Linux 6.2 exFAT update to improve performance when creating files and directories

Linux 6.2 exFAT

The exFAT file system is about to get faster in Linux 6.2, at least when creating files and directories, with the performance boost especially noticeable on low-end processors. Microsoft released the exFAT specification and announced Linux support in August 2019, which was followed by a new exFAT implementation in Linux 5.7 (June 2020) from Samsung.  But people are still working on improving exFAT Linux support, and Yuezhang Mo, an engineer at Sony, committed a patchset for Linux 6.2 that reduces repeated traversal of directory entries to boost the performance of exFAT: After traversing all directory entries, hint the empty directory entry no matter whether or not there are enough empty directory entries. After this commit, hint the empty directory entries like this: 1. Hint the deleted directory entries if enough; 2. Hint the deleted and unused directory entries which at the end of the cluster chain no matter whether enough […]

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 […]

System-on-module combines NXP i.MX 8M Mini Arm CPU and Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA

NXP Arm + Xilinx FPGA development board

MYIR Tech has launched the MYC-JX8MMA7 system-on-module combining an NXP i.MX 8M Mini quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor with an AMD Xilinx XC7A25T Artix-7 FPGA. The 82 x 45mm CPU module comes with 2GB LPDDR4, 8GB eMMC flash, and 32MB QSPI Flash for the Arm processor and 256MB DDR3 and 32MB QSPI Flash for FPGA. It exposes I/Os through an MXM 3.0 edge connector and can operate in the industrial temperature range (-40 to 85°C). MYC-JX8MMA7 CPU module specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Mini with quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.6 (industrial) or 1.8 GHz, Cortex-M4F real-time core @ 400 MHz, Vivante GC320 and Vivante GCNanoUltra 3D/2D GPUs, 1080p60 H.265, H.264, VP8, VP9 video decoder, 1080p60 H.264 & VP8 video encoder FPGA – AMD Xilinx Artix-7 XC7A25T-2CSG325 with 23,360 logic cells, 3x GTP System Memory and Storage SoC – 2GB LPDDR4, 8GB eMMC flash, and 32MB QSPI Flash FPGA […]

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 […]

Robustel industrial IoT gateways run Debian-based OS, offer 5G, 4G LTE, LoRaWAN connectivity

Robustel EG5120 industrial IoT gateway

Robustel has launched three Arm-based industrial IoT gateways namely the EG5100, EG5120, and LG5100 that offer 5G, 4G LTE, and/or LoRaWAN connectivity, and runs Debian 11-based RobustOS Pro Linux operating systems The edge gateways also feature two Ethernet ports, two RS232/RS485 ports for connection to industrial devices, digital inputs and outputs for simple monitoring and control, and support a wide 9 to 60V DC power input through a 2-pin terminal block. Robustel LG5100, EG5100, and EG5120 specifications: SoC/memory/storage LG5100 and EG5100 Unnamed quad-core Cortex-A7 processor @ 792 MHz (possibly NXP i.MX 7ULP) 512MB DDR3 8GB eMMC flash EG5120 Unnamed quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.6 GHz with 2.3 TOPS NPU (very likely NXP i.MX 8M Plus) 2GB DDR4 16GB eMMC flash, microSD card socket Connectivity LG5100 2x 10/100 Mbps Ethernet ports with support for 802.3af PD feature on eth0 LoRaWAN connectivity with 1x SMA antenna connector, support for EU868, AU915, CN470 […]

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, […]

DEBIX Model A – A Raspberry Pi-inspired NXP i.MX 8M Plus SBC for AI applications

NXP i.MX 8M Raspberry Pi SBC

DEBIX Model A is a single board computer powered by an NXP i.MX 8M Plus quad-core Cortex-A53 processor with a 2.3 TOPS AI accelerator in a form factor that combines Raspberry Pi 4 and 3 Model B designs. The SBC comes with up to 6GB RAM, a microSD card slot, an optional eMMC flash of up to 128GB capacity, HDMI 2.0a, LVDS, and MIPI DSI display interfaces, a MIPI CSI camera interface, Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi 5 connectivity, plus a 40-pin GPIO expansion header. DEBIX Model A specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Plus quad-core Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.6 GHz (industrial) or 1.8 GHz (commercial), with Arm Cortex-M7 @ up to 800 MHz, Vivante GC7000UL 3D GPU, Vivante GC520L 2D GPU, 2.3 TOPS NPU System  Memory – 2GB LPDDR4 (4GB/6GB optional) Storage – Default: Micro SD card; optional 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB eMMC flash Video Output HDMI […]

MNT Pocket Reform 7-inch modular mini laptop takes a range of Arm (and FPGA) modules

MNT Pocket Reform

MNT Pocket Reform is an open-source hardware mini laptop with a 7-inch Full HD display, an ortholinear mechanical keyboard, and trackball, that follows the path of its older and bigger sibling:  the MNT Reform 2 laptop initially launched with an NXP i.MX 8M quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 module. The new laptop will not only support a similar “NXP i.MX 8M Plus” module but also a range of other Arm modules namely an NXP Layerscape LS1028A module with up to 16GB RAM, the Raspberry Pi CM4 module via an adapter, Pine64 SOQuartz (RK3566, up to 8GB RAM), as well as based on AMD Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA for industrial use. MNT Pocket Reform specifications: Available system-on-modules Standard: NXP i.MX 8M Plus quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.8GHz with 4 or 8 GB DDR4, Vivante GC7000UL GPU, 2.3 TOPS NPU NXP Layerscape LS1028A dual-core Arm Cortex-A72 with 8 or 16GB DDR4, Vivante GC7000UL GPU Raspberry […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC