ubuntu News - Page 158 of 187 - CNX Software

July 1, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Linaro 14.06 Release with Linux Kernel 3.15 and Android 4.4.3

Linaro 14.06 has been released last week with Linux Kernel 3.15 (baseline), Linux Kernel 3.10.44 (LSK), and Android has been updated to 4.4.3. One interesting development this month is that Android for ARMv8 (64-bit ARM) is booting on the fast models using ARM Trusted firmware and U-Boot. SELinux has been enabled in Android. I could not see much new member hardware, except possibly B2120 (HDK) reference board for STMicro STiH407 “Monaco” STB SoC. Here are the highlights of this release: Linux Linaro 3.15-2014.06 GATOR version 5.18 (same version as in 2014.04) updated basic Capri board support from Broadcom LT cortex-strings-arm64 topic (same as in 2014.02) updated Versatile Express ARM64 support (FVP Base and Foundation models, Juno) from ARM LT. updated Versatile Express patches from ARM LT more HiP0x Cortex A15 family updates from HiSilicon LT (hip04_eth, hip04_defconfig) updated LLVM topic Big endian support (same as in 2014.05) ftrace_audit topic from […]

July 1, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Pictures and Specs for CubieBoard 8 Development Board Powered by AllWinner A80 SoC

Back in April, AllWinner announced partnerships with Linksprite and CubieTech for respectively PcDuino 8 and Cubieboard 8 development boards to feature AllWinner A80 octa core ARM Cortex 15/A7 big.little SoC. However, at the time all we got was some photo-shopped pictures of older versions of the boards with an A80 processor pasted by graphics designers. Some pictures of Cubieboard 8 have now surfaced, and they are clear enough so that we can start to get most of the specs. Here are Cubieboard 8 specifications derived from the pictures (incomplete because we don’t have pictures of the back of the board): SoC – AllWinner A80 octa core big.LITTLE processor with 4 ARM Cortex A15 cores, 4 Cortex A7 cores, and Imagination PowerVR G6200 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 (4x SKhynix H5TQ4G83AFR – 4Gbit RAM chips) – TBC in case they’ve added more RAM chips at the back, unlikely IMHO. Storage […]

June 20, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

64-bit ARM Server Motherboards by SoftIron

We’ve already seen development board such as X-Gene XC-1, and 64-bit ARM servers have been demonstrated by Dell and HP, but SoftIron, a British startup, claims to be the first to provide a production ready ARMv8 solutions for the enterprise server market (e.g. data centers), with its SoftIron 64-0400 and 64-0800 server motherboards powered by Applied Micro X-Gene quad and octa SoC. Although the company did not release complete pictures of the board, they seem to have done a better job with specifications: SoC SoftIron 64-0400 – Applied Micro X-Gene APM883204 with 4x 64-bit ARMv8 cores @ 2.4 GHz, 4x 32-bit ARMv5 cores for Network/Security offloads and Acceleration, and 1x Cortex M3 for server management SoftIron 64-0800 – Applied Micro X-Gene APM883208 with 8x 64-bit ARMv8 cores @ 2.4 GHz, 4x 32-bit ARMv5 cores for Network/Security offloads and Acceleration, and 1x Cortex M3 for server management System Memory – Up […]

June 18, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

$99 PCDuino3S is an AllWinner A20 Based Mini PC with a Steel Enclosure

LinkSprite has recently showcased PCDuino3S, a Linux / Android mini PC powered by AllWinner A20 dual core SoC, and with features similar to PCDuino3 development board. Possible applications include media player and thin client terminal for desktop visualization. PCDuino3S technical specifications: SoC – AllWinner A20 Dual Core ARM Cortex A7 @ 1 GHz + Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DRAM Storage – 4GB NAND Flash, internal microSD card slot for up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 1.4 with HDCP support Audio Output – HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports 1x micro USB OTG port Misc – 2x LEDs, power button Power supply – 5V/2A Dimensions – 12.7 x 6.35 x 2 cm The company provides images for Ubuntu 12.04 and Android 4.2. It should be software compatible with PCDuino3, but based on the “enclosure opening” video below, and the […]

