[Arm-netbook] arm-netbook Digest, Vol 21, Issue 3

Thu Mar 1 19:54:14 GMT 2012

Hello , guys I just joined this mailing list so thought should give an
intro , after unprecedented demand of the raspberry pi boards, I dug deep
into the possibility of using the idea of allwinner-a10 soc in third world
and emerging economies of South Asia as an educational tool.

Coming from the same background I really understand the how far this idea
can go much ahead than all the other boards .
The way I look at it Panda/Beaglebone boards came from the idea of audrino
board which came from the commodore .... then raspberry pi which is exactly
idea from the beagle board but half the price.

Now it will the allwinner based board which hopefully we could pull down to
the price of $20 if not $15.

Anyways thats it for and I will definitely be delighted to part of the
nascent group and will be willing to contribute whatever I could.

Best Wishes;
Adi

On Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 1:00 PM, <arm-netbook-request at lists.phcomp.co.uk>wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Re: Mele box group on counting (Oliver Kiddle)
>   2. Re: Mele box group on counting (Alejandro Mart?nez)
>   3. Re: ARM SoC with OpenCL GPU : Exynos 4412 (was Re: SoC
>      proposal) (Bari Ari)
>   4. Re: Mele a1000 Internals Question? (Philip Hands)
>   5. Fwd: Auto-discard notification (lkcl luke)
>   6. getting involved page (lkcl luke)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2012 12:55:41 +0000 (GMT)
> From: Oliver Kiddle <okiddle at yahoo.co.uk>
> Subject: Re: [Arm-netbook] Mele box group on counting
> To: Linux on small ARM machines <arm-netbook at lists.phcomp.co.uk>
> Message-ID:
>        <1330606541.20421.YahooMailClassic at web29701.mail.ird.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>
> --- On Thu, 1/3/12, Alejandro Mery <amery at geeks.cl> wrote:
>
> > FYI: the rest can get it now at
> >
> http://www.dealextreme.com/p/mele-1080p-android-2-3-internet-tv-set-top-box-w-wifi-optical-3-x-usb-hdmi-av-lan-sd-119913
>
> Nice, so it comes with a remote and you can stuff a 2.5" hard disc in the
> top. I had been thinking of getting a Raspberry Pi for XBMC use but this
> could be better.
>
> I've been following the discussion here but I'm no hardware expert. To get
> Debian on it would I need to solder onto the internal UART? Is there any
> sort of open source support for the hardware video decoding - if that's
> related to the GPU then I can't find any mention on limadriver.org? Does
> the A10 support hard float and Debian armhf? Does the Mele box just boot
> from the SD card such that there's no danger of bricking it?
>
> What is the processor clock speed? Deal extreme states ARM CortexA8 1GHz
> but if it is A10 based then from the rhombus-tech wiki, it would be 1.5GHz.
>
> I don't suppose anyone has any experience with using USB DVB-S2 tuners on
> ARM or Linux in general?
>
> Thanks
>
> Oliver
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2012 14:19:22 +0100
> From: Alejandro Mart?nez <zen at itram.es>
> Subject: Re: [Arm-netbook] Mele box group on counting
> To: Linux on small ARM machines <arm-netbook at lists.phcomp.co.uk>
> Message-ID:
>        <CAOx6PCKQHN29LfoDch1Cmcn0XwdUF6T1ktd+3eR6MLr5KWtrzQ at mail.gmail.com
> >
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> >From what I know from having an A10 tablet (still don't have my Mele
> here):
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 1:55 PM, Oliver Kiddle <okiddle at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> > I've been following the discussion here but I'm no hardware expert. To
> get Debian on it would I need to solder onto the internal UART?
>
> I believe the internal UART and USBs have a socket on them, so not
> much soldering required. The USB is a gadget USB so you can use ADB to
> alter/upload files. But probably booting from the SD you don't need to
> use the USB.
>
> UART is only required for the serial console. If we get framebuffer
> console working there's not much need for it.
>
> > Is there any sort of open source support for the hardware video decoding
> - if that's related to the GPU then I can't find any mention on
> limadriver.org? Does the A10 support hard float and Debian armhf?
>
> I don't know the exact answers to those questions. But I believe
> everything we need is on the Android and the kernel sources.
