Linux

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Packet 96-core Cavium ThunderX Baremetal ARMv8 Servers are Available for $0.50 per Hour, $372 per Month

Packet 96-core Cavium ThunderX Baremetal ARMv8 Servers are Available for $0.50 per Hour, $372 per Month

Last week, I wrote about Scaleway ARMV8 cloud servers powered by Cavium ThunderX processors. They are very cheap, as low as 0.0006 Euros per hour or 2.99 Euros per month, but you only get access to 2 to 8 cores, so obviously you don’t get a baremetal server for that price.  If you want the latter Packet.net has been offering just that since the end of last year with their Type 2A baremetal server with two Cavium ThunderX 48-core processors, 128 GB RAM, 384 GB SSD and 20 Gbps bandwidth. The servers can currently run Centos 7, CoreOS, Ubuntu 16.04 LTS,  with support for container platforms such as CoreOS Tectonic, Rancher, Docker Cloud, ContainerShip, StackEngine, Docker Machine, etc… You can check the status for other operating systems and features and the roadmap page. They also have x86 servers, and I’ve included the hourly and monthly prices and features for all […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments on SinoVoIP Releases $35 Banana Pi BPI-M2+ Board with Allwinner H2+ Processor

SinoVoIP Releases $35 Banana Pi BPI-M2+ Board with Allwinner H2+ Processor

Banana Pi BPI M2+ board was first released with Allwinner H3 processor, but the same PCB can also be used with Allwinner H2+ and H5 processors since the processors are pin-to-pin compatible, and SinoVoIP intends to release three version of the board, and just launched BPI M2+ (aka BPI H2+) with Allwinner H2+ processor for $34.50 + shipping, $1.5 cheaper than the H3 version also listed on Aliexpress. If you shop around, and don’t order on the official SinoVoIP store, you may find cheaper price for the boards. As expected, the specifications have not changed apart from the processor: SoC – Allwinner H2+ quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.2 GHz with an ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU up to 600 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, micro SD card slot up to 64GB, Video & Audio Output – HDMI with CEC support Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on VolksPC OS Runs Android and Debian Simultaneously on ODROID-C2 Board

VolksPC OS Runs Android and Debian Simultaneously on ODROID-C2 Board

Most development boards and some TV boxes offer a dual boot image with Android and a Linux distribution. To run an Android app, you need to boot to Android OS, and if you decided you need to run Linux, you then need to reboot to the Linux OS, and you can’t simply use Alt+Tab to easily and quickly switch between Android and Linux apps. But VolksPC offers just that: the ability to run Android and Debian side-by-side, and I tested their MicroXWin unified distributions with MK808B TV stick powered by Rockchip RK3066 processor a few years ago. It was early stage at the time (July 2014), and there was some stability issues.The company has kept working on their solution, but focused on more powerful hardware, and they have now released VOLKSPC OS for ODROID-C2 with Debian XFCE and Android Marshmallow, which will run both Android and Debian applications at the […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on MQMaker MiQi & ASUS Tinker Boards Get Linux 4.11 with 3D Graphics Acceleration

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:

Via linux-rockchip G+ community. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on SavageBoard Open Source Hardware Board Powered by NXP i.MX 6 Processor Offers Multiple Display Options

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 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Does That Crane or Drilling Rig Run mainline Linux?

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 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on Linux 4.11 Release – Main Changes, ARM & MIPS Architecture

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 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments on Cavium ThunderX based Scaleway ARMv8 Cloud Servers Go for 2.99 Euros per Month and Up

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 […]