Category: Linux 3.0

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Linaro 12.02 Release with Kernel 3.3-rc

Linaro 12.02 Release with Kernel 3.3-rc

Linaro has just released version 12.02 based on Linux Kernel 3.3-rc and Android 4.0.3. Among the key points, they have started to work on Freescale i.MX6 SabreLite board, included libav 0.8 to Ubuntu images which provides up to 160% performance improvement while playing real-media videos and XBMC is available via PPA. Here are the highlights of the release: Android Linaro Android can now be built with current GCC 4.7 snapshots. A 4.7 based toolchain build preview is also available. Linaro Android can boot on iMX6 Sabrelite boards. All test result spreadsheets have been streamlined and are now easier to use. Bluetooth enablement have been completed for the Origen board. A Prototype of using camera on Snowball was made. Presentations Given by Linaro Android Team this cycle “Binary Blobs Attack!!!” – Embedded Linux Conference. “What Android and Embedded Linux can learn from each other” – Embedded Linux Conference. “Integrating Projects Using […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 61 Comments on Raspberry Pi Releases 1st SD Card Image (Debian) – How-to use it in QEMU

Raspberry Pi Releases 1st SD Card Image (Debian) – How-to use it in QEMU

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has just released the first SD Card Image that you will be able to use with your Raspberry Pi board. This image is based on Debian Squeeze (6.0) and comes with  LXDE user interface and Midori browser, development tools, and sample code for accessing the multimedia functionality on the device. You can download it using BitTorrent: debian6-17-02-2012.zip.torrent (preferred method) or via one of the many http mirrors available on RPi Community page. This image contains all necessary files including the binary blob and closed source libraries, the kernel and the root file systems. If you want to to prepare an SD Card with this image simply use dd in Linux: unzip debian6-17-02-2012.zip sudo dd if=debian6-17-02-2012/debian6-17-02-2012.img of={sd_card_path} where sd_card_path is the device pointing to you SD Card (e.g. /dev/sdc). Make sure you use the correct device (e.g. with fdisk -l) or you may wipeout your hard drive […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Pengutronix uCLinux 3.2 for Energy Micro EFM32 Cortex-M3 Gecko MCUs

Pengutronix uCLinux 3.2 for Energy Micro EFM32 Cortex-M3 Gecko MCUs

Energy Micro and Pengutronix announced that they will be demonstrating µClinux for Cortex-M3 on the EFM32 Gecko range (Leopard and Giant) of MCU during  Embedded World Conference 2012 on 28 February – 1 March 2011 in Nuremberg, Germany. Pengutronix’s port of µClinux features the Linux 3.2 kernel, providing the cost and time-to-market benefits of Linux operating system, while maintaining low current consumption of just 1.6mA when in idle mode. The company explains that using µClinux reduces design cycles and accelerates time-to-market by giving the designer access to ready-made system functions such as IP connectivity, file systems, and multi-tasking. Users can also employ the broad range of free software and drivers available as open source, within a robust, portable open source framework. The teaser video (below) shows that the demo platform (Giant Gecko Development Kit?) uses 4 MB of RAM (755 KB used after boot-up) and the MCU delivers 9.07 Bogomips. […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Mentor Embedded Linux Kits for BeagleBoard and PandaBoard

Mentor Embedded Linux Kits for BeagleBoard and PandaBoard

Mentor Embedded has recently released free Linux Kits for the BeagleBoard (TI OMAP3) and Pandaboard (TI OMAP4) low cost development boards. Both Mentor Embedded Linux (MEL) kits include: Mentor Embedded Linux Lite, a pre-built Yocto-based distribution, including libraries and headers A Linux Board Support Package (BSP) for your reference board A pre-built filesystem for the target Sourcery CodeBench Lite for application development Installation / Application Development Guides Since Mentor Embedded provides the “Lite” version of their kits, some of the tools mentioned in the diagram above (e.g. Codebench IDE,  System Analyzer…) are not available in the free kits. After free registration, you can download the 2 kits on Mentor Embedded website: PandaBoard Linux Kit BeagleBoard Linux Kit and you’ll have access to 3 downloads: Mentor Embedded Linux Kit Installer Quick Start guides Source files which are optional. You can get support for the kits via Mentor Embedded Linux mailing list. […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on HUD (Head-Up Display) Comes to Ubuntu 12.04

HUD (Head-Up Display) Comes to Ubuntu 12.04

Ubuntu has announced Head-Up Display (HUD) for Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) a contextual search interface that could, as Canonical expects, ultimately replace menus in Unity applications. So when Ubuntu 12.04 is released in April 2012, it will be the first LTS (Long Term Support) Ubuntu version with the Unity interface and the new HUD feature. I like HUD, as I find it similar to what is done in Windows 7 and what could be done with Google Desktop in Windows XP previously, although Ubuntu HUD goes further as it includes menus in the search. What I would NOT like however, is that they completely remove menus. I’d like to see it as a complement of menus (Which will be the case in 12.04), but this does not seem to be Canonical’s intention for future versions of Ubuntu (12.10 and beyond), as they want to replace menus with HUD. HUD will […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Linaro 12.01 Release with Kernel 3.2 – Android 4.0.3

Linaro 12.01 Release with Kernel 3.2 – Android 4.0.3

Linaro has just released version 12.01 based on Linux Kernel 3.2 and Android ICS upgraded to 4.0.3.  A lot of work has been done to have video hardware decoding on OMAP 4 (in GStreamer) enabling Pandaboard to run Ubuntu TV and XBMC with Video HW acceleration. Prebuilt binaries for Linaro GCC and Linaro GDBare now available which means you don’t need to use Ubuntu with Linaro Toolchain. It has been tested with Debian 6.0.2, Fedora 16, openSUSE 12.1 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5.7 and should run on any Linux Standard Base 3.0 compatible distribution. Windows binaries are also available and known to work on Windows XP Pro SP3, Windows Vista Business SP2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1. Here are the highlights of the release: Android Linaro’s ICS has been upgraded to 4.0.3. Linaro Android ICS builds are now optimized using -O3 with the Linaro Toolchain. Click through builds […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on The Past, Present and Future of Ubuntu for ARM

The Past, Present and Future of Ubuntu for ARM

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 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on Linux Kernel 3.1.9 for Raspberry Pi Released & Build Instructions

Linux Kernel 3.1.9 for Raspberry Pi Released & Build Instructions

Raspberry Pi has just announced the release of a fork a linux kernel 3.1.9. The source code with patches is available at https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux. If you just want to download the patch, I’ve created one: r-pi_linux_3.1.9.patch.gz The code related to Broadcom BCM2835 processor is referred as bcm2708 in the kernel and I can see committed related to the watchdog timer, the framebuffer,  the VCHIQ driver (the driver sending messages to the GPU) and general commits for bcm2708. For those interested in the messages used to communicate between userspace and the GPU, the VCHIQ driver code is located at drivers/misc/vc04_services in the tree. I haven’t studied it yet, but as the platform should support graphics standards such as OpenGL and OpenMAX IL, most people should not really care about this interface as I suppose the OpenGL library (Mesa?) uses this driver. Here are the build instructions for Raspberry Pi kernel. I cross-compiled […]