At the end of last year, ARM announced ARMv8, the first ARM 64-bit ARM archtecture, and last week at ARM Techcon 2012, ARM announced the first ARMv8 cores: Cortex A53 and A57. But since there’s no silicon at the moment, what if you wanted to develop code running on ARMv8 before the hardware is available? The answer is: Fast Models, a Virtual Platform (VP) to accelerate software development. This is especially important for ARMv8 since hardware is not expected to be available for another year. In this post, I’ll first show how to run “Hello World!” in ARMv8 fast models, then we’ll run ARM Linux 64-Bit (Aarch64) in the virtual platform. ARMv8 Foundation Model In order allow the developer’s community to program for ARMv8 (Cortex A53/A57 cores), ARM has made ARMv8 Foundation Model, a virtual platform, available free of charge. This v8 Foundation model provides a basic ARMv8 platform environment […]
Rockchip RK3066/RK30xx Processors Documentation, Source Code and Tools
Rockchip RK3066 (part of RK30xx family) is a Chinese dual ARM Cortex A9 SoC targeting multimedia products such as tablets (e.g. Cube U30GT), mini PC (e.g UG802, MK808) and in theory set-top boxes, but I can’t find any products based on this Rockchip processor. It seems mini PCs/ HDMI TV sticks have taken over this market. RK3066 Processor The processor features two ARM Cortex A9 clocked at up to 1.6 Ghz with a quad core Mali-400MP GPU. It can support 1080p (3D) encoding/decoding, provides HDMI 1.4a, VGA, composite, component and LVDS video outputs (Dual display support), USB 2.0 Host and OTG ports, a MAC interface (Ethernet), and much more… Here are the key features of Rockchip RK3066 processor: Dual Core A9 + Quad Core Mali-400MP GPU 2 banks, 8/16 bit Nor flash / SRAM interface 8 banks, 8/16 bit async NAND flash, LBA NAND flash and 8-bit sync ONFI NAND […]
Linaro 12.10 Release with Linux kernel 3.6 and Android 4.1.2
Linaro release 12.10 has recently been announced, and includes Linux Kernel 3.6.1 and Android 4.1.2. This release provides further improvement to big.LITTLE architecture and Linux can boot on TC2 (A Test Chip with 2 Cortex A15 and 3 Cortex a7 cores) and an ARMv8 (Aarch64) OpenEmbedded community build is now available for download. Work has also be done on preparing demos for Linaro Connect (29 Oct – 02 Nov) in Copenhagen including a single ARM kernel booting on different boards. Here are the highlights of the release: Android Linaro Android 12.10 has been upgraded to 4.1.1_r6 and then to 4.1.2. Linaro Android builds are now shipped with improved instructions. AOSP Galaxy Nexus builds are available from http://android-build.linaro.org and include DS-5 support. Linaro Android toolchain has been updated to Linaro GCC 2012.10. Dalvik benchmarked against Hard-Float Open JDK and Java SE. Power meter improvements for LAVA automation. Prepared Connect demonstrations benchmarking […]
Linaro 12.08 Release with Kernel 3.6 and Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean
Linaro release 12.08 includes Linux Kernel 3.6-rc2 and is the very first release with Android Jelly Bean (4.1.1-R4). The Android platform team has managed to port Android Jelly Bean to all their main development platforms: Versatile Express, Versatile Express RTSM, Samsung Origen, TI PandaBoard, ST Ericsson Snowball, as well as Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone. They’ve also added TINY_ANDROID, a minimal Android build that can be used for kernel development, toolchain work and other development where users only need a console. It’s possible to get the source code, build it and access the shell within 10 minutes. U-boot-Linaro has been updated and is now based on the latest upstream release v2012.07. Next month, we might be able to see a preliminary port of Android on 64-bit platform (ARMv8). Here are the highlights of the release: Android Automated Methanol (http://gitorious.org/methanol) browser benchmarking in Linaro Android. Automated over 100 Jelly Bean AOSP tests. […]
Timesys Unveils LinuxLink BSP/SDK for MityARM-3359 SoM (TI AM335x)
