration between desktop and mobile environments, says the company.

Interestingly, Ubuntu solution does not seem to be based on virtualization as it runs the same kernel and instead runs 2 middleware (Android and Ubuntu UI) on top on that kernel. This technical solution should be more efficient than baremetal hypersivors such as Codezero, but requires the operating systems to share the same kernel, so for example, a combo iOS/Ubuntu would not work.

Most of your user data such as contacts, calendar, documents, web browser history and bookmarks will be synchronized between Android and Ubuntu probably thanks to Chromium/Firefox synchronization feature and Google Calendar and Google Docs cloud storage.  I suppose emails will be synchronized though the use of the IMAP protocol, although enterprise users might use another solution.

You can also answer/make calls and send SMS from the Desktop.

Update: Here’s a video demo of Ubuntu for Android. It can also detect if the smartphone is connected to a TV and run Ubuntu TV instead. Pretty neat…

Your phone will also need to come with a Dock, as Ubuntu will have to detect when the phone is docked.

Canonical now focuses on finding phone manufacturers and targets enterprise users by promising to lower their TCO as they would only need one device (a smartphone) getting rid of the extra laptop and maintenance associated with it.

After so many years, 2012 may finally be the year of the Linux Desktop (on smartphones).

You can find more information on Canonical’s Ubuntu For Android page.

David Mandala of Canonical talked at Linux.Conf.Au on 18th of January 2012 about Ubuntu for ARM and the move from netbook to server support. You can read my notes below, or jump at the end of this post to watch the presentation.

The Past

2008:  Ubuntu decides to only support ARMv7 architecture vs. Debian that supports ARMv4 and above.

2009:  Ubuntu release for Freescale i.MX51 (ARMv5 built), and then Marvell ARMAVA with ARMv6 and VFP (ARM floating point unit) support.

2010:

• April (10.04) The first ARMv7 release for OMAP3 (Beagleboard) with VFP, Thunb2, NEON and SMP for ARM and first netbook edition
• October (10.10) Pandabord (OMAP4) release with initial device tree support for ARM. Starts work with Linaro.

2011:

• 11.04 (5th release) – Supports OMAP3 and OMAP4 only. The netbook edition is using Qt, further improvement to device tree, further work with linaro and on the way to the Unified linux kernel for ARM (still a few years away).
• 11.11 (6th release) – Support for OMAP3/OMAP4 and Freescale i.MX53 QSD boar, as well as community supported Toshiba AC-100 (Nvidia Tegra 2)

Today

Precise Pangolin (12.04) in April 2012 will be based on kernel 3.2 with OMAP3, OMAP4 and i.MX53 support.  This release will also support ARM server SoC by Calxeda and Marvell. This will be the first version to support hard float (ARMhf) instead of soft float (ARMel). It will be Multiarch clean that is you will be able to use pre-build libs for arm on a x86 server with tools such as dkpg-cross and run your ARM apps with qemu.

David also gave some interesting statistics on the time it took to build ARM packages (natively):

• ARMel: 2 to 3 months to build 25,000 ARM binary packages.
• ARMhf: 3 weeks to build 36,668 ARM binary packages.

Finally, he explained the main challenges porting Ubuntu for ARM:

• SMP support (multi-core support) for ARM
• Thumb2 for assembly code (For technical details, visit https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/Thumb2 and https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/Thumb2PortingHowto)
• Kernel security patches for different ARM SoC

The Future: ARM Servers

First, he answer the question “Why ARM server?” with one word “Power”, as ARM has a clear advantage against Intel x86 architecture on this metric. Currently, it costs 458 USD / year / server to power and cool servers, and ARM servers will greatly decrease those costs and lower the TCO both via lower CapEx and OpEx.

Future released of Ubuntu for ARM will support Marvell ARMADA XP and Calxeda ARM server SoCs. He showed a picture with 72 servers per rack unit, and explained ARM server low power consumption also allow for higher density, although heating also becomes an issue.

After this section on ARM server and Ubuntu for ARM Server Edition, he went back to future releases of Ubuntu for ARM:

• October 2012 – The eighth release (12.10) will fully support Marvell and Calxeda server SoC, support Cortex A15 processor with virtualization support (KVM and XEN) and 40-bit LPAE addressing allowing up to 1 TB of RAM
• April 2013 – On top of Cortex A8, A9 and A15, Ubuntu 13.04 will also support Cortex A7 and big.LITTLE processing. ARMv8 64-bit support will be implemented which will also give access to up to 16 hexabytes of RAM. That version of Ubuntu will support UEFI bootloader and Multiarch for ARM 32-bit/64-bit.

David expects a single image for a given SoC in 2013, and in 2014, we should be able to get a unified kernel for ARM that can be installed on any ARM platform, just the way we can do it today on Intel/AMD computers.

Finally, he discussed shortly of the Ubuntu Panda Builder, Canonical ARM build cluster composed of 10 pandaboards + one control pandaboard.

You can watch the 45 minutes presentation below. I could not find the presentations slides, but will post them later if/when they are available.