Category: Ubuntu

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on Wandboard Dual Benchmarks, Serial Console Fun, and Distributions List

Wandboard Dual Benchmarks, Serial Console Fun, and Distributions List

Since last time I tried Android and Ubuntu on the Wandboard, a few things happened. I’m not talking about Wandboard Quad announcement, but instead I received a Class 10 SD card, which makes the system so much responsive, and a RS232 to USB adapter so that I can access the serial console. So today, I’ll publish some benchmark results on Wandboard Dual since none appear to be available, and play a little with the serial console. A few things also happened on the operating systems side with more distributions now available for the board. Prerequisites I ran benchmark in Android, so I installed the latest Android 4.1.2 image (11th of April 2012) to my new SD card (ADATA 16 GB Class 10), and contrary to my poor experience on a 4GB Class 4 micro SD, everything was very fluid. I’ve also installed Google Play in order to install the applications. […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments on Rockchip RK3188 Linux Source Code is Now Available

Rockchip RK3188 Linux Source Code is Now Available

Good news! I’ve just read Rockchip RK3188 Linux source code has just been released via Rikomagic, and Alok Sinha, the main maintainer of RK3066 source code, has already imported into github, and we should soon see a PicUntu image for RK3188 mini PCs. Let’s have a look:

[Update: you may have to run “sudo apt-get install libc6-i386” before running make_kernel_ruikemei.sh below, as mkkrnlimg is a 32-bit binary] Usually, I immediately look into arch/arm/configs, but this time, there’s a “funny” script called make_kernel_ruikemei.sh, and .config already have some CONFIG_RK3188, so let’s run it:

After just over a minute, success!:

This kernel image is for Android only, and there’s a little work to modify it as a “pure” Linux kernel, so that it can be used to boot PicUnutu for RK3188. Let’s go back to arch/arm/configs, and we’ll find several RK3188 configs: rk3168_86v_defconfig rk3188_dongle_defconfig rk3188_ds1006h_defconfig rk3188_ds1006h_v1_0_defconfig rk3188_hotdog_defconfig rk3188_LR097_defconfig rk3188_magicwand_defconfig […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Calxeda Showcases Aaeon and Foxconn ARM Servers at Computex 2013

Calxeda Showcases Aaeon and Foxconn ARM Servers at Computex 2013

ARM started to get involved in servers in 2011 with the announcements of Calxeda Energy Core, Marvell, and Applied Micro X-Gene Servers-on-a-Chip, and in 2012, products made by companies such as HP and Mitac  started to appears. We’ve got to see some more ARM based servers this year thanks to Charbax, who filmed some Aaeon and Foxconn servers powered by Calxeda EnergyCore quad core ARM Cortex A9 SoC at Computex 2013. The first server is Aaeon Indus 1U cloud storage appliance: 1U Chassis 2x Calxeda Energycore nodes 10x 3.5″ HDD 2x 10 GbE uplinks and 4x 10GbE chassis-to-chassis interconnects Foxconn server shown at Computex has slightly higher specs: 4U chassis 12 Calxeda Energycore nodes 60x 3.5″ HDD for up to 240TB storage 4x 10 GbE uplinks and 6x 10 GbE chassis-to-chassis interconnects for 100 GbE total bandwidth There’s also a Gigabyte server, but I could get details. Server based on […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Gumstix Alto35 Customizable Touchscreen Board

Gumstix Alto35 Customizable Touchscreen Board

A few months ago, Gumstix introduced Geppeto, a web platform that allows you to design and order your own baseboard for Gumstix Overo systems-on-module within minutes. The company has just announced Alto35, an expansion board built entirely with Geppetto. The Alto35 replaces Palo35 Overo-series expansion board with the same features, but adding the possibility of customizing the board via Geppetto. Alto34 expansions board features the following: 3.5″ LCD resistive touch screen Stereo audio in/out jacks 3D accelerometer (STMicro LIS33DE) RC servo USB – 2x USB mini-B ports, including console port (FT232RQ USB UART) LEDs in 4 different colors, 2 tactile switches. 2×70-pin AVX Headers compatible with Overo COMs. Power – 3.5V-5V All Overo computers-on-module are compatible with Alto35 board, so you can just use existing software solutions such as Linaro Ubuntu, Robot Operating System, and the Yocto Project. Alto35 is available for $89 including the display (not the Overo module), […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Linaro 13.05 Release With Linux Kernel 3.10, Android 4.2.2, and Ubuntu Raring Ringtail

