Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 6.18 on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML), which will likely become the next LTS kernel [update: it’s now official]: So I’ll have to admit that I’d have been happier with slightly less bugfixing noise in this last week of the release, but while there’s a few more fixes than I would hope for, there was nothing that made me feel like this needs more time to cook. So 6.18 is tagged and pushed out. Most of the last-minute fixes are minor fixes to drivers, with some random noise elsewhere (bluetooth, ceph, afs..). Nothing strikes me as standing out, but hey, there’s a shortlog appended if you want to see the details. And this obviously means that the merge window will open tomorrow, and I already have three dozen pull requests pending. Thanks. And as I already mentioned a couple of […]
Giveaway Week 2025 winners announced!
CNX Software’s Giveaway Week 2025 has just ended and we’ve now ready to announce the winners. We offered some of the review samples we tested, and three companies joined us offering new samples, namely Banana Pi with two router boards, VOIPAC with an industrial development kit, and RAKwireless offered two of their IoT development kits for the fifth year running. Besides the aforementioned prize, we also included an ESP32-P4 development kit, a dry switch from SONOFF, a Raspberry Pi CM4-based HMI with a 915MHz LoRa module, a 5-inch Raspberry Pi Touch Display, and two USB PD voltage indicators on both CNX Software “International” and CNX Software Thailand. You can see all prizes shown below. Without further ado, here are the seven winners of Giveaway Week 2025 on CNX Software (English): M5Stack M5Tab – Ed, Canada Elecrow Pi Terminal – Tom, Finland Banana Pi BPI-R4 Lite router board – Stef, Belgium […]
Giveaway Week 2025 – VOIPAC iMX93 Pro industrial development kit
The sixth prize of this year’s Giveaway Week is a VOIPAC iMX93 Pro industrial development kit with an NXP i.MX 93 Cortex-A55/M33 Edge AI SoC, 2GB LPDDR4, and 16GB eMMC flash. The development kit offers dual Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6, and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, HDMI, DisplayPort, and HDMI display interfaces, three audio jacks, two MIPI CSI camera interfaces, various USB ports, M.2 sockets, and more. It targets artificial intelligence, machine learning, human-machine interface (HMI) solutions, and more. I reviewed the VOIPAC IMX8M industrial development kit and subsequently gave it away in 2023, but I haven’t done a review of the iMX93 development kit. Instead, one lucky winner will get it directly from VOIPAC. Alternatively, they can offer the new iMX91 industrial development kit, if you prefer. You can also write your preferred kit in the comments (optional). The company provides Linux built with Yocto Project 5.0 Scarthgap for the […]
NXP i.MX 952 processor supports local dimming for AI-enhanced automotive and industrial HMIs
NXP has recently introduced the i.MX 952 applications processor, a new member of the i.MX 95 series, designed for AI-powered automotive and industrial applications, including driver monitoring, child presence detection, and in-cabin HMIs. The i.MX 952 features up to four Arm Cortex-A55 cores with Cortex-M7 and M33 microcontroller cores, and is compliant with ISO 26262 ASIL B and SIL2/SIL3 standards. It integrates an eIQ Neutron NPU for AI-based sensor fusion, a 500 Mpixel/s ISP with RGB-IR support, and is the first processor with built-in local dimming for better display efficiency. Security features include EdgeLock Secure Enclave with post-quantum cryptography, meeting ISO 21434 and IEC 62443 standards. It can be interfaced with NXP’s PF09 PMIC, PF53 regulator, Trimension UWB, and IW693/AW693 Wi-Fi 6/6E SoCs, and is pin-to-pin compatible with other members of the i.MX 95 family. NXP i.MX 952 specifications: CPU Up to 4 Arm Cortex-A55 cores with 32KB + 32KB L1-cache, 64KB L2 […]
ADLINK OSM-IMX95 – An NXP i.MX 95 OSM Size-L system-on-module for IoT and industrial applications
ADLINK OSM-IMX95 is an OSM Size-L solder-on system-on-module powered by an NXP i.MX 95 hexa-core Arm Cortex-A55 SoC with an up to 2 TOPS eIQ Neutron NPU/AI accelerator. It follows the OSM-IMX93 OSM Size-L module based on NXP i.MX 93 SoC, but features a more powerful SoC, up to 16GB LPDDR4L RAM, up to 256GB eMMC flash, and high-speed interfaces like USB 3.0 and PCIe Gen3. The new NXP i.MX 95 OSM module is designed for Smart Home, Smart Building, Smart City, medical, and Industry 4.0 applications. ADLINK OSM-IMX95: SoC – NXP i.MX 95 CPU Up to 6x Arm Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz Real-time co-processors – Arm Cortex-M7 @ 800MHz and Cortex-M33 @ 250MHz 2D/3D Graphics Acceleration Arm Mali-G310 3D GPU with OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.2, OpenCL 3.0 2D GPU Video Encode / Decode – 4Kp30 H.265 and H.264 AI/ML – 2 TOPS eIQ Neutron NPU System […]
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 […]
5 Ways Embedded AI Processors are Revolutionizing Device Performance (Sponsored)
Artificial intelligence (AI) is moving from cloud-first architectures to edge-first designs, so more processing now runs on phones, cameras, and embedded controllers. Running inference on-device cuts latency and keeps sensitive data local. This momentum is reshaping product roadmaps, all due to different revolutions driven by edge AI. The Core Revolutions Driven by Edge AI Instead of routing every model and signal to the cloud, devices are processing more data locally to act faster and protect sensitive information. Because edge AI is changing where intelligence runs, IDC estimates global spending on edge computing reached about $261 billion in 2025. This rapid enterprise investment is due to several reasons. 1. Enabling Real-Time, On-Device Decisions Eliminating the cloud round-trip lets devices turn sensor input into action in milliseconds. This capability is essential for industrial automation and control loops because embedded AI processors run optimized models on-device, so decisions happen continuously. 2. Strengthening Privacy […]
Advantech unveils NXP i.MX 95 SMARC 2.2 and OSM Size L system-on-modules
Advantech has introduced two new NXP i.MX 95 system-on-modules: the AOM-5521, compliant with the SMARC 2.2 standard, and the solder-on AOM-2521 OSM Size L system-on-module. With up to six Arm Cortex-A55 cores running at up to 2.0 GHz, a dedicated 2 TOPS NPU, and up to 8GB LPDDR4/5 memory, the AOM-5521 and AOM-2521 modules target industrial automation, medical devices, intelligent vision systems, and other Edge AI and IoT applications. AOM-5521 SMARC 2.1 CPU module AOM-5521 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 95 CPU Up to 6x Arm Cortex-A55 application cores clocked at 2.0 GHz with 32K I-cache and D-cache, 64KB L2 cache, and 512KB L3 cache 1x Arm Cortex-M7 real-time core clocked at 800 MHz 1x Arm Cortex-M33 safety core clocked at 333 MHz GPU – Arm Mali-G310 V2 GPU for 2D/3D acceleration with support for OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.2, OpenCL 3.0 VPU 4Kp30 H.265 and H.264 encode and decode […]
