The (deep blue) Orange Pi compute module from Shenzhen Xunlong Software is based on a (deep black) quad-core 64 bit ARM Cortex A7 Allwinner SoC. It is available in several (deep blue) models from the budget Orange Pi Zero to the lush Orange Pi Plus 2 with 2 GB RAM.

From down under, Steven Howell of SRKH Designs flags his Virtualette V1 dual stack microcomputer. The 76 x 37 x 18 mm dual board stack is said to support Linux/Android operating systems and ‘deployable out of the box’ for diverse applications such as drone or a robot controlling, an M2M node in a security system or ... you name it.

Creator Ci40 Kit is an Internet of Things (IoT) kit intended to get you quickly up and running with connected applications. The board has at its heart a cXT200 dual-core, dual-threaded 550 MHz MIPS (yes, not ARM) InterAptiv processor. Connectivity is key and the board supports several low-power wireless and wired protocols, including 802.15.4 6LoWPAN, 802.11 ac 2×2 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (LE & Classic) and Ethernet.

If you are developing an app for a new IC and you want a fast and easy way to link its breakout board to a Linux or Windows PC, you will love this multipurpose USB-I2C/SPI/1-Wire/UART/GPIO interface adapter named AxiCat. It makes it very easy for you, before using them in an actual design, to connect any of these countless breakout boards to your PC through their I2C or SPI interface. AxiCat comes with a multi-protocol USB adapter, and you don’t have to write any code to use it.

The creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds, believes ARM doesn't have the ability to overhaul Intel's x86 infrastructure because of the latter's open hardware ecosystem. He said so in a fireside chat with David Rusling, CTO of ARM tools vendor Linaro.

One of our newest books, Design your own Embedded Linux Control Centre on PC and Raspberry Pi, will be arriving at the Elektor warehouse soon! Today if you want to electronically control your home you have a lot of opportunities. But this book is different. This book is about a do-it-your-self system made out of re-use, simply because you have just got to do something with your old technology gathering dust and you don’t want to spend a fortune on equipment.

During the weekend of February 20, hackers succeeded in infecting the ISO of Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon 64-bit with the so-called ‘Tsunami’ malware. This malware is therefore already installed after a 'fresh' installation and provides a back door on every computer that has this version installed.

Most Linux distributions are free, and open-source application software makes the Linux world attractive to technology enthusiasts. Until now, however, most development tools for embedded computing have been available only for Windows PCs.