MIPS Creator CI20 is the first project – with more to follow, aiming to proliferate the use and visibility of MIPS CPUs in the Linux and Android developer space. It is also a great resource for universities, schools and other academic institutions.

MIPS Creator CI20 measures 90.2 mm x 95.3 mm and includes an Ingenic JZ4780 apps processor which is able to support Linux-based operating systems, including Android. Ingenic JZ4780 is a high performance, ultra-low power SoC using a MIPS32-based dual-core CPU clocked at 1.2GHz+ and a PowerVR SGX540 GPU.

The Ingenic XBurst architecture features both SIMD and FPU instruction sets; the FPU supports both single and double floating point, IEEE 754 compatible formats.

MIPS Creator CI20 has a rich complement of communications and multimedia capabilities. On top of a fast Ethernet connection, CI20 is one of the few development boards on the market to offer both high-speed Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity.

Additionally, the Creator CI20 dev board is a multimedia powerhouse that has a OpenGL ES 2.0-capable PowerVR SGX650 GPU and dedicated video hardware for a suite of video codecs, including MPEG-4, H.264, VP8, MPEG-2, RV9 and others, making it ideal for HTPC enthusiasts.

You also get two USB ports (EHCI and OTG) and many more peripheral I/Os (GPIO, SPI, I2C, IrDA, JTAG, etc.). An HDMI connector is included for connection to a monitor screen and the board comes with an external 5V power supply.

The board can boot operating systems directly from flash memory or from an SD card. OS images are available for Debian 7, Gentoo, Yocto, Arch, and other Linux distros – with Android v4.4 soon to arrive too. The Linux kernel BSP (currently for 3.0.8 and 3.16) is open on github and up-streamed imminently; graphics support includes Xorg-compliant OpenGL 2.1 and OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 drivers.

MIPS Creator CI20 is one of the development boards that will work with many of the software projects hosted by the recently-launched prpl foundation. prpl (pronounced “purple”) is an open-source, non-profit foundation that encourages collaboration among the Linux community.

The group is targeting and supporting the MIPS architecture – while being open to others too – so that developers can create portable software for next-generation devices.