>
> >Does the Mele box just boot from the SD card such that there's no danger
> of bricking it?
>
> The bootloader it will skip internal NAND and go to the SD with the
> scripts that Tom made us. If we get the firmware image it has a FEL
> fallback mode that you can *always* flash on using Windows + Livesuit
> through USB.
>
> >
> > What is the processor clock speed? Deal extreme states ARM CortexA8 1GHz
> but if it is A10 based then from the rhombus-tech wiki, it would be 1.5GHz.
>
> If I'm not wrong, on my tablet it is 1ghz.
> >
> > I don't suppose anyone has any experience with using USB DVB-S2 tuners
> on ARM or Linux in general?
>
> The x86 drivers might just work... but not sure about that.
>
>
> ---
> Alejandro Mart?nez
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2012 07:44:00 -0600
> From: Bari Ari <bari at onelabs.com>
> Subject: Re: [Arm-netbook] ARM SoC with OpenCL GPU : Exynos 4412 (was
>        Re: SoC proposal)
> To: Linux on small ARM machines <arm-netbook at lists.phcomp.co.uk>
> Message-ID: <4F4F7D20.2080902 at onelabs.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=EUC-KR
>
> Thank you for the contacts.
> I contacted the local rep about the 4412, and I've only heard on the
> sounds of crickets so far.
>
> -Bari
>
> On 03/01/2012 04:10 AM, Guillaume Fortaine wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> >
> >> i've not mentioned this before, publicly, but some time last year when
> >> this initiative was still being considered we were finding it so
> >> ridiculously difficult to find cooperative CPU companies that we gave
> >> serious consideration to putting a deal together to create a new
> >> (entirely software-based) SoC that would be entirely FSF-Endorseable
> >> as it would be entirely software-programmable.
> > After having read many proposals on this mailing-list, I would greatly
> > appreciate to make my recommendation, if possible, please. On my side,
> > I would strongly advise to have a look at the Samsung Exynos 4412.
> >
> > Because, Samsung is not only a member of Linaro :
> >
> > http://www.linaro.org
> >
> > But also, their Exynos 4412 will be the first ARM SoC with OpenCL
> > support thanks to its Mali-T604 GPU :
> >
> >
> http://www.arm.com/products/multimedia/mali-graphics-hardware/mali-t604.php
> >
> > It will be available in Q3 2012 and Insignal will provide the
> > corresponding development kit :
> >
> > http://www.linaro.org/assets/PDF/LinaroOrigenLowCostBoard.pdf
> >
> > Mister Dosung Lee will be able to provide you more informations about
> > this chip :
> >
> > D.S. Lee (???)
> > Director
> > Marketing 1 Group
> > System LSI Division, Semiconductor Business
> > Samsung Electronics CO.,LTD
> >
> > Tel.    +82-31-209-1618
> > Fax.    +82-31-209-1919
> > Mobile. +82-10-9899-0932
> > Email.  dosung.lee at samsung.com
> >
> >
> > Best Regards,
> >
> > Guillaume FORTAINE
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 8:58 PM, lkcl luke <luke.leighton at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >> folks, hi,
> >>
> >> i've not mentioned this before, publicly, but some time last year when
> >> this initiative was still being considered we were finding it so
> >> ridiculously difficult to find cooperative CPU companies that we gave
> >> serious consideration to putting a deal together to create a new
> >> (entirely software-based) SoC that would be entirely FSF-Endorseable
> >> as it would be entirely software-programmable.
> >>
> >> based around something like the ARC 32-bit RISC core (which was a hell
> >> of a lot better than ARM's offerings at the time), the idea was to put
> >> at least 4 of them down in 28nm, where they would quite happily run at
> >> at least 1.5ghz.
> >>
> >> the problem was that ARC's RISC core design wasn't SMP capable, and
> >> the team behind it didn't feel comfortable doing SMP cache coherency.
> >> we _did_ come up with a mad and very simple scheme to do cache
> >> coherency as a software interrupt (similar to how MMU page-swapping is
> >> done) and even discussed it on LKML thanks to alan cox and some input
> >> from another guy from intel, it turns out to have been a workable
> >> scheme.
> >>
> >> ... but, we didn't pursue it.
> >>
> >> some time last month i went "hang on a minute, maybe now's a better
> >> time" so i've done a draft of the interfaces (DDR3 RAM will be
