Red Hat engineers have released Stratis 3.6, an incremental update to their Linux storage solution. Stratis, which utilizes the Rust programming language and is built on the XFS file-system and LVM, aims to provide functionality similar to ZFS and Btrfs. However, its adoption in the wild remains limited.

Stratis 3.6 introduces several new features and improvements. Users can now set size limits on file-systems, ensuring better control over storage usage. The release also includes a persistent keyring for Clevis, which enhances security. D-Bus handling has been improved, allowing for better communication when a device grows or a pool is extended. Additionally, the update includes various maintenance tasks and code cleaning.

For those interested in trying out Stratis 3.6, the daemon release can be downloaded from the official Stratis-Storage GitHub page.

Overall, the latest release of Stratis continues to enhance Linux storage management. While still gaining traction, Stratis provides becoming a viable option for those in need of modern storage management in their Linux environments.

For more details on Stratis 3.6, please visit the Stratis-Storage GitHub page.

Source: Phoronix.

CanMV-K230 is a credit card-sized development board for AI and computer vision applications based on the Kendryte K230 dual-core C908 64-bit RISC-V processor with built-in KPU (Knowledge Process Unit) and various interfaces such as MIPI CSI inputs and Ethernet.

The CanMV-K230 development board features the following specifications:

• SoC – Kendryte K230
  • CPU
    • 64-bit RISC-V processor @ 1.6GHz with RISC-V Vector Extension 1.0, FPU
    • 64-bit RISC-V processor @ 800MHz with support for RV64GCB instruction set
  • AI accelerator
    • KPU with support for INT8 and INT16
    • Compatible with TVM, TensorFlow, Pytorch, ONNX
    • Typical network performance: Resnet 50 ≥ 85fps @ INT8; Mobilenet_v2 ≥ 670fps @ INT8; YoloV5S ≥ 38fps @INT8;
  • “DPU” using 3D structured light depth calculation up to 1280x800 @ 30fps
  • VPU – Video encoding/decoding for H.264/H.265/JPEG/MJPEG up to 4Kp40/4Kp20
• System Memory: 512MB LPDDR3
• Storage – QSPI flash, microSD card slot
• Display – HDMI port, MIPI DSI connector up to 1080p60
• Audio – 3.5mm audio jack
• Camera – Up to 5MP camera, up to 3-ch MIPI CSI inputs
• Networking
  • 10/100Mbps Ethernet RJ45 port
  • WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.0 via AP6212 wireless module
• USB – 1x USB 2.0 OTG Type-C port port
• Expansion – 40-pin GPIO header with up to 29x GPIOs, 5x PWM, 4x I2C, 2x UART
• Misc – Buttons, RGB LED
• Power Supply – 5V via USB-C port
• Dimension – 85 x 56 mm

The Kendryte K230 processor offers higher efficiency compared to the K510 and K210 SoCs, with Mobilenet V1, Resnet 50, and YoloV5S achieving up to 341 FPS/TOPS. While the documentation for the CanMV-K230 development board is mostly available in Chinese at this time, there are over 30 AI demos available for users to experiment with. Overall, the CanMV-K230 development board provides a compact solution for AI and computer vision applications, with the Kendryte K230 processor delivering improved performance and efficiency.

Source: CNX Software – Embedded Systems News.

For those who have QLogic 10Gb PCIe Ethernet adapters, the mainline Linux kernel plans to remove the QLGE driver from the kernel source tree unless active users come forward to maintain it. QLogic was acquired by Cavium in 2016, and then Marvell acquired Cavium in 2018. Despite these acquisitions, there are still QLogic 10Gb Ethernet adapters on the market and in various servers.

The QLogic 10Gb Ethernet adapter can still be found on platforms like Amazon for around $75 USD. It has also been used in some Dell adapters. However, the QLGE driver is not being maintained, and it is currently planned for removal from the Linux kernel source tree.

The QLGE driver has been residing in the Linux kernel’s staging area, but there has been no activity since January 2021. Without anyone stepping up to maintain the driver and improve the code for integration into the networking subsystem, it is now scheduled for removal in Linux 6.7.

A patch to “retire” the QLGE driver has been queued in staging-next. If there are users of the QLogic 10Gb Ethernet hardware supported by this driver who are still using the latest upstream Linux kernel versions, they can make it known and the driver can be restored. However, if this does not happen, the driver removal will take place in the upcoming Linux 6.7 cycle.

Source: Phoronix.

Milk-V, known for its work on the Milk-V Duo and high-end Pioneer board, has recently announced the Oasis as a mini-ITX RISC-V board in development. This board is expected to feature 16 cores and up to 64GB of LPDDR5 system memory.

The Milk-V Oasis aims to provide a “truly desktop-grade RISC-V PC” within a compact mini-ITX form factor. It is powered by the Sophgo SG2380 SoC, which includes 16 cores: twelve P (performance) cores clocked up to 2.5GHz, and four E (efficiency) cores clocked up to 1.6GHz. The SG2380 utilizes SiFive P670 cores for its design and also includes Imagination AXT-16-512 graphics.

