Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Linux 4.16 Release – Main Changes, Arm and MIPS Architectures

Linux 4.16 Release – Main Changes, Arm and MIPS Architectures

Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 4.16: So the take from final week of the 4.16 release looks a lot like rc7, in that about half of it is networking. If it wasn’t for that, it would all be very small and calm. We had a number of fixes and cleanups elsewhere, but none of it made me go “uhhuh, better let this soak for another week”. And davem didn’t think the networking was a reason to delay the release, so I’m not. End result: 4.16 is out, and the merge window for 4.17 is open and I’ll start doing pull requests tomorrow. Outside of networking, most of the last week was various arch fixlets (powerpc, arm, x86, arm64), some driver fixes (mainly scsi and rdma) and misc other noise (documentation, vm, perf). The appended shortlog gives an overview of the details (again, this is only the small stuff in the last week, if you want the full 4.16 changelog …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments on Grapeboard Raspberry Pi Lookalike Comes with Dual Gigabit Ethernet, Two USB 3.0 Ports

Grapeboard Raspberry Pi Lookalike Comes with Dual Gigabit Ethernet, Two USB 3.0 Ports

Scalys is a startup founded in 2016 in the Netherlands by Sintecs in order to provide advanced high-performance embedded system solutions for automotive-, avionics-, defence-, industrial-, medical and telecommunication industries. So the company is rather new, but if you visit their website, you’ll find they already have several systems-on-module and single board computers (SBCs) based on NXP QorIQ processors. Grapeboard SBC is their latest product powered by NXP QorIQ LS1012A (LayerScape 1012A) single core SoC with 1GB RAM, and equipped with two Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, two USB 3.0 ports, an M.2 SATA connector, etc… that make it suitable for IoT applications such as sensor/IoT gateways, communication hubs, and secure edge devices. GrapeBoard specifications: SoC – NXP QorIQ LS1012A single core Cortex A53 processor @ up to 800 MHz with Packet Forwarding Engine System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage 64Mb (8MB) SPI NOR Flash for BCD and bootloader, 512Mb/64MB SPI NOR Flash for u-boot and Linux kernel micro SD card slot …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on NXP Announces OpenIL Industrial Real-Time Linux Distribution for Industry 4.0

NXP Announces OpenIL Industrial Real-Time Linux Distribution for Industry 4.0

NXP has announced the release of OpenIL industrial Linux distribution with real-time OS extensions and Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) support for factory-automation for the Industry 4.0 era. The OpenIL distribution includes support for per-stream policing, time-aware shaping of network traffic, and 801.1AS time synchronization, and supports NXP Layerscape SoCs and boards such as LS1028A dual ARMv8 processor, or LS1021A-IOT IoT gateway. Some notable OpenIL features include: Xenomai real-time extensions to Unix, making porting relatively easy from an RTOS like VxWorks or pSOS Extensible Markup Language (XML) and NETCONF-based network configuration utilities for TSN Generalized precision time protocol (gPTP) with the linuxptp daemon Drivers for the Ethernet Interfaces and the NXP SJA1105T TSN switch Support for edge computing services Optional instantiation of the Ubuntu user-space filesystem layout You’ll find the source code on Gihub, and some more information on OpenIL.org website. NXP appears to be the only company involved in the project, and they’re currently demonstrating their OS during SPS IPC Drives …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on NXP Introduces Kinetis K27/K28 MCU, QorIQ Layerscape LS1028A Industrial SoC, and i.MX 8X Cortex A35 SoC Family

NXP Introduces Kinetis K27/K28 MCU, QorIQ Layerscape LS1028A Industrial SoC, and i.MX 8X Cortex A35 SoC Family

NXP pushed out several press releases with the start of Embedded World 2017 in Germany, including three new micro-controllers/processors addressing different market segments: Kinetis K27/K28 MCU Cortex M4 MCU family, QorIQ Layerscape LS1028A industrial applications processor, and i.MX 8X SoC family for display and audio applications, 3D graphic display clusters, telematics and V2X (Vehicle to everything). NXP Kinetis K27/K28 MCU NXP Kinetis K27/K28 MCU family is based on an ARM Cortex-M4 core clocked at up to 150 MHz with FPU,and includes up to 1MB embedded SRAM, 2MB flash, and especially target portable display applications. Kinetis K27/K28 MCUs share the following main features: 2x I2S interfaces, 2x USB Controllers (High-Speed with integrated High-Speed PHY and Full-Speed) and mainstream analog peripherals 32-bit SDRAM memory controller and QuadSPI interface supporting eXecution-In-Place (XiP) True Random Number Generator, Cyclic Redundancy Check, Memory Mapped Cryptographic Acceleration Unit K28 supports 3 input supply voltage rails (1.2V, 1.8V and 3V) + separate VBAT domain, implements a Power Management …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on NXP QorIQ LayerScape LA1575 Programmable Wireless SoC to Support 5G, 802.11ax & 802.11ad WiFi, and Wireline

NXP QorIQ LayerScape LA1575 Programmable Wireless SoC to Support 5G, 802.11ax & 802.11ad WiFi, and Wireline

