Ubuntu Category - Page 58 of 191 - CNX Software

May 29, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Khadas VIM4 SBC review – Part 3: Ubuntu 22.04

Here’s the last part of Khadas VIM4 review with Ubuntu 22.04 “Jammy Jellyfish”. You may want to check out our previous parts with the unboxing and first boot, followed by Android 11 if you haven’t already done so. Ubuntu 22.04 installation on Khadas VIM4 I used the same method of installation with OOWOW firmware that can download the image directly from Khadas server, and install it to the eMMC flash. Since I already had Android 11 running on the board, I had to keep pressing the function key (middle), then shortly press the reset button, before releasing the function key and entering OOWOW interface. From there, I selected Ubuntu 22.04 Gnome, and went ahead with the download. The download was fast with the 758.2MB compressed image downloaded in a couple of minutes, then I simply selected “Install” to go further, and replace Android 11… .. and after rebooting the board […]

May 26, 2022December 14, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Rockchip RK3588 CPU module exposes more I/Os through four board-to-board connectors

We’ve already seen several Rockchip RK3588 modules with Firefly Core-3588J, Turing RK1, and Banana Pi RK3588_CV1, all with an edge connector to insertion into the carrier board. Rongpin RD-RK3588 system-on-module is a little different with four board-to-board connectors that enable a slightly more compact design, and should expose more I/Os than say a 314-pin MXM edge connector. The module ships with up to 16GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage, a Rockchip RK806-1 PMIC, and the company also offers a development kit with RD-RK3588-B baseboard fitted with the module for evaluation and early software development. RD-RK3588 board-to-board module RD-RK3588-C core module specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588 octa-core processor with 4x Arm Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Arm Cortex-A55 cores, Arm Mali-G610 MP4 GPU with support for OpenGL ES3.2, OpenCL 2.2, Vulkan1.1, 6 TOPS NPU, 48MP ISP, 8Kp60 video decoding, 8Kp30 video encoding System Memory – 4GB, 8GB, […]

May 25, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Raspberry Pi CM4 compatible module coming soon with Amlogic A311D CPU

Despite assurances by Eben Upton that there’s no supply shortage of Raspberry Pi CM4 modules for commercial and industrial customers, installations or projects requiring just a few modules may be out of luck. So alternatives are needed, and after seeing Rockchip RK3566-based SoMs compatible with Pi CM4, namely the Pine64 SoPine and Radxa CM3, Banana Pi is working on a Raspberry Pi CM4 compatible module powered by Amlogic A311D hexa-core Arm Cortex-A73/A53 processor. Banana Pi BPI-CM4 specifications: SoC – Amlogic A311D hexa-core processor with 4x Arm Cortex-A73 @ 2.0 GHz and 2x Arm Cortex-A53 @, Arm Mali-G52 MP4 (6EE) GPU, 5 TOPS NPU System Memory – 2GB/4GB LPDDR4 RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC flash (up to 128GB) Networking – Gigabit Ethernet PHY on-module, optional WiFi 5/6 module with on-board PCB antenna and external antenna 2x 100-pin high-density board-to-board connector (mostly) compatible with Raspberry Pi CM4 with 1x HDMI, 1x MIPI […]

May 22, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Linux hardware video encoding on Amlogic A311D2 processor

amlogic a311d2 h265 hardware video encoding sample

I’ve spent a bit more time with Ubuntu 22.04 on Khadas VIM4 Amogic A311D2 SBC, and while the performance is generally good features like 3D graphics acceleration and hardware video decoding are missing. But I was pleased to see a Linux hardware video encoding section in the Wiki, as it’s not something we often see supported early on. So I’ve given it a try… First, we need to make a video in NV12 pixel format that’s commonly outputted from cameras. I downloaded a 45-second 1080p H.264 sample video from Linaro, and converted it with ffmpeg:

ffmpeg -i big_buck_bunny_1080p_H264_AAC_25fps_7200K.MP4 -pix_fmt nv12 big_buck_bunny_1080p_H264_AAC_25fps_7200K-nv12.yuv