> >> included)  the number of pins required is surprisingly low, which will
> >> get the cost down.
> >>
> >> i'd therefore greatly appreciate some help reviewing the pinouts.  the
> >> company that i've found that has an alternative 32-bit RISC core not
> >> only has SMP cache coherency already done, but also they have an
> >> absolutely amazing set of Instruction extensions, including DSP,
> >> Audio, Video, Base-band (for RF handset processing) and much more.
> >> the plan is, therefore, to target this CPU at a very very wide range
> >> of markets, based on it having:
> >>
> >> * 8 CPUs at 1.2ghz or above
> >> * SMP Cache Coherency
> >> * 32-bit DDR3 1333mhz RAM (with a 2nd version having 2 DDR3 interfaces)
> >> * virtually everything software-programmable (with the exception of
> >> CABAC decode)
> >>
> >> meaning that it will do 3D graphics _and_ 1080p Video entirely in
> >> software.  the interfaces i've selected so far will include:
> >>
> >> * HDMI Out _and_ In
> >> * 24-pin RGB/TTL
> >> * 2-channel LVDS
> >> * 2 PCIe (2-lane each)
> >> * USB-OTG, USB-2 and USB-3
> >> * SATA-3
> >> * NAND controller (8-bit with 4-way CS)
> >> * 3 SD/MMC interfaces
> >> * 3 SPI interfaces
> >> * 3 UARTs, 3 IIC interfaces, CAN-Bus, 2 PS/2, Touchscreen, 3 PWMs
> >> * 2 MPEG Transport Stream Interfaces
> >> * Smartcard Interface
> >>
> >> that means that it could be used in at least the following products:
> >>
> >> * Laptops, Netbooks, Tablets, Desktops, PCs, NAS-Boxes
> >> * PVRs, TVs, Set-Top Boxes, Satellite Decoders
> >> * Smartphones, Base Stations, GNU/Radio SDR Products
> >>
> >> bearing in mind that this will be out some time in middle of 2013, if
> >> it's started soon, i could reallly do with some help reviewing the
> >> interfaces and capabilities, to make sure i've got it right.
> >>
> >> tia,
> >>
> >> l.
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> arm-netbook mailing list arm-netbook at lists.phcomp.co.uk
> >> http://lists.phcomp.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/arm-netbook
> >> Send large attachments to arm-netbook at files.phcomp.co.uk
> > _______________________________________________
> > arm-netbook mailing list arm-netbook at lists.phcomp.co.uk
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>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:50:28 +0000
> From: Philip Hands <phil at hands.com>
> Subject: Re: [Arm-netbook] Mele a1000 Internals Question?
> To: lkcl luke <luke.leighton at gmail.com>,        Linux on small ARM
> machines
>        <arm-netbook at lists.phcomp.co.uk>
> Message-ID: <87hay8pbgb.fsf at poker.hands.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> On Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:10:14 +0000, lkcl luke <luke.leighton at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > > what about automatically notifying changes on the irc channel?
> >
> >
> http://mueller.panopticdev.com/2011/08/supybot-git-ircbot-plugin-for-git.html
> > https://github.com/typester/github-ircbot-perl
>
> I decided on making use of CIA.vc (which seems popular among debian folk,
> and doesn't require more than a hook that sends an email to the, where
> they then run the bot for us).
>
> That being the case, you'll notice that there's now a CIA-46 nick
> pouring comments into the channel.
>
> The CIA page for the project is here:
> http://cia.vc/stats/project/rhombus-tech
>
> although that doesn't really add anything that's not already in the
> history and Recent Changes on the site -- BTW I just enabled page
> history links into git -- if that was off on purpose, either turn it off
> again, or say so and I'll do it.
>
> There was some discussion of whether the stuff put into the IRC channel
> should include a URL -- I'm not sure what url would be most useful, and
> the only way I see of doing it is to pretend that the file changed is
> instead the URL you want, which is likely to discard some information.
>
> Given that you can (if intrigued by a change mentioned by CIA) go to the
> rhombus-tech.net site, click Recent Changes, and then click the change
> in question, I'm tempted to leave it as it is.
>
> Cheers, Phil.
> --
> |)|  Philip Hands [+44 (0)20 8530 9560]    http://www.hands.com/
> |-|  HANDS.COM Ltd.                    http://www.uk.debian.org/
> |(|  10 Onslow Gardens, South Woodford, London  E18 1NE  ENGLAND
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2012 18:51:24 +0000
