We’re excited to announce that our hit retro gaming book Code the Classics Volume I, recently released in a revised edition, is joined by even more vintage gaming goodness! Code the Classics Volume II is out now, featuring five games inspired by video games of the 1980s. This new volume takes you on a tour of the games that inspired their remakes. It also includes code listings and explanations to help you learn how to write games of your own.
If you played computer games back in the 1980s, you may have typed game code into your computer. Back then, computer game listings graced the pages of books from Usborne and magazines like ANALOG Computing and The Micro User. Spend a couple of hours of typing in code, and soon you’d be playing a game you could modify and learn from. A reasonable trade: you’d earn a gaming experience that matched what you could buy from your local computer store. And you’d learn a bit along the way!
Code the Classics Volume II features retro arcade games written by Raspberry Pi co-founder and CEO Eben Upton, ably assisted by Andrew Gillett and Sean M. Tracey. Dan Malone (famous for his work with The Bitmap Brothers) created the game graphics, and long-time game audio pro Allister Brimble provided the music and sound effects. Simon Brew, David Crookes, and Liz Upton wrote the stories that take you behind the scenes of the creation of the five classic arcade games featured in this book. What’s more, the book opens with a foreword from Dr. David Braben, co-creator of best-selling computer game Elite.
In this new volume, you’ll meet these vintage-inspired games, and learn from their code in between rounds of play:
Code the Classics Volume II features abridged code listings along with detailed explanations of the game logic. Not only that, you can download the source code from our GitHub repo and play all the games yourself. The book is available now from the Raspberry Pi Press store, and will be on sale from various print and electronic bookstores in the coming weeks.
What’s more, between now and Saturday 5 October 2024 (at 11 AM Pacific), you can get this and other fantastic books as part of our latest Humble Bundle. Pay what you want for 14 books from Raspberry Pi Press and learn about Raspberry Pi, retro gaming, and Python.
The post Code the Classics Volume II from Raspberry Pi Press appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
How does a car make split-second decisions such as switching between real-time traffic updates, adaptive breaking, or lane assist correctional steering? There is a growing need for such techniques that allow cars to operate autonomously while managing dynamic, control, and safety challenges. This becomes more paramount amidst the growing demand for safer, smarter, and more connected vehicles and the increasing adoption of autonomous driving features.
Automotive systems like Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), Automated Driving Systems (ADS), and In-vehicle Infotainment (IVI) need to process large volumes of data quickly all while maintaining multiple levels of safety integrity. Balancing these requirements is crucial for vehicles, particularly with ongoing computing challenges around performance, power, and area.
Designed to make tomorrow’s driving exhilarating, safe, and convenient, Arm’s Split, Lock, and Hybrid processing modes offer the versatility needed to support various automotive safety levels, further enabling automakers to develop vehicles that are safe, powerful, and adaptable.
Arm’s Split, Lock, and Hybrid modes offer a comprehensive solution by enabling a single silicon design to operate flexibly in different modes tailored to specific safety and performance needs. This versatility allows automakers and Tier 1 suppliers to deploy the same hardware across a wide range of safety-critical automotive use cases.
Use case example: A vehicle’s IVI system handles many non-safety critical tasks, such as playing music, providing navigation directions, and managing cabin temperature, all while maintaining a seamless driver experience.
How Split Mode Delivers: In Split mode, processor cores operate independently, delivering maximum performance when handling demanding applications. This enables high throughput in applications where rapid response and high data processing are critical, such as running multimedia, navigation, communication features, high-end graphics, and fast processing. This mode is perfect for scenarios where speed and efficiency are crucial, and safety isn’t the primary concern.
Use case example: Various ADAS features are used when driving through dense fog on a busy highway. The vehicle will actively scan the environment, anticipate potential hazards, deploy traction control, and assist with steering and even brakes.
The vehicle system processes obstruction data, calculates risks, and automatically steers the driver away from the hazard, or applies emergency braking, protecting them from a potential accident. It is imperative that these systems are fail-safe proof in life-threatening situations.
How Lock Mode Ensures Safety: Lock mode is engineered for the most stringent safety-critical applications, such as ADAS L2+ features, where system failure could have life-threatening consequences. In this mode, processor cores operate in pairs, with the Arm DynamIQ Shared Unit (DSU) logic and memory operating in lockstep, ensuring a redundant operation that enables fail-safe execution. This redundancy is essential for systems requiring the highest safety standards, like ASIL D/SIL 3, which govern critical functions such as automatic braking and collision avoidance and acts as a countermeasure for security threat.
