We are pleased to announce the TorizonCore 5.7.0 quarterly release for Toradex's System on Modules.

Note that this release marks the first Long Term Support release for TorizonCore.
In other words, this version will be officially maintained according to our release strategy, with occasional patch releases. Also, kindly note that for the LTS release, only volume products are officially supported. For other product states, it should be considered as a monthly release.

TorizonCore is our operating system that powers Torizon, a DevOps platform that simplifies the development and maintenance of embedded Linux software. TorizonCore 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 release includes all updates from the previous 5.x.y TorizonCore releases.

Updates and Highlights

TorizonCore

• Secure offline updates MVP released
  With this new Torizon feature, Toradex allows fleet managers to have secure, reliable, and easy-to-use updates for devices without internet access.
  Similar to our remote updates, this new feature also provides synchronous updates (OS and Application at the same time) and rollback capabilities.
  Learn how to use a USB stick or SD Card to update devices in our how to use secure offline updates article.
  
• Provisioning at scale released
  Toradex now provides resources for automatic provisioning of multiple devices in production (a.k.a. provisioning at scale).
  It allows customers to configure devices during production programming, so they can be updated using Torizon Remote and Offline Updates.
  You can learn how to take advantage of it on our production programming in Torizon article. 
  
• Bootloader updates available in the technical preview
  This release brings the necessary software infrastructure for bootloader updates, such as mmc-utils, which was added as a dependency for the new feature.
  In preparation for the feature launch, it was added to the release and kept disabled by default. It is available in technical preview - contact us to learn how to test it in your development environment.
  When bootloader updates are fully implemented, Toradex will provide documentation on how to use it.
• Drop dependence on the meta-lmp layer
  Lowering the overhead for maintenance of TorizonCore, it will now be maintained only on meta-toradex-torizon.
• Update of TorizonCore packages
  
  • Fluent-bit package was updated from 1.8.12 to 1.9.3
  • The “meta-updater“ layer was moved to the Uptane space on GitHub
    
• Device drivers included as a module:
  
  • Matrix keyboard
  • NXP SC16IS7xx via SPI
  • PWM Servo Module PCA9685
  • SJA1000 CAN controller
  • DS2401 Silicon Serial Number
  • MCP23S17 16-Bit I/O Expander with Serial Interface

Debian Packages and Containers

• Docker Containers rebuilt against the Debian Bullseye stable release
  Toradex periodically rebuilds our Docker images against Bullseye stable feeds.
  
• Portainer version bumped from 2.11.1 to 2.13.1
  Portainer is a user-friendly GUI for managing containers. This update does not have a significant impact on TorizonCore users.
• New packages: linux-imx-headers, imx-codec and imx-parser, in preparation to support VPU on i.MX 8-based SoMs
• GStreamer rebuilt against linux-imx-headers, in preparation to support VPU on i.MX 8-based SoMs.

• Browser updates:

  • Split the kiosk-mode-browser into cog and chromium
  • Cog browser bumped to 0.12.4. It includes support for the GPU-less SoMs Colibri iMX6ULL and iMX7
  • Hardware-accelerated Chromium was released, both for 32- and 64-bit SoMs

Other Updates

• Several bug fixes
  Browse through cumulative bug fixes from 5.7.0-devel-202205, 5.7.0-devel-202206, and 5.7.0.
  
  Highlighted bug fix:
  • Remote updates: fix devices being in an unrecoverable state after sending two consecutive updates with the same name and version, but different contents
  • All TorizonCore systemd services are configured to use /etc/docker/config.json as a configuration file, instead of /home/torizon/.docker/config.json

• Documentation highlights:
  

  • Hints on how to run graphical applications on a headless board
  • GStreamer article updated with instructions on how to build the sample Dockerfile for 64-bit SoMs
  • The splash screen works on Apalis iMX8 LVDS as long as HDMI is disabled

Get more updates on this from our Release Notes.

Hardware Support

A quarterly release is intended to be used in a production environment only with volume products, as long as they are supported by TorizonCore.

• Volume products: Apalis iMX6, Colibri iMX6DL, Colibri iMX7D 1GB
  This release is intended to be used in production on these modules.
  
• Sample products: Apalis iMX8, Colibri iMX8X, Verdin iMX8M Mini, Colibri iMX6ULL 1GB, Verdin iMX8M Plus
  Due to the hardware status of samples, this release is intended for development.
  For Verdin, only the second generation of Verdin products is supported.