Free Electrons Releases Buildroot Training Materials

Free Electrons develops embedded Linux & Android software, and also provides related training. On-site training sessions are scheduled from time to time, or organized on request, and they usually release their training materials for free, as they did for their Embedded Linux training in 2012, or their Yocto Project / OpenEmbedded course more recently. Thomas Petazzoni, Free Electrons’ Chief Technical Officer, recently informed me that the company also released training materials for Buildroot, which like the Yocto Project is a build system, but it had been around for much longer, and the company is actively participating in its development with over 2,800 patches submitted upstream over the years. Four main resources have been released for the course, under a Creative Commons BY-SA license: training materials for Buildroot – 325 pages Practical labs instructions (PDF) with BeagleBone Black – 32 pages Practical labs data (.tar.xz) – Patchsets for drivers, rootfs, and […]

Ubuntu 15.04 Released for PCs, Servers, IoT Gateways, the Cloud, and Phones

The road to convergence is a long one, and although you still can’t really use a smartphone as both a phone and your desktop computers, Ubuntu 15.04 “Vivid Vervet” releases brings us closer to this goal, as the Linux based operating systems now supports not only the traditional PCs and servers, but also the Cloud and IoT platforms thanks to Ubuntu Snappy, and phones such as BQ Aquarius E4.5 Ubuntu Edition. Most changes for Desktop users are under the hood with Upstart replaced by systemd, the Linux kernel is now up to version 3.19, and many packages have been upgraded to a newer version. You can download i386 (32-bit x86) and amd64 (64-bit x86) desktop or server ISO images, and for the first time Ubuntu Snappy for generic amd64 platform, as well as an ARMHF image made for BeagleBone Black, which AFAIK is the very first time Ubuntu formally releases […]

Google Summer of Code 2015 is Now Open for Student Applications

Google has now announced that students applications for Google Summer of Code (GSoC) are now open. Students can get paid up to $5,500 to work on various open source projects selected for the event. Fewer companies have been accepted this year, and even big names like the Linux Foundation and Mozilla got their application rejected. There are still over 137 open source projects to work on including: MinnowBoard  project – Potential software projects for the Intel Atom embedded board include making low speed I/O buses more accessible via intermediate open source libraries (e.g. SMBus/PMBus/Wiring libraries), and improving the open source firmware. lowRISC SoC project – Potential projects: Schematic Viewer for Netlists (SVG/JavaScript), open source FPGA compilation flow using Yosys, accessing the OpenCores ecosystem, etc… BeagleBoard.org – Lots of project ideas relying on the BeagleBone Black board, dealing with Linux kernel support for embedded devices and interfaces, ARM processor support in […]

Compulab Announces CM-T43 CoM and SBC-T43 Board Powered by TI Sitara AM437x Processors

Compulab has just introduced CM-T43 computer-on-module (CoM) powered by Texas Instruments Sitara AM437x ARM Cortex A9 processor and built-in wired and wireless connectivity, and targeting networking, industrial communications and IoT applications. The company has also announced the corresponding SBC-T43 single board computer featuring the module plus a baseboard. Compulab CM-T43 Module CM-T43 CoM specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments Cortex-A9 Sitara AM4376 / AM4379 SoC up to 1GHz with PowerVR SGX530 GPU (AM4379 only) System Memory – Up to 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4GB to 32GB on-board eMMC, 128MB to 512MB on-board SLC NAND Connectivity – 2x Gigabit Ethernet PHY, and Marvell 88W8897 chipset for dual-band, dual-antenna 2×2 MIMO 802.11ac/a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy, and NFC (ISO 14443A/B, ISO 18092 and ISO 15693) Audio codec –  Wolson Audio codec with stereo line-out, line-in, mic via edge connector 204-pin SO-DIMM edge connector with access to: USB2.0 high-speed dual-role (host / device) port, […]

MYiR Tech Announces Low Cost Rico and Z-turn Boards Powered by TI AM437x and Xilinx Zynq-7010 SoCs

