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Reference Software Platform 16.03 Release! - 96Boards

Reference Software Platform 16.03 Release!

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2 mins read

We are happy to announce the 16.03 release for the Reference Software Platform project, right before Linaro Connect BKK16!

This is our third release, incorporating quite a few changes and improvements for both the consumer and enterprise reference platforms. We are also happy to share, for the first time, that we were able to produce a common and unified kernel tree (4.4.0 based) that is shared across all the supported platforms!

The unified kernel is a critical piece as we can concentrate the development and validation into one single source tree, and also allowing us to create one package (deb/rpm) that can be shared with everyone. As a result of the integration of many different development trees, we are also able to quickly spot issues that could later affect upstream and distros (e.g. DT x ACPI).

Some of the highlights for this release (check https://github.com/96boards/documentation/wiki/RPB-16.03-Highlights for the complete list):

Unified Kernel:

  • Unified tree shared between the CE and EE builds, supporting Hikey, Dragonboard, D02, APM X-Gene, HP Proliant m400 and AMD Overdrive.

  • 4.4.0 based, including under-review topic branches to extend the hardware support for the platforms available.

  • Device-Tree support for CE; ARM ACPI and PCIe support for Enterprise.

  • Single kernel config for all platforms in arch/arm64/configs/distro.config

Consumer Reference Platform:

CE Debian RPB:

  • Upgrade to Debian 8.3 “Jessie”

  • Upgrade to the unified 4.4.0 Linux Kernel

  • DB410c: Freedreno X11 video driver included by default (1.4.0)

  • HiKey: Grub 2 config supporting kernel package updates

CE AOSP RPB:

  • AOSP Android Marshmallow 6.0 (android-6.0.1_r16)

  • Early Developer Preview snapshot for DragonBoard™ 410, supporting Mesa and Freedreno

Enterprise Reference Platform:

Platforms Supported:

  • AMD Overdrive A0 (new) and B0

  • D02

  • APM X-Gene Mustang (new)

  • HP ProLiant m400 (new)

Features: UEFI with ACPI, KVM and PCIe support

Firmware: Updated UEFI/EDK2 for D02, including support for PCIe and SAS

Network Installers:

  • Upgrade to Debian 8.3 “Jessie”
  • CentOS (now supported): Based on CentOS 7.2 15.11

Install instructions, known issues, test reports and instructions to build from source are all published at https://github.com/96boards/documentation/wiki/Reference-Platform-Home.

Since Linaro Connect BKK16 is just around the corner, please also make sure to check the sessions involving 96Boards and the Reference Software Project. Sessions we will cover next week:

  • BKK16-100: Evolution of the Reference Software Platform Project
  • BKK16-501: Kernel and bootloader consolidation and upstreaming
  • BKK16-505: Mezzanine Enablement

Also make sure to check https://bkk16.pathable.com/ for the full schedule!

We hope you enjoy the release, and have a great Linaro Connect BKK16!

On behalf of the Linaro 96Boards team,

Ricardo Salveti

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