Linux News - Page 232 of 481 - CNX Software

March 29, 2019March 31, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 85 Comments

ClearFog ITX Workstation May be the Ultimate Arm Developer Platform

Most people are still doing Arm development work on x86 platforms, because there aren’t really any viable equivalent in the Arm world. Current options include Edge Server SynQuacer E-Series (aka Linaro Developer Box), a $1,250 Arm PC shipping with a 24-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor, 4GB RAM (by default), a 1TB hard drive, and Geforce GT710 graphics cards, as well as the much more powerful GIGABYTE ThunderXStation workstation with up to two Cavium ThunderX 32-core Armv8 processors, 32GB to 128GB RAM configuration, NVMe storage, and more. The former was a good place to get started, but the Arm Cortex-A53 cores clicked at 1GHz provided limited performance, and the GIGAGYTE workstation costs over $12,000, so it’s only suitable for projects with specific needs and/or a high expected return on investment. That’s why there will be a discussion about Designing a next generation ARM Developer Platform at Linaro Connect 2019 next week in […]

March 29, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 37 Comments

PINE64 Plans to Move their Website on a 24-node RockPro64 Cluster

Boards’ clusters are always fun to see, and PINE64 has shared pictures of two RockPro64 clusters with respectively 48 and 24 boards neatly packed into partially custom enclosures. The 48-node cluster will feature a total of 288 cores, including 96 Arm Cortex-A72 cores and 188 Cortex-A53 cores, as well as 192GB of LPDDR4 RAM. Low cost development boards may be seen as toys by some, so it’s interesting to learn that PINE64 plans to move their complete website infrastructure including the main website, a community website, forums, wiki, and possibly IRC on the 24-node cluster, while it seems the 48-node cluster may be used for their build environment. The company has just completed the assembly of the clusters, and did not disclose the full technical details just yet. However, a progress report may be written in due time. Once the migration is done, and everything works as it should, it […]

March 28, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Ultra96-V2 96Boards AI Platform Adds Certified WiFi, PMICs, Industrial Temperature Range

Avnet Ultra96 was unveiled last year as one of the four 96Boards AI platforms designed to develop applications leveraging hardware to accelerated artificial intelligence workloads. The 96Boards CE compliant board comes with a Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC, 2GB RAM, a 16GB microSD card, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity and more. The company has now launched an upgraded version with Ultra96-V2 featuring most of the same specifications but with a WiFi & Bluetooth module certified in 75 countries, industrial temperature range, and Infineon’s PMIC’s for additional power control and monitoring. Ultra96-V2 specifications: SoC – Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC ZU3EG A484 with four Cortex A53 cores, two Cortex-R5 core, Arm Mali-400MP2 GPU, and FPGA Fabric System Memory – 2 GB (512M x32) LPDDR4 Memory Storage – 16 GB MicroSD card + adapter pre-loaded with PetaLinux environment Video Output – Mini DisplayPort (MiniDP) Connectivity – Microchip ATWILC3000 certified 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 4 / Bluetooth […]

March 27, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

ODROID-N2 GPU Drivers, Linux 5.0, and Impressive glmarks-es2 Score

ODROID-N2 was announced last February for $63 (2GB RAM), and $79 (4GB RAM), but Hardkernel was not quite ready to take orders at the time. One of the good news is that the 4GB RAM is now available for pre-order with shipping scheduled to start on April 3. Another good news is on the software side with Hardkernel having released the userland Mali-G52 Wayland driver. It does not work well with Linux 4.9 due to incomplete DRM implementation, but it goes work with Linux 5.0 plus some modifications as further discussed in the aforelinked forum thread. The screenshot above, courtesy of odroid forum member memeka , shows ODROID-N2 running Ubuntu 18.04 + Gnome3 + Linux 5.0 on top of Wayland with GPU drivers providing acceleration as shown by glmark2-es2-wayland test program. The benchmark results are pretty impressive:

=======================================================
    glmark2 2014.03+git20150611.fa71af2d
=======================================================
    OpenGL Information
    GL_VENDOR:     ARM
    GL_RENDERER:   Mali-G52
    GL_VERSION:    OpenGL ES 3.2 v1.r16p0-01rel0.2943fc4ef9657d91ee32c9a58dec6cd2
=======================================================
[build] use-vbo=false: FPS: 961 FrameTime: 1.041 ms
[build] use-vbo=true: FPS: 1592 FrameTime: 0.628 ms
[texture] texture-filter=nearest: FPS: 1491 FrameTime: 0.671 ms
[texture] texture-filter=linear: FPS: 1477 FrameTime: 0.677 ms
[texture] texture-filter=mipmap: FPS: 1524 FrameTime: 0.656 ms
[shading] shading=gouraud: FPS: 1151 FrameTime: 0.869 ms
[shading] shading=blinn-phong-inf: FPS: 1215 FrameTime: 0.823 ms
[shading] shading=phong: FPS: 1043 FrameTime: 0.959 ms
[shading] shading=cel: FPS: 1126 FrameTime: 0.888 ms
[bump] bump-render=high-poly: FPS: 514 FrameTime: 1.946 ms
[bump] bump-render=normals: FPS: 1976 FrameTime: 0.506 ms
[bump] bump-render=height: FPS: 1777 FrameTime: 0.563 ms
[effect2d] kernel=0,1,0;1,-4,1;0,1,0;: FPS: 1139 FrameTime: 0.878 ms
[effect2d] kernel=1,1,1,1,1;1,1,1,1,1;1,1,1,1,1;: FPS: 383 FrameTime: 2.611 ms
[pulsar] light=false:quads=5:texture=false: FPS: 2096 FrameTime: 0.477 ms
[desktop] blur-radius=5:effect=blur:passes=1:separable=true:windows=4: FPS: 389 FrameTime: 2.571 ms
[desktop] effect=shadow:windows=4: FPS: 788 FrameTime: 1.269 ms
[buffer] columns=200:interleave=false:update-dispersion=0.9:update-fraction=0.5:update-method=map: FPS: 103 FrameTime: 9.709 ms
[buffer] columns=200:interleave=false:update-dispersion=0.9:update-fraction=0.5:update-method=subdata: FPS: 129 FrameTime: 7.752 ms
[buffer] columns=200:interleave=true:update-dispersion=0.9:update-fraction=0.5:update-method=map: FPS: 158 FrameTime: 6.329 ms
[ideas] speed=duration: FPS: 356 FrameTime: 2.809 ms
[jellyfish] <default>: FPS: 979 FrameTime: 1.021 ms
[terrain] <default>: FPS: 52 FrameTime: 19.231 ms
[shadow] <default>: FPS: 437 FrameTime: 2.288 ms
[refract] <default>: FPS: 88 FrameTime: 11.364 ms
[conditionals] fragment-steps=0:vertex-steps=0: FPS: 1769 FrameTime: 0.565 ms
[conditionals] fragment-steps=5:vertex-steps=0: FPS: 1769 FrameTime: 0.565 ms
[conditionals] fragment-steps=0:vertex-steps=5: FPS: 1853 FrameTime: 0.540 ms
[function] fragment-complexity=low:fragment-steps=5: FPS: 1783 FrameTime: 0.561 ms
[function] fragment-complexity=medium:fragment-steps=5: FPS: 1726 FrameTime: 0.579 ms
[loop] fragment-loop=false:fragment-steps=5:vertex-steps=5: FPS: 1715 FrameTime: 0.583 ms
[loop] fragment-steps=5:fragment-uniform=false:vertex-steps=5: FPS: 1650 FrameTime: 0.606 ms
[loop] fragment-steps=5:fragment-uniform=true:vertex-steps=5: FPS: 1728 FrameTime: 0.579 ms
=======================================================
                                  glmark2 Score: 1119
=======================================================