Shenzhen based MYIR Tech has just launched two new single board computers with Rico board featuring Texas Instruments Sitara AM437x ARM Cortex A9 industrial processor, and Z-Turn board based on Xilinx Zynq-7010 ARM Cortex A9 + FPGA SoC. Both boards sell for $99 in single quantity. Rico Board Specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments AM4379 single core ARM Cortex A9 processor @ 1.0GHz with PowerVR SGX530 GPU, and 4x PRU @ 200 MHz. Other AM437x on request. System Memory – 512MB DDR3 (Options: 256MB or 1GB) Storage – 4GB eMMC, 256 or 512 MB NAND flash (reserved), 16MB QSPI flash, 32KB EEPROM, and micro SD slot Video Output – HDMI and LCD interfaces (LCD connector located on bottom of the board). Connectivity  – 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet USB – 1x mini USB 2.0 device port, 1x USB 2.0 host post Camera – 2x 30-pin camera interface Debugging – 1x debug serial port, […]

Olimex Announces Availability of TI AM3352 and Rockchip RK3188 SoM and Evaluation Boards

Olimex showcased prototypes for both Texas Instruments Sitara AM3352 and Rockchip RK3188 system-on-modules and evaluation boards in May 2014. However, development and production took a bit longer than expected, and the company has just announced availability of the platforms now. Rockchip RK3188 CPU Modules and Kit RK3188-SOM-EVB kit specifications: RK3188-SOM-4GB System-on-Module with the following key features: SoC – Rockchip RK3188 quad core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.6GHz with Mali-400MP4 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4GB Flash + micro SD slot Debugging – 4-pin UART connector Misc – Reset and Recovery buttons, 3x status LEDs Dimensions – 55.88 x 81.28 mm Video Output – HDMI output + LCD output Connectivity – 10/100Mbps Ethernet USB – 4x USB Hosts, 1x micro USB OTG Expansion Connectors LCD connector for LCD-OLinuXino-XX LCDs 2x UEXT connectors 2x 40 pin GPIO connectors Misc – RTC with backup battery Power Supply – 6-16 V via […]

Variscite Introduces TI Sitara AM437x SoM with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi

News about Texas Instruments Sitara AM437x processors first surfaced in 2012, before being officially announced last summer. Beside TI’s own development kits, I had not seen any hardware based on the company’s Cortex A9 industrial processor, but Variscite has now unveiled their VAR-SOM-AM43 systems-on-module (SoM) powered by AM4376 , AM4378, or AM4379 SoCs. VAR-SOM-AM43 specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments AM437x single core ARM Cortex A9 processor @ 1.0GHz: AM4376 – No GPU, 4x PRU @ 200 MHz AM4378 – PowerVR SGX530 GPU, 4x PRU @ 200 MHz AM4379 – PowerVR SGX530 GPU, 4x PRU @ 200 MHz, and EtherCAT slave support System Memory – 256MB to 1GB DDR3 Storage – 0 to 512MB SLC NAND flash, and 4GB to 32GB eMMC flash b module. 3x SD/MMC via edge connector Display Interfaces – 24-bit RGB interface up to 1400×1050 resolution; 4/5-wire resistive touch support Connectivity  – 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet PHY + […]

FOSDEM 2015 Schedule – January 31 – February 1 2015

FOSDEM (Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting) takes place every year during the first week-end of February. This year the developer-oriented event expects to bring over 5000 geeks to share ideas and collaborate on open source projects. Contrary to most other events, it’s free to attend, and you don’t even need to register, just show up. FOSDEM 2015 will take place on January 31- February 1 in Brussels. There will be 551 sessions divided into 5 keynotes, 40 lightning talks, 6 certification exams, and with the bulk being developer rooms and main tracks,  divided into 7 main tracks this year: Languages, Performance, Time, Typesetting, Hardware, Security and Miscellaneous. I’m not going to attend, but it’s still interested to see what will be talked about, and I’ve concocted my own little virtual program out of the main tracks and developers’ rooms. There’s a few minutes overlap between some talks […]

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