Yocto Project 1.6 “Daisy” Released

The Yocto Project Release 1.6 has just been announced. This release is codenamed “Daisy”, and features Poky 11.0.0, which is the reference system used by the project, but other systems could also be used. The Yocto Project is a framework that creates embedded Linux distributions, and is now being used by many Intel and ARM based embedded boards such as Wandboard, Atmel Xplained, Minnowboard MAX, and the Raspberry Pi. Some of the Yocto Project 1.6 features and updates include: Linux kernel 3.14 and 3.10 LTSI eglibc 2.19, gcc 4.8.2 Support for building Python 3 Toaster web UI for exploring build output Documentation – BitBake user’s manual improvment, and added section explaining how to “Write a New Recipe“. New reference BSP for beaglebone and edgerouter Change to use SHA512 password encryption with shadow by default Various performance improvement, and disk usage reductions. Add support for booting UEFI systems with gummiboot Image […]

Linaro 14.04 Release with Linux Kernel 3.14 and Android 4.4.2

Linaro 14.04 has been released with Linux Kernel 3.14 (baseline), Linux Kernel 3.10.37 (LSK), and Android 4.4.2. More work has been done on ARMv8 support, and big.LITTLE for both the Linux kernel and Android, as well as work on member hardware platforms such as Origen, Arndale, Arndale Octa, Broadcom Capri, and Hisilicon D01 boards. GCC 4.8-2014.04 Linaro is said to include performance improvements. Linaro Android engineering builds for Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 have been setup, but I can’t quite find the images. They’ve also added the BeagleBone Black to member builds. Here are the highlights of this release: Linaro Stable Kernel (LSK) 3.10.37-2014.04 Updates to Android support (from Google and Linaro) Added Big endian for ARMv7 and ARMv8 Thermal framework DT support Huge pages and transparent huge pages for ARMv8 Tagged pointers for ARMv8 Non-coherent DMA for ARMv8 Other Features big.LITTLE support – ARM MP patch set, IKS (ARMv7 […]

Xilinx Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC Mini-Module Plus System-on-Module

In January 2014, Avnet announced Xilinx Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC Mini-ITX board featuring Xilinx Zynq-7045 or Zynq-7100 ARM + FPGA SoC,  and more recently, the company has launched  “Xilinx Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC Mini-Module Plus” systems-on-module (SoM) based on the same platforms, as well as a corresponding development kit including a baseboard and a power module. The SoM and development platform target PCI Express, embedded controllers, general-purpose prototyping, networking and communications, storage and servers, and Ethernet/Internet applications. Xilinx Zynq-7000 Mini-Module Plus specifications: SoC- Xilinx Zynq-7045 or Zynq-7100 dual core Cortex-A9 @ up to 1GHz with FPGA (350K or 444K logic cells) System Memory – 1GB DDR3 SDRAM Storage – 128MB parallel flash, 32MB QSPI flash, 8KB EEPROM, and micro SD slot Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet USB – USB 2.0 OTG port Debugging – USB UART, JTAG programming/configuration port, PJTAG header User’s IO via dual board-to-board connectors: 132 User I/O (66 […]

Linux Kernel Source Code and Chromium OS Overlay for Rockchip RK3288

A few days ago, we’ve seen Chromium OS running on Rockchip RK3288 development platform. I’ve been informed the source code could have already been released via the newly registered rkchrome github account with Linux kernel 3.10.30 and the overlay files to build Chromium OS for RK3288. There’s also a u-boot repository but it is currently empty.  This Linux kernel can also boot Rockchip RK3188 based Radxa Rock development board, but more tests are needed to see if it’s really usable. I’ll have a look at the Linux kernel, and try to build it, and leave the Chromium OS part for later or other people. Let’s retrieve the source code:

We’ve got two kernel config files related to Rockchip in arch/arm/config:

But since this is a recent 3.10 kernel with support for Flattened Device Tree support, and multi-platform support, there’s not much to be seen in these files, and […]

Phytec phyBOARD WEGA Industrial Pico-ITX SBC Features Texas Instruments Sitara AM335x SoCs