=======================================================

glmark2 2014.03+git20150611.fa71af2d

=======================================================

OpenGL Information

GL_VENDOR: ARM

GL_RENDERER: Mali-G52

GL_VERSION: OpenGL ES 3.2 v1.r16p0-01rel0.2943fc4ef9657d91ee32c9a58dec6cd2

=======================================================

[build] use-vbo=false: FPS: 961 FrameTime: 1.041 ms

[build] use-vbo=true: FPS: 1592 FrameTime: 0.628 ms

[texture] texture-filter=nearest: FPS: 1491 FrameTime: 0.671 ms

[texture] texture-filter=linear: FPS: 1477 FrameTime: 0.677 ms

[texture] texture-filter=mipmap: FPS: 1524 FrameTime: 0.656 ms

[shading] shading=gouraud: FPS: 1151 FrameTime: 0.869 ms

[shading] shading=blinn-phong-inf: FPS: 1215 FrameTime: 0.823 ms

[shading] shading=phong: FPS: 1043 FrameTime: 0.959 ms

[shading] shading=cel: FPS: 1126 FrameTime: 0.888 ms

[bump] bump-render=high-poly: FPS: 514 FrameTime: 1.946 ms

[bump] bump-render=normals: FPS: 1976 FrameTime: 0.506 ms

[bump] bump-render=height: FPS: 1777 FrameTime: 0.563 ms

[effect2d] kernel=0,1,0;1,-4,1;0,1,0;: FPS: 1139 FrameTime: 0.878 ms

[effect2d] kernel=1,1,1,1,1;1,1,1,1,1;1,1,1,1,1;: FPS: 383 FrameTime: 2.611 ms

[pulsar] light=false:quads=5:texture=false: FPS: 2096 FrameTime: 0.477 ms

[desktop] blur-radius=5:effect=blur:passes=1:separable=true:windows=4: FPS: 389 FrameTime: 2.571 ms

[desktop] effect=shadow:windows=4: FPS: 788 FrameTime: 1.269 ms

[buffer] columns=200:interleave=false:update-dispersion=0.9:update-fraction=0.5:update-method=map: FPS: 103 FrameTime: 9.709 ms

[buffer] columns=200:interleave=false:update-dispersion=0.9:update-fraction=0.5:update-method=subdata: FPS: 129 FrameTime: 7.752 ms

[buffer] columns=200:interleave=true:update-dispersion=0.9:update-fraction=0.5:update-method=map: FPS: 158 FrameTime: 6.329 ms

[ideas] speed=duration: FPS: 356 FrameTime: 2.809 ms

[jellyfish] <default>: FPS: 979 FrameTime: 1.021 ms

[terrain] <default>: FPS: 52 FrameTime: 19.231 ms

[shadow] <default>: FPS: 437 FrameTime: 2.288 ms

[refract] <default>: FPS: 88 FrameTime: 11.364 ms

[conditionals] fragment-steps=0:vertex-steps=0: FPS: 1769 FrameTime: 0.565 ms

[conditionals] fragment-steps=5:vertex-steps=0: FPS: 1769 FrameTime: 0.565 ms

[conditionals] fragment-steps=0:vertex-steps=5: FPS: 1853 FrameTime: 0.540 ms

[function] fragment-complexity=low:fragment-steps=5: FPS: 1783 FrameTime: 0.561 ms

[function] fragment-complexity=medium:fragment-steps=5: FPS: 1726 FrameTime: 0.579 ms

[loop] fragment-loop=false:fragment-steps=5:vertex-steps=5: FPS: 1715 FrameTime: 0.583 ms

[loop] fragment-steps=5:fragment-uniform=false:vertex-steps=5: FPS: 1650 FrameTime: 0.606 ms

[loop] fragment-steps=5:fragment-uniform=true:vertex-steps=5: FPS: 1728 FrameTime: 0.579 ms

=======================================================

glmark2 Score: 1119

=======================================================

I’ve never seen such as high score (1,119 points) on Arm hardware. […]

March 22, 2019March 22, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Allwinner MR133 Processor Targets Robot Vacuum Cleaners

