Linux 4.12 Release – Main Changes, ARM & MIPS Architectures

Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 4.12: Things were quite calm this week, so I really didn’t have any real reason to delay the 4.12 release. As mentioned over the various rc announcements, 4.12 is one of the bigger releases historically, and I think only 4.9 ends up having had more commits. And 4.9 was big at least partly because Greg announced it was an LTS kernel. But 4.12 is just plain big. There’s also nothing particularly odd going on in the tree – it’s all just normal development, just more of it that usual. The shortlog below is obviously just the minor changes since rc7 – the whole 4.12 shortlog is much too large to post. In the diff department, 4.12 is also very big, although the reason there isn’t just that there’s a lot of development, we have the added bulk of a lot of new  header files […]

$25 NanoPi NEO Plus2 Board Adds 8GB Flash, WiFi & Bluetooth, More RAM, and an extra USB Port

NanoPi NEO 2 board has just got an update with NEO Plus2 board featuring the same Allwinner H5 processor and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, but FriendlyELEC updated the RAM from 512MB to 1GB, added an 8GB eMMC flash, a WiFi & Bluetooth module, and an extra USB port. NanoPi NEO Plus2 specifications: SoC – Allwinner H5 quad core Cortex A53 processor with an ARM Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash (Samsung KLM8G1WEPD-B031) +  micro SD card slot Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet (via RTL8211E-VB-CG chip), 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 (via Ampak AP6212A wireless module) USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB port (for power only), 2x USB via headers Expansion headers 24-pin header with I2C, 2x UART, SPI, and GPIOs 12-pin header with 2x USB, IR pin, I2S, and GPIOs 5-pin audio 2.0mm pitch header with microphone and LINE out […]

The First Amlogic S912 Development Board is Coming Soon with Khadas VIM2

We have a decent choice of Amlogic S905 development boards like ODROID-C2 or NanoPi K2, but I was recently asked whether I knew of any Amlogic S912 development boards. I’m sure Amlogic has one for internal development, but those are hard to get, and probably expensive, and while you could probably get an S912 TV box board those lack I/Os, and software support may truly be a challenge. So I’m pleased to announce that Shenzhen Wesion will soon provide an update to their Khadas VIM Pro board with Khadas VIM2 powered by Amlogic S912 octa-core processor. The company will actually offer three variants of Khadas VIM2 boards (Basic/Pro/Max) specifications with highlights in bold showing differences with Khadas VIM Pro board: SoC –  Amlogic S912 octa core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5 GHz with ARM Mali-820MP GPU System Memory Basic – 2 GB DDR4 Pro/Max – 3 GB DDR4 Storage […]

Orange Pi i96 96Boards IoT Edition WiFi & Bluetooth Development Board Finally Launched for $8.80

Orange Pi i96 board was first unveiled at Linaro Connect US 2016 in September of that year, as one of the first boards compliant with 96Boards IoT Edition specification, and expected to sell for just $9.99. The good news is that the board is now finally available for $8.80 plus shipping on Aliexpress ($12.19 in total in my case) Orange Pi i96 specifications: SoC – RDA Micro 8810PL ARM Cortex A5 processor @ up to 1.0 GHz with 2Gbit (256 MB) on-chip LPDDR2 RAM, 4Gbit (512 MB) on-chip SLC NAND flash , 256KB L2 cache, and Vivante GC860 3D GPU External Storage – micro SD slot Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n + Bluetooth 2.1/EDR module (RDA5991) Camera – MIPI CSI-2 connector for camera sensor up to 5MP Video – 1080p30 H.264 encoding USB – 1x USB host port, 1x micro USB OTG port Expansion – 40-pin GPIO header with SPI, […]

Husarion CORE2 STM32 Board for Robotics Projects Works with ESP32, Raspberry Pi 3, or ASUS Tinkerboard

Husarion CORE2 is a board designed to make robotics projects simpler and faster to complete with pre-configured software and online management. Projects can start using LEGOs, before moving to 3D printed or laser-cut version of the mechanical parts without having to spend too much time on the electronics and software part of the project. Two versions of the board are available: CORE2 combining STM32 MCU with ESP32 WiFI & Bluetooth module, and CORE2-ROS with STM32 instead coupled to a Raspberry Pi 3 or ASUS Tinkerboard running ROS (Robot Operating System). Both solutions share most of the same specifications: MCU -STMicro STM32F4 ARM CORTEX-M4 MCU @ 168 MHz with 192 kB RAM, 1 MB Flash External Storage – 1x micro SD slot USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port with 1A charging capability; 1x micro USB port for debugging and programming via FTDI chip Expansion Headers hRPi expansion header for CORE2-ROS […]

H3Droid Android Firmware is Designed for Allwinner H3 Boards & Devices

Allwinner H3 boards such as Orange Pi PC and NanoPi NEO are mostly interesting due to their ability to run Linux and control I/Os, and while they also support Android, most people wanting to run Android are better served with TV boxes instead, as they come with enclosure, power supply, HDMI cable, and an IR remote control. That does not mean there’s no use case for Android on development boards, and that’s why probably KotCzarny, and other developers, have decided to work on H3Droid project to provide better Android images for Allwinner H3 boards and devices than the firmware released by manufacturers. Some of the improvements include “sane DRAM/CPU settings”, support for Custom recovery system, Google Play Store and more USB network adapters, as well as the removal of apps and feature unusable for people outside out China. You’ll also be able to access the board via SSH if you […]

Libre Computer’s Le Potato Amlogic S905X Development Board Goes for $25 and Up (Crowdfunding)

Up to now there were two notable Amlogic S905(X) development boards: ODROID-C2 and Khadas Vim. Shenzhen Libre Technology Co., Ltd, a Shenzhen startup, is about to bring one more to the market with Le Potato board, aka AML-S905X-CC, powered by Amlogic S905X processor with 1 or 2 GB RAM, and in a form factor similar to the Raspberry Pi 3 board. Le Potato /AML-S905X-CC board specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X quad core ARM Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with penta core ARM Mali-450MP GPU, and Amlogic Video Engine 10 System Memory – 1GB or 2GB DDR3 RAM Storage –  1x micro SD Card slot with UHS SDR104 support, eMMC module connector with HS400 support Video Output – HDMI 2.0 Port, 3.5mm TRRS “AV” jack with CVBS (480i / 576i) Audio Output – HDMI, AV jack (stereo audio), SPDIF output header, and I2S header Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet USB – 4x […]

μduino May Be the World’s Smallest Arduino Board (Crowdfunding)

OLIMEXINO-85S may have held the title of the world’s smallest Arduino (compatible) board for the last few years, being barely bigger than a micro SD card as it measures about 16.9 x 12.7 mm, but there’s a new mini champion in town with μduino board measuring just 12 x 12 mm. μduino board specifications: MCU – Microchip Atmel ATMEGA32U4 8-bit AVR microcontroller @ 16 MHz with 2,560 bytes of RAM, 32KB flash, and 1024 bytes of EEPROM (Arduino Leonardo compatible) I/Os 6x Analog I/O ports 14x Digital I/O ports (including Rx/Tx) including  7x PWM 1x Analog reference voltage port 1.27mm pitch Programming / Debugging – 1x micro USB port; 6-pin ICSP programming ports (load custom bootloaders, program other boards, etc) Misc – Status LED, reset button Power Supply – 5V via micro USB port; 5V voltage regulator (accepts up to 16V DC);  2x 5V ports;  2x ground ports Dimensions – 12x […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case