Category: Favorite companies

World’s Most Powerful ARM Desktop: Marvell ThunderXStation ThunderX2 Workstation

Posted by Charbax – November 5, 2018
Category: Exclusive videos, Cavium, Linaro Connect

Gigabyte announces the industry’s first ARMv8 workstation based on Cavium’s ThunderX2 ARM64 multi-core processor. This 4U workstation is called the ThunderXStation. GIGABYTE has designed and is manufacturing the ThunderXStation. The 4U tower is 27″ (D) x 17″ (H) x 7″ (W) and designed for floor mounting. The power supply included is a 800W PSU with a 1+1 redundant option. The motherboard is a standard GIGABYTE motherboard form factor.

The motherboard includes:
Dual or single ThunderX2 processor support. Optionally with LGA 4077 socket.
Integrated chipset.
8x DIMMs per CPU.
DDR4 2666/2400/2133 MHz DIMMs.
1x Management LAN 10/100/1000 Mbps.
Integrated VGA, 1920×1200.
ASPEED AST2500 BMC.
2x PCIe Gen 3.0 slots per CPU. (1x x16/x8/x4/x1 AND 1x x8).
1x Type-1 OCP PCIe Gen 3.0 x16 slot per CPU.
2x NVMe PCIe Gen 3.0 x4 ports with on board SAS slim line connectors per CPU.
2x SATAIII on board connectors.
2x U.2 or SATAIII 2.5″ drive bay, supports any combination of NVMe and SATAIII SSDs.
1x RS-232 port.
4x USB 3.0 ports.
2x 8-pin GPU power connectors.

Each CPU can support upto 8 DDR4 DIMMs. The front 2.5″ drive bay supports upto 2 drives. An optional 3.5″ storage bay holds 4 drives. Initially, 2.2GHz 32-core 4-threads per core. Other SKUs will be available depending on demand. Various nVidia video cards have been tested with the open source Nouveau driver. Initial shipments include the nVidia GeForce 710 with dual monitor support. The AMDGPU driver has been tested with various AMD GPUs. Additional AMD and nVidia GPUs are being tested. Initial shipments include a 1 GbE PCIe adapter. If standard PCIe slots are in short supply a QLogic dual port 1/10 GBaseT RJ45 OCP adapter and driver are available. Units ship with Ubuntu 17.10. CentOS 7.4 and OpenSUSE are also available. Pricing is competitive with high end single and dual socket workstations from leading name brand workstation vendors with comparable Gold/Platinum processors. For the most upto date pricing and sales information on ThunderXStation please contact: http://www.phoenicselectronics.com

EBBR: Embedded Base Boot Requirements at Linaro Connect

Posted by Charbax – November 5, 2018
Category: Development Boards, Exclusive videos, Linaro Connect

Standard pre-boot environment and boot sequence for embedded platforms, featuring:
– Upstream support in U-Boot
– UEFI ABI
– Firmware-provided system description (DT)
– Boots generic OS images
By standardizing the boot interfacei, platform specific details don’t need to be encoded into the OS, and the ABI supports portable pre-boot applications for test and boot control, future work will be on the more standard UEFI featured (e.g. Secure Boot).

Android Treble on Texas Instruments Beagle-X15 at Linaro Connect

Posted by Charbax – November 5, 2018
Category: Development Boards, Exclusive videos, Texas Instruments, Linaro Connect, Android

Android Treble implemented on TI Beagle-X15 development board which is ARM Cortex-A15, making the upgrade process easier. So there is no need to communicate with the vendor to upgrade a device.

Internet of Tiny Linux, Google IoT on ARM Cortex-A5 memory constrained device

Posted by Charbax – November 5, 2018
Category: Internet of Things, Exclusive videos, Linaro Connect

Nicolas Pitre of Linaro and his team have worked to reduce the size of the Linux kernel and user space binaries to make them suitable for very small IoT applications to enable the Internet of Tiny Linux. Here at Linaro Connect Vancouver 2018, Linaro shows mainline Linux kernel for IoT devices, running with as little as 4MB of RAM here for example Google IoT.

Kodi Playback with Standard V4L2 Stack

Posted by Charbax – October 29, 2018
Category: Set-top-boxes, 4K UHD, Development Boards, Exclusive videos, Rockchip, AmLogic, Qualcomm, NXP, Broadcom, Linaro Connect

Full upstream implementation of Hardware accelerated video decoding (mainly H264) with the generic V4L2 Mem2Mem API, Zero-copy rendering with DRM Atomic kernel Drivers, DMA-BUF transferred from V4L2 to DRM, FFmpeg V4L2 Mem2Mem integration with Kodi, Kodi GBM Display for Atomic Direct to plane rendering.

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Wi-Fi and Bluetooth single chip Unisoc in UCRobotics IVY5661 IoT Edition 96Boards development board

Posted by Charbax – October 29, 2018
Category: Internet of Things, Development Boards, Exclusive videos, Spreadtrum, Linaro Connect, Zephyr

This is a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth single chip solution IoT Edition 96Boards, it can be used as a Wi-Fi Repeater, for Bluetooth on-boarding, Bluetooth 5 Mesh Network. It’s an ARM Cortex-M4 dual core, runs Zephyr. You can read more about it here

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$179 MELE PCG02 PC Stick Fan-less, PCHD26 GML3 with Intel Gemini and PCC65 Video Conference

Posted by Charbax – October 20, 2018
Category: HDMI Sticks, Exclusive videos, Intel, China Sourcing Fair, Mele, Windows

MELE Fan-less PCHD26 GML3Computer stick with Intel:
Processor Intel Appllolake N3350:/N3450 with 2.4/2.2 Quad core and dual core. Cache 2MB L2,OS Ubuntu Linux or Windows 10,©/4GB/6GB LPDR, Storage 32GB;Connectivity 100/1000Mbps LAN; HDMI2.0 output 4K@60fpsUSB3.0 at Aliexpress MELE PCC65 Video Conference System: OS; Widnows 10 Pro, Display 1080 FHD+, Zoom: 12X Angle 72.5 degree wide, Speed 1000 mbps 5MP sensor with a 72.5 °field of view , built-in noise canceling microphone that can rotate both vertically and horizontally. up to 8GB of DDR3L RAM and 64GB of eMMC with optional SSD from 128GB to 512GB, most expensive will have Intel Kaby Lake-U chips from 15W with (up to) 32GB of DDR4 memory and up to 64GB of on-board eMMC with optional SSD M.2 in various denominations. at Mele (text by flatslap5657 of Fiverr)

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@waschbaerbau Draws on Onyx Boox Max2 and Boox Note at Frankfurt Book Fair

Posted by Charbax – October 15, 2018
Category: E-readers, Exclusive videos, Onyx

Laura of http://instagram.com/waschbaerbau creates several drawings on the 13.3″ Onyx Boox Max2 and on the 10.3″ Onyx Boox Note at Frankfurt Book Fair. Laura is an arts teacher, check out her drawings at http://instagram.com/waschbaerbau

Onyx Boox 7.8″ Nova, Nova Plus, 6″ Poke, Poke Plus, 13.3″ Max2 Pro at Frankfurt Book Fair

Posted by Charbax – October 14, 2018
Category: E-readers, Onyx

Onyx is showing all their new products at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Onyx Boox Nova is a 7.8″ E Ink e-reader with edge-to-edge glass, a brand new design, they present 2 different versions, one with a front-light and capacitive touch and the other with Wacom stylus touch, capacitive touch but no front light. The basic one with front-light is hitting the market around November 2018 while the other one with the Wacom stylus touch input comes early 2019 probably. Onyx also introuced Boox Poke, Poke Plus which are 6″ E Ink e-readers at the more affordable market segment. Then they also have the white colored 13.3″ Boox Max 2 Pro with 4GB RAM and 64GB Flash. This video was filmed at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Linux microPlatform, secure IoT updates with Foundries.io and Toradex

Posted by Charbax – October 13, 2018
Category: Internet of Things, Development Boards, Exclusive videos, Nvidia, NXP, Linaro Connect, Toradex, Foundries.io

At Linaro Connect Vancouver 2018, Foundries.io and Toradex discuss Linux microPlatform, what microPlatform is and how it helps Toradex to build their next generation Software Platform.

Linux microPlatform is an open source, minimal, secure, updatable Operating System based on OpenEmbedded / Yocto Project. Toradex ports the microPlatform to its Arm-based System on Modules and it uses it as the basis for its future Software Planform called Torizon.

Linux microPlatform modularized the embedded software stack utilizing Docker Containers, and so it provides a robust and simple to update platform. It includes a secure Uptane-compliant over-the-air update solution using OSTree.

Founderies.io provides continuous updates to Linux microPlatform, as they believe the latest software is the most secure software.

Toradex also elaborates on its plans to simplify developers’ lives with its Torizon platform leveraging Linux microPlatforms, such as simplifying application development, enabling a modern DevOps workflow and easing migration from Windows-based systems.

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Linaro’s Linux Kernel Functional Test framework (LKFT)

Posted by Charbax – October 6, 2018
Category: Exclusive videos, Linaro Connect

Linaro LKFT build uses OpenEmbedded to build a userspace image, along with the kernel, for each board and branch combination under test.

LKFT is Linaro’s Linux Kernel Functional Test framework.

The mission of LKFT is to perform functional regression testing on select Linux kernel branches in real time (as they’re updated) and report any regressions as quickly as possible. This is performed by executing a variety of functional-tests on a selection of user-space operating systems.

The goals of LKFT are to shorten derivative Linux kernel release intervals, increase the confidence of upstream Linux kernel engineers in the quality of their releases, and increase the confidence of downstream adopters of those Linux kernel trees. Ultimately the goal is that LKFT will encourage downstream hardware vendors to more frequently update the Linux kernel that runs on their devices in order that consumers might benefit from bug and security updates.

As part of Linaro’s mission to improve the Arm architecture eco-system, the LKFT team reports discovered regressions to Linaro kernel developers, Linaro members, and upstream Linux kernel engineers.

It is important to the Arm eco-system that Linaro also fix as many failures as are found. The LKFT team invests time into identifying, reporting, and fixing upstream kernel regressions, identifying kernel regressions in select member-hardware SoC (system-on-a-chip) trees, fixing test-suites by contributing to upstream testing projects, fixing kernel configurations, improving full OS stack integration (firmware, kernel, userspace), and improving Arm device automation integration.

UEFI at Linaro Connect Vancouver 2018

Posted by Charbax – October 6, 2018
Category: Exclusive videos, Linaro Connect

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a specification for a software program that connects a computer’s firmware to its operating system (OS). UEFI is expected to eventually replace BIOS. Like BIOS, UEFI is installed at the time of manufacturing and is the first program that runs when a computer is turned on.

Google IoT Demo for Zephyr RTOS With TF-M Secured on Musca

Posted by Charbax – October 6, 2018
Category: Development Boards, Exclusive videos, Nordic Semiconductor, Linaro Connect, ARM

In this demo, the Trusted Firmware M is providing the SPE and JWT sign, Zephyr is providing the NSPE and The Google IoT application is running on Zephyr using secure services from Trusted Firmware M.

– Platform Security Architecture (PSA) is an IoI security framework being developed by Arm.
– Trusted Firmware M (TF-M) is an open source project to provide PSA compliant secure firmware for M profile devices.
– Zephyr is a Linux Foundation Collaboration Project to provide a small, scalable RTOS for connected, resource constrained device.
– Arm Musca-A1 subsystem based on Armv8-M which allows partitioning the SW execution in Secure and Non Secure domain.

Testing Arm with Arm with LAVA and 96Boards

Posted by Charbax – October 6, 2018
Category: Development Boards, Exclusive videos, Linaro Connect

This is a mini LAVA lab running on a Dragonboard 410c to test any other 96Boards, this is a way to use Arm to test Arm boards in a simple affordable reproducible way.

Collecting power measurements in CI Loop

Posted by Charbax – October 6, 2018
Category: Exclusive videos, Linaro Connect

At the Linaro Connect Vancouver 2018, Lisa Wen of the Power Management working group shows the work that they are doing to optimize power management.

KernKonzept Open-Source Automobile Safety

Posted by Charbax – October 5, 2018
Category: Cars, Exclusive videos, Renesas, Linaro Connect

KernKonzept talks Open-Source Automobile Safety: EB Corbo and the L4Re microhypervisor:
– Renesas R-Car3 H3 Platform
– Virtualized Cluster and IVI
– Based on AGL
– Graphic Virtualization with Imagination’s PowerVR Graphics

OpenCV Color Segmentation and Tracking on DragonBoard 820c

Posted by Charbax – October 5, 2018
Category: Development Boards, Exclusive videos, Qualcomm, Linaro Connect

This demo is based and tested on the DragonBoard 820c, but should be able to work on varying platforms. In summary, it counts objects by color passing in the same direction through the camera field of view. It can count multiple objects simultaneously. The OpenCV functionality leveraged by this demo includes the following:

– Object segmentation using color
– Valid object identification by size
– Frame stitching to track and count multiple simultaneous moving objects by color
– Provides hooks to monitor performance when algorithm changes to – – OpenCV library calls are made for identification tuning
– Provides hooks to export results to the cloud

Jon Masters of Red Hat talks Arm Servers, fixing Meltdown/Spectre, HPC, A64FX, Ampere

Posted by Charbax – September 28, 2018
Category: Servers, Exclusive videos, Linaro Connect

Jon Masters is the Computer Architect, Chief Arm Architect with extensive experience at Red Hat with the deeper levels of CPU and Software optimization, adapting and preparing the ecosystem of Cloud, Supercomputing, talks about all the latest Arm Servers, including those coming up with the Marvell ThunderX2, Qualcomm Centriq 2400, Ampere eMag, talking about ARM 10nm vs Intel 14nm, talking about his involvement fighting the industry’s Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities, explaining some of the latest things done by Linaro in this space.

Standardizing software support for 96Boards with Mani

Posted by Charbax – September 26, 2018
Category: Development Boards, Exclusive videos, Linaro Connect

Mani is an Applications Engineer at 96Boards team of Linaro. He works on improving the user experience with 96Boards by upstreaming it’s stadardized software support. He goes over the journey of how he started with 96Boards, what his initial responsibilities were and how it has been evolved over time. He also explains his recent work towards standardizing the software support for 96Boards and stresses the importance of having a unified software layout across all 96Boards of same category. In this video, he mentions his latest work towards standardizing the LED labels/triggers in Linux kernel and how that impacts the user experience on userspace library such as MRAA (https://github.com/intel-iot-devkit/mraa).

MRAA library with Mani of 96Boards

Posted by Charbax – September 26, 2018
Category: Development Boards, Exclusive videos, Linaro Connect

MRAA (https://github.com/intel-iot-devkit/mraa) is a low level skeleton library for Linux based systems which provides userspace access to the peripherals on 96Boards Consumer Edition boards using multiple interfaces such as C, C++, Python, Java and Javascript. Mani, being the Co-Maintainer of this library, talks about the history of how 96Boards started using this library instead of their legacy 96BoardsGPIO library. Also, he explains how the MRAA library serves well for them to handle multiple 96Boards with different SoCs which no other platform is doing.