Linux 6.x Category - Page 2 of 9 - CNX Software

November 14, 2025November 14, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Windows 95 made to run on ESP32-S3 hardware with Tiny386 x86 PC emulator

He Chunhui (hchunhui) has developed the Tiny386 x86 PC emulator in C (C99) and managed to run Windows 3.1/3.2 and Windows 95 on an ESP32-S3 devkit with a 3.5-inch display. We had already seen Linux 5.0 boot on an ESP32 board, and Olimex ESP32-S3-DevKit-LiPo run a more recent Linux 6.3 image, but I think it might be the first time somebody has loaded Windows on ESP32 hardware. Bear in mind that since the Tiny386 is an emulator running SeaBIOS, it can also boot the Linux kernel directly. He Chunhui explains that the i386 CPU emulator is built from scratch and still lacks some features, such as debugging, hardware tasking, and certain permission checks. It also includes some 486 and 586 instructions to be able to boot a modern Linux kernel and Windows. The code is rather small as the CPU emulator is only about 6,000 lines of code (LOC) long, […]

November 4, 2025November 4, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Progress on upstream Linux for MediaTek Genio IoT SoCs and boards

upstream Linux Mediatek Genio 1200 Radxa NIO 12L SBC

Collabora announced a partnership with MediaTek to bring upstream support to the Genio IoT SoCs and boards in November 2024, but since the announcement was new at the time, no work had been done, and I didn’t write about it. However, almost one year later, Collabora can now report very good progress, especially for MediaTek MT8395 boards like Genio 1200 EVK and Radxa NIO 12L, which are now usable with mainline/upstream Linux since most features are implemented. But improvements also extend to MediaTek Genio 510 and Genio 700 EVKs, and the collaboration will continue with work on newer MediaTek Genio and Kompanio processors for IoT solutions and Chromebooks. The two MediaTek Genio 1200 boards can now boot mainline Linux without any out-of-tree patches while providing support for the Audio DSP, JPEG, video hardware encoders and decoders, the Arm Mali-G57 MC5 GPU (via the open source Panfrost driver), as well as […]

October 31, 2025October 30, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Sakura Pi RK3308B SBC offers RGB LCD interface, supports mainline Linux

Sakura Pi RK3308B is a small SBC powered by the Rockchip RK3308B quad-core Cortex-A35 SoC that I saw when I covered the Linux 6.17 release at the end of last month. The board comes with 512 MB of DDR3 memory, a microSD card slot, an optional 4 GB or 8 GB eMMC flash, an RGB LCD interface to connect an LCD, two USB-C ports (one host, one OTG), a WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 module, and the usual 40-pin GPIO header. Sakura Pi RK3318B specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3308B quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 processor @ up to 1.3 GHz with built-in VAD (Voice Activity Detector); No GPU System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 SDRAM Storage MicroSD card slot Optional 4 GB or 8 GB eMMC flash Display I/F – 18-bit RGB666 LCD interface Connectivity – Dual-band WiFi 5 & Bluetooth 4.2 via Ampak AP6255 module and ceramic antenna or external antenna via […]

October 7, 2025October 7, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments

Qualcomm acquires Arduino, introduces Arduino UNO Q “dual-brain” SBC

Qualcomm has just signed an agreement to acquire Arduino, and the goal of the purchase is to “combine Qualcomm’s leading-edge products and technologies with Arduino’s vast ecosystem and community to empower businesses, students, entrepreneurs, tech professionals, educators, and enthusiasts to quickly and easily bring ideas to life.” They also took the opportunity to launch the Arduino UNO Q “dual-brain” SBC powered by a Qualcomm DragonWing QRB2210 SoC running Linux and an STMicro STM32U585 MCU for real-time control, as well as the Arduino App Lab integrated development environment to “unify the Arduino journey across Real‑time OS, Linux, Python, and AI flows”. Will the acquisition change anything? I suppose we’ll see more and more Arduino boards based on Qualcomm processors, but the company also promises to preserve Arduino’s open approach and community: Arduino will retain its independent brand, tools, and mission, while continuing to support a wide range of microcontrollers and microprocessors […]

