Imagination Technologies announced its first MIPS “Warrior” processor, aimed at mobile, consumer, and embedded devices. The MIPS Series5 Warrior-P processor is equipped with six newly announced 32-bit MIPS P5600 cores said to offer up to twice the performance of earlier 32-bit cores, and features 128-bit SIMD, hardware virtualization, enhanced security, and Linux-focused memory addressing.
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[Updated Oct 10] — Intel unveiled a family of embedded-specific Atom E3800 (Bay Trail-I) system-on-chips based on its 22nm Silvermont architecture, featuring TDPs ranging from 5 to 10 Watts, and offering interoperability with its Quark SoCs. The Intel Atom E3800 SoCs have already been tapped by a handful of companies for new computer-on-modules (COMs) and single-board computers (SBCs) of various shapes and sizes.
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Following up on last month’s announcement that it would open source its Power processor architecture, IBM announced that it will invest $1 billion in new Linux and open source technologies supporting Power-based systems. While the investment is primarily aimed at cloud and big-data applications, a new Power Systems Linux Center in France will also explore mobile and social computing applications.
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STMicroelectronics (ST), ViXS, and Sigma Designs have each announced new Linux-friendly system-on-chips for IPTV set-top boxes (STBs) incorporating dual Cortex-A9 cores. Some of ST’s STLinux-based “Cannes” and “Monaco” SoCs, as well as ViXS’s XCode 6400 SoC, support UltraHD video and streaming HEVC HD content, while Sigma’s SMP8734 supports Linux or Android on hybrid STBs and media players.
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On day one of the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), new Intel CEO Brian Krzanich revealed plans for a 32nm, Pentium ISA-compatible “Quark” processor requiring a tenth the power of Intel’s latest “Silvermont” Atom chips, and designed for low-power applications ranging from “Internet-of-Things” (IoT) apps to wearable computing. He also spoke of an upcoming 14nm “Broadwell” processor, and promised 7nm CPUs by 2017.
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Lego began shipping its hackable, Linux-based Lego Mindstorms EV3 robot for $350. Texas Instruments revealed that the robot is powered by its 300MHz ARM9-based Sitara AM1808 system-on-chip and CC2560 Bluetooth chipset.
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AMD unveiled an “ambidextrous” embedded roadmap based on a series of new system-on-chip (SoC) and accelerated processing unit (APU) products built from both ARM and x86 CPU cores. Planned for launch in 2014 are an ARM Cortex A57-based “Hierofalcon” SoC, a “Bald Eagle” APU using a new “Streamroller” x86 CPU, a multi-core x86 “Steppe Eagle” APU, and an “Adelaar” discrete Embedded Radion GPU.
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Intel kicked off a five month Yocto Project Innovation Challenge today, offering 254 prizes to developers who submit embedded Linux product or project ideas involving Yocto Project software running on Intel processors. Six types of prizes — ranging from $50 gift cards, to Yocto Project hoodies and blimps, to 480GB SSDs — will be awarded to winning contest entries between now and the end of the year, and all the ideas will be shared publicly.
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The Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) has ratified the SATA 3.2 storage spec, adding support for a SATA Express spec that can piggyback on faster PCI Express lanes, and defining a new embedded single-chip microSSD. SATA 3.2 also embraces the tiny, SATA Express based M.2 form factor, which debuted in recent Intel and Samsung SSDs.
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AMD announced the most power-efficient model yet in its new line of Linux-ready AMD Embedded G-Series system-on-chips. The dual-core, 1GHz GX-210JA SoC offers a low 6W TDP and 3W “expected average power,” making it well suited for a wide range of fanless embedded devices.
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MediaTek announced a quad-core system-on-chip with dual ARM Cortex-A15 and dual Cortex-A7 cores that is said to be the first Big.Little SoC to operate all four cores simultaneously. The tablet-focused MT8135 is further equipped with a new PowerVR Series6 G6200 GPU from Imagination Technologies, and will be followed by an eight-core “True Octa-Core” Big.Little SoC with similar heterogeneous multi-processing capabilities.
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[Updated Aug. 9] — This week saw a flurry of news about new mobile processor developments that will significantly impact the Android and mobile Linux worlds. Nvidia unveiled Project Logan, a Tegra SoC (system-on-chip) with faster graphics than a PlayStation 3 at a third the power of an iPad; Samsung revealed a new Exynos 5 SoC with six Mali GPUs; and Intel confirmed that a tablet-focused “4.5 Watt” version Haswell-based SoC is on the way.
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Google’s Motorola subsidiary has modified a dual-core Snapdragon S4 into an 8-core, 1.7GHz part called the X8, which offers four GPUs plus two coprocessors designed to enable always-on voice access to Google Now. The Motorola X8 will appear in Verizon’s Motorola Droid Maxx, Droid Ultra, and Droid Mini smartphones, now on presale, which feature Android 4.2.2, 1280 x 780 displays, and up to two-day battery life.
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Linaro has developed a new way for Linux and Android developers to implement ARM’s Big.Little multi-core load balancing architecture, in a manner that optimizes power/performance tradeoffs. In addition to the In-kernel Switcher (IKS) released in May, the new Global Task Scheduler (GTS) offers faster, more granular scheduling control, support for non-symmetrical core combos, and the ability to run all cores simultaneously.
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Freescale is shipping a series of hardware/software development kits for its ARM CPU-based Vybrid F series SoCs, based on an ARM Cortex-A5 core, optionally along with a second ARM core of the Cortex-M4 variety. The kits include Freescale’s compact Tower System hardware accompanied by a customized version of the Eclipse-based ARM DS-5 toolchain.
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E-con Systems has launched a 5-megapixel 1080p autofocus camera board, designed to integrate with a Linux- and Android-friendly $199 Boundary Devices development board for Freescale’s quad-core i.MX6 system-on-chip. E-con’s camera board connects to Boundary’s i.MX6 single-board computer via a CSI-2 MIPI interface, and is supplied with a V4L2-compliant Linux driver and source.
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Intrinsyc announced the availability of a hardware/software development kit for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 system-on-chip. The DragonBoard 8074 Development Kit for the 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 includes a Qseven-compliant computer-on-module (COM) and a Mini-ITX baseboard, and is supported with Android 4.2.
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Imagination Technologies announced a MIPS “Warrior” family of 32/64-bit processors designed for everything from high-end networking equipment to Android tablets, and also announced updates to its embedded-focused MIPS Aptiv 32-bit processor line. The Warrior IP will feature multi-core hardware virtualization and multi-threading, MIPS SIMD architecture, and Imagination’s security framework.
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Modulixtech announced a development board based on a Texas Instruments AM1705 ARM9 system-on-chip, supported by ready-to-run ports of Buildroot embedded Linux and the U-Boot bootloader. The EVB1L board provides Ethernet, serial, USB, and MMC/SD expansion, is implemented on a 158 x 100mm Eurocard form factor, provides PC/104-style expansion, and consumes less than 2 Watts.
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Broadcom announced a system-on-chip designed for network attached storage (NAS) devices and 802.11ac routers, supported by a Linux development kit. The StrataGX BCM5862x Series combines a single- or dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor with a Cortex-R5 based “FlexSPARX” ARM core designed to accelerate storage performance, and features a cryptographic accelerator and dual 6Gbps SATA interfaces.
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