New GPIO scripting support added to U-Boot 2022.07
The U-Boot project has just released version 2022.07 of the popular bootloader. This release includes a new feature, developed by Kynetics, that enables the use of the GPIO values in bootscripts.
The new feature ensures that:
- scripts can check success or failure of a GPIO read operation
- the GPIO value can be saved to a U-Boot env variable
The feature is enabled by the CONFIG_CMD_GPIO_READ and has the following syntax:
=> gpio read <variable-name> <gpio-pin>
The commit can be seen at:
https://github.com/u-boot/u-boot/commit/dd2b8c1155d016800cbbaa1bd70efdd81f9da493
New Update Factory Android Client (1.2.0) released
We are thrilled to announce a new release of the Update Factory Android Client (1.2.0).
The new Android Client includes important improvements and bug fixes that we have been working on during the past months. To achieve this milestone, our customer feedback has been a key factor in order to improve robustness and usability of the Update Factory Android Client. Let’s cut to the chase and dig into what is new!
Switch to Eclipse Foundation’s hara-ddiclient library. During the past year Kynetics has worked hard to refactor its open source uf-ddiclient library, core component of the Update Factory Android Client. The uf-ddiclient library has been since renamed to hara-ddiclient and, as previously announced, Kynetics has contributed the code of the hara-ddiclient library to the Eclipse Foundation. Release 1.2.0 of the Update Factory Android Client marks the full adoption of the vendor neutral hara-ddiclient library that guarantees its code has passed the Eclipse Foundation due diligence.
Improved handling of download failures. Thanks to the feedback from our customer we realized poor internet connections are a common source of headaches. While the Update Factory Android Client already performed multiple download attempts, in release 1.2.0 we improved the retry behavior by implementing an exponential backoff strategy. Please increase the Artifact Download Lifetime to be at least 2 days to fully take advantage of this new feature.
Bugfixes. Several bugfixes are implemented in the 1.2.0 release. See the project Release Notes for a detailed changelog.
Job Opening – Embedded Engineer – Padova, Italy
Kynetics currently has a job opening in Padova, Italy for an embedded engineer. The candidate is expected to have the following skills:
- Excellent knowledge of the GNU/Linux system
- Excellent knowledge of the shell environment
- Good knowledge of the C/C++ programming language
- Passion for embedded systems
- Kernel build essentials and cross platform compilation
- Python is optional but welcome
The candidate will develop/improve their skills significantly working with the Linux Kernel embedded distributions.
If you would like to inquire about the position, Contact Us for more info.
Update Factory evaluation image for RPi4 is out!
We are happy to announce the release of the Update Factory evaluation images for the Raspberry Pi 4. The images are available in the Linux Images section of the Update Factory documentation, including an example update file.
The release of the evaluation images for RPi4 have been possible thanks to recent developments in the new “hardknott” branch (Yocto version 3.3) of our Yocto layer meta-updatefactory.
Here are the release notes:
- Raspberry Pi family boards are now in the list of supported boards
- it is now possible to generate SWUpdate compatible .swu update files directly from the Yocto build system
- expanded the amount of reference images, including evaluation image with Weston implementation of the Wayland compositor and example image update recipe
Have a look at our updated documentation for details about integrating meta-updatefactory in Yocto Linux builds.
Eclipse IoT and Edge Native: The Hara Project
Kynetics, member of the Eclipse Foundation and part of the IoT and Edge Native working group, is proud to announce the initial contribution to the Hara project.
Hara-ddiclient is a Kotlin library that facilitates and speeds up the development of DDI API clients for devices connecting to hawkBit servers.
Eclipse hawkBit™ is a domain independent back-end framework for rolling out software updates to constrained edge devices as well as more powerful controllers and gateways connected to IP based networking infrastructure. More information here: https://www.eclipse.org/hawkbit/
Hara-ddiclient can be used from any JVM compatible language (Java, Kotlin, etc) and it is part of the Eclipse Hara™ project, more information can be found here: https://projects.eclipse.org/projects/iot.hawkbit.hara
Source code is available here: https://github.com/eclipse/hara-ddiclient
A special thanks to the Eclipse Foundation for their great work and support.
Webinar – IoT and Edge Device Security: Challenges and Solutions
Kynetics will be speaking at a webinar hosted by FOSSASIA Summit 2021 on March 18, 2021. The subject is: IoT and Edge Device Security: Challenges and Solutions.
UF Technical Documentation Updates
We’ve released our Update Factory client v.1.1.2 for Android, which resolves the following bugs:
- The download authorization pop-up shows up twice when applying a soft update with API Mode ON and the UF example UI open in full screen.
- When the service starts it doesn’t check the md5 file of the already downloaded files that could be corrupted.
- Service crashes when it receives an unexpected serialized class.
- The service isn’t restarted when its configuration is changed using api.
Useful links:
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.
Webinar – Get Started with Android 10 on NXP® i.MX 8 and i.MX 8X Applications Processors
Learn how to get started with the latest Android 10 on the highest-end i.MX 8 and the very efficient i.MX 8X applications processors. Kynetics and Toradex partnered to create a streamlined way for you to build a proof of concept in no time, utilizing the Toradex Easy Installer for one-click installation.
