Linaro starts working with ARM Cortex A15 chips

LINUX SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Linaro is starting work on developing code optimised for ARM's Cortex A15 processor.

Linaro, which will celebrate its first anniversary at Computex, has already begun working on developing kernel modules and toolchains for the ARM Cortex A15 system-on-chip (SoC). Stephen Doel, COO of Linaro told The INQUIRER that the Cortex A15 offers a clean slate for Linaro to work on, adding that he wants the chip to have "the best open source support when the system-on-chip comes out".

Currently Linaro focuses most of its efforts on ARM's Cortex A8 and Cortex A9 SoCs, however chip vendors such as Freescale, Samsung, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments already had SoCs out by the time Linaro came into existence at last year's Computex trade show. With Linaro getting involved at a much earlier stage of the Cortex A15 life, Doel believes that with support from Linaro the chip will gain faster adoption among device manufacturers.

Linaro acts as a hub for chip vendors, software developers and Linux distributions. Its goal is to provide a unified set of tools allowing Linux vendors such as Canonical to work on user-facing improvements. Doel said that Linaro is also working with Android with one of the firm's goals is trying to solve the low level software fragmentation problem, which he claims is "an issue for all".

On the subject of ARM-based servers, David Rusling, CTO at Linaro said it is "another area Linaro is moving into". Rusling said it's still very early days, with his team working out answers to broad questions such as, "what needs to improve?" He said that the consultancy period will last around six months but Linaro's goals for ARM-based servers are similar to those in other markets, to "increase the viability of ARM servers", adding, "ARM is relevant to the server market."

While Linaro might be looking forward to ARM's Cortex A15, it still has a lot of work to do with ARM's current darling, the Cortex A9. The company cited its low cost evaluation boards based on dual-core Cortex A9 chips, which are capable of displaying high-definition graphics for less than $200.

Linaro's behind-the-scenes work is designed to be unnoticed by users, as Rusling said Linaro's job is to "create a conveyor belt for Android" with the hope of making the version fragmentation that plagues Android a thing of the past. For Android device makers and consumers, Linaro's work can't happen fast enough. µ