Hardware News: Freedom, Modding, Hackability on the Rise
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-04-14 08:44:38 UTC
- Modified: 2014-04-14 08:54:03 UTC
ARM
ARM Compiler 6 is beginning to use the LLVM/Clang compiler.
Velocity of open source Clang and LLVM combined with the stability of commercial products improve code quality, performance and power efficiency on ARM processors
With the release of Compiler 6 today, ARM moves from a proprietary architecture to one based on open sourced Clang/LLVM. Although there is going to be a lot contributed back the greater DS-5 Ultimate Edition are initially not going to be as fully open as SemiAccurate would like.
UK microprocessor-design company ARM has decided to move to an open-source compiler for the latest release of its software development tools, moving away from its own technology.
Raspberry Pi
Seven tutorials for seven days as we take you from Pi beginner to Raspberry Pro, and we also show you how to develop Android apps with Python in Linux User issue 138
Soon, there could be Pi in just about any device that needs embedded computing power. The Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced a new version of the Raspberry Pi platform that is aimed at a whole new class of devices and applications. Called the Raspberry Pi Compute Module, the new product puts all of the Pi’s core functionality onto a small board the size of a laptop memory module, allowing it to be plugged in to custom-built hardware.
As we've reported many times, the diminutive $25/$35 Linux computer dubbed Raspberry Pi has emerged as one of the biggest open source stories anywhere over the past couple of years. It's attracted all kinds of developers and tinkerers, is now running many different flavors of Linux, and there is even now a supercomputer consisting of many Pi devices lashed together with Lego pieces. In some of the more exotic new applications for Raspberry Pi, it's being used in music, robotics and security scenarios.
The compute module contains the guts of a Raspberry Pi (the BCM2835 processor and 512Mbyte of RAM) as well as a 4Gbyte eMMC Flash device (which is the equivalent of the SD card in the Pi). This is all integrated on to a small 67.6x30mm board which fits into a standard DDR2 SODIMM connector (the same type of connector as used for laptop memory*). The Flash memory is connected directly to the processor on the board, but the remaining processor interfaces are available to the user via the connector pins. You get the full flexibility of the BCM2835 SoC (which means that many more GPIOs and interfaces are available as compared to the Raspberry Pi), and designing the module into a custom system should be relatively straightforward as we’ve put all the tricky bits onto the module itself.
With the new Compute Module, the Foundation manages to pack the Raspberry Pi’s SoC with 512MB of memory and 4GB of storage onto a board the size of your standard DDR2 laptop memory. The Compute Module is seen above to the left of the standard PI unit. It's not entirely a size thing here though, the company is looking to offer a more universal version of the system, stuffing it on a board with a much more standard connector. This will allow developers to implement the system in whatever way they want as opposed to being tied to the traditional Pi I/O.
Qualcomm
Qualcomm revealed 20nm, 64-bit Snapdragon SoCs featuring Cortex-A57 and –A53 CPU cores, 4K video encoding, LTE Advanced, DDR4 RAM, and more.
Qualcomm announced this morning their next-generation 64-bit processors for what they hope yields "the ultimate connected mobile computing experiences" with a ton of new features and capabilities.
This is all done at 20nm compared to Beast’s 45nm and about 100 watts less power waste. I probably wouldn’t even have a fan to annoy me, not on the PSU, and not on the CPU. Beast’s replacement will likely be just big enough to hold a few hard drives or SSDs. Qualcomm will ship in 2014, probably just in time for Christmas.
Development
Embedded Linux Pioneer Launches Yocto Project-Based Linux BSPs for Boards in the Freescale Vybrid Controller Solutions Ecosystem
Habey unveiled a tiny, open-spec, Freescale i.MX6-based SBC that runs Ubuntu and Android, and features stackable daughter boards, PoE, and wing extensions.
Mainline Linux kernel support enables ease of migration by providing consistent access to new devices and the latest features
Open Hardware
For more advanced robots, there will be other available parts such as an infrared distance sensor. TinkerBots’ use of the Arduino-compatible micro-controller platform enables older enthusiasts to dabble in programming (C) for their TinkerBots creations.
I bought an Arduino Mega and started putting together the custom electronics in the form of a daughter board (Arduino calls them "shields"). However, it needed to be a standalone unit, so what could I do for user interfacing to the Mega that was flexible? Touch screens.
Novena
At 8-years old, Andrew "Bunnie" Huang appreciated the fact that his Apple II came with schematics and source code because it allowed him to figure out how it worked.
Andrew “Bunnie” Huang lists a bunch of reasons why you’ll want his open-source laptop, the Novena. You can modify it yourself so that its battery will last however long you want it to. You can inspect the software to see if there’s any present from the National Security Agency. And you don’t have to pay a tax to any big corporation just because you want to do some computing.
In a post-Edward Snowden’s disclosure world, where people and companies are seriously exploring options to keep their digital data and communication secure from NSA (or other illegitimate) snooping, here’s some good news.
Project Novena is alive and kicking, promising to bring you the world’s “almost” fully open source laptop. And it doesn’t just have open source software, but open source hardware. Hardware with open designs for anyone to manufacture and implement as they deem fit.
