Author: Gareth Halfacree

Gareth Halfacree is a technology journalist and technical author best known for his work on the Raspberry Pi User Guide and an upcoming book covering the BBC’s micro:bit project. A keen open source advocate and RISC-V fan, Gareth is responsible for curating our fortnightly community round-up posts.

Gentoo Linux Announces Experimental RISC-V Support

The Gentoo Linux distribution has announced initial, experimental support for the free and open RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA). “After some preparations, we’re happy to announce (initially experimental) support for a new arch: riscv,” writes Andreas Huettel in the gentoo-dev mailing list. “The keyword is ‘~riscv’; no stable keyword… Read More

Researchers Turn to RISC-V for High-Security Morpheus Processor Design

Researchers from the University of Michigan have announced a new RISC-V processor design with a strong focus on security, using ‘churn’ to keep attackers from exploiting vulnerabilities. “Today’s approach of eliminating security bugs one by one is a losing game,” claims Todd Austin, professor of computer science and engineering at… Read More

CRU: Fieldbus in Linux, FPGA SweRV Core, Wuthering Bytes Tickets, and More

Linux 5.2, the upcoming release of the open source kernel, is to receive an official subsystem for the Fieldbus networking protocol family – bringing built-in support for the monitoring and control of industrial equipment. Spotted by Michael Larabel on the Linux news site Phoronix, the Fieldbus subsystem has been… Read More

Wuthering Bytes Early Bird Tickets Now Available as Festival Day Talks Confirmed

The first five talks for the Wuthering Bytes Festival Day, to take place in Hebden Bridge on the 30th of August 2019, have now been confirmed – along with an attendee gift kindly supplied by electronics studio Boldport. Produced by AB Open as part of its contribution to the… Read More

Semtech Launches Free LoRaWAN Academy Educational Resource

Analogue and mixed-signal semiconductor specialist Semtech has announced the full launch of the LoRaWAN Academy, offering free educational modules for everyone from students through to large enterprises looking to develop wireless Internet of Things (IoT) applications. “Developers are the most important part of any modern technology platform, and the LoRaWAN… Read More

QEMU 4.0.0 Brings New RISC-V Features

Version 4.0.0 of the QEMU emulator has been released, bringing with it new features for those working with the RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA). Designed to allow a system to run code designed for a different instruction set, emulation via QEMU or a similar package is a key part of… Read More

Linux 5.2 to get Fieldbus Subsystem for Real-Time Industrial Systems

Dover Microsystems Details Shift to Open-Source Renode Framework

Dover Microsystems’ Greg Sullivan has written of how Antmicro’s open-source Renode development framework has considerably decreased the length of his company’s design cycle – showcasing why the framework is becoming increasingly popular. Built with embedded platforms and the Internet of Things (IoT) in mind, Renode allows for the execution, debugging,… Read More

Western Digital Boasts of “Gratifying” SweRV Response, Releases FPGA Reference Design

Western Digital has announced a strong response to the release of its RISC-V based open silicon SweRV Core, along with the availability of an official implementation for field-programmable gate array (FPGA) use. Announced back in December 2018 as part of a company-wide initiative to transition data processing products away… Read More

RISC-V Foundation Finalises Schedule for RISC-V Workshop Zurich

The RISC-V Foundation has released the agenda for its RISC-V Workshop Zurich, to be held on the 11th-13th of June as part of the larger Week of Open Source Hardware (WOSH). Following its call for speakers, which closed back in February, the RISC-V Foundation has firmed up the schedule… Read More

SiFive HiFive1 Board, Courtesy of SiFive

CRU: Open Source Awards 2019, MIPS Open, RISC-V Priorities, and More

Open UK, a membership organisation dedicated to promoting and supporting the use of free and open source standards and software in the UK, has announced a call for nominations for the UK Open Source Awards 2019. “The awards have happened five times in the last 10 years, but not since… Read More

SPDX Project Adds Open Hardware Licences to Licence List

The Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX) project, the initial standard for which AB Open’s Andrew Back acted as a contributor, has released the latest version of its SPDX Licence List – and it now includes open hardware licences. Made for ease of reference and to simplify identification of licences and… Read More