Arduino and GNU/Linux Devices

• This Arduino-controlled soft robot gets around like an earthworm

  After studying the way a worm wiggles, Nicholas Lauer decided to create his own soft robotic version. What he came up with uses an Arduino Uno for control, inflating six 3D-printed segments sequentially to order to generate peristaltic motion for forward movement. The robotic worm uses a 12V mini diaphragm pump to provide inflation air, while a series of transistors and solenoid valves directly regulate the airflow into the chambers.

• PicoRio dev board PC with a RISC-V chip will be a low-cost, open source Raspberry Pi alternative

  The Raspberry Pi line of tiny computers have made a big splash in recent years. For as little as $35 you can get a fully functional computer capable of running a variety of (mostly Linux-based) operating systems. Some models are even cheaper. A bunch of competitors have entered the space, but like the Raspberry Pi, most similarly-priced models have processors based on ARM architecture. Now Imagination Technologies and a startup named RIOS Laboratory are working on a new single-board computer with a RISC-V processor. It’s called PicoRio, and the first version is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2020. PicoRio Pygmy @pdp7 While Raspberry Pi computers run open source, GNU/Linux distributions, every Raspberry Pi system to date has shipped with an ARM-based Broadcom processor featuring some proprietary components.

• Elkhart Lake SBC features 2.5GbE port, 32GB RAM

  Avalue’s rugged, 3.5-inch “ECM-EHL” runs Linux or Win 10 on an Atom x6000E and offers up to 32GB DDR4-3200, 2.5GbE and GbE, 2x USB 3.1 Gen2, triple 4K displays, and 2x M.2 slots with SIM. Avalue has posted specs for a 3.5-inch ECM-EHL SBC that runs on Intel’s new dual- or quad-core Elkhart Lake Atom x6000E, Pentium, and Celeron SoCs. Elkhart Lake runs on 10nm SuperFin Tremont CPU cores and up to 32EU Intel Gen11 graphics with triple 4K and improved AI performance. Intel claims up to 1.7x better single-thread, 1.5x better multi-thread, and 2x better graphics performance compared to Gemini Lake.

• SMARC module delivers Elkhart Lake with up to 256GB UFS

  Advantech’s Linux-ready “SOM-2532” SMARC 2.1 module is built around Intel’s Atom-class, 10nm Elkhart Lake platform and supplies up to 16GB LPDDR4-3200, 256GB UFS 2.1, dual GbE with TSN, dual USB 3.1 Gen 2, dual CAN, and triple 4K support.

Stellarium 0.20.3 Released with Tons of Changes [Ubuntu PPA]

Free-software planetarium Stellarium 0.20.3 was released a day ago with numerous changes. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04 via PPA. Stellarium 0.20.3 fixed nutation and, with it, season beginning times, included many changes in AstroCalc tool, Oculars and Satellites plugins, and updated DSO catalog.

Today in Techrights

• [Meme] Running Public (or Private) Interest Groups for Profit
• The Concept of Martyrdom in Free Software and the Threat of Demonisation in the Media
• More Money Does Not Necessarily Mean More Stable Organisations
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• Before the New York Times Did a Number on Donald Trump It Changed Bill Gates' Tune
• Links 28/9/2020: Linux 5.9 RC7, Review of Linuxfx 10.6, OpenSSH 8.4
• Speaking Through Spokespeople is a Sign of Weakness, Such as Non-Denying and False Denials (or: Bill Gates Never Denied His Connections to MIT Through Jeffrey Epstein)
• IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 27, 2020
• Accounting for Debconf 19 Travel... in 2020
• Don't Let Microsoft Make 'Open Source' Synonymous With Proprietary Monopoly GitHub