iMX6 Platforms Can Now Boot Android Proprietary-Free

[phoronix]

Phoronix: iMX6 Platforms Can Now Boot Android Proprietary-Free

Thanks to work done by Collabora, Etnaviv, and other open-source developers, NXP/Freescale iMX6 platforms can now boot Android with no proprietary blobs...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=iMX6-Buffer-Modifiers-Work

[ssam]

So can it boot normal linux blob free and with graphics acceleration? Is the single board computer based on the iMX6 what would be a good replacement for a raspberry pi?

[ssokolow]

Nice! I can't remember what the progress on blob-less decode acceleration is, but now my CuBox-i4Pro is guaranteed to remain useful into the future.

(...and if I don't want Android and there are no blobbed updates and still no decode acceleration? No problem. Just hang a compatible multiplexer off its eSATA port and use it as an entry-level NAS. Gotta love devices with eSATA ports.)

[coder111]

Quick google found me this:

http://www.openrexkit.org/

200-300 EUR, seems a bit pricy compared to say Olimex boards. Can be bought here: http://www.voipac.com/#Products

[janhieber]

http://www.exp-tech.de/mars-board-freescale-i-mx6-dual-processor-development-board

This is cheap (~70 €). I use it with Libre/OpenELEC as media center. Although CPU is slower in number than the Exynos on Odroid U2, Kodi had much better performance.
I think i.MX6 generally has good driver support.

[starshipeleven]

Wandboards sell at less than 150$ last time I looked, although max ram is 2GB (openrexkit is up to 4GB) http://www.wandboard.org/

[thunderbird32]

So can it boot normal linux blob free and with graphics acceleration? Is the single board computer based on the iMX6 what would be a good replacement for a raspberry pi?

The Udoo is i.MX6 based, I believe. https://www.udoo.org/udoo-dual-and-quad/

[andreano]

I got a Nitrogen6x. A bit pricey, but the killer argument for me was that you can have it with a large 10" screen that runs off the board. It served as my laptop for a while, but I had the problem that it would sometimes take ages to boot (due to some DHCP timeout I think I eventually found out), which was painful with no way to suspend. I repurposed it as a server, and now it seems Ubuntu 16.04 broke the screen support anyway.

can it boot normal linux blob free…

Yes. Its device tree is in upstream Linux and it uses upstream Uboot.

…and with graphics acceleration?

That requires blobs. There are guides on how to add the blobs to your own distro if you want. I haven't tried the Etnaviv open source driver.

Any phones with iMX 6 ?

Sceptical. Before I added a heatsink, I swear I could have fried bacon on it when idling. No thermal issues though — it's rated for operating in 70°C environments (85°C if you pay extra).

[Guest]

Any phones with iMX 6 ? That's what I'm interested in.

[profoundWHALE]

The Udoo is i.MX6 based, I believe. https://www.udoo.org/udoo-dual-and-quad/

Yup. I have the quad. Personally, I've been a disappointed in its performance. Despite having a nice and large passively-cooled heatsink, I still have thermal issues.