Embedded Linux News Roundup
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-03-03 11:52:39 UTC
- Modified: 2014-03-03 13:45:29 UTC
Summary: News about Linux devices and embedded Linux, categorised for easier digestion
Raspberry Pi
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That "blob" is the closed source driver code that the Pi requires today. "In common with every other mobile graphics core, using the VideoCore IV 3D graphics core on the Pi requires a block of closed-source binary driver code (a 'blob') which talks to the hardware," Upton wrote. "Our existing open-source graphics drivers are a thin shim running on the ARM11, which talks to that blob via a communication driver in the Linux kernel. The lack of true open-source graphics drivers and documentation is widely acknowledged to be a significant problem for Linux on ARM, as it prevents users from fixing driver bugs, adding features and generally understanding what their hardware is doing."
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Broadcom has released open-source drivers and documentation for the graphics processor that's used in the Raspberry Pi microcomputer, among other devices.
"To date, there's been a dearth of documentation and vendor-developed open source drivers for the graphics subsystems of mobile systems-on-a-chip (SoC)," Eben Upton, a Broadcom technical director and Raspberry Pi Foundation cofounder, wrote in a blog post. "Binary drivers prevent users from fixing bugs or otherwise improving the graphics stack, and complicate the task of porting new operating systems to a device without vendor assistance."
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In celebrating two years that Raspberry Pi has been around, Eben Upton has announced today that they are open-sourcing their OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 graphics stack for the Broadcom VideoCore IV 3D graphics subsystem and it will help the Raspberry Pi with having a truly free graphics stack.
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The community of open source mobile developers around the world are a vocal bunch – and here at Broadcom we’ve heard their call.
To date, there’s been a dearth of documentation and vendor-developed open source drivers for the graphics subsystems of mobile systems-on-a-chip (SoC). Binary drivers prevent users from fixing bugs or otherwise improving the graphics stack, and complicate the task of porting new operating systems to a device without vendor assistance.
But that’s changing, and Broadcom is taking up the cause.
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Raspberry Pi super-computing clusters have been attempted before, but usually they don't turn out as nice as this new one that's comprised of 40 Raspberry Pi boards inside of an acrylic chassis.
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Raspberry Pi director of Educational Development Clive Beale questioned whether the DfE is doing enough. He said, "I'm really worried it hasn't been taken seriously enough."
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Usually there are two ways to look forward to buy a Raspberry Pi: first, think about a strange thing to make, and then go to the website; or second, buy the Raspberry Pi board having no idea of what you are going to do with it. Usually, I buy things and only after that I go through the Internet in search of inspiration and creative use cases for my new toys. That was the case with my first Raspberry Pi board: everyone seems to be able to put together his tiny PC with some parts (monitor, mouse and so on), a CPU and a lightweight Linux distribution, but what can we do that is totally crazy, mind-blowing and problem-solving?
Legato
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Called Legato, the embedded platform runs Wind River Linux and comes with pre-integrated and validated components that provide connectivity to any cloud, any network and any peripheral.
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Sierra Wireless recently introduced the Legato platform, an open source embedded platform built on Linux and designed to simplify the development of machine-to-machine (M2M) applications from the device to the cloud.
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THE INTERNET OF THINGS got a shot in the arm today as Sierra Wireless announced Legato, a Linux distribution designed for Machine to Machine (M2M) communications.
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Brooklyn based 3D printer manufacturer MakerBot has launched pre-sales for the second of three Replicator models that appear to be the world’s first commercial 3D printer based on embedded Linux. Almost all 3D printers are compatible with Linux desktops, just as they are with Windows and the Mac, and many, if not most, offer open source hardware and software designs. However, aside from some Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone hacks, the MakerBot Replicator Mini Compact appears to be the first to run embedded Linux.
Rikomagic
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The folks at UK-based Cloudsto have added a new device to their range of small, ARM-based Linux computers.
The Rikomagic MK902 LE is a small box with a Rockchip quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and up to 16GB of storage. It ships with Ubuntu Linux, and it’s available from the Cloudsto shop for €£94.99 and up, or about $159.
PicoScope
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Pico Technology has released a beta version of the PicoScope 6 oscilloscope software for Linux.
This is intended to support the use of Linux in the scientific and educational fields.
The PicoScope 6 application runs on a PC to create oscilloscope, FFT spectrum analyser and measuring device functions.
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Users can save captures for offline analysis, share them with other PicoScope for Windows and PicoScope for Linux users, or export them in text, CSV and Mathworks MATLAB 4 formats. The only additional hardware needed is a USB oscilloscope.
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USB oscilloscopes are popular - only that the marketable supply is focused almost exclusively to Windows platforms. Pico Technology now redeems the growing flock of Linux users by offering such a software that runs under their preferred operating system.
Cortex
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Newark Element14ââ¬Â²s $79, Linux-ready “SAMA5D3 Xplained” SBC showcases Atmel’s SAMA5D3 processor, with features like dual LAN ports and Arduino compatibility.
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The first is the Hachiko development board for the Renesas RZ/A microcontroller, which is an ARM Cortex-A9-based MCU. This is positioned as a low end design board for applications such as door entry phones, barcode scanners and data communication modules.
Linaro/Yocto/Enea
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Linaro is a not-for-profit company, owned by ARM and some of its top Cortex-A licensees, yet it acts much like an open source project. In addition to its core role of developing standardized Linux and Android toolchain for ARM-based devices, the 200-engineer organization sponsors a variety of Engineering Groups (see farther below).
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Enea launched a free, community-backed Open Enea Linux platform, with Yocto and Linaro contributions, and plans to target various community-backed SBCs.
Misc.
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The trouble is, other big technology companies have been scrambling to capitalize on the so-called Internet of things. In December, Qualcomm, LG, Sharp, and other companies came together with the Linux Foundation for the new AllSeen Alliance. Now AT&T’s Digital Life business division, which focuses on home security and automation, is part of the AllSeen Alliance, too.
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Planet unveiled a Linux-based, 16-channel network video recorder called the NVR-1620, with dual HDD bays, dual displays, and up to 2560 x 1920 resolution.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- XBox is Rapidly Turned Into a Slopfarm by Microsoft
- Slop isn't about efficiency and saving money
- Reboots Should Never be Necessary
- "BUT WHAT ABOUT SECURITY!!"
- Microsoft's Halloween Documents and systemd, Wayland, Etc.
- Maybe one day Wayland will be widespread. Or maybe not.
- Changing One's Name Won't Change One's Past
- People who have earned a bad reputation are not magically "entitled" to reset
- People Who Assault Women Are Not Victims of "Distress"
- It seems like an American tradition. In a country with almost 50 presidents, not even one was a female.
- Adoption of Gemini Protocol Still Growing
- Gemini Protocol is being obscured by the media - it doesn't help that Google 'hijacked' the word "Gemini" - but people still manage to find out about it, download a client, and use it
- Brett Wilson LLP "Takes it Personal" (Character Assassination, Not Professionalism). Everybody Can See That.
- On behalf of violent men
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- Coming Soon: Another OSI Scandal, This One Implicating Molly de Blanc
- OSI has been fairly quiet lately
- Outreachy & Debian pregnancy cluster, Meike Reichle evidence
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Again, "Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People"
- Microsoft Lunduke is not trying to "protect" Linux
- One of the Most Hilarious Things About the Microsoft SLAPPs
- It's so ridiculous
- Financial Support for the Free Software Foundation or the GNU Project
- The FSF has extended until Friday its fund-raising campaign
- Illegally Hiding (or Demanding Secrecy Around) Illegal Requests or Attempts at Extortion
- unlawful communications like threats
- Gemini Links 14/07/2025: BOFH Archive, Updating Old Palm PDAS, and Nginx vs Slop Bots
- Links for the day
- Ubuntu is Becoming GAFAM-Like
- What does that say about Canonical and Ubuntu?
- Slopfarms Which Take Real Articles About GNU/Linux and Turn Them Into Copycats Which Are False
- Even before the LLM hype those were quite common
- The Firm That Picks on Techrights is Accustomed to Working With Criminals
- Techrights never did anything illegal. So why is it being picked on by people who work with criminals?