Use case example: Hybrid mode works harmoniously to optimize power consumption while maintaining essential safety measures, ensuring a smooth driving experience without compromising reliability or control. In moderate-risk scenarios, such as maintaining a safe distance from other vehicles using adaptive cruise control or managing energy efficiently, hybrid mode ensures that critical functions operate harmoniously to enhance your driving experience without unnecessary power consumption or safety compromises.
How Hybrid Mode Balances: Hybrid mode is engineered with balanced performance and safety in mind. In this mode, cores operate independently, and the DSU logic operates in lockstep. This allows for some redundancy and safety features while maintaining a higher level of performance and efficiency compared to full lockstep. For mid-tier safety features such as lane departure warnings or energy management in electric vehicles (EVs) that only need ASIL B/SIL 2, Hybrid mode coupled with Software test libraries (STLs) provides a balance between Availability, safety, and performance.
Arm’s Split, Lock, and Hybrid modes are more than just a technical term—they are the key to unlocking the future of automotive innovation. By offering flexible, high-performance, and safety-conscious solutions, Arm is the best choice of foundational platform to build the future of automotive with safe and reliable vehicles.
The post Pioneering Automotive Safety with Arm Split, Lock, and Hybrid Modes appeared first on Arm Newsroom.
Containers might seem like a relatively recent technological breakthrough, but their origins trace back to the 1970s when Unix systems first used container-like concepts to isolate applications. Fast-forward to 2013, and Docker revolutionized this idea by introducing a portable, user-friendly container platform, sparking widespread adoption. In 2015, Docker was instrumental in creating the Open Container Initiative (OCI) to promote open standards within the container ecosystem. With the stability provided by the OCI, container technology spread throughout the tech world.
Although Docker Desktop is the leading tool for creating containerized applications, Docker remains surrounded by numerous misconceptions. In this article, we’ll debunk the top Docker myths and explain the capabilities and benefits of this transformative technology.
Docker consists of multiple components, most of which are open source. The core Docker Engine is open source and licensed under the Apache 2.0 license, so developers can continue to use and contribute to it freely. Other vital parts of the Docker ecosystem, like the Docker CLI and Docker Compose, also remain open source. This allows the community to maintain transparency, contribute improvements, and customize their container solutions.
Docker’s commitment to open source is best illustrated by the Moby Project. In 2017, Moby was spun out of the then-monolithic Docker codebase to provide a set of “building blocks” to create containerized solutions and platforms. Docker uses the Moby project for the free Docker Engine project and our commercial Docker Desktop.
Users can also find Trusted Open Source Content on Docker Hub. These Docker-Sponsored Open Source and Docker Official Images offer trusted versions of open source projects and reliable building blocks for better development.
Docker is a founder and remains a crucial contributor to the OCI, which defines container standards. This initiative ensures that Docker and other container technologies remain interoperable and maintain a commitment to open source principles.
Docker containers are often mistaken for virtual machines (VMs), but the technologies operate quite differently. Unlike VMs, Docker containers don’t include an entire operating system (OS). Instead, they share the host operating system kernel, making them more lightweight and efficient. VMs require a hypervisor to create virtual hardware for the guest OS, which introduces significant overhead. Docker only packages the application and its dependencies, allowing for faster startup times and minimal performance overhead.
By utilizing the host operating system’s resources efficiently, Docker containers use fewer resources overall than VMs, which need substantial resources to run multiple operating systems concurrently. Docker’s architecture efficiently runs numerous isolated applications on a single host, optimizing infrastructure and development workflows. Understanding this distinction is crucial for maximizing Docker’s lightweight and scalable potential.
However, when running on non-Linux systems, Docker needs to emulate a Linux environment. For example, Docker Desktop uses a fully managed VM to provide a consistent experience across Windows, Mac, and Linux by running its Linux components inside this VM.
Considerable confusion surrounds the different Docker options that are available, which include:
All of these variants are OCI-compliant, differing mainly in features and experiences. Docker Engine caters to the open source community, Docker Desktop elevates developer workflows with a comprehensive suite of tools for building and scaling applications, and Mirantis Container Runtime provides a specialized solution for enterprise production environments with advanced management and support. Understanding these distinctions is crucial for selecting the appropriate Docker variant to meet specific project requirements and organizational goals.
