Canonical has announced and released the Ubuntu Frame display server for embedded systems such as interactive kiosks, digital signage solutions, or any other embedded devices with a graphical output. The solution aims to allow developers to build and deploy graphical applications more easily and quickly, as Ubuntu Frame requires less code since, as Canonical explains, there’s no need to integrate and maintain partial solutions such as DRM, KMS, input protocols, or security policies. Ubuntu Frame fullscreen shell is based on Wayland, requires snaps support, and offers compatibility with existing graphical toolkits such as Flutter, Qt5/6, GTK3/4, Electron, and SDL2, as well as support for web-based graphical applications written with HTML5 and/or Java. Besides the ease of development, the other main reason to use Canonical new display server is security: Ubuntu Frame adopts Wayland for a modern and secure approach to graphics. Thanks to Ubuntu Frame’s own secure socket, applications can […]
miriac AIP-LX2160A 16-core embedded platform delivers up to 130 TOPS with 5 Hailo-8 modules
MicroSys Electronics miriac AIP-LX2160A embedded platform combines a 16-core Cortex-A72 NXP LX2160A networking processor with up to five Hailo-8 AI accelerator modules delivering up to 130 TOPS of AI inference performance. The board supports up to 128 GB RAM, up to 4x SATA hard drives, up to 100GbE connectivity, and appears to be especially suited to applications with multiple IP video streams requiring real-time video analytics. miriac AIP-LX2160A specifications: SoC – NXP Layerscape LX2160A with 16 Arm Cortex-A72 cores @ up to 2.2 GHz AI accelerators – 2x Hailo-8 M.2 AI Acceleration Modules, upgradeable to up to 5 Modules via NGFF M.2 Key M card System Memory – Up to 128 GB DDR4 RAM & optional ECC, up to 3200MT/sec, up to 4 ranks (combined design: 2x discrete & 2x SODIMM) Storage 4x SATA III ports Up to 256 GB eMMC 5.1 flash, additional eMMC device on carrier board Up […]
MochaBin-5G SBC offers 10GbE, WiFi 6, 5G for $159 and up (Crowdfunding)
Globalscale Technologies has a follow-up to their low-cost ESPRESSOBin SBC based on Marvell Armada 3700LP SoC. The MochaBin-5G SBC is powered by a Marvell Armada 7040 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor, and offers 10GbE networking for as little as $159, with as well as optional WiFi 6 and 5G connectivity. The single board computer is equipped with 16GB eMMC flash, up to 8GB DDR4, and plenty of high-speed interface with multiple Ethernet ports, USB 3.0 ports, M.2 socket for SATA and Cellular, and a mini PCIe for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. MochaBin-5G specifications: SoC – Marvell Armada 7040 quad-core Corex-A72 processor @ up to 1.4GHz System Memory – 4GB or 8GB DDR4 (soldered down) Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, 4MB SPI NOR flash for bootloader, SATA connector, M.2 2280 socket for SATA III SSD Networking 1x 10GbE SFP+, 1x 1GbE SFP (via 88E1512 PHY) 4x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 LAN ports via Topaz […]
Getting Started with the Yocto Linux BSP for Polarfire SoC FPGA Icicle Kit
Last month I received Microchip PolarFire SoC FPGA Icicle development kit that features PolarFire SoC FPGA with a Penta–core 64-bit RISC-V CPU subsystem and an FPGA with 254K LE, and booted it into the pre-installed Linux operating systems based on OpenEmbedded. Today, I’ll show how to get started with the Yocto BSP and run the EEMBC CoreMark benchmark, and I’ll check out the FPGA with Libero SoC Design Suite in a couple of weeks. Operating Systems supported by PolarFire SoC FPGA My initial idea was to focus this part of the review on Linux on RISC-V status, checking some system information, running some benchmarks (e.g. SBC-Bench), compiling the Linux kernel, and installing services like a LEMP stack (Linux, Nginx (pronounced Engine-X), MySQL, PHP) which could be used for WordPress hosting for instance. But then I looked at the operating systems supported with Microchip PolarFire SoC FPGA. There’s a Yocto Linux […]
