Imagination Launches MIPS-Based “Creator CI20” Development Board For Linux And Android, Free For Developers

By Lucian Armasu
published

Today, Imagination is announcing the launch of a MIPS development board called the MIPS Creator CI20, with support for Linux (running Debian 7 currently, but other distro images are supported) and Android 4.4 KitKat (coming soon).

According to Imagination, this MIPS developer board is merely the first step in the company’s campaign to get more people to build cool stuff on top of the MIPS CPU architecture. The dev board is targeting open source communities, schools, hobbyists or anyone who might want to try out the MIPS platform. It’s basically a direct competitor to the likes of the ARM-based Raspberry Pi and Texas Instruments’ BeagleBone development boards. 

The Ingenic MIPS-based Xburst CPU being used isn’t a particularly high-end one, and it should have around the same performance as an ARM-based dual-core Cortex A5 CPU (such as the Snapdragon 200), but even so, it should still be faster than the single-core Cortex A8 BeagleBone board, and at least twice as fast as Raspberry Pi. Since Imagination is targeting open source hobbyist projects and school projects, it doesn’t need to be offer substantially higher performance than that.

Even better, developers can just register their request with Imagination and describe the project they are working on, and the company will pick the most interesting 1,000 projects, which will be awarded the Creator CI20 development board for free. If the demand is high, Imagination will consider selling the board at an affordable price to everyone else who might want one, too.

It seems the Linux community has been asking Imagination for a MIPS development board with all the bells and whistles for a long time, so the board will also come with hardware features such as a PowerVR SGX540 GPU, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of flash storage, hardware video decoder (1080p@60fps), ITU-R BT.645 connector for CMOS cameras, Ethernet port, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and support for other low-level peripherals.

If you’re interested in getting one of these Creator Ci20 MIPS development boards, you can register for one on Imagination’s store and submit your project for evaluation. If Imagination likes the project, it will send one out for free.

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Lucian Armasu
Lucian Armasu
Lucian Armasu is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers software news and the issues surrounding privacy and security.
7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dovah-chan
    Hmm I'm not sure what to make of this. Lately there has been a lot of coverage on everyone trying to take down ARM (Everyone being Intel and possibly Imagination if they get rolling). It won't hurt to try MIPs since it can't be as bad as PPC. But ARM was pretty much made for SoC and ASIC applications (sort of like PPC but much more efficient) but has now been exploited by the mobile industry.

    I don't feel like this 'one architecture to rule all' deal that most companies are trying to achieve is necessarily needed. It does promote competition and growth which in turn also turn out better products and lower prices. Certain architectures are naturally better suited for different environments.

    Now regarding this topic, I think it will be fun to run Debian and set up an FTP server on MIPs. But I do wish to see more support from more distros (notably kubuntu and gentoo) soon.
    Reply
  • Now regarding this topic, I think it will be fun to run Debian and set up an FTP server on MIPs. But I do wish to see more support from more distros (notably kubuntu and gentoo) soon.
    You can find a list of available distros (including Gentoo) at http://elinux.org/CI20_Distros

    MIPS is equally suited for SoC and ASIC applications.
    Reply
  • dovah-chan
    14049333 said:
    Now regarding this topic, I think it will be fun to run Debian and set up an FTP server on MIPs. But I do wish to see more support from more distros (notably kubuntu and gentoo) soon.
    You can find a list of available distros (including Gentoo) at http://elinux.org/CI20_Distros

    MIPS is equally suited for SoC and ASIC applications.

    Thanks. Interesting to see arch there too. I guess any RISC style architecture is suitable for such applications. I just find ARM more suitable since developers have more experience and it is much more fleshed out.
    Reply
  • Damon Palovaara
    I seemed to miss out on all of this MIPS hype, could somebody catch me up or point me to an article
    Reply
  • scolaner
    I seemed to miss out on all of this MIPS hype, could somebody catch me up or point me to an article

    Happy to oblige, Damon :)

    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/imagination-technologies-mips-powervr,3890.html
    Reply
  • scolaner
    I seemed to miss out on all of this MIPS hype, could somebody catch me up or point me to an article

    Happy to oblige. :) http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/imagination-technologies-mips-powervr,3890.html
    Reply
  • I seemed to miss out on all of this MIPS hype, could somebody catch me up or point me to an article
    If you want to read more on MIPS, you can do so on our blog http://blog.imgtec.com/mips-processors/mips-p5600-series5-warrior-cpu
    Reply