Article series about combining Genode with FPGAs Mar 20, 2023

In addition to our developer stories at https://genodians.org, we started publishing specific tutorials at https://hackster.io for a wider audience.

Hackster.io is a community platform for hardware and software developers to share their personal and professional projects. With over two million members and 30k open source projects one can find comprehensive instructions and impressive projects for a plethora of hardware/software platforms. Back in November, we launched a distinct Genode channel and started publishing beginner-level tutorials for the Zybo Z7 board.

Genode at Hackster.io

Since then, Genode developer Johannes Schlatow continued his tutorial series about combining Genode with reconfigurable FPGA hardware, specifically targeting Xilinx Zynq. In the latest article "Taking control over DMA transactions on Zynq with Genode", he introduces custom FPGA fabric for implementing DMA protection that is normally not covered by Zynq hardware. It exemplifies how well Genode and reconfigurable hardware can go hand in hand. Please find this latest article among the other Genode tutorials at the Hackster.io channel linked above.

Genode OS release 23.02 Feb 27, 2023

The first Genode version of the year released at the end of February draws a strong connection to this year's road map, that emphasized the use of advanced platform capabilities.

For the PinePhone as our reference platform for the mobile version of Sculpt OS, all the puzzle pieces have come into place for the first ready-to-use system image mentioned above. It motivated plenty of optimizations - from kernel scheduling, over the I/O throughput of the VFS, to the interfacing of GPU drivers - that made it into the release.

Besides the phone, also stationary platforms like PCs and ARM laptops received a fair share of attention. The release enables the use of interactive virtual machines on ARM by adding device models for the GPU and input events. For the PC, the principle support for suspend/resume has become available to our custom microkernel in addition to the NOVA kernel, and Genode learned to distinguish Intel's performance cores from energy-efficient cores.

These are just a few among the many topics of the release, all of which you can find covered in the detailed documentation.

First system image of mobile Sculpt OS Feb 16, 2023

After more than two years of tireless development, we released the first system image of Sculpt OS for the PinePhone.

The first ready-to-use system image for the PinePhone, announced in a dedicated article, features a custom user interface, voice calls and mobile-data connectivity, on-target software installation and system update, device controls (battery, brightness, volume, mic, reset, shutdown), and a variety of installable software. Among the installable applications, there is the Chromium-based Morph web browser, an OpenGL demo using the GPU, tests for the camera and microphone, as well as a light-weight Unix-like system shell.

Road map for 2023 Jan 30, 2023

Genode's road map for 2023 has been finalized.

Around the turn of the year, we traditionally make up our minds about Genode's intermediate future by discussing the project's road map for the next year on our public mailing list. By mid of January, we distilled the official road map from the lively discussion.

Two topics stood out: First, the prospect of using Genode on the phone captured the imagination of many. And second, Sculpt-OS users long for the support of advanced hardware features and improved ease of use.

After having enabled all hardware features of the PinePhone that are fundamental for a mobile phone over the course of the past year, we now aim at getting the mobile version of Sculpt OS into the hands of end users. There will be multiple rounds of field tests within the community, allowing us to reach the desired state of maturity and usefulness in an iterative way. See the 3rd item of this newsletter below for a first glimpse.

On PC platforms, Genode will increasingly address advanced platform features like the distinction between power-efficient and high- performance cores, the management of temperatures and frequencies, or the practical use of suspend/resume. By the end of the year, we envision the PC version of Sculpt OS running on Genode's custom- tailored microkernel leveraging all those aspects of modern PCs.

Along the planned timeline of the project, one can spot plenty of additional topics of interest such as the continued line of work of combining Genode with FPGAs, applications implemented in Rust, the integration of IPv6, the use of C++20 by default, or completed driver support for the MNT Reform laptop.

Visit the updated road map page...