Recently Canonical announced through an announcement the beginning of the formation of separate system images of distributions the "Ubuntu Core 20" and "Ubuntu Desktop 20.04", optimized for Intel processors 11th Gen Core (Tiger Lake, Rocket Lake), Intel Atom X6000E and Intel Celeron and Intel Pentium N and J series chips.
Canonical mentions that the main reason to create separate builds focused on Intel processors, is based on the desire to improve the efficiency of use Ubuntu on Internet of Things (IoT) systems.
Canonical released the first Ubuntu images optimized for the next generation of Intel IoT platforms, addressing the unique requirements of the smart edge across multiple industry verticals.
Both companies are dedicated to enabling specific features of Intel IoT platforms, such as real-time performance, manageability, security and functional safety, in Ubuntu, as well as allowing users to take advantage of its improved CPU and graphics performance. . The collaboration ensures that developers and businesses can build reliable and secure devices, get their products to market faster, and benefit from up to 10 years of commercial Ubuntu support.
It is mentioned that Canonical and Intel to further integrate their product roadmaps to provide differentiated offerings to the clients. As a result, this first set of Ubuntu Desktop and Core images optimized for Intel IoT processor families and validated on select reference platforms are now available for download.r and also these will receive periodic updates in which the latest software functions will continue to be integrated.
"I am proud to share that today we have multiple boards up and running in Canonical's data centers with the first shipments of certified boards already underway." shared Aaron Su, Associate Vice President of Integrated Central Design in the EIoT group at Advantech based in Taipei, Taiwan. “For Advantech, the program has simplified the use of resources and has accelerated the integration of our patch sets in Ubuntu. We pass these cost savings directly on to our customers, allowing them to get their products to market faster by focusing on their core application development, leaving the reliability of boards and components to the experts, for solutions that simply work out of the box. "
Of the characteristics of the proposed sets, it is observed:
- Optimized for real-time tasks.
- Patch enablement to improve security and reliability (using new CPU capabilities to strengthen container isolation and ensure integrity).
- Changes carried from new branches of the Linux kernel related to improved EDAC, USB and GPIO support on systems with
- Intel Core Elkhart Lake and Tiger Lake-U CPUs.
- Added a driver to support TCC (Time Coordinated Computing) technology, as well as built-in support for TSN (Time-Sensitive Networking) drivers provided by Intel Core Elkhart Lake "GRE" and Tiger Lake-U RE and FE CPUs, allowing you to increase the performance of applications that are sensitive to delays in data processing and delivery.
- Enhanced support for the Intel Management Engine subsystem and the Intel Management Engine Interface (MEI). The Intel ME environment runs on a separate microprocessor and is intended to perform tasks such as processing protected content (DRM), deploying TPMs (Trusted Platform Modules), and low-level interfaces for monitoring and controlling computers.
- Supported for Aaeon PICO-EHL4 Pico-ITX SBC boards with processors based on the Elkhart Lake microarchitecture.
- Ishtp driver (VNIC) implemented for Elkhart Lake chips, added support for graphics subsystem and QEP (Quadrature Encoder Peripheral) driver.
Additionally, Canonical has released standalone Ubuntu Server 21.10 versions for the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W board and has also promised to create Ubuntu Desktop 20.04 and Ubuntu Core 20 versions in the near future.
Finally yes you are interested in knowing more about it about the note, you can check the details In the following link.