> From: lkcl luke <luke.leighton at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Arm-netbook] Fwd: Auto-discard notification
> To: Linux on small ARM machines <arm-netbook at lists.phcomp.co.uk>
> Cc: arokux at gmail.com
> Message-ID:
>        <CAPweEDzOt0cGzkiNC_H_Gzn-5g-t3yjazKNVZ89HbUNXyM=XNA at mail.gmail.com
> >
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> arokux, hi, thanks for the encouragement and the suggestions.  please
> do consider subscribing and also join #arm-netbook on
> irc.freenode.net.  i've updated the orders page.
>
> yes, this is effectively a "meta-" project so we're not tied to one
> particular processor: we're reaching out to all and any SoC vendors
> who happen to have a decent price/performance ratio for SoCs that have
> ethernet, SATA, HDMI etc.
>
> it's a pity that the (credit-card-sized) raspberry pi is not
> conformant to the (credit-card-sized) EOMA-68 initiative.  the
> raspberry pi developers also tried some bullying tactics on their
> forums when people began talking about the rhombus tech idea.
>
> also, several free software people have noted that the chosen CPU is
> actually powered by its proprietary GPU, and that broadcom haven't
> released the source code for the GPU.  including for the boot
> sequence.  so the entire project which is supposed to be "educational"
> is entirely at the mercy of broadcom's proprietary licensing and
> whims.
>
> unfortunately they appear to be successfully pulling the wool over
> everyone's eyes.
>
> anyway - by defining a standard we don't actually care what SoC is in
> the product(s).  and the products actually get massively simplified,
> down to a 4-layer or with care even a 2-layer board.  even i could
> knock up an I/O board for a product, using KiCAD :)
>
> ok, rrright.  so.  would you like to write the "get involved" page? :)
>
> let me just create a stub...
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From:  <arm-netbook-bounces at lists.phcomp.co.uk>
> Date: Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 4:52 PM
> Subject: Auto-discard notification
> To: arm-netbook-owner at lists.phcomp.co.uk
>
>
> The attached message has been automatically discarded.
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From:?"Arokux B." <arokux at gmail.com>
> To:?arm-netbook at lists.phcomp.co.uk
> Cc:
> Date:?Thu, 1 Mar 2012 17:52:09 +0100
> Subject:?Excited about the project and more
> Hi all,
>
> thanks to the comments under news about Raspberry Pi I have learned
> about this project. And I have got very excited about it. I really
> liked the fact, that this hardware (do not know how to reference it by
> name) will be completely open, which R-Pi is not. I've carefully read
> most Wiki web pages, which was not that easy. I am more a software
> guy.
>
> I think the project will be much better off if there will be a page
> "Get Involved". It should describe what kind of tasks could be done
> and what qualification is needed for them. I think, the lower the
> barrier to start working on the project the more people will help. For
> example I would like to help and I am a software developer but what
> could I do?
>
> Next thing is the preorder page:
> http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/orders/ Currently 354 people
> have registered already. It is much more than 30, so how much will the
> device cost now? I think it is important to keep this information up
> to date, as the lower price the more people will register.
>
> Thanks
> Arokux
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2012 18:55:29 +0000
> From: lkcl luke <luke.leighton at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Arm-netbook] getting involved page
> To: Linux on small ARM machines <arm-netbook at lists.phcomp.co.uk>
> Message-ID:
>        <CAPweEDwBqgq-1pqPOfcrYALRyO-rP4RjpDHvbDUaf9SzuCZOyQ at mail.gmail.com
> >
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> ok we had a suggestion to create a "getting involved" page, so here it is:
> http://rhombus-tech.net/getting_involved/
>
> and... oops, it's blank.  would anyone like to just... throw random
> stuff on it?  knock yourselves out :)
>
> l.
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
> End of arm-netbook Digest, Vol 21, Issue 3
> ******************************************
>

-- 
Best Wishes;
Adi
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