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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Linux 7.0 Release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 7.0 Release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 7.0

Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 7.0 on LKML: The last week of the release continued the same “lots of small fixes” trend, but it all really does seem pretty benign, so I’ve tagged the final 7.0 and pushed it out. I suspect it’s a lot of AI tool use that will keep finding corner cases for us for a while, so this may be the “new normal” at least for a while. Only time will tell. Anyway, this last week was a little bit of everything: networking (core and drivers), arch fixes, tooling and selftests, and various random fixes all over the place. Let’s keep testing, and obviously tomorrow the merge window for 7.1 opens. I already have four dozen pull requests pending – thank you to all the early people. Linus This follows the Linux 6.19 release about two months ago, which brought us PCIe link encryption and […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Android 17 Beta 1 released with H.266/VVC support, camera improvements, and more

Android 17 Beta 1 released with H.266/VVC support, camera improvements, and more

Android 17

Google has just announced the release of Android 17 Beta 1 with performance improvements, H.266/VVC video codec support, smoother camera mode transitions, privacy and security enhancements, and more. The company is not releasing Developer Previews anymore, and instead follows the “continuous Canary channel” announced with the first Android 16 Developer Preview. So, with Android 17, the very first release is the “Beta 1” release. Some of the key changes in Android 17 so far: Developers can’t opt out of orientation and resizability restrictions on large screen devices (sw > 600 dp), so they’ll have to make sure their apps work on tablets, foldables, and desktop windowing environments. With one exception: apps categorized as games with android:appCategory flag. Google published a separate blog post about the change. Performance improvements and tools Lock-free MessageQueue that will reduce missed frames. Added Generational garbage collection to ART’s Concurrent Mark-Compact collector. This aims to reduce […]

Posted on by Kumpee Teeravech - No Comments on DFRobot HUSKYLENS 2 AI camera review – From built-in AI samples to training a custom model to detect elephants

DFRobot HUSKYLENS 2 AI camera review – From built-in AI samples to training a custom model to detect elephants

Huskylens 2 Ai camera review

Hello, today I am going to review the HUSKYLENS 2, released in October 2025. It is the next generation of HUSKYLENS, an AI vision sensor equipped with a Kendryte K230 dual-core RISC-V SoC with a 6 TOPS AI accelerator and a 2.4-inch IPS touchscreen. The device runs machine vision algorithms fully on-device, providing fast and low-latency performance, and includes more than 15 built-in AI models. HUSKYLENS 2 also supports deploying custom-trained models, including integration with Large Language Models (LLMs) via a Model Context Protocol (MCP) service. In addition, it is compatible with various microcontrollers, such as Arduino and Raspberry Pi, through UART or I2C communication interfaces. HUSKYLENS 2 unboxing The manufacturer sent the HUSKYLENS 2 module and the Microscope Lens separately. Both parcels were shipped from Chengdu, China, and arrived at my office in Chanthaburi, Thailand, in about one week. The parcels were packed in standard cardboard boxes and arrived […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Fusion HAT+ Raspberry Pi expansion board targets motor and servo control with AI and LLMs

Fusion HAT+ Raspberry Pi expansion board targets motor and servo control with AI and LLMs

SunFounder Fusion HAT+

SunFounder Fusion HAT+ for Raspberry Pi 5/4/3B+ and Zero single board computers is a motor control and GPIO expansion board designed to work with LLMs such as ChatGPT or Gemini using the board’s built-in speaker and microphone for voice interaction. It features four DC motor drivers, twelve PWM servo channels, four ADC inputs, I2C, SPI, and UART interface for sensors, and ships with two 18650 rechargeable batteries with smart power management & safe shutdown. It can be used in smart cars, humanoid robots, robotic arms, multi-legged spiders, and smart home systems. Fusion HAT+ specifications: MCU – Gigadevices GD32E203C8T6 Arm Cortex-M23 microcontroller @ 72MHz with 64KB flash, 8KB SRAM. Motor control – 4x motor ports Audio 2030 audio chamber speaker connected to an I2S audio port MEMS microphone Expansion 4-channel digital pins 4-pin I2C interface compatible with Qwiic/STEMMA Qt 7-pin SPI interface 4-pin UART interface 12-channel PWM pins for servos 4-channel […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Progress on upstream Linux for MediaTek Genio IoT SoCs and boards

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 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Google’s open-source, RISC-V-based Coral NPU is integrated into Synaptics SL2610 Edge AI SoCs

Google’s open-source, RISC-V-based Coral NPU is integrated into Synaptics SL2610 Edge AI SoCs

Google Coral NPU

Google has very recently introduced Coral NPU full-stack, open-source RISC-V-based platform for always-on AI on low-power edge devices and wearables. The first chip to integrate the Coral NPU is the upcoming Synaptics Astra SL2610 family. Google Coral NPU The Coral NPU aims to address the software fragmentation on entry-level AI accelerators that makes them difficult to program. By releasing an open-source NPU and associated source code, Google hopes its design will be adopted by silicon vendors, reduce software fragmentation over time, and help machine learning (ML) developers bring products to market faster. Building on the works on the Coral platform, the new, open-source Coral NPU is comprised of three main components: A scalar core – A lightweight, C-programmable RISC-V core that manages data flow to the back-end cores. It uses a simple “run-to-completion” model for ultra-low power consumption and traditional CPU functions. A vector execution unit – A single instruction […]

Posted on by Debashis Das - No Comments on Embedr Arduino IDE features Gemini-powered AI assistant with local code completion

Embedr Arduino IDE features Gemini-powered AI assistant with local code completion

Embedr AI Arduino IDE

Embedr is an AI-powered Arduino-like IDE designed to simplify development for Arduino-compatible microcontrollers. It looks very similar to the Cursor code editor and uses Microsoft’s Monaco Editor and Arduino CLI tools to enable features such as intelligent code suggestions, project skeleton generation, and visual debugging. Embedr has all the Arduino features that you are familiar with, and on top of that, you can add other LLMs and experiment just by adding the required plugin and connecting them via API keys. We’ve previously seen Arduino release their Claude-based Arduino Cloud Editor, which runs in the browser for context-aware coding assistance. But the problem with that is, if you don’t have internet, you can’t use the IDE. Embedr runs locally and uses Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash LLM, meaning you can compile and debug your code offline without needing a constant internet connection. Additionally, Embedr gives you greater control and privacy compared to […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Linux 6.15 Release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.15 Release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.15 release

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 6.15: So this was delayed by a couple of hours because of a last-minute bug report resulting in one new feature being disabled at the eleventh hour, but 6.15 is out there now. Apart from that final scramble, things looked pretty normal last week. Various random small fixes all over, with drivers as usual accounting for most of it. But we’ve got some bcachefs fixes, some core networking, and some mm fixes in there too. Nothing looks particularly scary. And this obviously means that the merge window opens tomorrow as usual, and I see the usual people being proactive and having sent me their pull requests. It’s memorial day tomorrow here in the US, but like the USPS, “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” – nor memorial day – stops the merge window. [ Actually, thinking back […]

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