Linux 6.1 LTS release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.1 LTS

Linus Torvalds announced the release of Linux 6.1, likely to be an LTS kernel, last Sunday: So here we are, a week late, but last week was nice and slow, and I’m much happier about the state of 6.1 than I was a couple of weeks ago when things didn’t seem to be slowing down. Of course, that means that now we have the merge window from hell, just before the holidays, with me having some pre-holiday travel coming up too. So while delaying things for a week was the right thing to do, it does make the timing for the 6.2 merge window awkward. That said, I’m happy to report that people seem to have taken that to heart, and I already have two dozen pull requests pending for tomorrow in my inbox. And hopefully I’ll get another batch overnight, so that I can try to really get as […]

Armbian 22.11 released with 64-bit RISC-V UEFI, ultra minimal images support

Armbian 22.11

Armbian 22.11 has just been released with three new SBCs, support for 64-bit RISC-V UEFI, a new ultra-minimal image optimized for software development, and various improvements. Armbian was born as a framework to build better OS images, usually Debian or Ubuntu, for Arm-based single board computers from Orange Pi, Hardkernel (ODROID), FriendlyElec, Banana Pi, and others, but now with the release of Armbian 22.11, support for the RISC-V architecture has started since the system can now generate 64-bit RISC-V UEFI images. Some other highlights of Armbian 22.11 include: Added support for Banana Pi BPI-M5 (Amlogic S905X3), ODROID-M1 (Rockchip RK3568), and Rock Pi 4C Plus (Rockchip RK3399-T) Enabled community images with a weekly release cycle Added ultra minimal images optimized for software deployment Improved support for the Rock Pi S (Rockchip RK3308) Kernel upgrade is frozen by default to improve stability I could not find details about the new “Minimal” images, […]

FNIRSI 1013D teardown and mini review – A portable oscilloscope based on Allwinner CPU & Anlogic FGPA

FNIRSI 1013D

The FNIRSI 1013D is a dual-channel flat-panel oscilloscope with a rich set of features. It is cost-effective and useful to people in the maintenance and R&D industries. Although it has been on the market for a few years, I purchased one, and I decided to introduce it and disassemble it to check out the hardware design. FNIRSI describes its oscilloscope as “small and portable”, so I assume it should include a lithium battery, a TFT LCD screen, a processor to handle the display, and another chip to process the digital signals. Let’s take it apart first to find out. FNIRSI 1013D oscilloscope unboxing FNIRSI 1013D package content: 1x FNIRSI 1013D oscilloscope 2x 100MHz matching probes (1X and 10X) 1x USB cable 1x Charging adapter 1x Instruction manual The FNIRSI 1013D adopts a 7-inch 800 x 480 resolution color TFT LCD with a capacitive touch screen. There are two input channels […]

DongshanPI-D1s – An Allwinner D1s RISC-V development board designed to teach programming

DongShanPI D1s

The DongshanPI-D1s development board is comprised of a soldered-on Allwinner D1s RISC-V system-on-module board (SoM) and a carrier board with two 40-pin headers and a 2.0mm dedicated header. This development board is specifically designed to teach programming with a focus on the RISC-V architecture. The development board was designed by 100ask. They previously designed the Dongshan NeZha STU a development board based on the Allwinner D1. The main difference between the two is that 100ask did not include the Ethernet and HDMI interfaces on the DongshanPI-D1s board. The pinout of the headers is also slightly different because they opted to make the headers compatible with the widely used 40-pin GPIO from Raspberry Pi single board computers. DongshanPI-D1s preliminary specifications: D1s Core Lite SoC – Allwinner D1s single-core XuanTie C906 64-bit RISC-V processor @ 1.0 GHz with with 32 KB I-cache + 32 KB D-cache Memory – 64 MB DDR2 (SIP) […]

uConsole is a modular Arm or RISC-V handheld computer with optional 4G connectivity

uConsole portable handheld computer

Clockwork’s uConsole is a modular handheld computer with a 5-inch display, a built-in keyboard, and based on a carrier board supporting various Arm or RISC-V modules compatible with the Raspberry Pi CM3 or CM4 form factors. The device is offered with a system-on-module with up to 4GB RAM, a WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 wireless module, features micro HDMI video output, USB ports, and an audio jack, plus expansion connectors for more advanced users, and takes two 18650 batteries for power. The company also offers a 4G LTE module for cellular connectivity. The mainboard, called ClockworkPi v3.14 revision 5, offers the following: System-on-module socket – 200-pin DDR2 SODIMM socket compatible with Raspberry Pi CM3 and, through an adapter, Raspberry Pi CM4 and compatible modules Storage – MicroSD card socket Video Interfaces 40-pin MIPI DSI connector micro HDMI interface for external display Audio – 3.5mm audio jack with headphone and microphone […]

Linux 6.0 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.0 Release

Linux 6.0 has just been released by Linus Torvalds: So, as is hopefully clear to everybody, the major version number change is more about me running out of fingers and toes than it is about any big fundamental changes. But of course there’s a lot of various changes in 6.0 – we’ve got over 15k non-merge commits in there in total, after all, and as such 6.0 is one of the bigger releases at least in numbers of commits in a while. The shortlog of changes below is only the last week since 6.0-rc7. A little bit of everything, although the diffstat is dominated by drm (mostly amd new chip support) and networking drivers. And this obviously means that tomorrow I’ll open the merge window for 6.1. Which – unlike 6.0 – has a number of fairly core new things lined up. But for now, please do give this most […]

Linux 5.19 Release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linux 5.19 release arm risc-v mips

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 5.19. It should be the last 5.xx version, with Linux 6.0 coming for the next cycle: So here we are, one week late, and 5.19 is tagged and pushed out. The full shortlog (just from rc8, obviously not all of 5.19) is below, but I can happily report that there is nothing really interesting in there. A lot of random small stuff. In the diffstat, the loongarch updates stand out, as does another batch of the networking sysctl READ_ONCE() annotations to make some of the data race checker code happy. Other than that it’s really just a mixed bag of various odds and ends. On a personal note, the most interesting part here is that I did the release (and am writing this) on an arm64 laptop. It’s something I’ve been waiting for for a _loong_ time, and it’s finally reality, […]

Sipeed Lichee RV Dock Pro RISC-V SBC adds MIPI/RGB LCD connector, dual MIC, and BL702 JTAG+UART debugger

Sipeed Lichee RV Dock Pro Allwinner D1 RISC-V Development Board

Sipeed has launched the Lichee RV Dock Pro kit for the company’s Lichee RV Allwinner D1 RISC-V module that builds on the earlier Lichee RV Dock carrier board and adds a MIPI/RGB LCD connector, two built-in microphones, as well as an on-board JTAG+UART debugger based on Bouffalo Lab BL702 microcontroller. Lichee RV Dock Pro specifications (preliminary) which changes in bold or strikethrough: Supported system-on-module (SoM) – Lichee RV module with Allwinner D1 RISC-V processor @ 1 GHz, 512MB DDR3, MicroSD card slot, and USB Type-C OTG port Storage – Optional SPI flash Display interfaces HDMI port up to 4Kp30 MIPI LCD/RGB interface for up to 720p30 display Audio – 3W power amplifier, 2x analog microphone, support for 6-mic array via expansion Connectivity – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.2 via Realtek RTL8723 wireless module with ceramic antenna, IPEX antenna connector USB – 1x USB Type-A port adding to the USB-C OTG […]

EmbeddedTS embedded systems design