But we did not stop there – together, via this webinar, we will demonstrate how the industrial-grade System on Modules (SoMs) from Toradex and the services from Kynetics will lower your time-to-market for your next project.
Key takeaways:
- You will learn more about Android 10 support on NXP i.MX 8QM applications processor
- Experience how to create a simple proof of concept in minutes
- Learn about the Android root of trust pipeline and differences between development and production operating systems
- Learn how Kynetics and Toradex lower your risk and time-to-market
- Get a preview of upcoming Android support for the i.MX 8M Mini and upcoming SoCs such as i.MX 8M Plus
Kynetics’ own Nicola La Gloria and Roberto Sartori will each be speaking at the event.
If you would like to learn more or register for this webinar, see the Toradex Event Page!
Update 11/19/2020: below you’ll find the webinar:
Auto Assignment in Update Factory – How To
We’ve put together a demonstration video of Auto Assignment in Update Factory. Auto Assignment is a powerful feature that allows you to deploy specific updates to specific devices that match a pre-determined criteria using custom filters.
To learn more, watch here: Update Factory – HOWTO – Auto Assignment.
Kynetics @ Embedded World 2020 – Nuremberg, Germany
Kynetics will be at Embedded World 2020 thanks to our great partners to showcase our latest developments on our Android OS BSPs available for a variety of boards.
Join us at the Toradex booth (Hall 4, #4-410) for interactive sessions, and the TechNexion booth (Hall 1, #1-307) for demos.
Kynetics @ BCW2020 – Berlin, Germany
As part of the Eclipse foundation, Kynetics is attending the Bosch Connected World 2020, February 19-20, to collaborate with other IoT Workgroup Members.
Bosch Connected World 2020 is the meeting point for businesses and developers creating connected products and solutions in the digital world, and is a globally recognized venue for networking, and a launchpad for new innovations.
Android Client v1.0 for Update Factory
Update Factory 1.0 for embedded Android is out!
New Features:
- Code refactored in Kotlin to improve maintainability
- Support for A/B double copy system update mechanism alongside single copy and APK updates
- Example Update Factory UI with more information and statistics
- Updated API information, here.
Kynetics @ EclipseCon Europe 2019
Kynetics‘ Nicola La Gloria will be speaking at EclipseCon Europe 2019 in Ludwigsburg, Germany on Tuesday 10/22/2019. The session is: From Eclipse hawkBit to Update Factory: How to Take an Open Platform to Production (Sponsored by Bosch).
You can find the presentation abstract here.
Poster Session @ ELC America 2019 – San Diego
Kynetics and Stefano Babic from Denx will be presenting a poster session at ELC North America 2019 in San Diego – August 21. The poster is focused on remote updates for embedded devices featuring SWUpdate, Eclipse hawkBit, and Update Factory. The session will feature demonstrations running on various NXP i.MX8 boards.
You can download a copy of the session poster, here.
Kynetics @ ELC North America 2019
Kynetics will be speaking at the Embedded Linux Conference – North America 2019 in San Diego, California during August 21 – 23 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront.
We will be speaking at two sessions:
Challenges of using Containers to Run Graphical Embedded Systems
Despite their quick success and adoption, containers are already a well established technology and their use is steadily rising also in the embedded community. However the specific requirements of an embedded system set new challenges like running demanding graphical applications.
While containers’ most common use case is to easily deploy headless server applications, graphical subsystem containerization is heavily dependent on the SOC GPU architecture.
This session will provide an overview of the challenges encountered running X11 and Wayland applications inside docker containers on ARM SOCs. In particular we will focus on new advantages with respect to a traditional monolithic embedded OS but considering also container drawbacks and limitations.
In our journey we’ll share our considerations and results with respect to different software setups, security & isolation, support for accelerated graphics and video decoding which are not an option on systems featuring a GUI.
Presented by Diego Rondini
More info can be found here.
Improving Embedded Systems Boot Time by Hibernation: An Overview on the State of the Art and a Case of Study on i.MX family of Processors
Improving boot time is always a delicate matter and literature is very rich. Linux based OSes benefit from standard optimization approaches however, Android is still far away from having exciting results especially because most the heavy block happens in user space. Hibernation, suspend-to-disk, is undoubtedly a different perspective to look at improving boot time. When the hibernation mode is entered the system hardware state is copied to non-volatile memory like MMC and all power can be removed by the system. On resume, the system is restored from peripherals to memory in a predetermined way. From this perspective just the very first boot will be a “regular” one and all the subsequents is just a restore operation which can take a few seconds. This session will provide the current state of the kernel development of Hibernation on ARM architectures and our tests on the popular i.MX family of processors including the new i.MX8 which today is one of the most promising SOCs.
Presented by Nicola La Gloria.
More info can be found here.
Kynetics @ Embedded Technologies Expo – 2019
Kynetics will be attending the inaugural Embedded Technologies Expo & Conference 2019 in San Jose, California during June 25 to June 27, 2019.
