Raspberry Pi 2 Launches With Quad-Core ARM SoC

[cocklover]

bad article, hiding information

You have forget to mention that this RPi it will run Windows 10. Yes Windows 10

WINDOWS 10

For the last six months we've been working closely with Microsoft to bring the forthcoming Windows 10 to Raspberry Pi 2. Microsoft will have much more to share over the coming months. The Raspberry Pi 2-compatible version of Windows 10 will be available free of charge to makers.

Visit WindowsOnDevices.com today to join the Windows Developer Program for IoT and receive updates as they become available.

That should be mentioned even if is a Linux Fanboys Forum. I don't use Windows but probably Windows 10 on raspberry Pi will be a sentence of dead to Debian LXDE and similar raspberry Pi ugly systems and pain in the ass for the user. IF Windows 10 can manage to deliver .exe and similar programs of visual studio etc.

[aphirst]

They remedied that already:
http://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/mes...um/drivers/vc4

Very interesting, I guess my attention span is slipping, as I wasn't aware that there was a truly active development project for the rPi's GPU in the FOSS world. I think the big question (especially now in the context of the same GPU being present in the rPi-2) is whether the Free driver will implement vdpau? If I remember correctly, some of the codecs that the hardware could decode were monetised?

[MoonMoon]

You have forget to mention that this RPi it will run Windows 10. Yes Windows 10



That should be mentioned even if is a Linux Fanboys Forum. I don't use Windows but probably Windows 10 on raspberry Pi will be a sentence of dead to Debian LXDE and similar raspberry Pi ugly systems and pain in the ass for the user. IF Windows 10 can manage to deliver .exe and similar programs of visual studio etc.

It is still running on an ARM CPU, so almost all of your .exe files, including VisualStudio (who the hell would want to develop on a 900MHz machine with 1GB of RAM with VisualStudio?), won't run at all. Have fun with the few Windows programs that are available as ARM versions.

[derpz00r]

Very interesting, I guess my attention span is slipping, as I wasn't aware that there was a truly active development project for the rPi's GPU in the FOSS world. I think the big question (especially now in the context of the same GPU being present in the rPi-2) is whether the Free driver will implement vdpau? If I remember correctly, some of the codecs that the hardware could decode were monetised?

That's only for VC1 and MPEG2, it can also decode H264, MPEG1/4, AVS, MJPG. Using the vector unit, it can software decode VP6, VP7, VP8, RV, Theora, WMV9 at DVD resolutions. See https://github.com/hermanhermitage/v...M2835-Overview

[Csokis]

Windows 10 for Raspberry Pi 2

[cocklover]

It is still running on an ARM CPU, so almost all of your .exe files, including VisualStudio (who the hell would want to develop on a 900MHz machine with 1GB of RAM with VisualStudio?), won't run at all. Have fun with the few Windows programs that are available as ARM versions.

Ass. As I say on my post: IF Windows 10 can manage to deliver .exe and similar programs of visual studio etc.
I don't use Windows

[SystemCrasher]

The original BCM2835 was a GPU with an ARM core strapped on to it - it was designed for embedded media applications. Hence the weird boot sequence, binary blobs, etc.

So it was crap for DVD players and it was really strange to market it to general public as something generic. Not to mention there were far more powerful cheap chinese CPUs already. Something like $5 for 1-2 cores @ 1GHz, Cortex A7. Then odd Ethernet and storage over USB... it has been meant for really-really-dumb DVD players, not even targeting real net connectivity or external storage. Not to mention that china ICs also come with REAL power manager, which implies pack of decent switching DC-DCs, reprogrammable to adjust voltages as frequency scales. And real LiIon charger, ofc switching as well, so high-effeciency and able to deal with large LiIon comparable to ones used in tablets. Making autonomous aplications matter of connecting LiIon battery. Pi on other hand had really awful bunch of discrete linear drop-downs, generating load of heat for nothing. Sure, recent versions were fixed a bit. Yet it is nothing comparable even to very cheap chinese power manager ICs. So PI is good at marketing but IMO not so good when it comes to making hardware. Chenese companies do it better these days.

There are plenty of competitors out there, so if the Pi doesn't have the features you want then feel free to go and buy something else. Most of them probably wouldn't exist had the Pi never been released - or at least wouldn't be anywhere near as cheap - but let's just ignore that for a moment and enjoy the freedom of not buying something you don't want.

Actually, dev boards like this existing for ages. The only achievement Pi can get counted is helping to reduce prices.

I won't answer #1 and 2 because neither subject is really interesting to me.

