Linux

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Linux 4.10 Release – Main Changes, ARM & MIPS Architectures

Linux 4.10 Release – Main Changes, ARM & MIPS Architectures

Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 4.10: So there it is, the final 4.10 release. It’s been quiet since rc8, but we did end up fixing several small issues, so the extra week was all good. On the whole, 4.10 didn’t end up as small as it initially looked. After the huge release that was 4.9, I expected things to be pretty quiet, but it ended up very much a fairly average release by modern kernel standards. So we have about 13,000 commits (not counting merges – that would be another 1200+ commits if you count those). The work is all over, obviously – the shortlog below is just the changes in the last week, since rc8. Go out and verify that it’s all good, and I’ll obviously start pulling stuff for 4.11 on Monday. Linus Linux 4.9 added Greybus staging support, improved security thanks to virtually mapped kernel stacks, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments on How to Use CHIP Board as a Linux Printer & Scanner Server

How to Use CHIP Board as a Linux Printer & Scanner Server

We have a Canon Pixma MP250 series multi-function USB printer connected to a Windows 10 laptop at home, and for several years, I had no problems printing from my Ubuntu computer to that printer. However, this setup recently stopped to work, and whatever I would do, printing would never start from my Ubuntu PC, even though the file was (allegedly) successfully transfered to the Windows 10 laptop connected to the printer. So I decided to setup my own printer server, as well as a scanner server since it’s a multi-function printer, using one of the boards from my collection. As I opened my cabinet, I wondered whether I would use an Orange Pi board, Raspberry Pi board, or Nano Pi board, but I needed WiFi since there’s no Ethernet in the office where the printer is located, and I found that Next Thing CHIP board was the ideal candidate as […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on EU funded AXIOM Board is Powered by Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ FPGA + ARM SoC

EU funded AXIOM Board is Powered by Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ FPGA + ARM SoC

Back in 2015, Xilinx unveiled Zynq Ultrascale+ MPSoC combining ARM Cortex A53 & Cortex R5 cores, a Mali-400MP2 GPU, and UltraScale FPGA, and the company recently launched ZCU102 Evaluation Kit based on the SoC, which sells for just under $3,000. But if you are based in the European Union, you’ll be glad to learn about 4 millions Euros of your taxes have been spent to design a board based on the same MPSoC family as part of the AXIOM project, which was developed in collaboration with European universities and companies with the “aim of researching new software/hardware architectures for Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) to meet the expectations” in terms of computational power, energy efficiency, scalability through modularity, easy programmability, and leverage of the best existing standards at minimal costs. AXIOM (Agile, eXtensible, fast I/O Module) board’s key specifications: SoC – Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale+ ZU9EG MPSoC with four ARM Cortex A53 cores […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on 9Tripod X3399 SoM and Development Board are Powered by Rockchip RK3399 Hexa Core Processor

9Tripod X3399 SoM and Development Board are Powered by Rockchip RK3399 Hexa Core Processor

9Tripod (九鼎创展) has just launched X3399 system-on-module powered by Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core Cortex A72/A53 processor, and as well as a corresponding development board for people wanted to get started quickly before designing their own baseboard. X3399 core board preliminary specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with two ARM Cortex A72 cores up to 2.0 GHz, four Cortex A53 cores, and a ARM Mali-T860 MP4 GPU with OpenGL 1.1 to 3.1 support, OpenVG1.1, OpenCL and DX 11 support System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 (2x Samsung K4E8E304EE-EGCF) Storage – 8GB eMMC 5.0 flash (Samsung KLM8G1GEND-B031) IOs – 204-pin to be soldered on baseboard PMIC – Rockchip RK808-D Dimensions – 55×55 mm 9Tripod does have a forum in English, but the company provides most of the information in Chinese.  I could not find details about Linux or Android images and source code, except a few mentions of Linux Qt, Ubuntu, and […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on MYD-C437x-PRU Development Board Leverages TI Sitara AM437x Programmable Real-time Unit

MYD-C437x-PRU Development Board Leverages TI Sitara AM437x Programmable Real-time Unit

