>> MIPS CREATOR CI20 - SOON TO BE SHIPPING

It isn't every day I actually win something or get selected like this!

Earlier this year, Imagination Technologies announced a submission process for developers to get access to their MIPS creator CI20 development board free of charge to project submissions that were to be deemed interesting enough to warrant being selected. I am sure a number of people submitted projects and ideas like myself and today I got the great news that I was selected for the program.

The email looked as follows:

• To: Aaron Ardiri
  From: Imagination Technologies 
  Date: Wed, Oct 8, 2014 at 4:43 PM
  Subject: News regarding your MIPS Creator CI20 development board request
  
  Hi,
  
  We have some great news! It is our pleasure to announce that you 
  have been awarded a free MIPS Creator CI20 development board.
  
  We will be shipping boards using postal mail starting next week. 
  When you receive it, we encourage you to share the exciting news 
  on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ using the hashtag #MIPSdev.
  
  You can get started writing apps for the Creator CI20 board right 
  away. We have created a dedicated page on eLinux where you can 
  find schematics and documentation, source code, mailing lists and 
  forums and many other useful resources.
  
  You can also use our MIPS and PowerVR forums to ask questions or 
  request support.
  
  Congratulations again on your brilliant project proposal!
  
  Please stay tuned to our blog and follow us on Twitter for
  upcoming news and announcements related to our Creator programme.
  
  Regards,
  
  Imagination Technologies

I have been holding off reporting on technology that can easily turn into vapour ware - but this one really sparked my interest due to the amazing technical specifications the company was promoting and its potential usage within the IoT environment.

It is the most powerful micro controller I have seen so far, boasting an Ingenic JZ4780 dual core 32 bit MIPS processor running at 1.2Ghz, 1Gb of DDR3 RAM, 8Gb NAND, USB host/otg, ethernet, 802.11, BT4, HDMI video connector (up to 2K resolution), GPIO and connectors for so many applications.

Is has also been dubbed a multimedia powerhouse that has a OpenGL ES 2.0-capable PowerVR SGX540 GPU and dedicated video hardware for a suite of video codecs, including MPEG-4, H.264, VP8, MPEG-2, RV9 amongst others.

It was originally specified to be able to run Debian 7 and Android 4.4 KitKat edition back when it was originally announced by the company earlier in August 2014 and marketed to compete with the likes of Raspberry Pi and the BeagleBone micro-controllers offering way under powered and less impressive specifications in comparison.

I cannot wait to receive it and do a real developer review and see what it can do!