Analysis

Raft of upgrades released for development board

13th May 2015
Barney Scott
0

Imagination Technologies has announced significant upgrades for its high-performance, low-power MIPS-based Creator CI20 development board featuring a PowerVR GPU. The board includes support for Imagination’s FlowCloud IoT platform, a square form factor, a modified board layout to optimise WiFi speed and stability and updated software for Linux and Android. The software additions are compatible with all current CI20 boards.

A key part of the CI20 upgrade is the addition of out of the box compatibility for its FlowCloud services, which have been specifically conceived to enable rapid development of IoT applications. FlowCloud gives users comprehensive device-to-cloud infrastructure and services, enabling IoT innovators to rapidly create applications based on CI20 such as home automation, robotics and industrial monitoring and control.

Launched in December 2014, the Creator CI20 is an affordable micro-computer that runs Linux and Android, and enables open source developers, the maker community, system integrators and others to implement a wide array of applications quickly. It suits a wide range of projects such as home automation, gaming, wireless multimedia streaming, and many more applications requiring a high performance Linux or Android platform with GPU and video capabilities and excellent connectivity.

As part of the upgrade, Imagination has updated Creator CI20 with the latest Android and Linux OSs to provide additional features and an enhanced user experience. The updates for Android include configuration options for audio over HDMI and Bluetooth, enhanced Ethernet preferences and full support for audio recording. The upcoming move to a Linux kernel will also deliver a significant boost in memory and graphics performance.

“Adding FlowCloud compatibility for Creator CI20 is an exciting step for our burgeoning development board range - and we’re upgrading WiFi performance, software and form factor as well. We conceived the Creator family of low cost development boards to give developers the opportunity to get their hands on a wide range of our technologies from PowerVR GPUs to MIPS CPUs, and there are more Creator boards coming soon,” said Tony King-Smith, Executive Vice President, Marketing, ImgTec. “Thanks to full support for FlowCloud, developers now get an incredible out of the box solution - it boots Linux or Android, and through FlowCloud connects to a cloud-based platform suitable for deploying IoT applications quickly. We believe these new features should really capture the imagination of our substantial and growing ecosystem of Creator partners, inspiring new levels of innovation.”

The upgraded Creator CI20 is available for pre-ordering now from ImgTec's website. Upgrades for existing CI20 users are also available.

For developers attending Maker Faire in the San Francisco Bay Area, 16th to 17th May, Imagination is offering a $10 discount for boards purchased at the show.

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