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a new processor from Allwinner, so today I got curious and visited the company website hoping to find maybe some news about the first Cortex-A7x processor from the company. But instead I found something else intriguing with the new Allwinner MR133 processor specifically designed for “SLAM/VSLAM intelligent robot sweeper solutions”. In other words, Allwinner has just launched a processor for robot vacuum cleaners… Allwinner MR133 key features and specifications: CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ 1.8GHz with 32KB L1 I-cache + 32KB L1 D-cache per core, 512KB L2 cache, low-power CoolFlex power management architecture GPU – Arm Mali 400MP2 with support for OpenGL ES 2.0/1.1, Direct3D 11.1, OpenVG 1.1 Memory I/F – 32-bit DDR4/DDR3/DDR3L/LPDDR3/LPDDR4 Storage I/F – eMMC 5.0 flasj, compatible with eMMC 5.1, support Full Disk Encryption(FDE) 8-bit TLC/MLC/SLC/EF NAND flash, supports FDE LDPC/80-bit BCH/1024bytes Video Engine – H264 HP encoder […]

March 20, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

RAK Wireless Launches RAK7258 Indoor LoRa Gateway for $149

RAK Wireless has just launched a new indoor LoRa gateway with their RAK7258 model featuring Semtech SX1301 8-channel digital baseband chip. The OpenWrt gateway supports Ethernet with PoE, 2.4GHz WiFi, optional NB-IoT, LTE Cat M, LTE 4G module, and is fully compatible with LoRaWAN 1.0.2. The gateway supports all main LoRa regions including EU433, CN470, EU868, US915, and AS923. RAK7258 gateway specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT7628 MIPS 24KEc processor @ 580 MHz System Memory – 128MB DDR2 RAM Storage – eMMC flash, microSD card slot Connectivity 10/100 Ethernet with PoE 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 4 with internal antenna LoRa via RAK833 mini PCIe card + RP-SMA antenna Cellular – Extended NB-IoT, Cat M, LTE 4G, supported by default; nano SIM card slot USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port Console – RJ45 RS-232 port Misc – 6x status LED Power Supply – 12V/2A (default) or 42-57V DC PoE Dimensions – 180 […]

March 19, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

UP Xtreme Board to Feature Intel Whiskey Lake Processor

AAEON launched their UP board family back in 2015 with the original board featuring an Atom X5 Cherry Trail processor. Since then they’ve launched other models all based on processors with 10W or lower TDP (Thermal Design Power) such as UP Squared Apollo Lake development board. But the company has now upped the ante by going with Intel Core-U series Whiskey Lake processors (15W TDP) in their upcoming UP Xtreme single board computer (SBC) that will feature some of those Core i3/i5/i7 processors. UP Xtreme specifications: SoC- Intel Dual/Quad Core “Whiskey Lake” Core i3/i5/i7 processor @ 1.8 GHz (Boost frequnecy up to 3.9GHz for i3/i5, up to 4.6 GHz for i7) with Intel UHD graphics 620; 15W TDP System Memory – Up to 16GB dual-channel DDR4 memory (soldered on-board) Storage – 16GB to 128GB eMMC 5.1 flash, 1x SATA connector with power connector Video Output 1x eDP with backlight control […]

March 15, 2019March 15, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Seco SBC-C43 SBC Features NXP i.MX 8 QuadMax Processor, 8GB RAM

When NXP unveiled their first 64-bit i.MX processors in 2016, we had three families: i.MX 8 Cortex-A72/A53 for high performance, i.MX 8M Cortex-A53 for audio/video application, and i.MX 8X Cortex-A53 for low power applications. Most of the designs we’ve seen so far are based on i.MX 8M family, and we’ve seen few hardware platforms based on the top of the line i.MX 8 QuadMax SoC with two Arm Cortex-A72 cores, four Cortex-A53 cores, two Cortex-M4F real-time cores, and two GC7000XS/VX GPUs. We did cover several modules based on i.MX 8 QuadMax processor including Advantech ROM-7720 Qseven 2.1 Computer-on-Module, Toradex Apalis i.MX 8 CoM, and Congatec conga-SMX8 SMARC 2.0 SoM among others, but AFAICR I had yet to see an i.MX 8 QuadMax single board computer. So Seco SBC-C43 appears to be the first SBC powered by NXP’s most powerful i.MX 8 processor, coupled with up to 8GB DDR4, 32GB eMMC […]