Phytec has recently announced phyBOARD WEGA board powered by Texas Instruments AM335x Sitara ARM Processors via their phyCORE-AM335x SoM, which comes with up to 1GB DDR3 SDRAM, and up to 2GB NAND Flash. This single board computer targets industrial HMI (Human Machine Interface) and is suitable for various automation and display applications. PhyBOARD WEGA specifications: SoM – phyCORE-AM335x with: SoC – Texas Instruments Sitara AM355x ARM Cortex-A8 processor @ up to 1GHz, with PowerVR SGX530 GPU System Memory – 256 MB DDR3 RAM (Max: 1GB) Storage – 128 MB NAND Flash (Max: 2GB), optional 8 MB NOR Flash, 4KB EEPROM External Storage – micro SD card slot Connectivity – 2 x 10/100 Ethernet USB – 1 x USB Host, 1 x USB OTG Display I/F – 24bpp TTL Communication Interfaces – 6 x UART, 3 x I2C, 2 x SPI, 1 x CAN Expansion Connectors – 1x ADC(12Bit, 8Channel), GPIOs, […]

SolidRun HummingBoard is a Raspberry Pi Compatible Board Powered by Freescale i.MX6

Yesterday, I wrote about Banana Pi, an AllWinner A20 powered development board that’s mechanically and electrically compatible with the Raspberry Pi so that you can keep using your existing R-Pi accessories. It turns out another company is working on a similar concept. Solidrun who has brought us Cubox and Cubox-i in the past, will soon launch HummingBoard, a Raspberry Pi compatible board powered by Freescale i.MX6 solo/dual/quad SoC, bring even more power than the AllWinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 SoC found in the Banana Pi. The HummingBoard, previously known as Carrier One, is composed of a baseboard and SolidRun microSOM (micro System-on-Module) have comes with the followings specifications: SoC = Freescale i.MX6 Quad @ 1 GHz with Vivante GC2000 3D GPU. The microSoM also comes in solo and dual flavors, and although it’s likely the HummingBoard will be sold with these variants too, it’s not 100% confirmed System Memory […]

Banana Pi is a Raspberry Pi Compatible Board fitted with an AllWinner A20 SoC

So you’ve got a Raspberry Pi board, an enclosure, and a few add-on boards. Your application would however do with some more processing power, or you’d like to run Android, but you don’t want to have to purchase accessories all over again for another board. Banana Pi could be the solution, as it’s apparently [Update: it’s not. See comments] mechanically and electrically compatible with the Raspberry Pi, and comes with a dual core Cortex A7 AllWinner A20 SoC with 1GB RAM, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a SATA port, among other things. The board does indeed look familiar, with all external connectors at the exact same positions, but the hardware specs are fairly different: SoC- Allwinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 processor @ 1 GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1 GB RAM Storage – SD card slot, SATA connector Video output – HDMI, Composite, and LVDS/RGB Audio I/O […]

Embedian SMART MEN and SMART BEE SBCs Feature a TI Sitara SMARC CoM

Embedian, an embedded company specialized in computers-on-module and single board computers, has recently unveiled SMART MEN and SMART BEE single board computers powered by their SMARC-T335X computer-on-module, compliant with the SMARC (Smart Mobility Architecture) standard, and based on Texas Instruments Sitara AM335x SoCs. SMART MEN SBC SMART MEN single board computer specifications: SoC – Texas Instrument Sitara AM335X ARM Cortex-A8 at 600MHz, 800MHz or 1GHz System Memory – 512MB DDR3 (303Mhz x 2) Storage – 4GB eMMC Flash (eMMC 5.0), 4MB SPI NOR Flash, AT24C32 EEPROM, and SDHC/SDIO slot Connectivity – 2 x 10/100 Mbps Ethernet (vertical RJ45) Display – single channel LVDS 18-bit color depth, single channel LVDS 24-bit color depth. LCD LED backlight driver onboard USB – 2 x USB 2.0 Host, 1 x USB 2.0 OTG, 1 x Serial-to-USB (Client) Additional Interfaces: 6 x RS232s (transceiver onboard, two with handshaking and one can be configured as RS422/RS485),  […]

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