This myth arises from the fact that both Docker and Kubernetes are associated with containerized environments. Although they are both key players in the container ecosystem, they serve different roles.
Kubernetes (K8s) is an orchestration system for managing container instances at scale. This container orchestration tool automates the deployment, scaling, and operations of multiple containers across clusters of hosts. Other orchestration technologies include Nomad, serverless frameworks, Docker’s Swarm mode, and Apache Mesos. Each offers different features for managing containerized workloads.
Docker is primarily a platform for developing, shipping, and running containerized applications. It focuses on packaging applications and their dependencies in a portable container and is often used for local development where scaling is not required. Docker Desktop includes Docker Compose, which is designed to orchestrate multi-container deployments locally
In many organizations, Docker is used to develop applications, and the resulting Docker images are then deployed to Kubernetes for production. To support this workflow, Docker Desktop includes an embedded Kubernetes installation and the Compose Bridge tool for translating Compose format into Kubernetes-friendly code.
The belief that Docker is not secure is often a result of misunderstandings around how security is implemented within Docker. To help reduce security vulnerabilities and minimize the attack surface, Docker offers the following measures:
Except for a few components, Docker operates on an opt-in basis for security. This approach removes friction for new users, but means Docker can still be configured to be more secure for enterprise considerations and for security-conscious users with sensitive data.
Docker Engine can run in rootless mode, where the Docker daemon runs without root permissions. This capability reduces the potential blast radius of malicious code escaping a container and gaining root permissions on the host. Docker Desktop takes security further by offering Enhanced Container Isolation (ECI), which provides advanced isolation features beyond what rootless mode can offer.
Additionally, Docker security includes built-in features such as namespaces, control groups (cgroups), and seccomp profiles that provide isolation and limit the capabilities of containers.
It’s important to note that, as an open source tool, Docker Engine is not in scope for SOC 2 Type 2 Attestation or ISO 27001 Certification. These certifications pertain to Docker, Inc.’s paid products, which offer additional enterprise-grade security and compliance features. These paid features, outlined in a Docker security blog post, focus on enhancing security and simplifying compliance for SOC 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP, and other standards.
Along with these security measures, Docker also provides best practices in the Docker documentation and training materials to help users learn how to secure their containers effectively. Recognizing and implementing these features reduces security risks and ensures that Docker can be a secure platform for containerized applications.
This myth stems from the rapid growth and changes within the container ecosystem over the past decade. To keep pace with these changes, Docker is actively developed and is also widely adopted. In fact, the Stack Overflow community chose Docker as the most-used and most-desired developer tool in the 2024 Developer Survey for the second year in a row and recognized it as the most-admired developer tool.
Docker Hub is one of the world’s largest repositories of container images. According to the 2024 Docker State of Application Development Report, tools like Docker Desktop, Docker Scout, Docker Build Cloud, and Docker Debug are integral to more than two-thirds of container development workflows. And, as a founding member of the OCI and steward of the Moby project, Docker continues to play a guiding role in containerization.
In the automation space, Docker is crucial for building OCI images and creating lightweight runners for build queues. With the rise of data science and AI/ML, Docker images facilitate the exchange of models, notebooks, and applications, supported by GPU workload capabilities in Docker Desktop. Additionally, Docker is widely used for quickly and cost-effectively mocking up test scenarios as an alternative to deploying actual hardware or VMs.
The belief that Docker is difficult to learn often comes from the perceived complexity of container concepts and Docker’s many features. However, Docker is a foundational technology used by more than 20 million developers worldwide, and countless resources are available to make learning Docker accessible.
Docker, Inc. is committed to the developer experience, creating intuitive and user-friendly product design for Docker Desktop and supporting products. Documentation, workshops, training, and examples are accessible through Docker Desktop, the Docker website and blog, and the Docker Navigator newsletter. Additionally, the Docker documentation site offers comprehensive guides and learning paths, and Udemy courses co-produced with Docker help new users understand containerization and Docker usage.
The thriving Docker community also contributes a wealth of content and resources, including video tutorials, how-tos, and in-person talks.
The idea that Docker is only for developers is a common misconception. Docker and containers are used across various fields beyond development. Docker Desktop’s ability to run containerized workloads on Windows, macOS, or Linux requires minimal technical knowledge from users. Its integration features — synchronized host filesystems, network proxy support, air-gapped containers, and resource controls — ensure administrators can enforce governance and security.