Pi fans and manufacturers are all the same. They can't even justify selection of absolutely odd SoC. When asking directly about why they choose SoCs so odd, they do not even dare to approve comment in their blog. Flithy cowards. Sure, they're good at selling crap, but it does not makes their crap anyhow better. And speaking of myself I do care about SATA and gigabit Ethernet. It gives load of new applications, ranging from microservers and small video surveyllance systems up to autonomous downloaders and little NAS systems, capable operating at decent speed.

For #3, Broadcom has hired Eric Anholt (formerly of Intel, and worked on Mesa support for Intel graphics) to develop a truly open linux graphics driver.

And how they're going to do it, granted whole design of IC assumes huge ROM based (unreplaceable) OS runs on VideoCore? Speaking for myself, last thing I want on my hardware is resident, always running proprietary OS. That's what I call "resident evil".

For #4, it's complicated and the reasons actually make sense if you take the time to understand them,

It is hard to suppose me to spend my time on weird shitty SoCs when there're far better and far more logically crafted SoCs around. Let Broadcom use their weird stuf themselves.

Also, you're clearly very ignorant of how the RPi boot process actually works. The first stage bootloader is factory programmed into the RPi, and that's where the FAT32 logic is implemented.

That's Broadcom's fault, not mine. That's why I like Chinese SoCs. Absolute minimum of hardcoded logic, simple boot protocols, no treachery and attempts to force someone into something particular. That's how good SoCs should be baked.

They could just as easily program in a BTRFS first stage bootloader, but that would do much more to limit the reach and appeal of the RPi than FAT32 does,

Or you can just make ROM to load second stage of loader from reserved area, with very little assumptions about filesystem and other stuff. Then card can have virtually any filesystem, etc. That's what chinese guys usually do. Simple, elegant and there is absolute minimum of unneeded cruft in boot image. Not to mention FAT32 is patent encumbered and it takes degree of caution not to step into some pitfalls. So I can boot chinese boards with whatever filesystem I want, and u-boot is opensource and quite sophisticated so it can handle quite complex scenarios. E.g. it is not hard to code failsafe/recovery mode with minimal efforts, etc.

[Dukenukemx]

You have forget to mention that this RPi it will run Windows 10. Yes Windows 10

That should be mentioned even if is a Linux Fanboys Forum. I don't use Windows but probably Windows 10 on raspberry Pi will be a sentence of dead to Debian LXDE and similar raspberry Pi ugly systems and pain in the ass for the user. IF Windows 10 can manage to deliver .exe and similar programs of visual studio etc.

With ARMv7 you can run any Linux distro now. With 1GB of ram it should be perfect for running Ubuntu. Windows 10 on 1GB of ram isn't probably going to be a fun thing to do. Also I can do so much more on Linux then Windows when it comes to ARM.

Though it's nice to see Microsoft do something besides sell licenses, but Window 10 won't be the OS choice for Pi 2.

[macemoneta]

Having both the ODROID-C1 and the RPi, I can address the Ethernet.

While the C1 has GigE, it's problematic, and the most recent Ubuntu build sets it back down to 100Mb. It will run at GigE, when connecting to some hardware. On a lot of hardware, it just bounces the link state. Also, the C1 uses an old long-term support VERY heavily modified kernel, with loads of blobs. About 25% of the kernel is Hardkernel / Amlogic modifications; it's barely Linux. The connectors are weird: unusual barrel connector for power, micro-HDMI (with a ground issue), unusual serial connector. All of these require purchasing cables from Hardkernel, which adds about $15 to the cost. There's no audio out, so you can't connect speakers. Audio is via HDMI only, so if you're using a DVI monitor, no sound. Because of the old kernel, I haven't found a USB Bluetooth adapter that works, so can't even get sound that way.

The RPi on the other hand runs the current (3.18.5) kernel, so lots of new hardware support, performance improvements, and functionality (like new filesystems). Standard connectors, power via standard micro-USB, audio out, standard HDMI. They are also actively working to get code into the mainline kernel and userspace projects, so eventually you'll be able to run vanilla. And, of course, there's a huge multi-million member community.

Given a choice, I would not have bought the C1 today.

[kusma]

And how they're going to do it, granted whole design of IC assumes huge ROM based (unreplaceable) OS runs on VideoCore? Speaking for myself, last thing I want on my hardware is resident, always running proprietary OS. That's what I call "resident evil".

The OSS VC4 driver runs completely on the ARM-side. It's the proprietary one that runs on the VC4 itself.