MediaTek has taken a different approach with its new Dimensity 9300 processor by opting for “big” cores instead of the usual big.LITTLE technology that combines high-performance cores with energy-efficient cores. This decision could make the Dimensity 9300 more competitive with flagship-class processors from Qualcomm and other companies. The chip features four Cortex-X4 CPU cores and four Cortex-A720 cores, which could give it an edge in tasks that utilize all eight CPU cores simultaneously. However, it is important to note that the CPU frequencies differ between MediaTek’s chip and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip, which has one Cortex-X4 core and five Cortex-A720 cores. Additionally, without lower-power cores, the energy efficiency of Qualcomm’s chip remains to be seen.

Specifications:

• CPU:

  • MediaTek Dimensity 9300:
    • 1 x Cortex-X4 @ 3.25 GHz
    • 3 x Cortex-X4 @ 2.85 GHz
    • 4 x Cortex-A720 @ 2 GHz
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3:
    • 1 x Cortex-X4 @ 3.3 GHz
    • 3 x Cortex-A720 @ 3.2 GHz
    • 2 x Cortex-A720 @ 3 GHz
    • 2 x Cortex-A520 @ 2.3 GHz

• GPU:

  • MediaTek Dimensity 9300: Immoratlis G720-MC12
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3: Adreno 740

• RAM:

  • MediaTek Dimensity 9300: LPDDR5T (up to 9600 MB/s)
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3: LPDDR5x (up to 9600MB/s)

• Wireless:

  • MediaTek Dimensity 9300:
    • WiFi 7 (6.5 Gbps)
    • Bluetooth 5.4
    • 5G Sub-6 GHz/mmWave (up to 7.9 Gbps)
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3:
    • WiFi 7 (5.8 Gbps)
    • Bluetooth 5.4
    • 5G Sub-6 GHz/mmWave (up to 10 Gbps)

• Camera:

  • MediaTek Dimensity 9300:
    • Up to 320MP (single camera)
    • Up to 4K @ 60 fps (video)
    • Up to 8K @ 30 fps (video)
    • 18-bit ISP
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3:
    • Up to 200MP (single camera)
    • Up to 4K @ 120 fps (video)
    • Up to 8K @ 30 fps (video)
    • 18-bit ISP

• Display:

  • MediaTek Dimensity 9300:
    • Up to 4K @ 120 Hz
    • Up to WQHD @ 180 Hz
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3:
    • Up to 4K @ 60 Hz
    • Up to QHD+ @ 144 Hz

MediaTek claims that the Dimensity 9300 offers several improvements over its predecessor, the Dimensity 9200, including faster CPU and GPU performance, as well as improved AI performance.

Source: Liliputing.

The Linux 6.6 release has just been announced by Linus Torvalds on the Linux Kernel Mailing List. This release comes about two months after the release of Linux 6.5, and it brings several notable changes and updates to the kernel.

One of the highlights of Linux 6.6 is the addition of Intel’s shadow stack hardware support. This feature helps prevent exploits by maintaining a secondary (shadow) stack that cannot be directly modified. The processor pushes the return address to both the normal stack and the shadow stack, and upon return, it compares the two copies. If they differ, the processor raises a control protection fault, which can prevent stack modification exploits. It’s important to note that this implementation only supports shadow stack on 64-bit kernels and offers support for 32-bit via IA32 emulation only for userspace.

Another significant change in Linux 6.6 is the introduction of the EEVDF task scheduler. This scheduler replaces the CFS (Completely Fair Scheduler) that was merged in Linux 2.6.23. The EEVDF scheduler is designed to ensure that processes that are not getting the attention they deserve are automatically picked the next time, while processes that have been given more attention than necessary are “punished.” This algorithmic approach improves the latency of tasks that would be left behind by the CFS scheduler.

Additionally, Linux 6.6 brings faster asynchronous Direct I/O using io_uring, resulting in up to a 37% improvement in throughput/latency for low queue depth IO.

In terms of Arm architecture changes, Linux 6.6 introduces various updates and additions for Allwinner, Rockchip, Amlogic, Samsung, Qualcomm, MediaTek, and other Arm platforms. These changes include support for new boards, improvements to clock drivers, additions to device trees, and various driver updates.

The RISC-V architecture also sees some updates in Linux 6.6, including support for new device tree interfaces, userspace access to performance counters, more instructions in kprobes, crash kernels allocated above 4GiB, support for KCFI, and more. The MIPS architecture receives some cleanups and fixes in this release.

Overall, the Linux 6.6 release brings important updates and improvements to the kernel, enhancing security, task scheduling, and I/O performance. It also expands support for various architectures, including Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS. Linux enthusiasts and developers will find these updates valuable for their servers, Linux-based home labs, and DevOps environments.

Source: CNX Software – Embedded Systems News.

The Mixtile Cluster Box is a server enclosure designed for small business applications and edge computing. It consists of four Mixtile Blade 3 Pico-ITX single board computers (SBCs), each powered by a Rockchip RK3588 processor. The SBCs are connected to the enclosure via a 4-lane PCIe Gen3 interface through a U.2 to PCIe/SATA breakout board.

The Cluster Box has been recently released by Mixtile, following the company’s work on the software and technical details. It is available for purchase on Mixtile’s website for $339, excluding the SBCs.

The specifications of the Mixtile Cluster Box include support for up to four Mixtile Blade 3 SBCs, each with up to 32GB LPDDR4 RAM and up to 256GB eMMC flash storage. The enclosure also features a control board running OpenWrt 22.03, with a MediaTek MT7620A MIPS processor, 256MB DDR2 system memory, and 16MB SPI flash storage.

The Cluster Box includes an ASMedia ASM2824 PCIe switch with four PCIe 3.0 4-lane ports. It also provides storage interfaces through four U.2 breakout boards, with four NVMe M.2 M-Key slots (PCIe 3.0 x2 each) and four SATA 3.0 ports. Networking capabilities are offered through a Gigabit Ethernet port.

The enclosure is equipped with two 60mm fans for cooling and a power button with a blue LED indicator. It is powered by a 19 to 19.5V/4.74A power supply through a DC jack. The dimensions of the Cluster Box are 213 x 190 x 129 mm, and it is made of a metal case with SGCC steel materials. It has an operating temperature range of 0°C to 80°C and a storage temperature range of -20°C to 85°C. The relative humidity ranges from 10% to 90% during operation and 5% to 95% during storage.

Users can access the Mixtile Cluster Box through OpenWrt using SSH or a web interface. The Rockchip RK3588 boards come preloaded with a customized Linux system with Kubernetes. Control of each Mixtile Blade can be done through OpenWrt using a command called “nodectl,” which allows users to list active nodes, rescan nodes, power on/off nodes, reboot nodes, flash firmware, and enter the console of a specific node.

For more technical details and a getting started guide, users can refer to the documentation website provided by Mixtile.

Overall, the Mixtile Cluster Box offers a compact and powerful solution for building a four-node server cluster with Rockchip RK3588 SBCs. With its PCIe connectivity, storage options, and OpenWrt software, it provides a versatile platform for various server, Linux, DevOps, and home lab applications.

Source: CNX Software – Embedded Systems News.