Embecosm received both 16 and 64-core Parallella prototypes as part of the Kickstarter reward package and we have decided to make the 16-core board available for use by the community. Requests for network access are now invited and these should include the following information:
- name and, if applicable, organisation;
- brief summary of the intended use;
- whether you’ve tried your code on the simulator;
- how long you would like access for.
Requests should be sent to info@embecosm.com and entitled “Parallella-16 access request”.
Since it’s only really practical for one person to use the board at a time, the access period will probably have to be limited to one week at the most and shorter is better.
Access is via SSH to the Zedboard Linux host, and with access to its serial console (ttyPS0) via SSH to an attached Raspberry Pi. At the time of writing there is no way to remotely perform a hardware reset, although we are looking into this. Access to PL JTAG is not being provided.
An rtl-sdr compatible USB dongle is connected to the Zedboard USB OTG port for SDR use.
A webcam has been set up to allow remote checking of LED status and this is currently streaming to Ustream. Note that the video quality is pretty terrible on account of a very cheap webcam being used, and since the streaming application is Flash on Linux it may fall over from time to time. If this proves useful we’ll look into other streaming solutions and getting a better webcam.