We are pleased to announce the TorizonCore 5.1.0-devel-202012 December monthly release for Toradex's System on Modules.

Highlights:

• For evaluation proposes, device tree overlays can now be applied via an overlays.txt file in TorizonCore
  This is a user-friendly approach for developers in the phase of prototyping, since they can bypass the TorizonCore Builder steps. Keep in mind though, that past the initial evaluation, you are strongly encouraged to move to applying device tree overlays with TorizonCore Builder, due to its benefits that will positively impact your development later on.
• HDMI firmware update-able via OS updates
  The HDMI firmware is a piece of software that is deployed together with the boot container on some i.MX 8-based SoMs. Since it is provided directly by NXP, sometimes it will require updates. It is expected that this feature is mostly transparent to our customers.
• Kernel configuration improved for Real-Time (PREEMP_RT) builds
  The PREEMPT_RT patch makes the Linux kernel more preemptive and therefore better suitable for soft real-time tasks. We provide builds with this patch already applied. We have identified some configuration improvements to make real-time performance better.
• Firmware of common Wi-Fi adapters added to the base image
  This makes for a better user experience when running their own adapters out-of-the-box. If your own adapter is not supported yet, please let us know.
• Portainer container bumped to Portainer CE 2.0.0
  Portainer is a container manager that helps new customers to run containers from an easy-to-use Graphical User Interface. We have updated the Portainer that comes pre-installed in our TorizonCore with Evaluation Containers image to the newer version 2.0.0. This update may be transparent to new users.
• Weston touch calibrator container moved to Debian Bullseye
  Feature-wise, this update has no impact on the usage of the container. We recommend that you use the Bullseye version of any Toradex Debian Containers for Torizon, including the Weston Touch Calibrator.
• Improved security of containers, where the Torizon user can access hardware interfaces without the need for root privileges
  On the TorizonCore host - in other words, outside containers - we limit hardware access to some groups that are not root, eliminating the need to use the root user. In our Debian Containers for Torizon, we advise our customers to use the user torizon, which has permission to access those groups from inside a container, thus also eliminating the need to run containers as root. Learn more in the Hardware Access section of the Torizon Best Practices Guide.
• Several bug fixes
  The monthly releases are pre-production versions. While they possibly are suitable for development, they might show bugs or other issues. Learn more about our release types in our Embedded Linux Support Strategy.

Get more updates on this in our Release Notes.