Pocket P.C. devkits ship, U-blox GNSS module replaced by SIMCom SIM33ELA
The Pocket P.C. (aka Popcorn Computer) is a handheld Linux computer based on Allwinner A64 with 2GB RAM, 32GB storage, a 4.95-inch Full HD display, and a QWERTY keyboard that was introduced in 2019, and reminds me of PocketCHIP from a few years also with an Allwinner processor, a display, a keyboard, and a battery. The initial plan was to start shipping the device by May 2020, and there are been delays for reasons we’ll explain below, but the good news is that Source Parts has just announced the developer units had been shipped. So what happened exactly, besides the COVID-19 pandemic, government lockdowns, and supply chain disruptions? Source Parts first encountered issues with the quality of PCBs delivered by the manufacturer, which ended up with them having to switch to a new manufacturer. Getting the display to work was also a challenge, and Icenowy, a developer involved with linux-sunxi […]
Open-source Allwinner V3 ISP driver to enable blob-free camera support in mainline Linux
Bootlin has just submitted the first patchset for the Allwinner V3 image signal processor (ISP) driver in mainline Linux which should pave the way for a completely open-source, blob-free camera support in Linux using V4L2. There are several blocks in an SoC for camera support including a camera input interface such as MIPI CSI 2 and an ISP to process the raw data into a usable image. Add to this the need to implement the code for sensors, and there’s quite a lot of work to get it all working. Allwinner SDK comes with several binary blobs, aka closed-source binary, but Bootlin is working on making those obsolete, having first worked on Allwinner A31, V3s/V3/S3, and A83T MIPI CSI-2 support for the camera interface driver in the V4L2 framework (and Rockchip PX30, RK1808, RK3128 and RK3288 processors), as well as implemented support for Omnivision OV8865 and OV5648 image sensors earlier […]
Data acquisition SBC offers PCIe/104 and mPCIe expansions
DIamond Systems’ Saturn is a rugged Intel Atom x5-E3940 powered SBC with an industrial analog and digital data acquisition subsystem, as well as PCIe/104 OneBank and mini PCIe sockets for I/O expansion. The Saturn SBC is also equipped with either 4GB non-ECC or 8GB ECC RAM, SATA, two Gigabit Ethernet networking interfaces, two HDMI video outputs, multiple USB and serial interfaces, and more… most available through positive latching connectors that comply with the PCIe/104 standard, which also allows for stacking multiple expansion boards through the PCIe/104 Onebank connectors. Saturn SBC specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x5-E3940 quad-core Apollo Lake processor @ up to 1.6GHz / 1.8 GHz (burst with 15-year lifecycle System Memory – 4GB non-ECC or 8GB ECC RAM soldered Storage – SATA port and M.2 2242 SATA socket up to 1TB Video Output – 2x HDMI interfaces, LVDS Audio – ALC622 audio codec; Line Out, Line In, and […]
Geniatech GTW410 – An ultra compact IoT gateway based on Snapdragon 410E SoC
After writing about Azulle Ally Snapdragon 450 mini PC, I was reminded there are other small form factor Snapdragon devices such as Geniatech GTW410 based on the earlier Snapdragon 410E quad-core processor. While the GTW410 is marketed as an “Embedded IoT Gateway”, it could also serve as an entry-level industrial mini PC with up to 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC flash, as well as HDMI, Ethernet, and USB ports. Geniatech GTW410 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 410E (APQ8016) quad-core ARM Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2 GHz with Adreno 306 GPU System Memory – 1 or 2 GB LPDDR3 @ 533MHz Storage – 8 or 16 GB eMMC 5.0 flash + micro SD 3.0 (UHS-I) slot Video Output – HDMI 1.3 up to 1080p @ 30 Hz Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, Integrated 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS with on-board antenna, optional Zigbee USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB […]