Linus Torvalds released Linux Kernel 4.2 last Sunday: So judging by how little happened this week, it wouldn’t have been a mistake to release 4.2 last week after all, but hey, there’s certainly a few fixes here, and it’s not like delaying 4.2 for a week should have caused any problems either. So here it is, and the merge window for 4.3 is now open. I already have a few pending early pull requests, but as usual I’ll start processing them tomorrow and give the release some time to actually sit. The shortlog from rc8 is tiny, and appended. The patch is pretty tiny too. Go get it, Linus Some notable changes made to Linux 4.2 include: File systems New features for F2FS including per file encryption CIFS support SMB 3.1.1 (experimental) Cryptography – Jitter Entropy Random Number Generator, Chacha20 stream cipher and Poly1305 authentication (RFC7539),New RSA implementation. See lwn.net […]
Scaleway C1 Dedicated ARM Server Price Drops to 3 Euros Per Month
Scaleaway launched their hosting services with dedicated ARM servers based on Marvell Armada 370/XP quad core ARM Cortex A9 processor this spring for 10 Euros per month, or 0.02 Euro per hour, and at the time, some people found it was not that attractive, as similarly priced plans provided by Linode or DigitalOcean with Intel server were also available, and it might have only been really compelling for people who specifically required an ARM server to play with. The company has now slashed its price, and it has become very attractive at 2.99 Euros (~$3.37 US) per month or 0.006 Euro per hour, excluding VAT. The server technical specifications and features are still the same: Server based on Marvell Armada 370/XP quad core ARMv7 processor Memory – 2 GB Memory Storage – 50 GB SSD Disk (extra space available for 1 Euro per 50GB) 1x Reserved public IPv4 200Mbit/s – Unmetered […]
MeLE F10 BT is a $20 Bluetooth Air Mouse and Keyboard
MeLE is mostly known as a manufacturer of Android TV boxes and air mice, and I use MeLE F10 Deluxe air mouse in all my Android mini PCs review, as even though it’s not perfect it does the job much better than an IR remote control, and is more convenient to use than a USB keyboard. The two MeLE air mouse I’ve purchased come with a 2.4GHz RF dongle that needs to be connected to a USB port of the device you want to control, but now the company is now about to launch a Bluetooth model with MeLE F10 BT. MeLE F10 BT (RF01BL) specifications: Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0 (CSR1011) IR support – Yes, including IR learning function. Buttons Life – About 100,000 presses Sensors – G-sensor, Gyroscope Keyboard – QWERTY keyboard Battery – 2x AAA batteries (>30 days in standby mode) Dimensions – 169x48x19 mm Beside Bluetooth connectivity, […]
Getting Started with Orange Pi PC, Pi 2 and Pi Plus Development Boards
I’ve recently received a kit based on Orange Pi mini 2 development board powered by Allwinner H3 quad core processor, but contrary to most other devices or boards I reviewed, this one what sent to me by one of my reader (thanks Jon!) as for various reasons he did not need to get it shipped to him. Today, I’ll start by showing off the kit I received, before writing a quick start guide showing how to install a Debian, and build your own Linux image. The instructions will work for all Orange Pi Allwinner H3 boards, including Orange Pi 2, Orange Pi Plus, and the recently launched Orange Pi PC, which has been rather popular thanks to its low $15 price tag. Orange Pi mini 2 Board Kit and CSI Camera This is what I got in the package… The board with a regulatory compliance and safety information sheet, as […]
MOI Pro AMD IPTV Streaming Server Supports Up to 16 Tuners
TBS Technologies is a company specializing in digital TV tuners, with their catalog includes various DVB-T2, DVB-C, DVB-S2 and ATSC tuner cards. They also happen to be the designer of Matrix board and Matrix 2 Android set-top box, both of which run Android or Linux and support some of the company’s tuners. But they also have higher end products such as MOI Pro AMD IPTV streamer based on an AMD Embedded G-Series processor, and supporting up to 4 tuner cards with up to 4 tuners each. TBS MOI Pro AMD specifications: SoC – AMD GX-412HC quad core processor @ 1.2GHz with AMD Radeon HD GPU @ 300MHz (7W TDP) System Memory – 4GB DDR3-1333 Storage – 30GB mSATA SSD, 1x SATA @ 6.0Gb/s, Video Output – 1x HDMI, 1x VGA (reserved connection?) Connectivity – 2x Gigabit Ethernet Tuners – Up to 4 PCIe TV tuner cards (DVB-S2 or DVB-T2/T/C) for […]
Orange Pi PC Allwinner H3 Board Is Now Available for $15
Orange Pi 2 is a board powered by Allwinner H3 quad core processor that sells for $25. Shenzhen Xunlong Software has now launched a lower cost version with Orange Pi PC, still based on Allwinner H3 SoC, but getting ridiculously cheap at $15 + shipping ($3.43 in my case). Orange Pi PC specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.6 GHz (likely 1.2 GHz instead) with an ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU up to 600 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – micro SD card slot (up to 64GB) Video Output – HDMI with CEC and HDCP support, AV port Audio I/O – HDMI, AV port, on-board microphone Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB OTG port Camera – CSI Interface Expansions – 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible header with 28 GPIOs, UART, I2C, SPI, PWM, CAN, I2S, SPDIF, LRADC, ADC, LINE-IN, […]
Phytium Mars is an Upcoming 64 Core ARMv8 Processor for Servers
Several server SoCs with a large number of ARMv8 cores have been announced in the past with products such as Cavium ThunderX featuring 48 64-bit ARM cores and EZTile TILE-Mx100 with 100 ARM Cortex A53 cores. Phytium Technology, a Chinese startup funded in 2012, has showcased its work on Mars processor with 64 custom design ARMv8 cores at Hotchips 2015 conference. Charles Zhang, director of research for Phytium, made the presentation entitled “Mars: A 64-Core ARMv8 Processor” at the conference, and a PDF version is available on Hotchips 2015 website (Conf. Day 1 section) but unfortunately it’s password-protected and only accessible by attendees. Last year, they made all presentations publicly downloadable in December, so hopefully it will be the same this year. In the meantime, I relied on an articles published on EETimes and Golem.de, the latter reproduced some of the slides, to get some of the specs and features: […]
ECS LIVA X2 Braswell Mini PC Features Up to 4GB RAM, 64GB eMMC, Sells for $170 and Up
ECS LIVA was one of the first low power Intel mini PC that included both RAM and storage for less than $200 when it was first announced in March 2014. Since then there’s been a tidal wave of Bay Trail mini PCs hitting the market, and now that it’s time for Braswell and Cherry Trail lower system, ECS released LIVA X2 mini PC powered by Intel Braswell N3050 processor, that’s available for $169.99 on Newegg with 2GB RAM and 32GB storage, or $239.99 with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. ECS LIVA X2 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N3050 “Braswell” dual core processor @ 1.6 GHz / 2.16GHz (Turbo) and Intel HD Graphics (6W TDP) System Memory – 2 or 4GB DDR3L (soldered) Storage – 32GB / 64GB eMMC flash, 1x M.2 for SSD (Up to 1TB) Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 Video Output – HDMI and […]