Olimex's Open-Hardware Industrial-Grade SBC, the STMP1-OLinuXino-LIME2, Nears Completion
Most features now complete, bar USB OTG and low-power modes, with Debian Buster and Ubuntu Focal images already prepared.
Bulgarian hardware specialist Olimex has offered an update on its STMP1-OLinuXino-LIME2 project, an effort to create an industrial-focused, open-hardware single-board computer — and there are only two things left on the to-do list.
First announced at the end of 2019, the STMP1-OLinuXino-LIME2 is built around STMicroelectronics' ST32MP1 system-on-chip, offering two Arm Cortex-A7 application processor cores alongside a single Cortex-M4 core for real-time tasks. The part's key feature, though: A broad operating temperature, working between -40 and +125 degrees Celsius - making it ideal for industrial projects.
With an initial board design complete, Olimex has spent the last year tweaking the prototype and bringing up software. "[It] took us almost an year of work to build proper software support for our hardware with mainline uboot and kernel," the company explains. "ST demo board uses Yocto with kernel 5.4, our images use Linux Kernel 5.10.12."
"These who monitor our Official images at https://images.olimex.com probably notice that we already have images with Debian Buster and Ubuntu Focal for STM32MP1 where almost everything now work[ing] with mainline Linux Kernel 5.10.12."
During the process, Olimex ticked off a laundry list of to-do items: The current prototype includes working Ethernet connectivity, initially broken due to a neglected interrupt line, CAN-FD connectivity, two USB High Speed ports with 1A of current, LCD and HDMI video outputs, eMMC flash booting, and the power management unit (PMU) and LiPo battery charging circuits.
The work isn't quite complete yet, though: Olimex has confirmed that the low-power modes and USB On-The-Go (OTG) support are not yet functional, with work continuing while a revision B prototype is in production in China — delivery expected by the end of February, thanks to the delay caused by Chinese New Year celebrations."
More details on the project, and a request for assistance in tracking down the USB OTG issue, are available on the Olimex blog.