In addition to the powerful CPU, the Milk-V Oasis will have an 8-core SiFive X280 NPU, up to 64GB LPDDR5-5500 memory, a plugable UFS module, a microSD card slot, an M.2 slot for NVMe SSD storage, four SATA ports, USB 3.0 connectivity, USB-C with DP Alt-Mode support, and dual 2.5Gb Ethernet.

The specifications of the Milk-V Oasis are intriguing, especially considering its price. Pre-orders are expected to start at $120 USD. However, it is important to note that the board is not expected to be ready for another ten months, and there are currently no pictures of the board available, only spec sheets and design documents. The SG2380 SoC itself is also still being finalized. The estimated shipping date for the board is Q3 2024.

Despite these limitations, Milk-V’s track record with shipping other RISC-V products instills hope that the Milk-V Oasis will be an exciting 16-core RISC-V board. The price is expected to be around $150 USD after the pre-order period, assuming everything goes according to plan. More information about the Milk-V Oasis can be found in their official announcementhttps://community.milkv.io/t/introducing-the-milk-v-oasis-with-sg2380-a-revolutionary-risc-v-desktop-experience/780.

Source: Phoronix.

Sophgo SG2380 is an upcoming 2.5 GHz 16-core RISC-V processor based on SiFive Performance P670 cores and equipped with a 20 TOPS AI accelerator using SiFive Intelligence X280 and Sophgo TPU. It will be featured in a $120 desktop-class mini-ITX motherboard in the second half of 2024. The RISC-V processor supports up to 64GB RAM, UFS 3.2 and SATA 3.0 storage, an Imagination GPU for 3D graphics, and a VPU capable of 4Kp60 video decoding. The system can manage locally deployed larger-scale LLMs like LLaMA-65B without the need for external NVIDIA or AMD accelerator cards.

Sophgo SG2380 specifications:

• CPU
  • 16-core SiFive P670 (RV64GCVH) 64-bit RISC-V processor @ up to 2.5GHz with RISC-V Vector v1.0, Vector Crypto
  • Cluster configuration – 12x 2.5 GHz performance cores, 4x 1.6 GHz efficiency cores
  • Full RISC-V RVA22 profile compliance
• GPU
  • Imagination AXT-16-512 high-mid-performance 3D GPU with support for Vulkan 1.3, OpenGL 3.0, OpenGL ES 3.x/2.0/1.1; 0.5 TFLOPS, 16 Gpixels, and 2 TOPS
  • 2D graphic engine
• Video Processing Unit (VPU)
  • Up to 4Kp60 10-bit H.265/HEVC, 8-bit H.264/AVC, 8-/10-bit AV1, 8-/10-bit VP9
  • No hardware video encoder
• AI accelerators
  • 8-core SiFive Intelligence X280 with support for BF16 / FP16 / FP32 / FP64, INT8 up to INT64
  • Sophgo TPU coprocessor through VCIX interface up to 20 TOPS @ INT8 compatible with OpenXLA/IREE
• Memory I/F
  • Up to 64GB RAM through a 128-bit DDR interface
  • Support for LPDDR4 and LPDDR4x 3733Mbps with in–line ECC
  • Support for DDR4 UDIMM, SODIMM @ 3200Mbps (no ECC)
• Storage I/F
  • “UFS 3.2” (Note: currently published standards are UFS 3.1 and UFS 4.0)
  • SATA 3.0
  • QSPI NOR/NAND flash interface
• Video Output
  • eDP 1.2 up to 4Kp60
  • DP 1.2 up to 4Kp60 (USB-C Alt mode)
  • HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60 with CEC and eARC support
  • MIPI DSI up to 2Kp60
  • Support for dual video output up to 4Kp60
• Camera
  • Sophgo AI ISP with dual pipe
  • 6x 2-Lane / 4 + 4 x 2 Lane image sensor input
  • Interfaces – MIPI CSI2, Sub LVDS, HiSPi
  • 2x I2C dedicated to image sensor interface
  • Up to 6x 2MP cameras
• Audio
  • HD Audio codec
  • 3x DMIC
  • 3x I2S, 1 of them share pin with HD Audio
  • 1x PCM
• Networking – Gigabit Ethernet (RGMII interface)
• USB
  • 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) with DP Alt Mode, Power Delivery capable
  • 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 2x USB 2.0 interfaces
• PCIe – PCIe Gen3 with 8x+4x+2x+1x+1x Lanes
• Other peripheral interfaces
  • 3x SDIO/SD3.0
  • 2x CAN 2.0
  • 4x UART without traffic control function or 2x UART with traffic control function
  • 8x I2C, SMBUS supported
  • SPI/eSPI with 4 CS
  • LPC
  • PWM
  • Fan detect
• Security
  • Hardware AES/DES/SHA256
  • True Random Number Generator (TRNG)
  • Secure key storage, secure boot,
  • SiFive WorldGuard
  • 32Kb OTP flash
• Power Management – DVFS and ACPI support
• TDP – 5 to 30 Watts
• Junction temperature – -0°C to +105°C
• Package – FCBGA

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.