New Release:
TorizonCore 5.2.0-devel-202104 Release (Monthly)

Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Torizon

Torizon

We are pleased to announce the TorizonCore 5.2.0-devel-202104 monthly release for Toradex's System on Modules.

TorizonCore is our operating system that powers Torizon, an open-source software platform that simplifies the development and maintenance of embedded Linux software. It is designed to be used out-of-the-box on devices requiring high reliability, allowing you to focus on your application instead of on building and maintaining an operating system.

Torizon uses software containers, making it simple to add functionality to your system in a way that is both secure and easy to maintain. Torizon supports hardware acceleration in containers and graphical user interfaces.

This is a monthly release that includes all updates from the previous 5.x.y TorizonCore releases.

Updates and Highlights

TorizonCore
Debian Packages and Containers
TorizonCore Builder
  • Script to install and update TorizonCore Builder
    TorizonCore Builder is a tool that helps with the customization of a base TorizonCore image, preparing it for production and Torizon OTA. Since TorizonCore Builder is distributed in a container image, we have made it easier to set up and update with a script. Learn more about installing TorizonCore Builder.
  • New command to automatically download TorizonCore images
    To customize a TorizonCore image, you must have it locally available on your PC. Since this can be a tedious and error-prone task to execute manually, we have added support for TorizonCore Builder to automatically detect (from your board) the exact hardware and TorizonCore version in use, and automatically fetch the corresponding image for you. Learn how to use it: TorizonCore Builder - Getting a Toradex Easy Installer Image.
  • New command to set custom kernel arguments
    As a customer-driven feature, we have added support for setting custom kernel arguments. Learn more about the new feature in our article Customizing Kernel Arguments in Torizon.
  • New command to build out-of-tree kernel modules
    As a customer-driven feature, we now provide an easy path for you to build and add out-of-tree kernel modules into a TorizonCore image. This conveniently abstracts the toolchain setup, kernel, and headers configuration, and it allows you to deploy your out-of-tree driver without having to go through a custom Yocto build. Learn more about it in our article Building External Kernel Modules With Torizon.
  • Deploy a device tree overlay with just one command
    Deploying a device tree overlay from TorizonCore previously required the execution of several sequential commands to compile, apply and deploy it. We have made this experience simpler. Learn more in Device Tree Overlays on Torizon.
  • Support for mDNS on hosts with multiple network interfaces
    Often, our customers will have development computers with more than one network interface. For instance, having one network for development and another for internet access, or an Ethernet and a Wi-Fi interface. These configurations may be affected by a bug in which integration with some of our tools, including TorizonCore Builder and the Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code Extensions for Torizon, may not work if you use the board hostname. If you ever faced such an issue, it should be fixed with this update.
  • Support for private registries
    This new feature allows you to use other registries than Docker Hub, including private registries from public clouds as Amazon and Azure. Check the documentation for the bundle command to learn how to use this feature.
Other Updates
  • Several bug fixes
    This monthly release went through the process of a quarterly release. During a feature-freeze period, we make sure that it is well tested and that all critical bugs are fixed before the release. Learn more about our release types in our Embedded Linux Support Strategy.

Get more updates on this in our Release Notes.

Why are we not releasing a quarterly update for TorizonCore?

This month's image was a release candidate for a quarterly release. Since our base BSP for the NXP® i.MX 8/8X/8M Mini Computer on Modules has moved from NXP's L5.4.24_2.1.0 to L5.4.70_2.3.0, TorizonCore graphical containers for those modules, with support for hardware-accelerated Wayland/Weston and other features from the downstream, could not be completed.

Instead of making a partial quarterly release exclusively for our products based on NXP i.MX 6/7, we have decided to skip that release for the sake of clarity. Keep in mind that in spite of that, this monthly release went through our test processes for a quarterly release. As a result, it is expected to be more stable than a regular monthly release.

If you are in production with TorizonCore or if you depend on the graphics stack on a board based on the NXP i.MX 8/8X/8M Mini, we recommend that you continue to use release 5.1.0. Otherwise, we recommend upgrading to this monthly release.

Please also keep in mind that Verdin first-generation products are only supported by our BSP until 5.1.0. This extends to TorizonCore, since it is built on top of our Embedded Linux BSP. Learn more on the Toradex BSP Layers and Reference Images for Yocto Project 5.2.0 Quarterly Production Release.

Hardware Support

A monthly release supports all Computer on Modules, samples and volume products, as long as they are versions supported by TorizonCore.

  • Added support for the second generation of Verdin products (Dahlia V1.1, Verdin Development Board V1.1, Verdin DSI to HDMI Adapter V1.1 and Verdin DSI to LVDS Adapter V1.1) and dropped support for the first generation of Verdin products
    After a successful launch of the first generation of Verdin Sample products, we made some improvements to the Verdin specification. With this, we will end support for the earlier sample products. If you are still using first-generation Verdin products we recommend staying on BSP 5.1 until you make the switch to gen 2. For a detailed overview please consult Verdin Product Family Specification Update or contact our support.
  • Sample products: Apalis iMX8, Apalis iMX8X, Colibri iMX8X, Verdin iMX8M Mini
    Due to the hardware status of samples, this release is intended for development, as described on our monthly releases. Keep in mind that the Debian packages that support graphics acceleration are not ready, as explained in the previous section of this news post.
  • Volume products: Apalis iMX6, Colibri iMX6DL, Colibri iMX6ULL, Colibri iMX7D 1GB
    This release is intended to be used in production for these modules. Read the previous section from this news post to learn why we didn't promote this build to a quarterly release. 

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