NXP has recently announced QorIQ LayerScape LA1575 programmable wireless platform with two ARMv8 cores, and simultaneous multi-standard support for 5G, Wi-Fi (802.11 ac and 802.11ax) and Wireline systems for enterprise and high-end home gateways. QorIQ LayerScape LA1575 key features and specifications: Multicore ARMv8 Processors for user applications DDR4 with ECC Programmable accelerator engines for signal processing. Programmable low latency MAC layer processing engines Programmable high performance packet processing engines to over 10 Gbps Configurable cryptographic offload engines Simultaneous multi-standard support for 5G, Wi-Fi (802.11 ac and 802.11ax) and Wireline systems Multiple Ethernet interfaces including 10Gbps PCIe gen 3.0 Integrated Trust architecture Single source clocking The main benefit of this SoC is that is is programmable, so even if some standards evolve after the release, it can be re-programmed to reflects the changes in specifications. Just to refresh everybody’s memory: 5G is the successor of 4G/LTE scheduled to start (Wave 1) around 2018, with higher speeds(Wave 2) solutions coming in 2019-2020 with up …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on LEDE 17.01.0 “Reboot” Router Operating System Released

LEDE 17.01.0 “Reboot” Router Operating System Released

LEDE (Linux Embedded Development Environment) is a fork of OpenWrt after some disagreements between developers, and while there are talks about merging OpenWrt and LEDE development, this is not done yet, and LEDE 17.01 has been released a few days ago. Some of notable LEDE 17.01 changes include: Linux kernel updated to version 4.4.50 (from 3.18 in Chaos Calmer) Update to dnsmasq 2.76, busybox 1.25.1, mbedtls 2.4.0, openssl 1.0.2k Improved Security Features Improved Networking Support Added new targets: apm821xx (AppliedMicro APM821xx) arc770 (Synopsys DesignWare ARC 770D) archs38 (Synopsys DesignWare ARC HS38) armvirt (QEMU ARM Virtual Machine) ipq806x (Qualcomm Atheros IPQ806X) layerscape (NXP Layerscape) zynq (Xilinx Zynq 7000 SoCs) Reorganized x86 target – Drop dedicated Xen DomU target, merged with x86/generic * Enable AES-NI support Build system improvements Image Builder / SDK – Rework library bundling to allow for better portability between different Linux distributions, added support for building kernel modules using the SDK You’ll find a complete list of change …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on F&S Elektronik Introduces efus A53LS NXP QorIQ LS1012A System-on-Module for Communication & Networking Applications

F&S Elektronik Introduces efus A53LS NXP QorIQ LS1012A System-on-Module for Communication & Networking Applications

NXP QorIQ LS1012A is a single core Cortex A53 communication processor that offers a 64-bit update to LS1021A dual core Cortex A7 processors found in gateways such as NXP LS1021A-IOTA IoT gateway reference design, and F&S Elektronik System has just launched efus A53LS system-on-module powered by the processor with up to 1GB RAM, up to 64SQPI NOR, access to the communication interfaces and peripherals from the processor via an efus compliant edge connector, and long term availability until 2030. efus A53LS COM specifications: Processor – NXP QorIQ Layerscape LS1012A  single core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 800MHz System Memory – 512MB DDR3 by default, supports up to 1GB DDR3 RAM Storage – Up to 64MB QSPI NOR flash on-module, I/Os for SATA and SD card on edge connector Connectivity – 2x Realtek RTL8211F(N) Gigabit Ethernet transceiver chips, optional wireless module with dual WiFi IEEE802.11b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.0 LE efus edge connector with 1x SDIO 2x Gigabit Ethernet 1x USB 3.0 …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on NXP Introduces QorIQ LS1046A Quad Cortex A72 Communication Processor with 10 GbE, SATA 3.0, PCIe 3.0, etc…

NXP Introduces QorIQ LS1046A Quad Cortex A72 Communication Processor with 10 GbE, SATA 3.0, PCIe 3.0, etc…

NXP has unveiled a new QorIQ communication processor with LS1046A based on quad ARM Cortex-A72 cores, and including 10GbE, PCIe Gen.3, SATA 3.0, and USB 3.0 interfaces. The processors targets CPE and vCPE (virtual Customer Premise Equipment), routers, NAS, and service provider gateways for the home and small office, as well as single board computers. QorIQ LS1046A key specifications: CPU – Four ARM Cortex -A72 cores with 2MB L2 cache; 32,000 CoreMarks. Memory  – 32-/64-bit DDR4 memory controller Storage – SATA 3.0 controller, quad SPI Connectivity 2x 10 Gigabit Ethernet controllers 1x 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet controller 4x Gigabit Ethernet controllers Other peripherals 3x PCIe 3.0 Controllers, x4, x2, x 1 3x USB 3.0 with integrated PHY 4x UART, 4x I2C, SPI, GPIO JTAG Support for hardware-based virtualization via ARM SMMU Packet processing acceleration –  Packet classification and distribution; hardware work scheduling, shaping, and buffer management. Integrated security engine – High-speed security protocol processing, including IPsec, SSL, DTLS, and IKE.  SEC …

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