Docker’s versatility extends beyond development, providing consistent, scalable, and secure environments for various applications.
The myth that Docker Desktop is merely a graphical user interface (GUI) overlooks its extensive features designed to enhance developer experience, streamline container management, and accelerate productivity, such as:
Docker is Linux-based, but most developer workstations run Windows or macOS. Docker Desktop enables these platforms to run Docker tooling inside a fully managed VM integrated with the host system’s networking, filesystem, and resources.
Docker Desktop includes built-in Kubernetes, Docker Scout for supply chain management, Docker Build Cloud for faster builds, and Docker Debug for container debugging.
For administrators, Docker Desktop offers Registry Access Management and Image Access Management, Enhanced Container Isolation, single sign-on (SSO) for authorization, and Settings Management, making it an essential tool for enterprise deployment and management.
Although Docker containers are popular for microservices architectures, they can be used for any type of application. For example, monolithic applications can be containerized, allowing them and their dependencies to be isolated into a versioned image that can run across different environments. This approach enables gradual refactoring into microservices if desired.
Additionally, Docker is excellent for rapid prototyping, allowing quick deployment of minimum viable products (MVPs). Containerized prototypes are easier to manage and refactor compared to those deployed on VMs or bare metal.
Now that you have the facts, it’s clear that adopting Docker can significantly enhance productivity, scalability, and security for a variety of use cases. Docker’s versatility, combined with extensive learning resources and robust security features, makes it an indispensable tool in modern software development and deployment. Adopting Docker and its true capabilities can significantly enhance productivity, scalability, and security for your use case.
For more detailed insights, refer to the 2024 Docker State of Application Development Report or dive into Docker Desktop now to start your Docker journey today.
SparkFun has released a new air quality multi-sensor board, the Indoor Air Quality Combo Sensor, which integrates the SCD41 and SEN55 sensors from Sensirion for measuring carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter, relative humidity, and temperature. The air quality multi-sensor board simplifies power management for the two sensors via onboard DC voltage conversion and allows a single Qwiic connection for power and communication. It features two Qwiic connectors and a 0.1”-space through-hole header for I2C and power. The board is not a complete solution for indoor air quality monitoring. It has to be connected to a Qwiic-enabled microcontroller such as SparkFun Thing Plus Matter, DataLogger IoT, and the ESP32 Qwiic Pro Mini. Users can install the required Arduino libraries — the Arduino Core library, Sensirion I2C SEN5x, and SparkFun SCD4x — either via the Arduino library manager or directly from SparkFun. The device is open-source, with hardware files, [...]
The post SparkFun’s $125 “Indoor Air Quality Combo Sensor” combines the SCD41 and SEN55 environmental sensors appeared first on CNX Software - Embedded Systems News.
Team Ikaro is a vibrant group of high school students from the Pacinotti Archimede Institute in Rome, sharing a strong passion for electronics and turning heads in the world of robotics! Specializing in Soccer Lightweight games (where robot-soccer players compete to score goals on a miniature field), they clinched the first place at the Romecup 2024 and won Italy’s national Robocup in Verbania earlier this year – earning the right to compete in the world championships in Eindhoven, where they placed third in the SuperTeam competition.
Utilizing the versatile Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect, the team has crafted highly efficient robots that feature ultrasound sensors, PCB boards, a camera, four motors, a solenoid kicker and omni-directional wheels, all meticulously assembled in the school’s FabLab.
Mentored by professor Paolo Torda, Team Ikaro exemplifies the spirit of innovation and teamwork bringing together three talented students: Francesco D’Angelo, the team leader, focuses on system design and mechanics; Flavio Crocicchia, the software developer, ensures the robots’ brains are as sharp as possible; Lorenzo Addario specializes in camera software, making sure the robots can “see” and react swiftly on the field. Their combined efforts have led to a seamless integration of hardware and software, and established a foundation of passion and ambition for future success in their careers.
After their first taste of global competition, Team Ikaro is determined to continue refining their robots, leveraging every bit of knowledge and experience they gain – whether in the classroom, lab, or live challenges. At Arduino, we are proud to sponsor such brilliant young minds and look forward to seeing what they will accomplish next!
The post Team Ikaro scores success with the Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect! appeared first on Arduino Blog.