1	ffmpeg -i big_buck_bunny_1080p_H264_AAC_25fps_7200K.MP4 -pix_fmt nv12 big_buck_bunny_1080p_H264_AAC_25fps_7200K-nv12.yuv

I did this on my laptop. As a raw video, it’s pretty big with 3.3GB of storage used for a 45-second video:

ls -lh
total 3.3G
-rw-rw-r-- 1 jaufranc jaufranc  40M Aug  5  2011 big_buck_bunny_1080p_H264_AAC_25fps_7200K.MP4
-rw-rw-r-- 1 jaufranc jaufranc 3.3G May 21 15:03 big_buck_bunny_1080p_H264_AAC_25fps_7200K-nv12.yuv

ls -lh

total 3.3G

-rw-rw-r-- 1 jaufranc jaufranc 40M Aug 5 2011 big_buck_bunny_1080p_H264_AAC_25fps_7200K.MP4

-rw-rw-r-- 1 jaufranc jaufranc 3.3G May 21 15:03 big_buck_bunny_1080p_H264_AAC_25fps_7200K-nv12.yuv

Now let’s try to encode the video to H.264 on Khadas VIM4 board using aml_enc_test hardware video encoding sample:

khadas@Khadas:~$ time aml_enc_test 1080p.nv12 dump.h264 1920 1080 30 25 6000000 1125 1 0 2 4
src_url is	: 1080p.nv12 ;
out_url is	: dump.h264 ;
width   is	: 1920 ;
height  is	: 1080 ;
gop     is	: 30 ;
frmrate is	: 25 ;
bitrate is	: 6000000 ;
frm_num is	: 1125 ;
fmt     is	: 1 ;
buf_type is	: 0 ;
num_planes is	: 2 ;
codec is	: 4 ;
codec is H264
Set log level to 4
[initEncParams:177] enc_feature_opts is 0x0 , GopPresetis 0x0 

[SetupEncoderOpenParam:513] GopPreset GOP format (2) period 30 LongTermRef 0

[vdi_sys_sync_inst_param:618] [VDI] fail to deliver sync instance param inst_idx=0

[AML_MultiEncInitialize:1378] VPU instance param sync with open param failed

[SetSequenceInfo:979] Required buffer fb_num=3, src_num=1, actual src=3 1920x1080

Encode End!width:1920

real	0m26.074s
user	0m1.832s
sys	0m4.883s

khadas@Khadas:~$ time aml_enc_test 1080p.nv12 dump.h264 1920 1080 30 25 6000000 1125 1 0 2 4

src_url is : 1080p.nv12 ;

out_url is : dump.h264 ;

width is : 1920 ;

height is : 1080 ;

gop is : 30 ;

frmrate is : 25 ;

bitrate is : 6000000 ;

frm_num is : 1125 ;

fmt is : 1 ;

buf_type is : 0 ;

num_planes is : 2 ;

codec is : 4 ;

codec is H264

Set log level to 4

[initEncParams:177] enc_feature_opts is 0x0 , GopPresetis 0x0

[SetupEncoderOpenParam:513] GopPreset GOP format (2) period 30 LongTermRef 0

[vdi_sys_sync_inst_param:618] [VDI] fail to deliver sync instance param inst_idx=0

[AML_MultiEncInitialize:1378] VPU instance param sync with open param failed

[SetSequenceInfo:979] Required buffer fb_num=3, src_num=1, actual src=3 1920x1080

Encode End!width:1920

real 0m26.074s

user 0m1.832s

sys 0m4.883s

The output explains the parameters used. There are some error messages, […]

May 18, 2022December 28, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

$349 AMD Kria KR260 Robotics Starter Kit takes on NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier devkit

