MediaTek Genio 1200 Arm Cortex-A78/A55 EVK gets official Ubuntu 22.04 support

Canonical and MediaTek announced optimized Ubuntu images for the Genio 1200 EVK during Embedded Word 2023 last March, but at the time, I could not find any images for download, and there was just an invitation to come check out Ubuntu Core running on the MediaTek Genio platform at the event.

But things have progressed well, and Canonical has now announced the availability of Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop and Server for not only the high-end Genio 1200 EVK, but also the mid-range Genio 700 EVK, and the entry-level Genio 350 EVK. That should be good news, as when I tested the i-Pi SMARC 1200 devkit earlier this year (June 2023), the Genio 1200 Arm Cortex-A78/A55 processor (aka MediaTek MT8195) showed really good performance in benchmarks, but at the time, the only option was to use a Yocto image, which is great, but there were still some unresolved software issues and the learning curve is quite steeper than with a distribution like Ubuntu.

All images are optimized and certified 64-bit builds of Ubuntu with up to 10 years of long-term support, until April 2032. You’ll find those for download on the Ubuntu website along with the EVK boot firmware for each evaluation kit.

It may take some time before Ubuntu 22.04 gets ported to customer Genio boards, and while ADLINK initially planned to provide an Ubuntu 20.04 image for the i-Pi SMARC 1200 by Q3 2023, it should make more sense to get Ubuntu 22.04 images instead as Canonical says the Genio EVK images aim to reduce “customers’ time-to-value” so that “device manufacturers can focus on developing and shipping certified products, with Canonical providing long-term support and security updates”.

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