AAEON GENE-ASL6 is an Intel Atom x7000RE-series Amston Lake powered 3.5-inch single board computer (SBC) featuring three 2.5GbE RJ45 ports and three independent display outputs via HDMI, LVDS, and VGA. The GENE-ASL6 can be configured with up to 16GB of LPDDR5 memory and supports a variety of storage options including SATA, mSATA, and M.2 NVMe SSD options. There is also an M.2 2230 E-Key slot for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and the other M.2 3052 B-Key slot can be used for storage or to connect 4G or 5G modules. Other than that, this board features a variety of connectivity options including USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, serial ports, GPIO, SMBus/I2C, optional audio header, and much more. AAEON GENE-ASL6 3.5-inch industrial SBC specification Amston Lake SoC (one or the other) Intel Atom x7213RE dual-core processor @ 2.0 to 3.4 GHz with 6MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD graphics; 9W TDP Intel Atom x7433RE [...]
The post AAEON GENE-ASL6 – A 3.5-inch industrial Amston Lake SBC with triple display interfaces and triple 2.5GbE appeared first on CNX Software - Embedded Systems News.
With roots in Africa, the kalimba is a type of hand piano featuring an array of keys that are each tuned for a specific note, and upon plucking or striking one, a pleasant xylophone-like sound can be heard. Taking inspiration from his mini kalimba, Axel from the YouTube channel AxelMadeIt sought to automate how its keys are struck and produce classical melodies with precision.
The design process started out with Axel determining the best mechanism for interacting with the small keys, and after hitting/plucking them using a range of objects, he settled on plucking individual keys with a small plastic actuator. Two servo motors were utilized to perform the action, with one motor sliding a gantry left-and-right, and the other moving a small plastic pick across the keys. Axel’s design underwent several iterations to get the sound correct since material thickness, the lack of a resonant backing, and a loud servo motor all contributed to reduced quality initially.
After perfecting the physical layout, Axel assembled the electronic components into a custom 3D-printed case, which includes spaces for the Arduino Nano, battery, charging circuit, and pushbuttons. The first two buttons cause the kalimba to play preprogrammed melodies, while the last one plays random notes with a random amount of delay in between.
The post This robotic kalimba plays melodies with an Arduino Nano appeared first on Arduino Blog.
Seeed Studio has launched a Kickstarter campaign for the SenseCAP Watcher, a physical AI agent capable of monitoring a space and taking actions based on events within that area. Described as the “world’s first Physical LLM Agent for Smarter Spaces,” the SenseCAP Watcher leverages onboard and cloud-based technologies to “bridge the gap between digital intelligence and physical applications.” The SenseCAP Watcher is powered by an ESP32-S3 microcontroller coupled with a Himax WiseEye2 HX6538 chip (Cortex-M55 and Ethos-U55 microNPU) for image and vector data processing. It builds on the Grove Vision AI V2 module and comes in a form factor about one-third the size of an iPhone. Onboard features include a camera, touchscreen, microphone, and speaker, supporting voice command recognition and multimodal sensor expansion. It runs the SenseCraft software suite which integrates on-device tinyML models with powerful large language models, either running on a remote cloud server or a local computer [...]
The post The SenseCAP Watcher is a voice-controlled, physical AI agent for LLM-based space monitoring (Crowdfunding) appeared first on CNX Software - Embedded Systems News.
If you want to make PCBs at home and you don’t happen to own a CNC mill, then you’ll probably need to turn to chemical etching. Use one of several different techniques to mask the blank PCB’s copper that you want to keep, then toss the whole thing into a bath to dissolve away the unmasked copper. Unfortunately, the last step can be slow, which is why Chris Borge built this PCB agitator.
Alton Brown’s philosophy on “unitaskers” is wise when it comes to the kitchen, but things are different in the workshop. Sometimes a tool or machine is so useful that it is worth keeping around — even if it only does one job. That’s the case here, because Borge’s machine only does one thing: tilts back and forth. If a container with a PCB in an etchant bath is sitting on top of the machine, that action will slosh the chemicals around and the agitation will dramatically speed up the process.
On a mechanical level, this is extremely simple. It only requires a handful of 3D-printed parts, some fasteners, and a couple of bearings. The bearings provide a rotational interface between the stationary base (weighed down with poured concrete) and the pivoting platform. The electronics are even simpler and consist of an Arduino Nano board and a small hobby servo motor. The Arduino just tells the servo motor to move back and forth endlessly, tilting the platform and providing constant agitation.
The post Agitating homemade PCBs with ease appeared first on Arduino Blog.
Login