September 29, 2025November 6, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Linux 6.17 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.17 has just been released on LKML: No huge surprises this past week, so here we are, with kernel 6.17 pushed out and ready to go. Below is the shortlog for just the last week – not the full 6.17 release – as usual. It’s not exciting, which is all good. I think the biggest patch in there is some locking fixes for some bluetooth races that could cause use-after-free situations. Whee – that’s about as exciting as it gets. Other than that, there’ the usual driver fixlets (GPU and networking dominate as usual, but “dominate” is still pretty small), there’s some minor random other driver updates, some filesystem noise, and core kernel and mm. And some selftest updates. This obviously means that the merge window for 6.18 will open tomorrow, and I already have four dozen pull requests pending. Thanks to the proactive people – you know who […]

September 5, 2025 by Debashis Das - 5 Comments

Radxa CM4 – A Raspberry Pi CM4 replacement with Rockchip RK3576 Edge AI SoC, up to 16GB RAM

The Radxa CM4 is a Raspberry Pi CM4-like compute module built around the Rockchip RK3576(J) octa-core Cortex-A72/A53 SoC and designed for Edge AI and multimedia applications. The SoC is suitable for Edge AI applications with a 6 TOPS NPU, and the module supports up to 16GB RAM. The system-on-module also features up to 256GB of onboard eMMC storage, a WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 module, and a Gigabit Ethernet PHY. Besides the two 100-pin connectors found on the Raspberry Pi CM4, the Radxa module adds another one, for extra features like UFS 2.0, dual PCIe Gen2, SATA 3, DisplayPort, and more. It comes in commercial (0 – 60°C, RK3576) and industrial (-40 – 85°C, RK3576J) variants, and Radxa guarantees availability until 2035. Radxa CM4 Specifications SoC – Rockchip RK3576 or RK3576J (industrial-grade version) CPU – Octa-core CPU with 4x Cortex-A72 cores at 2.2 GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 cores at 2.0 GHz GPU – […]

August 26, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

RCORE V2 RK3588 module launched for MNT Reform laptops (Crowdfunding)

MNT Reform has launched a crowdfunding campaign for the RCORE V2 module powered by a Rockchip RK3588 SoC coupled with up to 32GB RAM, and a 256GB eMMC flash for the company’s open-source hardware laptops, be it the original MNT Reform or the MNT Reform Pocket. It appears to me that it’s the same module as found in the MNT Reform Next 12.5-inch laptop scheduled to ship by the end of December, but it’s sold separately as an upgrade kit for users of previous models of MNT Reform laptops. The company explains that the RCORE V2 brings a third M.2 slot for fast PCIe-based Wi-Fi cards (with USB Bluetooth), and it’s easier to install since it works without an internal HDMI adapter. MNT Reform RCORE V2 specifications: Based on the Firefly iCore-3588Q module as found in the Firefly AIO-3588Q board SoC – Rockchip RK3588 CPU – Octa-core 64-bit Armv8 SoC […]

August 19, 2025August 20, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 35 Comments

Radxa Cubie A7A is a powerful SBC based on Allwinner A733 Cortex-A76/A55 AI SoC with up to 16GB RAM

Radxa Cubie A7A is a single board computer (SBC) powered by an Allwinner A733 octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 SoC with a 3 TOPS AI accelerator and up to 16GB LPDDR5 memory. Radxa came back to the Allwinner SoC family after the silicon vendor committed to improving open-source support, starting with the Radxa Cubie A5E SBC powered by an Allwinner A527/T527 SoC. But this was only the start, and we were promised a more powerful Allwinner A733 SBC before moving to the Allwinner A838 down the road. The Allwinner A733 board is now available. Meet the Radxa Cubie A7A. Radxa Cubie A7A specifications: SoC – Allwinner A733 CPU Dual-core Arm Cortex-A76 @ up to 2.00 GHz Hexa-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ up to 1.79 GHz Single-core RISC-V E902 real-time core GPU – Imagination Technologies BXM-4-64 MC1 GPU VPU 8Kp24 H.265/VP9/AVS2 decoding 4Kp30 H.265/H.264 encoding AI accelerator – Optional, up to 3 TOPS NPU System […]