64-bit ARM (Aarch64) Instructions Boost Performance by 15 to 30% Compared to 32-bit ARM (Aarch32) Instructions

Yesterday was quite an eventful day with the launch of two low cost 64-bit ARM development boards, namely Raspberry Pi 3 and ODROID-C2, and as usual there were some pretty interesting discussions related to the launch of the boards in the comments section. One of the subject that came is that while Raspberry Pi 3 board is using a 64-bit processor, the operating systems are still compiled with 32-bit instructions (Aarch32) and even optimized for ARMv6, and they intend to keep it that way according to Eben Upton interview: Eben readily admits that not all the capabilities of the new parts are going to be used at launch, however. “Although it is a 64‑bit core, we’re using it as just a faster 32-bit core,” he reveals about the Pi 3’s central processing unit. “I can imagine there’d be some real benefits [to 64-bit code]. The downside is that you do […]

Raspberry Pi 3 Board is Powered by Broadcom BCM2837 Cortex A53 Processor, Sells for $35

Raspberry Pi 3 board was first found on the FCC website, and thanks to various other leaks we had a pretty good idea of the board specifications including a Broadcom 64-bit ARM processor coupled with 1GB RAM, WiFi and Bluetooth, as well as basically the same features and ports as Raspberry Pi 2 Model B. But with the fourth anniversary of the Raspberry Pi Model 1 board, Raspberry Pi 3 has now officially been launched, and you can now purchase the board for $35. Raspberry Pi 3 specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2837 64bit ARMv8 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2GHz with dual core VideoCore IV GPU @ 400 MHz supporting OpenGL ES 2.0, hardware-accelerated OpenVG, and 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode. Capable of 1Gpixel/s, 1.5Gtexel/s or 24GFLOPs with texture filtering and DMA infrastructure System Memory – 1GB LPDDR2 Storage – micro SD slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4 […]

Hubpixed is a Neat and CableFree USB Hub for the Raspberry Pi Zero (Crowdfunding)

While the Raspberry Pi Zero is not exactly broadly available, there are still several tenths of thousands who own, and I’ve seen several use a USB to OTG adapter combined to a USB hub to add USB devices such as a WiFi dongle, or/and keyboard. This works, but it’s quite messy. That’s why Vikas Shukla created Hubpixed USB hub for the Raspberry Pi that does not require any cables and cleverly uses the test pins on the back of the board for USB data and power. The board’s spring pins are the only electrical connections between Raspberry Pi Zero and the hub, with both boards attached with spacers, screws and bolts using the four mounting holes of RPi0. Vikas also showed the hub in action with a USB WiFi dongle. I’m not sure how it would fare with a USB hard drive however. Hubpixed is on Kickstarter, and has already exceeded […]

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Board Features a 64-Bit ARM Processor, Adds WiFi and Bluetooth Connectivity

The Raspberry Pi foundation is working on yet another model of the popular Raspberry Pi boards, as the Raspberry Pi 3 model B board has showed up on the FCC website. The new board looks very similar to Raspberry Pi 2 model B, but adds on-board WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz only) and Bluetooth 4.0. Let’s play “spot the difference” with Raspberry Pi 2 at the top and Raspberry Pi 3 under. The processor looks the same as the BCM2836 quad core Cortex A7 SoC found on model 2 B, but one redditer claims it could be a 64-bit processor due to some MagPi ad. [Update: that’s the MagPi ad which confirms Raspberry Pi 3 will feature a 64-bit ARM processor @ 1.2 GHz. Thanks Gabe! ] We’ll find the WiFi/BT chip antenna on the top left corner, and two through holes on the right of the 40-pin connectors, likely the […]

Rho Board $35 Mstar MSO9280 Development Board Supports an Optional DTV Tuner (Crowdfunding)

Futarque A/S, a Danish company specializing in digital TV (tuners, IPTV), DVD and Blu-ray solutions, has developed the Rho Board powered by Mstar MSO9280 quad core ARM Cortex A7 processor with 1GB RAM and 4GB NAND flash, and featuring HDMI 2.0 output, a Raspberry Pi 2 compatible expansion header, and  a TV tuner connector for an optional DVB-T2/C tuner. Rho board specifications: SoC – Mstar MSO9280PBM quad core Cortex A7 processor with an hexacore (4+2) Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3-1666 Storage – 4GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot up tp 128GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0 and AV ports Audio Output – HDMI, AV and optical S/PDIF Video Codec – MPEG 1/2, 4K @ 60 fps AVC and 4K @ 30 fps H.265 Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports, 1x micro USB port Expansion 40-pin “Raspberry Pi” header TV tuner connector SDIO expansion […]

Raspberry Pi Zero Board is Back in Stock at Pimoroni

Raspberry Pi Zero has been quite popular when it launched due to its $5 price tag, excluding shipping and taxes. It’s been too popular actually, as manufacturing could not keep pace with demand, and resellers soon had to show it as Out of Stock, or simply decided to complete pull out the product page such as Element 14. The supply tightness has lasted a few weeks, and recently I showed on GearBest for $19.10 including shipping, but it’s now out of stock, and the company expects to get more boards mid March… This also led to a website called whereismypizero.com which automatically tracks stock on some of the main distributors, namely Element14, Adafruit,  The PiHut, Pimoroni, and Raspberry Pi Swag. The good news is that it is back on Pimoroni, where you can get a Raspberry Pi Zero board for 4.25 GBP ($6), unless you live outside of Europe, and […]

Kodi 16 “Jarvis” Release

This morning, I saw Kodi installed from Google Play get an update in one of my Android device, and that means that Kodi 16.0 “Jarvis” has now been released. As usual it’s available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Android, and iOS, with specific Linux ports for Raspberry Pi boards, and several Freescale/NXP i.MX6 boards such as Wandboard or EzeeCube. You can get the full Changelog in the Wiki, but some of the main changes against Kodi 15 include: Various new features for Live TV and PVR (Personal Video Recorder) Added RDS Radio, FM radio, scheduling recordings of TV shows… Various improvements such as speeding up EPG database access. Added, updated, and improved PVR backend clients addons for all popular third-party external PVR backend platforms: FilmOn, HDHomeRun, Enigma 2, Tvheadend HTSP Client, and so on. Add-ons Framework, API, and Manager improvements Platform Independent Playback improvements : software DTS-HD decode with libdcadec, […]

Open Source Operating Systems News – Maru OS, Zephyr, ReactOS, Tizen 3.0, and Raspbian

There have been several news related to open source operating systems in the last couple of weeks including Maru OS to run Debian on Android, Zephyr Project real-time OS managed by the Linux Foundation, ReactOS an open source port of Windows XP, and Raspberry Pi boards are getting a Tizen 3.0 port, as well as a new Raspbian release. Maru OS – Mobile <-> Desktop  Convergence Maru OS mobile operating system is supposed to do what Ubuntu convergence promised: it runs in mobile mode on the go with Android Lollipop mobile OS, once you connect the phone to an HDMI screen, and pair Bluetooth keyboard and/or mouse, it will switch to desktop mode running Debian Linux. The downside is that so far it a single developer (Preetam D’Souza) worked on it, and the beta version only works on Nexus 5 smartphone. However, since the project went viral, dozen of other […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC