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
- Network Plumbing
- We hope it'll help speed things up
- "My Hands Are Shaking While Writing" About IBM's Mass Layoffs at Red Hat (Bluewashing)
- Shame, shame, shame on the corporate media for not covering Red Hat's layoffs this year
- Taking a Look at the Last Articles of Bob Cringely at Forbes, They Were All About IBM and Its Collapse
- It's all about IBM
- What is "Computer Science"? It is What Broligarchs Reject.
- Nowadays some people call themselves informal terms or made-up titles (with terms like "AI" or "big data" or "data" tossed into the mix)
- Brigading Against Women - Part XXVII - Americans and Public Executions
- "People who work for Facebook / Xitter / Bytedance's Tiktok / Microsoft / Oracle / IBM / Apple / Uber / Lyft / Wolt / DoorDash / AirBnB / Bolt / and so on are doing some world-class projection when they have the audacity to call others Bad People(tm)"
- Gemini Links 12/10/2026: Westminster Quarters, Civilization, Luddites, and More
- Links for the day
-
- Mass Layoffs at Microsoft Again (October 2026), So-Called 'AI' Units Impacted Because Slop ('AI') Has No Real Future
- So much for the future of Microsoft being "hey hi" (AI)
- European Readers, Please Contact Representatives (in One's Nation) Attending the Administrative Council Meeting
- Normalising cocaine in in Europe's largest institutions (the people running these) is a slippery slope
- For Half a Year the European Patent Office (EPO), Europe's Second-Largest Institution, Has Had Water Problems in the Toilets
- And it's not being fixed
- Intercontinental Brigading - Part I - The Failed Attempt to 'Swat' Our Series About the Attacks and Crimes Committed Against Us
- This coincided with threats to our lives
- Links 12/10/2026: Strike on Riyadh and GOP Pays Voters ("Surprise $90 Social Security Payments")
- Links for the day
- Microsoft's XBox CEO Spoke of a "Return to Growth" Last Week, But XBox Sales Lowest in XBox History (Quarter of a Century)
- Microsoft's XBox is dying. It's a countdown to nothingness.
- Links 12/10/2026: Shopify (Slop Booster) Has Security Issues, "Russia’s Yandex Says Data Center in Vladimir Shut Down After Drone Attack"
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Windows Causes Problems (and Delays) to LibreOffice and The Document Foundation
- Nothing would please Microsoft more than Windows curtailing the development of LibreOffice and adoption of ODF
- So Far This Year Microsoft Windows Lost a Lot of Ground in China, GNU/Linux Gaining at Its Expense
- GNU/Linux will soon exceed 10%
- Lessons of Margaret Hamilton (Software Engineer)
- Stop abetting men who attack women in the sciences
- RIP, Bob Cringely
- He was too young to leave us, his articles were still brilliant and his mind as lucid as ever
- Linus Torvalds Has a Conflict of Interest Regarding Slop
- Linus Torvalds is paid by the slop pushers
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 11, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, October 11, 2026
- Africa Sees GNU/Linux Exceeding 5% "Market Share"
- It wasn't always like this. It used to be measured at 1 or 2 percent.
- Slop-ware Is Not Newsworthy
- LLMs are exceptionally loquacious and create large code bases
- Links 11/10/2026: US Sides With Vladimir Putin, Convicted Felon Dubbed "Agent of a Foreign Power"
- Links for the day
- IRC Tracker Back in Order, Number of Known IRC Networks Continues to Increase
- We don't know if our article helped trigger a resolution
- Links 11/10/2026: "Execution TV" (Iran Aped by US) and ‘Digital Oblivion’ Caused by Slop Frenzy Online
- Links for the day
- Voice for the Impoverished
- the country's leaders attack the country's own press
- Gemini Links 11/10/2026: Adults Dressing Up as Animals, 44th Birthday, and More
- Links for the day
- Running a Country's Economy by Borrowing Over $400,000,000,000 Per Month
- This is the hallmark of an economy in irreversible decline
- Brigading Against Women - Part XXVI - Trying to Deplatform Critics of Microsoft's Restricted Boot
- Like James Bottomley, Matthew Garrett served Microsoft's agenda while employed and salaried by other companies
- Anderon Is Not a Real Company, It's an IBM Bailout Dressed Up or Wrapped Up In Buzzwords
- It certainly does seem like they receive money from taxpayers for nothing, or for IBM to do mass layoffs/closure at Albany under the guise of "making a new spinoff"...
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 10, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, October 10, 2026
- Gemini Links 10/10/2026: Radio Romania International, Avoiding GAFAM, Open Camera, and Another Palm
- Links for the day
- The 2026 Slop Prediction (Slopfarms Perishing)
- Morality in the "digital world" has deteriorated profoundly
- netsplit.de (Survey of IRC Networks and History) Only Partly Functional This Month
- Get well soon, netsplit.de
- Microsoft Cuts
- GAFAM enshittification
- NVIDIA Acts Like It Cannot Pay Salaries (Too Many Obligations, Sales in Circular Financing, or Basically Accounting Fraud)
- Masters of acting as clients of themselves
- Paying for elections, Reform UK illegal confession in High Court
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Contemptuous Law Firm Accusing Others of Contempt of Court
- Keeping a running tally can help
- Links 10/10/2026: Let's Encrypt Making Changes (Problem for Small Sites/Operations), Quartz is Officially a Slopfarm (Busted)
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Abuses PERM and Lays Off Workers in India
- The US government has made it easier for Microsoft to hide the mass layoffs
- The GAFAM Elections in the United States
- If the election is run by platforms that have back doors "baked-in" and if the communications are overseen by GAFAM, you would not have to be a "nutty MAGAt" to dispute the outcome
- More GAFAM Layoffs (Late on Friday Night)
- They say they are worth trillions, but they don't even make money
- Male-Dominated EPO Fails to Have "Concrete Measures to Support Female Staff"
- Being a female at the EPO is exceptionally hard
- Brigading Against Women - Part XXV - No Anonymity for People Who Did Illegal Things
- "Empathy is the sunlight to the vampire of culture."
- Production Freeze at the European Patent Office (Opposing Monarchy, Institutional Maladministration and Corruption)
- Eight reasons to participate
- Links 10/10/2026: Microsoft 'Open' 'AI' Silencing Critics, "Data Centres are the New Front Line in the Russia-Ukraine War"
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 09, 2026
- IRC logs for Friday, October 09, 2026
- Gemini Links 10/10/2026: Optimism, Stargazing, "Life Without Smartphone", and Fairphone 4
- Links for the day