Linaro 13.05 Release With Linux Kernel 3.10, Android 4.2.2, and Ubuntu Raring Ringtail

Linaro 13.05 has just been released with Linux Kernel 3.10-rc2 and Android 4.2.2. This is the first release with Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail) images. There’s also Linux Linaro Stable (LSK) preview based on kernel 3.9.4. BeagleBone Black support has been added and preliminary hwpack and images are available, an Android Arndale image with virtual framebuffer is also available. You can now get a desktop environment (XFCE) on Aarch64 / ARMv8. Hardware packs with Real-time Linux kernel (PREEMPT_RT) can be downloaded for Pandaboard and Arndale. More work has gone into Aarch64, big.LITTLE HMP, and ARM virtualization (KVM). Finally an UEFI is available not only for Vexpress boards, but also Samsung Origen and Arndale boards, as well as Texas Instruments Pandabord and Beagleboard. Here are the highlights of this release: LAVA First prototype production run of LAVA Lmp completed, tested functional. Beaglebone Black is now running in LAVA. TC2s is now running […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on RebeccaBlackOS is a Linux Distribution Showcasing Wayland

RebeccaBlackOS is a Linux Distribution Showcasing Wayland

nerdopolis, a developer and a Rebecca Black fan, has been maintaining a Linux distribution called RebeccaBlackOS that uses Wayland’s reference compositor Weston as the default for handling its graphical user interface, and automatically start “Friday” song as it boots. This distribution actually supports both Wayland and X, as even though QT, GTK, EFL (Enlightenment Foundation Libraries), Clutter, and SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) have all been compiled to support Wayland, many apps don’t work with Wayland, so Xwayland provides a way to run many, but not all, X apps in Wayland. You can try the latest 1.8 GB ISO image (24 May 2013), which is based on 32-bit Kubuntu 13.04, by transferring it to a USB flash drive via Unetbootin, or by using the ISO directly in VirtualBox (it will then use the framebuffer). I planned to try it before writing this post, by the “18 hours, 10 minutes remaining” message […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments on $129 Wandboard Quad Board With Freescale i.MX 6Quad and 2GB RAM

$129 Wandboard Quad Board With Freescale i.MX 6Quad and 2GB RAM

When Wandboard launches their Wandboard Solo and Wandboard Dual boards, many people asked when there would be a quad core version. At the time, the company said they had no plan for a quad core version to keep costs low. If we are to believe a Wandboard Quad listing on mouser.com, they must have changed their mind of they now offer a Freescale i.MX6 Quad version with 2GB RAM, and SATA support, which will sell for $129 (as shown on Wandboard site) or $139 (mouser.com) once it becomes available. The Specifications are very similar to Wandboard Dual, except for the quad core processor, 2GB RAM, and working SATA connector: SoC – Freescale i.MX 6Quad quad core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.2 GHz + Vivante GC2000 GPU System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 2x micro SD card slot + SATA connector Video Output – HDMI Audio I/O – HDMI, S/PDIF […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on 2013 Embedded Market Study – Software Development & Processors

2013 Embedded Market Study – Software Development & Processors

UBM releases a study of the embedded market every year, by surveying over 1,000 embedded professional every year. They’ve just published their 2013 Embedded Market Study (85 pages report), after surveying over 2,000 engineers and managers, so let’s see whether anything has evolved in the software development and processor space compared to 2012. Again this year, most respondents are based in the US (62%), followed by Europe (20%), and Asia (12%). C/C++ languages still rule the embedded world with 81% market share, although a little less than last year (85%), assembler is a distant third (5%). Interestingly, the average size of development teams seems to have shrunk from 15.9 in 2012 to 14.6 in 2013, the average project being composed of 4 software engineers, 2.9 hardware engineers, 2.7 firmware engineers, 2 QA/Test engineers, 1.5 system integrators, and 1.5 with other functions. About a third of project last less than 6 […]