June 11, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Texas Instruments Releases Zigbee Home Automation Gateway Reference Design Based on BeagleBone Black

Texas Instruments has recently release a complete Linux based Zigbee home automation gateway based on BeagleBone Black development and CC2531 Evaluation Module Kit hardware which you can purchase for about $100 in total, and including Z-STACK Ubuntu gateway installer, as well as Z-STACK Home, a ZigBee Home Automation (ZHA 1.2) compliant protocol stack for the company’s CC2530 and CC2538 SoCs. I won’t go into details about the BeagleBone Black as I have already covered it into details previously. However, the hardware has slightly changed since the initial release, as the 2GB eMMC has now been replaced by a 4GB eMMC, and price has been increased to about $55. CC2531 evaluation module kit is comprised of CC2531 USB Dongle which you can connect to the USB port of a PC, or in this case a BeagleBone Black, for 802.15.4 / ZigBee applications. TI also provides CC2531 USB Firmware Library on their site to let developers […]

June 10, 2014June 10, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

1TB Seagate Expansion Portable Drive USB 3.0 Benchmark

Many upcoming ARM based board and device will support better connectivity with Gigagit Ethernet and USB 3.0 port, and Wi-Fi 802.11ac support. Since my media files are stored in a USB 2.0 hard drive, and my network is still using fast Ethernet and 802.11n, I had to go shopping. I’ve already purchased a 5-port Gigabit switch (D-Link DGS-1005A), and an an external USB 3.0 hard drive (Seagate Expansion 1TB Portable External Hard Drive), but I’m still looking for a decent and reasonably priced 802.11ac router (Suggestions welcomed). I’ll plan to use the USB 3.0 drive both to test file transfers over Gigabit, USB 3.0 performance, and file systems compatibility. So I’ve partitioned the drive using four common filesystems: NTFS, EXT-4, FAT32, and BTRFS, and both to make sure the drive is suitable for Gigabit transfer, and as a reference point, I’ve also performed some benchmarks. There are several tools to test […]

June 4, 2014June 7, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Cavium ThunderX Server SoC Features up to 48 ARM 64-bit Cores

ARM SBSA specification for server supports up to 268,435,456 CPU cores for the second level of standardization on one or a combination of SoCs. We’re not quite up there just yet, but Cavium ThunderX is an ARM server SoC with up to 48 cores on a single chip, which is the highest number of cores I’ve ever heard of in an ARM SoC. The company created their own custom processor cores using an ARMv8 architecture license, designing an SoC complies with ARM’s Server Base System Architecture (SBSA) standard with the following key features: ARM based SoC that scales up from 8 to 48 cores with up to 2.5 GHz core frequency with 78K I-Cache, 32K D-Cache, and 16MB L2 cache. Fully cache coherent across dual sockets using Cavium Coherent Processor Interconnect (CCPI) Integrated I/O capacity with 100s of Gigabits of I/O bandwidth 4x DDR3/4 72-bit memory controllers supporting up to 1TB RAM […]

May 30, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Linaro 14.05 Released with Linux Kernel 3.15, Android 4.4.2, and Ubuntu Trusty

Linaro 14.05 has been released with Linux Kernel 3.15-rc5 (baseline), Linux Kernel 3.10.40 (LSK), Android 4.4.2, and Ubuntu has been switched from Saucy to Trusty. More work has been done on big.LITTLE processing and ARMv8 support with notably completing bootstrapping with Debian 64-bit. New hardware platform have started to pop-up such as TI J6-Vayu which must be an evaluation board for Texas Instruments Jacinto 6 dual core Cortex A15 SoC for automotive application, as well as IFC6410, a Snapdragon 600 development board which got a Ubuntu LEB image. This month also marks the first release of Linaro GCC 4.9 toolchain. Here are the highlights of this release: Linux Linaro 3.15-rc5-2014.05 new Android topic (linaro-android-3.15-experimental) uses the resent AOSP code base GATOR version 5.18 (same version as in 2014.04) uprobes topic removed as all patches have been accepted into mainline updated big-LITTLE-pmu topic from ARM LT updated basic Capri board support […]