arm News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

December 3, 2025December 3, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Tyr – A Rust GPU driver for Arm Mali GPUs

One interesting addition to the just-released Linux 6.18 kernel is the Tyr Rust GPU driver for CSF-based Arm Mali GPUs, which is a port of the mature Panthor C GPU driver merged into Linux 6.10. It was developed by Collabora in collaboration with Arm and Google. Tyr aims to implement the same userspace API offered by Panthor, so that it can eventually be used as a drop-in replacement in the company’s PanVK Vulkan driver. After several years, the Tyr Rust driver might replace the Panthor C driver, but in the meantime, Panthor will keep being used since it is more mature and conformant with OpenGL ES 3.1 since July 2024. The work on Tyr is fairly advanced, and Collabora provided an update at the end of November. The key takeaway is that the Tyr (prototype) driver works with GNOME, Weston, and even full-screen 3D games like SuperTuxKart while matching the […]

December 1, 2025December 4, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Linux 6.18 LTS release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

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 […]

November 17, 2025 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Nuvoton NuMicro M55M1 low-power Arm Cortex-M55 MCU enables on-device AI with Ethos-U55 NPU

Nuvoton’s NuMicro M55M1 is a low-power AI MCU that combines a 220 MHz Arm Cortex-M55 CPU with a 111 GOPS Ethos-U55 NPU to run basic AI tasks on-device. It specifically targets small IoT and embedded devices that need low-power voice, audio, or simple image processing. The chip embeds 1.5 MB RAM, 2 MB flash, and supports external OctoSPI/HyperRAM memory. Connectivity options include Ethernet, USB-OTG, CAN-FD, I3C/I2C/SPI, SDIO, and an 8-bit camera interface, along with ADCs, DACs, comparators, PWM, and multiple low-power modes. It’s built for secure IoT applications with Arm TrustZone, secure boot, AES, and PSA Level 2 certification. Typical uses include voice triggers, smart sensors, simple vision nodes, small appliances, and industrial monitoring devices. Nuvoton NuMicro M55M1 specifications: CPU Core – 220 MHz Arm Cortex-M55 core Architecture – Armv8.1-M with Helium M-Profile Vector Extension (MVE) Arm TrustZone Technology DSP extensions Hardware Floating-point Unit (FPU), double-precision Cache – 16KB I-Cache […]

November 11, 2025November 11, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

$500+ MINISFORUM MS-R1 Arm Linux AI mini PC features CIX CP8180 12-core SoC, up to 64GB LPDDR5x

MINISFORUM MS-R1 is an AI mini PC running Debian 12 Linux that’s powered by a CIX P1 (CP8180) 12-core Arm Cortex-A720/A520 processor with up to 45 TOPS of AI performance. The mini PC supports up to 64GB of soldered-on LPDDR5 memory, M.2 storage, and provides HDMI, USB-C DP, and eDP display interfaces, two 10GbE ports and WiFi 6E, a total of nine USB ports, a PCIe Gen x16 slot for a graphics card, U.2 storage, or networking expansion, a 40-pin internal GPIO header, and more. MINISFORUM MS-R101 specifications: SoC – Cix CP8180 (P1) 12-core DynamIQ processor 4x Cortex‑A720 big cores @ up to 2.6 GHz 4x Cortex‑A720 medium cores 4x Cortex‑A520 LITTLE cores Cache – 12MB shared L3 cache GPU – Arm Immortalis G720 MC10 with hardware ray-tracing support, graphics APIs: Vulkan 1.3, OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 3.0 VPU Video Decoder – Up to 8Kp60 AV1, H.265, H.264, VP9, VP8, H.263, […]

October 17, 2025 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Allwinner T153-based industrial SoM and SBC feature a mix of Arm Cortex-A7 and RISC-V cores

Forlinx FET153 S Allwinner T153 System on Module

Forlinx has recently introduced the Allwinner T153-based FET153-S SoM and the OK153-S SBC. The Allwinner T153 processor features a hybrid architecture that combines a quad-core Arm Cortex-A7 CPU with an XuanTie E907 RISC-V core. The board features up to 1GB DDR3 RAM, 8GB eMMC, triple Gigabit Ethernet, dual CAN-FD, RS-485, and a Local Bus for PSRAM or FPGA expansion. Display options include support for RGB, LVDS, and MIPI DSI interfaces, and camera inputs are offered via parallel or MIPI CSI. Additional I/O include multiple UART, I²C, SPI, I²S, GPADC, and GPIO options, along with Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, a USB Type-C OTG port, and a Mini PCIe socket for 4G modules. Target applications include real-time control and edge computing, industrial automation, IoT gateways, and embedded systems. Forlinx FET153-S system-on-module Specifications: SoC – Allwinner T153 CPU 4x Arm Cortex-A7 cores @ up to 1.6GHz XuanTie E907 RISC-V core @ up to 600MHz GPU – 2D […]

October 2, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme and X2 Elite processors target high-end Windows PCs

Qualcomm has recently announced the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) and Snapdragon X2 Elite (X2E-88-100 and X2E-80-100) processors for Windows PCs, which the company claims are the “Fastest and Most Efficient” for laptops. All three 3nm parts are equipped with six Performance cores clocked at up to 3.6 GHz, six or twelve Premium cores clocked at up to 5 GHz (single core) or 4.4 GHz (multi-core), an Adreno X2-85 or X2-90 GPU, an 80 TOPS Hexagon NPU for Copilot+, and an LPDDR5x memory interface for up to 128+ GB memory with up to 228GB/s bandwidth. Other highlights include the Snapdragon X75 5G modem, FastConnect 7800 WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 chipset, 4K video resolution for built-in and external displays, USB4, PCIe Gen5 interfaces, and more. Let’s check the full specifications and differences between the three Snapdragon X2 Elite devices in the table below. Qualcomm claims the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme […]

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 22, 2025September 25, 2025 by Sponsored Post - 7 Comments

Compex “JustWiFi⁷™” driverless, Ethernet-connected Wi-Fi 7 module delivers up to 10 Gbps throughput (Sponsored)

Compex JustWiFi7 vs WiFi7 dual band dual concurrent module

Compex Systems (Compex) is redefining how wireless is integrated into modern embedded and industrial systems with the launch of JustWiFi⁷™, a one-of-a-kind, driverless, tri-band concurrent Wi-Fi 7 module that connects through Ethernet protocols. Designed to eliminate the complexity of traditional wireless integration, JustWiFi⁷™ makes high-performance Wi-Fi deployment faster, simpler, and smarter. Rethinking Wi-Fi Integration: No Drivers. No Hassle. JustWiFi⁷™ Most of the Wi-Fi modules today rely on PCIe, SDIO, or USB interfaces and are controlled through drivers. Developers will need to deal with the drivers’ compatibility with the host platform, particularly its OS and kernel version. The drivers for Wi-Fi 7 are particularly complex due to the standard’s advanced features. Many open-sourced drivers and sometimes the host CPU are not able to deliver the full capabilities of the Wi-Fi 7 chipset. These complications often unnecessarily slow down and add to the development time and effort. Engineered for speed, simplicity, and […]