Posted on

Linux 6.2 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.2 has just been released with Linus Torvalds making the announcement on LKML as usual: So here we are, right on (the extended) schedule, with 6.2 out. Nothing unexpected happened last week, with just a random selection of small fixes spread all over, with nothing really standing out. The shortlog is tiny and appended below, you can scroll through it if you’re bored. Wed have a couple of small things that Thorsten was tracking on the regression side, but I wasn’t going to apply any last-minute patches that weren’t actively pushed by maintainers, so they will have to show up for stable. Nothing seemed even remotely worth trying to delay things for. And this obviously means that the 6.3 merge window will open tomorrow, and I already have 30+ pull requests queued up, which I really appreciate. I like how people have started to take the whole “ready for […]

Posted on

Purism Lapdock kit converts the Librem 5 Linux smartphone into a laptop

Purism has just announced the Lapdock kit to turn their Librem 5 Linux smartphone into a laptop with a 13.3-inch touchscreen display thanks to the NexDock 360 laptop dock. I was a big believer in mobile desktop convergence around 10 years ago, expected to be soon able to use my phone as a computer or laptop with a dock, and it looked like it might have become a reality when Canonical launched the Ubuntu Edge smartphone crowdfunding campaign in 2013. But it turns out demand was not sufficient, and Canonical eventually ended their convergence efforts focusing on profitable IoT and cloud segments instead. But that does not mean there isn’t a niche market and Purism’s Lapdock kit addresses it to some extent. The Lapdock kit is comprised of three parts namely the NexDock 360 laptop dock, a magnetic mount to attach the Librem 5 to the side of the NexDock […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC
Posted on

Open AI Lab EAIDK-610 devkit targets computer vision education with OpenCV

Open AI Lab EAIDK-610 is an embedded AI development kit powered by a Rockchip RK3399 processor, recently added to Linux 6.1 and described as “popularly used by university students” in the kernel changelog. But I had never heard about it, and it turns out it’s because it’s popular with students in China, and most documentation is written in Chinese. The development board is equipped with 4GB LPDDR3, a 16GB eMMC flash, HDMI video output, Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi 5, a few USB ports, a 40-pin GPIO header, and more. EAIDK-610 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 System Memory – 4GB LPDDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash and MicroSD card slot Video Output HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60 MIPI DSI up to 1280×720 @ 60 fps 4-lane eDP 1.3 Audio – Speaker header, built-in microphone, 3.5mm audio jack, I2S header, digital audio via HDMI Camera I/F – 2x MIPI CSI up to […]

Posted on

Linux 6.1 LTS release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linus Torvalds announced the release of Linux 6.1, likely to be an LTS kernel, last Sunday: So here we are, a week late, but last week was nice and slow, and I’m much happier about the state of 6.1 than I was a couple of weeks ago when things didn’t seem to be slowing down. Of course, that means that now we have the merge window from hell, just before the holidays, with me having some pre-holiday travel coming up too. So while delaying things for a week was the right thing to do, it does make the timing for the 6.2 merge window awkward. That said, I’m happy to report that people seem to have taken that to heart, and I already have two dozen pull requests pending for tomorrow in my inbox. And hopefully I’ll get another batch overnight, so that I can try to really get as […]

Posted on

Juno tablet runs Manjaro Linux or Mobian on a Celeron N5100 Jasper Lake CPU

The Juno tablet is a 10.1-inch Linux tablet that ships with Manjaro Linux or Mobian, and is powered by an Intel Celeron N5100 quad-core Jasper Lake mobile processor. The Linux tablet comes with a 1920×1200 resolution IPS touchscreen display, 8GB LPDDR4 soldered on the main board, and a choice between a 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB SSD. Customers can select one of the three Linux distributions with Mobian, as well as Manjaro Linux with either Phosh or Plasma mobile environments. Juno tablet specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N5100 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 1.1GHz / 2.8GHz (Turbo) with 24EU Intel UHD graphics @ 350 / 800 MHz (Turbo); 6W TDP System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4 Storage – 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB SSD; MicroSD card socket Display – 10.1-inch IPS display with 1920×1200 resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, 10-point capacitive touchscreen Video Output – Mini HDMI up to 4Kp60, USB-C DisplayPort up to […]

Posted on

Pinecil V2 soldering iron gets BL706 Bluetooth LE RISC-V MCU, USB PD EPR support

PINE64 is about to launch the second generation Pinecil RISC-V soldering iron with the Pinecil V2 featuring a new Bouffalo Lab BL706 RISC-V microcontroller with Bluetooth LE connectivity, optimizations for higher power levels, as well as tentative support for the new USB PD EPR standard (Extended Power Range) working at up to 28V. I don’t solder every day, but when I do, I use my Pinecil soldering iron, as it’s heating super fast and does the job, and in my case, works quite better than the TS100 soldering iron. So it should come as no surprise that the Pincel is the most popular consumer hardware from the PINE64 community (after SOPine modules), and the new Pinecil V2 is a welcome upgrading building on the same design but with Bluetooth LE connectivity and a lower tip resistance. Pinecil V2 preliminary specifications: MCU – Bouffalo Lab BL706 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller @ 144 […]

Intel Arc Graphics Technology
Posted on

SkiffOS minimal Linux for embedded containers now supports Sipeed Nezha RISC-V board

SkiffOS minimal Cross-compiled Linux for embedded containers has just added support for Sipeed Nezha RISC-V single board computer, and work on the smaller Sipeed Lichee RV board has started. Wait… What is SkiffOS? I’ve never heard about it… That’s how the abstract from the white paper describes it: Embedded Linux processors are increasingly used for real-time computing tasks such as robotics and Internet of Things (IoT). These applications require robust and reproducible behavior from the host OS, commonly achieved through immutable firmware stored in read-only memory. SkiffOS addresses these requirements with a minimal cross-compiled GNU/Linux system optimized for hosting containerized distributions and applications, and a configuration layering system for the Buildroot embedded cross-compiler tool which automatically re-targets system configurations to any platform or device. This approach cleanly separates the hardware support from the applications. The host system and containers are independently upgraded and backed-up over-the-air (OTA). In other words, that’s […]

Posted on

PineNote Developer Edition mainline Linux e-Reader is now available for $399

Pine64 community has been on a tear in 2022, with the launch of the PineNote Developer Edition Linux e-reader following the availability of the PinePhone keyboard case and PinePhone Pro Explorer Edition Linux smartphone in the last 2-3 weeks. So far a limited number of PineNote prototypes had been sent to developers, but it’s now possible to order the PineNote Developer Edition for $399 directly on the Pine64 store. As its name implies, the e-Reader is not ready for end-users, but recent progress with mainline Linux makes it suitable for developers and enthusiasts who want to play around with the device knowing much more work is needed to make it a usable device. The specifications remain the same as in the initial PineNote announcement: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 quad-core A55 processor @ 1.8 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 EE GPU, 0.8 TOPS NPU (AI accelerator) System Memory – 4GB of LPDDR4 […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC