CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

May 2, 2017May 2, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

MQMaker MiQi & ASUS Tinker Boards Get Linux 4.11 with 3D Graphics Acceleration

One day after the release of Linux 4.11, developer “Miouyouyou” has released Linux 4.11 for Rockchip RK3288 platforms such as MQMaker MiQi and ASUS Tinker boards with some patchsets for ARM Mali r16p0 kernel drivers, ARM fbdev, and to improve performance. The kernel has been tested with the Mali User-space r12p0 drivers for fbdev and wayland written for Firefly-RK3288, and some OpenGL ES 3.1/3.2 samples could successfully run on the board. 3D graphics acceleration does not work in X11 however. Miouyouyou also plans to add support for Rockchip VPU code, as well as ARM gator, and document how to use ARM DS-5 Streamline for OpenGL ES 2.x/3.x debugging. If you have a MiQi or Tinker board running Debian, you can try the kernel by adding beta.armbian.com Debian repository to your apt source file, and installing the following packages:

apt install linux-image-dev-rockchip linux-headers-dev-rockchip linux-dtb-dev-miqi

1	apt install linux-image-dev-rockchip linux-headers-dev-rockchip linux-dtb-dev-miqi

Via linux-rockchip G+ community.

May 1, 2017May 2, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

SavageBoard Open Source Hardware Board Powered by NXP i.MX 6 Processor Offers Multiple Display Options

While it’s hard to keep track of all NXP i.MX6 boards and modules on the market, few can claim to be open source hardware, with the exception of OpenRex, and now SavageBoard, which I just found in Linux 4.11 release log. The board comes in three variants with Solo, Dual, and Quad versions, is equipped with 4 to 8GB flash, 512MB to 1GB RAM, HDMI, TFT LCD, MIPI DSI, and LVDS ports, Ethernet, SATA (Quad only), lots of I/O headers, and more. SavageBoard Solo/Dual/Quad specifications: SoC Solo – NXP i.MX 6Solo Cortex A9 processor @ 1.0 GHz with Vivante GC880 3D GPU Dual – NXP i.MX 6Dual dual core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.0 GHz with Vivante GC880 3D GPU Quad – NXP i.MX 6Quad quad core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.0 GHz with Vivante GC2000 3D GPU System Memory Solo – 512 MB 32-bit DDR3 @ 400 MHz Dual […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

May 1, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Does That Crane or Drilling Rig Run mainline Linux?

Linux 4.11 has just been released, and as usual I looked into the changelog especially checking out work done on ARM architecture, and some newly supported SoCs or board. One line in the log caught my attention: “Liebherr (LWN) monitor 6 based on i.MX6 Quad, no idea what this is”. So I had a look, and Liebherr-Werk Nenzing GmbH is a swiss company specializing in construction machines and maritime cranes such as “crawler cranes, duty-cycle crawler cranes, as well as piling and drilling rigs”. The DTS file for LWN Monitor 6 shows an NXP i.MX 6Quad processor is used in a product with an LVDS display and various interfaces such as I2C, PWM, SPI, and so on. So it could be some kind of control panel for one or more of their equipment. After looking into some PDF documentation, we can see on page 10 that the company mentions Litronic […]

May 1, 2017May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Linux 4.11 Release – Main Changes, ARM & MIPS Architecture

Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 4.11: So after that extra week with an rc8, things were pretty calm, and I’m much happier releasing a final 4.11 now. We still had various smaller fixes the last week, but nothing that made me go “hmm..”. Shortlog appended for people who want to peruse the details, but it’s a mix all over, with about half being drivers (networking dominates, but some sound fixlets too), with the rest being some arch updates, generic networking, and filesystem (nfs[d]) fixes. But it’s all really small, which is what I like to see the last week of the release cycle. And with this, the merge window is obviously open. I already have two pull request for 4.12 in my inbox, I expect that overnight I’ll get a lot more. Linux 4.10 added Virtual GPU support, perf c2c’ tool, improved writeback management, a faster initial WiFi connection […]

April 30, 2017April 30, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

GPU Accelerated Object Recognition on Raspberry Pi 3 & Raspberry Pi Zero

You’ve probably already seen one or more object recognition demos, where a system equipped with a camera detects the type of object using deep learning algorithms either locally or in the cloud. It’s for example used in autonomous cars to detect pedestrian, pets, other cars and so on. Kochi Nakamura and his team have developed software based on GoogleNet deep neural network with a a 1000-class image classification model running on Raspberry Pi Zero and Raspberry Pi 3 and leveraging the VideoCore IV GPU found in Broadcom BCM283x processor in order to detect objects faster than with the CPU, more exactly about 3 times faster than using the four Cortex A53 cores in RPi 3. They just connected a battery, a display, and the official Raspberry Pi camera to the Raspberry Pi boards to be able to recognize various objects and animals. The first demo is with Raspberry Pi Zero. […]

April 28, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 42 Comments

$24 Sunvell R69 Android 4.4 TV Box is Powered by Allwinner H2 Processor

We’ve fist seen Allwinner H2(+) quad core Cortex A7 processor in cheap development boards such as Orange Pi Zero, but the processor main market is actually “Basic OTT TV boxes” for 1080p video playback, and Sunvell R69 TV box is one of the first of those, and comes with 1GB RAM & 8GB storage. Sunvell R69 TV box specifications: SoC – Allwinner H2 quad core Cortex A7 processor @ up to 1.5 GHz (TBC) with Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB flash + micro SD slot up to 32GB Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4 output up to 1080p60, AV port (composite video + stereo audio) Video Codec – H.265 / H.264 up to 1080p Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (via XR819 chipset) USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports Power Supply – 5V/2A Dimensions – 9 x 9.5 x 1.8 cm Weight – […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025

April 28, 2017April 28, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Shuttle NS02E Rockchip RK3368 Android mini PC Supports PoE for Digital Signage and Thin Clients

The market is flooded of octa-core Android mini PCs or TV boxes for the consumer market, but Rockchip RK3368 powered Shuttle NS02E Android mini PC targets a different mark, specifically digital signage and thin clients as it’s been designed for 24/7 nonstop operation, and supports features such as PoE (Power over Ethernet). Shuttle XPC nano NS02E specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3368 ARM Cortex A53 processor @ up to 1.5 GHz with Imagination PowerVR G6110 “Rogue” GPU System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, 2.5″ SATA bay for 7″ drives (requires one extra optional accessory), SD card reader Video Output – HDMI 2.0 Audio Output – Via HDMI, 3.5mm Line OUT audio jack Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet (RTL8211-CG transceiver) with PoE support, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 (RTL8723BS module) USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports Misc – Kensington lock hole, power button, power LED, HDD LED, […]

April 28, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments

Cavium ThunderX based Scaleway ARMv8 Cloud Servers Go for 2.99 Euros per Month and Up

Scaleway launched 32-bit ARM server hosting services in 2015 for 10 Euros per month, before dropping the price to 2.99 Euros per month half-year later, and now the company has just launched a new offering with 64-bit ARM servers powered by Cavium ThunderX processor going for 2.99 to 11.99 Euros per month depending on configuration. The processors are equipped with DDR4 ECC memory, and all three services included unlimited transfer, so you don’t need to pay for any bandwidth fee. While the price is shown per month, you’ll be billed by the hour (0.006 Euro/h for ARM64-2GB), so if you are using those for development it may even cost less per month, as you can turn them off when not working. All server are located in a Paris data center in France, and runs Ubuntu 16.04, but more operating systems and “InstantApps” will be added to the selection. More servers […]