- Microsoft Said the Mass Layoffs Were for "Investment" in "AI", But It's Also Laying Off the "AI" and "Copilot" Staff
- Months ago we showed many so-called "AI" people were getting the boot and this time it's the same
- DryDeadFish is Dead, Long Live DryDeadFish
- We kept checking, hoping it can recover from some temporary technical issue
- For Quite Some Time Already Microsoft Attracts Crackpots, Scams, and More
- Occasionally we talk about the situation at IBM as there are many parallels
- Links 14/07/2025: Chatbots Broken Again, McHire LLM Shows Limits of the Hype
- Links for the day
- Slashdot Media Turned Linux Journal Into a Slopfarm and Now Slashdot Actively Promotes Anti-Linux Slopfarms
- Yes, "no-nonsense" apparently means actual nonsense
- Links 14/07/2025: Arresting Photographers, Threats to Revoke US Citizenship Over Criticism
- Links for the day
- More EPO Leaks on the Way
- We hope that Mr. Rowan will actually try to refute what we say and show, not merely point the finger at the messengers
- Decommodification is a Corporate Strategy Against Communities
- systemd is led by Microsoft and hosted by Microsoft
- copyleft.org 'Hijacked' by the People Who Attack the Person Who Created Copyleft
- So far there's nothing "tasteless" in copyleft.org, but that can change at any time in the future
- Asking People to Take Down Articles and Videos Only Makes These More Popular and "Viral"
- If you do something bad, one of the worst things you can possibly do it try to silence those who speak about it
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 13, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, July 13, 2025
- Two-Thirds Towards FSF Goal, Richard Stallman to Give Talks in Europe
- There are 67 left before reaching the target
- Gemini Links 14/07/2025: Politicised Tech and "Leaving GitHub"
- Links for the day
- Pissing Contests and Pissing Off Everyone
- people who came from Microsoft are trying to vex and divide the community
- Microsoft Repeats the Mistakes Made by the EPO After We Exposed a Major Microsoft/EPO Scandal 10 Years Ago
- That scandal was all over the media, not just in English
- The Demise of LLMs
- We've just checked BetaNews again. They've dropped all the slop and went back to human authors.
- Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Sonpo Museum of Art and FCEUX
- Links for the day
- Links 13/07/2025: UnitedHealth's Censorship Campaign, Australia Wary of China
- Links for the day
- Firing Away With Nonsense
- Or fighting fire with fire
- Links 13/07/2025: Climate Crisis, GAFAM Poisoning the Water
- Links for the day
- Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality
- Neither legal nor useful
- The Microsofters Will Have an Obligation to Compensate Us
- This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
- Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels
- Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
- Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025
- And likely in prior years, too
- Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on
- Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
- EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care
- Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
- Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles
- Gemini Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025
- Plunder at the Second-Largest Institution in Europe
- cuts, neglect, health problems, even early deaths
- Links 12/07/2025: Political Developments, Attack on Opposition, Climate Actions
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 12/07/2025: Melodic Musings and Small Web July
- Links for the day
- Links 12/07/2025: Jail in China for Homoerotica, South Korea Discriminates Against Old Workers
- Links for the day
- If Only Everything Was Rewritten in Rust, We'd Have No More Security Issues?
- Nope.
- Links 12/07/2025: Birdwatching and Fake/Misleading Wall Street 'Valuation' Figures
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 12/07/2025: How to Avoid Writing, Apps for Android
- Links for the day
- Using SLAPPs to Cover Up Sexual Abuse and Strangulation
- The exact same legal team of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft and Garrett already has a history fighting against "metoo"
- EPO Staff Committee on Harassment in the Workplace
- slides
- Adding the Voice of Writers to UK SLAPP Reform
- The journey to repair antiquated (monarchy era) laws will likely be long
- EPO Takes More Money From Staff for Speculation (Pensions), Actuarial Study Explains the Impact
- "The key change in this year’s Actuarial Study, due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the financial study, is a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, up to a total of 37.8%. This is driven by an unprecedented decrease in the discount rate of 105 bps down to 2.2%."
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 11, 2025
- IRC logs for Friday, July 11, 2025