Some Interesting Talks from FOSDEM 2020 Schedule

FOSDEM 2020 Schedule

We wrote about IoT devroom call for proposals for FOSDEM 2020 a little while ago, and as the free open-source developer meetup is getting closer, FOSDEM 2020 organizers released the schedule. So I’ll look at some of the talks in the relevant devrooms such as the Internet of Things, hardware enablement, Embedded, Mobile and Automotive, as well as RISC-V and others to compose my own little virtual schedule for the 2-day event. Saturday, February 1 10:30 – 10:50 – How lowRISC made its Ibex RISC-V CPU core faster – Using open source tools to improve an open-source core – by Greg Chadwick Ibex implements RISC-V 32-bit I/E MC M-Mode, U-Mode, and PMP. It uses an in-order 2 stage pipe and is best suited for area and power-sensitive rather than high-performance applications. However, there is scope for meaningful performance gains without major impact to power or area. This talk describes work […]

ProteusDevice Secure, Open-Source Linux Handheld Features Ethernet Connectivity

ProteusDevice XXLSEC Ltd., the developer of the Privecall-TX device, has developed a near-identical, slightly bigger ProteusDevice, which runs the Linux 5.4 based PriveOS. The ProteusDevice handheld device (“not a mobile phone”) is said to have very tight security and was developed with secure access in mind. Background and Linux Handheld Market The market is seeing more Linux handheld and phones such as the Purism Librem 5, the PinePhone “Braveheart”  both of which are already in mass production. There are also other computing options with the handheld Pocket Popcorn Computer, which is much like the PocketChip, but decidedly improved and faster in general, as well as the Solectrix SX Mobile Device Kit which is more of a business option, for smartphone, opensource development with no cellular connectivity, but Gigabit Ethernet and USB-to-UART ports. Some Features and Mystery Production The ProteusDevice is in good company, and has a solid start, but is […]

The Case for Running Chromium OS on IoT Devices

Chromium OS IoT Device

The concept of Chromium OS for IoT was presented by Linaro Veteran Khasim Syed Mohammed at Linaro Connect 2019,  In his presentation, he talked about the possibilities and advantages of using Chromium OS for IoT devices. This approach looks promising since it’s running on a Linux Kernel base, and Chromium OS uses a lightweight graphics stack that relies on Linux DRM APIs. This may help to create an IoT device with a graphics interface, without consuming too many hardware resources. Why Chromium OS From the architecture front, chromium OS has impressive advantages compared to other lightweight Linux operating systems, such as Direct Rendering Manager, support for web-based applications, etc… Graphics Stack In  Linux-based operating systems, most of the time the graphics/display stack is handled by the X-Window system (Xserver and clients). This increases the complexity of development, consumes a large number of hardware resources and increases the product development life […]

Firewalla Gold Intel-based Ubuntu Router Enables Multi-Gigabit Cyber Security (Crowdfunding)

Firewalla Gold vs Blue Red

We covered Firewalla based on NanoPi NEO board in mid-2018. The device is a tiny firewall, parental control, ad-blocker, and VPN appliance for end-users. Since then they’ve launched Firewalla Blue based on NanoPi NEO2 SBC with Gigabit Ethernet and a faster processor, and now the company has just introduced the even more powerful Intel-based Firewalla Gold. Firewalla Gold specifications: Processor – Unnamed intel 64-bit quad-core processor System Memory – 4GB RAM Storage – 32GB flash Connectivity 4x Gigabit Ethernet ports supporting over 3 Gbps in total, and up to 10 VPN connection at up to 120 Mbps aggregated bandwidth. WiFi 6 module (not sure optional or included) Misc – RTC Power Supply – DC barrel jack They may have designed a custom board this time, as I’m not sure which off-the-shelf SBC they may have used in their new product. The device runs Ubuntu Linux so the users will have […]

SiFive Shield is an Open Security Platform for RISC-V Processors

SiFive WorldGuard

Most Arm processors and Armv8-M microcontrollers support Arm TrustZone security with hardware-enforced isolation built into the CPU. But so far, I had not read anything about equivalent solutions for RISC-V processors. It turns out Hex-Five’s MultiZone security is one of the RISC-V hardware-security providing an answer to Arm TrustZone, and besides checking out the presentation slides, you can also watch the video filmed at RISC-V Workshop Taiwan last March. But what brought me to write about RISC-V security is SiFive announcement for their Shield open security platform for RISC-V processors SiFive Shield Overview SiFive Shield is an open, scalable security platform designed for RISC-V processors.  It supports root-of-trust, customizations, and offers per-memory protected memory regions and multi-core privilege modes.  Combined with SiFive WorldGuard, SiFive Shield enables greater isolation. SiFive WorldGuard Isolation SiFive WorldGuard is a fine-grain security model for isolated code execution and data protection. It offers core-driven and process-id […]

FOSDEM 2020 IoT Devroom Call for Proposals

FOSDEM 2020 IoT Devroom

FOSDEM (Free & Open-source Software Developers’ European Meeting) takes place every year in Brussels, Belgium on the first weekend of February.  FOSDEM 2020 is scheduled for February 1-2, and now that developer rooms have already been announced, there are calls for proposals for each topic. Benjamin Henrion (aka Zoobab), a frequent reader and commenter of CNX Software, will be in charge of the IoT devroom and has now initiated a call for proposals for Internet of Things talks. The devroom will take place on Saturday or Sunday between around 10.30 and 18:00. Each talk will last 25 minutes with a 5-minute break between talks. The talks must be about fully open source projects that cover one of the topics below: Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication on small embedded devices Distributed applications in any field of interest for autonomous/self-controlled devices, (e.g. domotics, automotive, etc) Networking: TCP/IP, mesh networking, message queuing, cross-layer solutions Real-life […]

How I Adopted a Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway on my Existing Home Network

Ubiquity Security Gateway

Hey Karl here with a quick write up on how I adopted a Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway (USG) into my existing home network. I ran into a few issues so I wanted to share and hopefully help someone else. I have had 2 Unifi access points cover my home for several years now and I recently upgraded my internet to 100 Mbps. I was maxing out at about 95 Mbps with downloads on my existing 100 Mbps Linksys router and I knew I was leaving some bandwidth on the table. Spectrum is my internet provider and I have always got more than what I paid for. I placed an order on Amazon and 24 hours later it was delivered. I have a couple of things that made this challenging. First I run my network on a 10.0.0.1/24 subnet with devices that have static IP address and I host my own […]

Tiny USB WiFi Camera Supports Motion and AI Human Detection

USB WiFi Camera

When I first saw U21 HD camera it reminded me of SOOCOO G1 is action camera with a flexible stick, since the camera also comes with a flexible hose which allows you to orient it as you please. But it’s a different bear, as U21 is a surveillance camera powered over USB and featuring WiFi connectivity. I can’t see any motion detection, so it may have some dose of “AI” since it claims to support motion and human detection so you only get relevant alerts. It is currently sold (pre-orders) on Banggood for $33.65 including shipping with order starting to be processed on October 30th. U21 USB WIFI camera key features and specifications: MCU / WiSoC – No information (yet) Storage – MicroSD card slot up to 128GB for up to one month of recording (8GB = 2 days); Cloud storage via third party (paid) Camera – 14mm lens, HD […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case