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
- Links 29/12/2025: Putin Critic Sergei Udaltsov Imprisoned, Cloudflare’s Outages Discussed
- Links for the day
- LLMs Are Inherently Parasitic, We Need to Treat Them Accordingly
- a maintenance burden for those who possess actual intelligence
- Links 29/12/2025: Bottled Water Considered Harmful, Cheetos Promoting Nazis in Europe
- Links for the day
- EPO People Power - Part XVIII - European Patent Office "Paints Itself as Progressive While Literally Being Represented by Cokeheads"
- To what length/s will German authorities and media (not just in Germany) go to protect the EPO's "precious image"?
- What IBM Will Do to Red Hat in the Coming Year or Years
- This won't end up well for GNU/Linux as a whole
- Not Turning in His Grave: When People Die, Their Corporate Destruction Becomes a "Turnaround"
- All he did was mass layoffs - a tradition that has not ended since then
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, December 28, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, December 28, 2025
- Louis Gerstner Has Died, His Legacy of Mass Layoffs at IBM Hasn't
- Hagiographies will follow. They will say he "saved" IBM.
- Links 29/12/2025: The Sunday Routine, Limits of Memory, and Gemini Vocabulary
- Links for the day
- Doxing is Illegal in the UK (Even If You're Based in the US)
- Somebody has just added my identity (name, mugshot etc.) to a "hitlist" site of a political nature, pandering to violent people
- Misunderstood Weapons of Censorship
- It's cruel world out there. One needs to be aware of these shady activities, including "censorship-as-a-service".
- Google Confidently Wrong, Nowadays Defaming People Too
- I can relate as people did this to me and to my wife
- What Happens When Americans Are Out of Office (Away From Work) for a Week? Vista 11 "Share" Falls to Just 10%.
- How's that for slow adoption?
- 2026 Will Have EPO Focus, People Will See What the EPO is Trying to Hide
- We certainly hope people will be held accountable
- EPO People Power - Part XVII - Drugged, Stoned, and Drunk at the Office During Working Hours (Campinos Friend and Propaganda Chief Has Long Done This)
- It's a total disgrace that press all over Europe is still trying to cover this up!
- Gemini Links 28/12/2025: Health Ordeals and Discontinued Pedals
- Links for the day
- Slop About "Linux" Came Only From One Slopfarm This Weekend
- Another day has passed with no LLM slop found in our RSS feeds
- Links 28/12/2025: 'Digital Detox' and Slop "Backlash Grew Massively in 2025"
- Links for the day
- Links 28/12/2025: "Mass Quitting Apple" and "Generative AI Industry is Fraudulent, Immoral and Dangerous"
- Links for the day
- Links 28/12/2025: Fascination, Holidays, and Mormonism
- Links for the day
- Microsoft's Weapon Against the Reality of XBox (the Console) Dying Seems to be LLM Slop
- XBox is dead/dying
- Raffles for the Immaterial: Unauthorised Bingo for Red Hat "Vouchers"
- This is IBM and some slop images
- Andy Farnell on Standing Up Against Technological Oppression
- some portions from it
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, December 27, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, December 27, 2025
- Once Again, GAFAM Deletes All Your Data, Only Corrects This After Millions of People Lead an Uproar Online ("Richard Stallman Warned Us About This")
- No lessons learned, eh?
- Linus Torvalds Blasts Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) for Attempting to 'Protect' Linux
- Like it 'protects' women
- New Record for GNU/Linux in Australia (at Microsoft's Expense)
- Windows is at an all-time low, GNU/Linux... all-time high
- Fighting Over Whose Pockets Are Deeper (or Who Borrows More Money)
- When processes favour those who are more wealthy (or more willing to go into infinite debt or steal money of other people) those processes match the attributes of lawfare rather than law
- You Know Your Critics Are Jealous and Have Inferiority Complex When...
- One day we'll write about all this in great depth
- Starting a Book With a Flawed Premise or Weak Hypothesis
- To me, Schneier is a sort of "RMS of sec"
- Microsoft's Mass Layoffs (30,000+ in 2025) Not About "AI", Just Business Failure
- "AI" is replacing... the old excuses for mass layoffs
- "But Corruption is Everywhere"
- "We'll always have Polio..."
- EPO People Power - Part XVI - Berenguer Does Not Speak German, So What Did He Tell German Police That Busted Him?
- based in Germany and does not speak the language
- Challenges for EPO Insiders to Try to Tackle in 2026
- Nothing will get solved as long as the circus that runs this show tries to keep the circus going
- Days Without Slop About "Linux"
- It's time to move on
- Links 27/12/2025: Canada Post Strike Called Off, Debate About Europeans "Working Over Christmas"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 27/12/2025: Household Appliances and Flight Fright
- Links for the day
- Links 27/12/2025: US Cracking Down on Whistleblowers, Expanding Bombardment Campaigns Worldwide
- Links for the day
- Resuming EPO Coverage Today, Can António Campinos 'Survive' Cocainegate?
- We said we'd continue in the weekend
- Links 27/12/2025: More Attacks on Media (Meduza Co-founder Sentenced to Prison in Absentia), "What Owning Music Means To Me"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 27/12/2025: geminiprotocol.net Downtime and Capsular Gemlog Manager
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, December 26, 2025
- IRC logs for Friday, December 26, 2025