MYIR Technologies launched MYC-C437x system-on-module based on TI Sitara AM437X processor, and the corresponding MYD-C437x development board at the end of 2015, but the latter did not make use of the processor’s PRU-ICSS (Programmable Real-Time Unit Subsystem and Industrial Communication SubSystem) block. The company has now released a new version of the baseboard called MYC-C437x-PRU which exposes I/Os pins to leverage the PRU-ICSS and enable implementation of protocols like EtherCAT and Profibus.MYD-C437x-PRU industrial development board specifications: System-on-Module – MYC-C437x module with SoC – Texas Instruments AM437x ARM Cortex A9 processor @ up to 1GHz with PowerVR  SGX530 GPU (AM4378/AM4379 only) System Memory – 256 or 512MB (default) DDR3 SDRAM Storage – 4GB eMMC Flash (reserved 256/512MB Nand Flash design), 16MB QSPI Flash (unpopulated by default), 32KB EEPROM Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet PHY Storage – 1x micro SD slot Serial ports – 1x 3-wire RS232 debug serial port, 2x  5-wire RS232 serial […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on $369 CHUWI Hi13 2-in-1 Windows 10 Tablet is Equipped with a 3000×2000 Display, Supports Ubuntu / Linux

$369 CHUWI Hi13 2-in-1 Windows 10 Tablet is Equipped with a 3000×2000 Display, Supports Ubuntu / Linux

I’ve recently reviewed CHUWI LapBook 14.1 laptop powered by an Intel Apollo Lake Celeron N3450 quad core processor, and found it to be a perfectly usable entry-level laptop with a few caveats like potential issues with USB ports, and the lack of brightness keys. The company is now about to launch with a higher end model, with the same processor, but instead of a 14.1″ Full HD display it will come with a high resolution 3000×2000 touchscreen 13.5″ display. The tablet will sell with Windows 10, but the company also claims support for Ubuntu, and other Linux distributions will likely work too. CHUWI Hi13 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N3450 quad core “Apollo Lake” processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.2 GHz (Burst frequency) and 12 EU Intel HD graphics 500 @ 200 MHz / 700 MHz (Burst freq.); 6W TDP System Memory – 4GB DDR3L memory Storage – 64 GB […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Realtek RTD1295 SoC and Zidoo X9S TV Box Patchsets for Initial Mainline Linux Support

Realtek RTD1295 SoC and Zidoo X9S TV Box Patchsets for Initial Mainline Linux Support

Realtek RTD1295 is a quad core Cortex A53 processor with built-in Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0 and SATA found, and is found in some TV boxes such as Zidoo X9S or Eweat R9 Plus that run Android 6.0 and OpenWrt on top of Linux 4.1. Andreas Färber has been working on Mainline Linux support for the SoC using Zidoo X9S, and just submitted patchsets for enablement of RTD1295. Andreas explains: This mini-series adds initial support for the Realtek RTD1295 SoC and the Zidoo X9S TV box. With these patches CPU0 can be booted with earlycon. PSCI doesn’t work despite present in the vendor device tree; as enable-method it instead used a custom “rtk-spin-table” that I sadly have no source code of. The UARTs use a custom interrupt controller that I again lack source code of; with interrupts = <GIC_SPI 41 IRQ_TYPE_LEVEL_HIGH> it can boot into an initrd. The boot process is […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments on How to Upgrade to Linux 4.8 in Ubuntu 16.04.2

How to Upgrade to Linux 4.8 in Ubuntu 16.04.2

I had read from several news sources that Ubuntu 16.04.2 would come with Linux 4.8. My system was upgraded from Ubuntu 16.04.1 to Ubuntu 16.04.2 this week-end, but I still had Linux 4.4.

So I wondered why that was, and eventually found my answer on Reddit thanks to EndofLineLF user: If it isn’t a new 16.04.2 installation then you won’t have newer kernel. If your install started as 16.04 or 16.04.1 then with all updates installed “lsb_release” will display 16.04.2 as version because that’s what you have. The switch to HWE (Hardware Enablement Stack) was never automatic. So if you want newer kernel you have to install it manually. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/RollingLTSEnablementStack#Packages-1 sudo apt-get install –install-recommends xserver-xorg-hwe-16.04 This will also install the new HWE kernel because it is recommended for that package. Upgrading to the new kernel is completely optional, and Linux 4.4 will still get security updates, but I did […]

Exit mobile version