We will be at the Toradex booth showing off our latest Android BSP developments for the Colibri and Apalis family product lines. If you would like to connect with us at the show to discuss your project, Contact Us.
Kynetics @ Embedded World Conference – 2019
Kynetics will be attending Embedded World 2019 in Nuremberg, Germany on February 26 to February 28, 2019.
Check out our latest Android BSP developments on the Toradex Colibri and Apalis family product lines including the iMX8 QM, by visiting the Toradex booth. We are also showcasing our Real-Time Android featuring Asymmetric Multiprocessing on the iMX7D. If you’re interested to our Android Real Time on the new iMX7 ULP, visit the NXP booth.
At the NXP booth we are also supporting the launch of the new Nitrogen 8 featuring the iMX8 Mini, by Boundary Devices.
If you would like to connect with our team at the show, Contact Us
OrangePi Zero Plus 2 H3 Support in mainline Linux Kernel
Kynetics has developed and upstreamed support for the OrangePi Zero Plus 2 H3 board in the Linux kernel. Starting with the Linux kernel v4.20 device tree, sun8i-h3-orangepi-zero-plus2.dts is included in the stable tree to support the board.
You can find the patches at Kernel.org.
Job Opening – Embedded Engineer – Padova, Italy
Kynetics currently has a job opening in Padova, Italy for an embedded engineer. The candidate is expected to have the following skills:
- Excellent knowledge of the GNU/Linux system
- Excellent knowledge of the shell environment
- Good knowledge of the C programming language
- Good knowledge of the Java Programming language
- Passion for embedded systems
- Kernel build essentials and cross platform compilation
- Python is optional but welcome
The candidate will develop/improve their skills significantly working with Linux embedded distributions and Android from scratch.
If you would like to inquire about the position, Contact Us for more info.
Job Opening – Software Engineer – Padova, Italy
Kynetics currently has a job opening in Padova, Italy for an individual with the following capabilities:
- the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software;
- the adoption of an agile approach which manages the requirements capture, the design, the development, the testing, the construction and the configuration of software.
The desired background includes:
- Languages: Unix shell REPL, C, Java, Scala, Javascript
- Paradigms: Object Oriented and Functional
- Frameworks: Spring, Play, Akka
- Architectures: traditional and actor-based microservices
- Data Persistence: MySQL, Cassandra, MongoDb, Elasticsearch
- Building: Gradle, Sbt, Maven, Ant
- CI/CD: Jenkins, Nexus, Artifactory, Sonar
- SCM: Git, SVN
- Cloud Services Platform: AWS
- Software Container Platform: Docker
If you would like to inquire about the position, Contact Us for more info.
Kynetics @ EclipseCon Europe 2018
Kynetics Patches for SWUpdate Merged in Mainline
As a contributor to the Open-Source community and member of the Eclipse Foundation, Kynetics’ patches for SWUpdate have been merged with the mainline SWUpdate code on GitHub!
Patches allow SWUpdate’s hawkBit Linux client to support target token and gateway token, improving the authentication of the client device.
Refer to Update Factory documentation to learn more about target and gateway tokens.
Webinar – Heterogeneous Multiprocessing with Android on NXP i.MX 7
This webinar presents a technical overview on asymmetric multiprocessing and its implementation on an NXP i.MX 7 Colibri SoM running Android on the Cortex-A (master core) and FreeRTOS on the Cortex-M (real-time core).
Key takeaways:
- Understand Asynchronous Multicore concepts
- Learn what’s required to port the Android Kernel and RPMsg driver to the Colibri iMX7
- See how to setup and program the Cortex-M4 microcontroller core
- Experience a hands-on demo which brings together Android, FreeRTOS, RPMsg, IPC, Java, JNI
Kynetics’ own Nicola La Gloria and Laura Nao will each be speaking at different times of the day to accommodate different schedules.
If you would like to learn more or register for this webinar, see the Toradex Event Page!
Update 06/15/18: below you’ll find the webinar:
Technical Notes Goes Live!
Kynetics is now offering technical notes regarding some of our work to both help our customers get up to speed and provide insights to the broader open-source community. Topics range from detailed technical examples or demos, troubleshooting guides, getting started guides and general HOWTO documents.
We hope that our customers, peers and the broader open-source community find these documents as useful as we do!
Read more: Kynetics Technical Notes.
Kynetics joins Toradex Partner Network
We are happy to announce that Kynetics recently joined the Toradex Partner Network. Over the past 18 months, we have been actively providing quality, customized embedded software services to a number of our customers who utilize the Apalis and Colibri families which include i.MX6 and i.MX7 NXP SoCs.
In addition we’ve also been contributing back to the Toradex community, offering detailed documentation and also binary images of Android 7 (Nougat) for some of the Colibri family SoCs. You can learn more over at: Kynetics Technical Notes. Here are the direct links:
Android Nougat for Toradex Colibri iMX6DL
Android Nougat for Toradex Colibri iMX7D
Android Asymmetric Multiprocessing on Toradex Colibri i.MX7D