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
- [Video] IBM Shakes Hands of Prince Mohammed bin Salman
- handshake of loyalty
- The SLAPPs From Microsofters Distract From Serious Copyright Infringement by Microsoft and Apparent Business Crimes
- Aside from other issues, such as strangling women
- Trolls With LLM Slop Are Disrupting Communications About Mass Layoffs at IBM
- LLM slop to drown out the signal
-
- Gemini Links 16/05/2025: "Repairing Our Way out of Commodity Fetishism" and Pre-librebooted Computers
- Links for the day
- The Microsofters Have Just Shared Privileged Trial Data With Microsoft
- There are serious ramifications for liability accountability as Microsoft salaries sponsor these SLAPPs
- Enshittification is Everywhere: You Pay More, the Services Get Worse
- "Enshittification" is a term coined by an online friend; I increasingly use this term to describe what's happening even outside the realm of technology (which it was adopted to describe)
- Microsoft Reduces Office Space Ahead of More Waves of Mass Layoffs
- "The Gerstnerisation of Microsoft"
- Anti-Linux FUD Produced by Microsoft LLMs to Blame "Linux" for Microsoft's Own Failures
- We call out some of the worst culprits
- Gemini Links 16/05/2025: Hoking GPS, Grabovac, and Tanana
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 15, 2025
- IRC logs for Thursday, May 15, 2025
- Microsoft WARN Notices Proliferate in the United States
- From what we've seen, this wave was more than 3% (a lot more) and the next wave/s will be even bigger (possible as imminent as weeks from now), based on insider leaks
- Links 15/05/2025: Google Betrays Publishers Again, Openwashing by Sysdig
- Links for the day
- Richard Stallman Still Respected by Many in the Libre Graphics Community
- Richard Stallman and Professor Moglen never harmed anyone
- If You Read Techrights, Then You Probably Want to Read Tux Machines as Well
- That site is more active than this one
- Gemini Links 15/05/2025: Forced Music in Publicly Accessible Space and ~silv is Online
- Links for the day
- Links 15/05/2025: KOSA Censorship (USA Becomes More Like KSA) and More National Cuts
- Links for the day
- Bing Might Shut Down - Just Like Skype Did - Some Time in the Coming Months/Years (Parts of It Already Shut Down)
- they try to bring the losses under control
- Your Real Ally Would Not Defend the Company of SLAPP and Strangling of Women
- who's left to tell us what's true?
- Breakdown of Microsoft Layoffs Shows It's About Cost, Not Performance or Hype (Like "AI")
- MSN (Microsoft) reposted this with some unnecessary spin
- The Lawyers Working for the Serial Strangler From Microsoft on SLAPPing Techrights Have Apparently Lost Their Voice
- the moment we mentioned that their media lawyer is leaving they went all quiet in social control media
- At IBM, Relocation Can be a Trick or a Trap (IBM Gets Rid of Staff Under the Guise of "Relo")
- IBM is not being honest with employees
- Microsoft Rumours: This Week's Scale of Layoffs "Higher Than Reported" and More Coming Soon ("A Lot More Severe" Than May's)
- The "3%" figure is false
- Slopwatch: Sloppy Brian, Brittany Slop, and General Observations
- Creative people don't need slop; there's just nothing good about it, slop appeals to lazy people careless about quality
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- Beyond Mass Layoffs at Microsoft: Entire Units Shut Down for Good
- And it's far from over
- Links 15/05/2025: Crikvenica, Analog Computer, and Slop 'Hallucinations'
- Links for the day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, May 14, 2025
- IRC logs for Wednesday, May 14, 2025
- Links 14/05/2025: Fentanylware (TikTok) Harms Kids, Russia Refuses to Defuse
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 15/05/2025: Poseur Nerds and Mennonites
- Links for the day
- VS Code Is Not FOSS, And Neither Is the Site "It's FOSS"
- VS Code is proprietary spyware of Microsoft, yet this site keeps promoting it like it's FOSS
- No, Microsoft Didn't Lay Off So Many People Because of "AI" "Innovation" or "Efficiency" or "Era" or "Revolution" Etc.
- Debunking one very common lie
- What We Do When We Say "GNU/Linux" to People
- It talks about "Linux", "GNU", and what it means to say "GNU/Linux"
- Links 14/05/2025: Facebook And Instagram Risk Nationwide Bans, Microsoft Subsidiaries Have Mass Layoffs Too
- Links for the day
- Canonical Will Give You Money Only If You Work for Microsoft!
- Only if you are servicing (being a slave to) proprietary forges that Microsoft and the NSA control while violating the GPL will Canonical give you money
- If Microsoft Staff That Strangles Woman Pays You to Write Lies, It Will Not End Well
- The past couple of years were our most productive ever
- Gemini Links 14/05/2025: "Writing My Story with Inspiration from Notable Lives" and People Start Shovelling Up LLM Slop Onto Geminispace,
- Links for the day
- Microsoft is Very Highly Stressed About Adoption of GNU/Linux at Windows' Expense (on Former "Vista 10" PCs)
- What does this tell us?
- Slopwatch: BetaNoise (BetaNews), LinuxSecurity, and Slopfarms Still Promoted by Google News
- The primary goal is to demonstrate the problem persists
- Links 14/05/2025: Google Agrees to $1.3 Billion Settlement After Spying, China Tariffs Don't Work
- Links for the day
- There Are Also Loads of Microsoft LinkedIn Layoffs Today (Keep Track of the Subsidiaries They Keep Out of Headlines)
- Perhaps lost in the smokescreen
- There Are Bigger Rounds of Microsoft Layoffs Coming, a Cull of 10% Implemented in Waves (the "3%" Figure is Misleading, Face-Saving)
- Last night we said they might do the layoffs in three or at least two waves
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 13, 2025
- IRC logs for Tuesday, May 13, 2025