Hackers Bunnie Huang and Sean “xobs” Cross have launched a fundraiser for their open source laptop, the Novena. It looks very different from its prototype, but the idea behind it remains the same: a computer with transparent and easily modifiable hardware and software.
Mods
The last time I wrote about the best hacks available for a board, I had so much to choice between; now instead, writing about Arduino Yún and all of its best hacks, it was difficult to me to find really good projects, because the platform is so young. While Raspberry Pi had a strong community, Arduino Yún is still growing up.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- What Microsoft Reputation Laundering (With a Weaponised Law Degree) Looks Like in a Foreign Continent
- You would expect this in uncivilised and primitive countries
- Slopwatch: LLMs 'Write' Fake or Distorted 'News' About "Linux"
- LLM slop disguised as news
- Weeks After Microsoft Bankruptcy in Russia the Company Shuts Down in Pakistan, Too
- Last month Windows' share in Pakistan fell to an all-time low
- Crime and Corruption at Microsoft GitHub Cannot be Covered Up by SLAPPs in Another Continent
- We'll write about this for a long time to come
-
- The Death of X Has Been Greatly Exaggerated (by Compromised Media)
- X.Org Server is alive and well
- Rewriting Things in Rust
- How far would you go?
- In 2025 Everything is "AI". Remember Blockchains?
- Talk about what companies and things (services, products, software) actually do, not the labels they use
- Julian Assange Has Been Free for a Year
- Julian Assange and I disagreed on some things
- Monopolies and Scalping
- Monopolies gravitate towards price hikes
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 04, 2025
- IRC logs for Friday, July 04, 2025
- Microsoft's August Layoffs Wave: "August is Confirmed for Additional Performance Based Cuts"
- "August is confirmed for additional performance based cuts from the recent connects along with additional organizational cuts."
- Links 04/07/2025: Google Replaces the Web With Slop, "AI Might Kill Us All"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 04/07/2025: Mindfulness and F1
- Links for the day
- Rob Musial's June 2025 Additions of Malware in Proprietary Software
- Via the GNU Web site this week
- Links 04/07/2025: Microsoft's H-1B Visa Applications Show Another Crisis Unfolding, Many More Deep Cuts and Shutdowns Revealed, Complete Microsoft Exits
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 04/07/2025: A Day To Remember and "Stop Killing Games"
- Links for the day
- Slop Videos Are Disappointing Garbage, Nothing New, Just Brute Force up on Display or a Pedestal of Slop
- Slop videos aren't a new thing
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 03, 2025
- IRC logs for Thursday, July 03, 2025
- The War on Local Storage (People Hosting Their Files Locally and Privately)
- There's nothing wrong with controlling one's computing
- What Digital Independence Means
- Independence in the digital realms means abandoning platforms like GitHub, not just rejecting proprietary software
- NVidia is a Bubble
- they temporarily see fortunes and wrongly assume perpetuity thereof
- Fedora Does Not Care About Diversity and Inclusion, It's About Optics (Corporate Image)
- any notion of inclusion is superficial and misleading
- Don't Buy the Excuses for Microsoft's Mass Layoffs
- Back in the 90s, Microsoft bought a lot of companies to get and stay ahead
- Happy Independence Day to Our American Readers
- Maybe tomorrow will be a good opportunity to explain to American people - in terms of concepts, not brands - which tools respect their independence
- Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Linuxsecurity, and Google News Getting Even Worse (More Slopfarms Added Which Attack Linux With Bruce-Force SPAM)
- Google News is part of the same problem
- Links 03/07/2025: More Cuts and Cancellations at Microsoft Revealed
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 03/07/2025: Favourite Child and Launching WikiGem
- Links for the day
- GNU/Linux is Replacing Microsoft Windows. But We Need to Eradicate Microsoft, It's a Hub of Crime.
- I have been writing about Microsoft since the 1990s when I was in school
- Mystery Surrounding the PCLinuxOS Sites and PCLinuxOS Magazine
- Let's hope this isn't something major
- People and Companies Do Learn Some Lessons From Their Mistakes (Stubborn Ones Don't)
- Brett Wilson LLP is an example of one that would rather drown in mistakes
- Links 03/07/2025: 'Hey Hi' Slop Ridiculed Some More and Microsoft's Layoffs Tally for 2025 Reaches About 29,000 in Just 6 Months (Almost 5,000 Per Month)
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Staff Harassing Women, Strangling Women, Telling Women to Kill Themselves and Worse? Not a Problem!
- Two women have left Brett Wilson LLP
- The Slopfarms Are Losing the Plot (and Google is Propping Up Rogue Sites)
- Google is part of the attack on the Web, on information, and on technology
- New BetaNews Realises There's No Potential or Future in Slopfarms, Prior Editor Wayne Williams is Back
- They realise that slop (so-called "AI") cannot replace humans
- Claims That Microsoft Looks for Staff That Works More and Gets Paid Less (or Can Only Code by Grabbing Other People's Code, Under the Guise of "AI")
- People can form their own opinion
- Richard Stallman Was Right About Reasons Not to Use Microsoft
- last updated 2017
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 02, 2025
- IRC logs for Wednesday, July 02, 2025
- Gemini Links 03/07/2025: No to Cloudflare and Small Web July
- Links for the day