Critical Link is an electronics product development company that provides “MityDSP” and “MityARM” System on Modules and Timesys is a software company working on Embedded Linux, which provides LinuxLink, a software development framework for embedded Linux application development. Both companies have partnered to offers LinuxLink BSP/SDK for MityARM-3359 SoM based on Texas Instruments Sitara AM335x Cortex A9 processor. LinuxLink (for MityARM-335x) comes in 2 versions: A free version which includes: A wizard-based interface that simplifies the selection of a Linux kernel, software packages and tools Kernel, toolchain and debugger Access to hundreds of open-source software packages Support by Timesys for build/boot issues. A PRO version (Starts at $5495 per developer) which includes extra “features” such as: TimeStorm IDE – A desktop-based development environment Tools for advanced customization and integration unmetered support Everything is built on Timesys servers, but the web interface makes it quite customizable and offers lots of options […]
Instructions to Build Android Jelly Bean on Pandaboard and Origen Boards
About 2 weeks ago, Linaro showed Android Jelly Bean running on Origen board with hardware accelerated, and last week they provided instruction to build Jelly Bean for the Pandaboard (OMAP4430) and the Origen board (Exynos 4212). Android Jelly Bean for Pandaboard: Pre-build Image and Build Instructions The fastest way to try Android Jelly Bean on the Pandaboard is to download the latest binaries available at https://android-build.linaro.org/builds/~linaro-android/panda-jb-gcc47-tilt-stable-blob in a PC running Ubuntu. For example (12/08/2012): wget http://snapshots.linaro.org/android/~linaro-android/panda-jb-gcc47-tilt-stable-blob/24/target/product/pandaboard/system.tar.bz2 wget http://snapshots.linaro.org/android/~linaro-android/panda-jb-gcc47-tilt-stable-blob/24/target/product/pandaboard/boot.tar.bz2 wget http://snapshots.linaro.org/android/~linaro-android/panda-jb-gcc47-tilt-stable-blob/24/target/product/pandaboard/userdata.tar.bz2 Install linaro-image tools: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linaro-maintainers/tools sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install linaro-image-tools Insert an SD card, make sure it is not mounted and flash it with the firmware (Replace /dev/sdc by the corresponding drive in your system): ./linaro-image-tools/linaro-android-media-create –mmc /dev/sdc –dev panda –system system.tar.bz2 –userdata userdata.tar.bz2 –boot boot.tar.bz2 Finally install the graphics libraries: wget http://people.linaro.org/~vishalbhoj/install-binaries-4.0.4.sh chmod a+x install-binaries-4.0.4.sh ./install-binaries-4.0.4.sh Remove the SD card from your PC, and insert it […]
Zero Devices Z900 Android mini PC Unboxing and Review
Zero Devices Z900 HDMI Stick hardware is very similar to CX-01 as it has the same Telechips TCC8925 Cortex A5 processor, 512 MB RAM and 4GB Flash memory. The only key difference is the presence of a microSD card slot which is lacking on CX-01 mini PC. It ships in the same package as Zero Devices Z802 mini PC, and the only difference is the lack of marking to tell the device name. Let’s open the box and see what’s inside. The package contains from top left to bottom right: USB to mini USB cable to connect the power 5V/1A power supply Documentation in Chinese and English mini HDMI to HDMI cable (about 30 cm long) Z900 Android TV Stick Zero Devices Authenticity Card. The Authenticity Card is used to register your device on Zero Devices website and access a VIP area with access to support forums, a download section […]
Ubuntu 12.04 on ODroid-X Development Board
Yesterday, Hardkernel released the first version of Ubuntu for ODroid-X development board based on Linux 3.6-rc1 and Linaro Ubuntu Desktop 12.07. This is still early work, but here’s the current status: Linux Kernel 3.6-rc1 with gcc 4.7.1 Linaro toolchain SMP driven Quad-Core processing PMIC device driver USB 2.0 High-speed Host driver for Exynos-4412 HSIC interface Ethernet + USB Hub device driver LCD display driver HDMI display driver (Very early version and it may have HDMI 1.4a compatibility issues with some monitors) To do: Audio codec driver eMMC device driver Clock control driver 3D HW-GPU X11 driver (This may need couple of months) Power-off support WiFi module is not working with Ubuntu GUI. Hardkernel Wi-Fi module is not working due to missing driver There are 2 images: one for LCD display kits, one for HDMI output that can be downloaded via: BitTorrent – One file with both images? Very slow for […]