AMD Xilinx Kria KR260 Robotics Starter Kit features the Kria K26 Zynq UltraScale+ XCK26 FPGA MPSoC system-on-module (SoM) introduced last year together with the Kria KV260 Vision AI Starter Kit. Designed as a development platform for robotics and industrial applications, the KR260 is said to deliver nearly 5x productivity gain, up to 8x better performance per watt and 3.5x lower latency compared to Nvidia Jetson AGX Xavier or Jetson Nano kits. We’ll have a better look at the details below. Kria KR260 Robotics Starter Kit specifications: SoM – Kria K26 module with: MPSoC – Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale+ custom-built XCK26 with quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor up to 1.5GHz, dual-core Arm Cortex-R5F real-time processor up to 600MHz, Mali-400 MP2 GPU up to 667MHz, 4Kp60 VPU, 26.6Mb On-Chip SRAM, 256K logic cells, 1,248 DSP slices, 144 Block RAM blocks, 64 UltraRAM blocks System Memory – 4GB 64-bit DDR4 (non-ECC) Storage – 512 Mbit […]

May 17, 2022October 21, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Ubuntu Kylin 20.04 OS works on RISC-V hardware

China-developed Ubuntu Kylin 20.04 is now supporting RISC-V architecture with an image for HiFive Unmatched mini-ITX motherboard, and work will be done on an unnamed Starfive SBC that should be the VisionFive board with a GPUless JH7100 dual-core RISC-V SoC or an upgraded version with JH7110 SoC featuring an Imagination IMG BXE-4-32 GPU. You may have read recent reports about China asking government entities, including state-owned enterprises (SOE), to replace foreign hardware and software within a two-year period. So that means avoiding systems based on Intel and AMD processors, so working on RISC-V open architecture makes perfect sense, since over time, Chinese manufacturers should be able to make RISC-V SoCs and PCs based on those processors, albeit probably not within the next two years at any significant scale. Ubuntu Kylin 20.04 RISC-V, as well as the newly released Ubuntu Kylin 22.04 x86, can be found on the English download page […]

May 17, 2022May 17, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Turing Pi 2 mini-ITX cluster board supports RK3588 based Turing RK1, Raspberry Pi CM4, and NVIDIA Jetson SoMs (Crowdfunding)

We first covered the Turing Pi V2 mini-ITX cluster board supporting up to four Raspberry Pi CM4 or NVIDIA Jetson SO-DIMM system-on-module in August 2021. The company has now launched the Turing Pi 2 on Kickstarter with a little surprise: the Turing RK1 module with Rockchip RK3588 Cortex-A76/A55 processor and up to 32GB RAM. The board allows you to mix and match modules (e.g. 3x RPi CM4 + 1x Jetson module as on the photo below), and with SATA ports, Gigabit Ethernet networking, USB 3.0 ports, mPCIe socket, you could build a fairly powerful homelab, learn Kubernetes, or self-host your own apps. Turing Pi 2 specifications: SoM interface – 4x 260-pin SO-DIMM slots for up to four Raspberry Pi CM4 with Broadcom quad-core Cortex-A72 processor, up to 8GB RAM, up to 32GB eMMC flash (adapter needed) NVIDIA Jetson Nano/TX2 NX/Xavier NX SO-DIMM system-on-modules with up to 6x Armv8 cores, and […]

May 16, 2022August 9, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Embedded World 2022 – June 21-23 – Virtual Schedule

Embedded World 2020 was a lonely affair with many companies canceling attendance due to COVID-19, and Embedded World 2021 took place online only. But Embedded World is back to Nuremberg, Germany in 2022 albeit with the event moved from the traditional month of February to June 21-23. Embedded systems companies and those that service them will showcase their latest solution at their respective booths, and there will be a conference with talks and classes during the three-day event. The programme is up, so I made my own little Embedded World 2022 virtual schedule as there may be a few things to learn, even though I won’t be attending. Tuesday, June 21, 2022 10:00 – 13:00 – Rust, a Safe Language for Low-level Programming Rust is a relatively new language in the area of systems and low-level programming. Its main goals are performance, correctness, safety, and productivity. While still ~70% of […]