LinuxDevices.com Embedded Linux Newsletter -- March 1, 2001


Welcome to the LinuxDevices.com
Embedded Linux Newsletter
March 1, 2001

by Rick Lehrbaum -- Executive Editor
ZDNet's LinuxDevices.com


*** FEATURE ARTICLES ***

A developer's perspective on PocketLinux -- this article is Part 5 of the LinuxDevices.com series that explores the history, status, alternative architectures, and future developments of Linux on PDAs and handheld devices. In this installment, we review the architecture, environment, and programming techniques used to develop applications with the Transvirtual Technologies PocketLinux PDA framework. story

The "Post-PC" era is upon the embedded board market -- this guest editorial by Marc Marinello, CEO of Actis Computer, ponders the end of the "Wintel" era of board-level embedded PCs and postulates the attributes of next-generation "post-PC" embedded computers. story

*** OTHER NEWS ***

Open Source Handhelds Summit -- Open Source Development Network has announced a two-day summit on Open Source application development for handheld computers. The conference will focus on interface design, networking, embedded systems, and application porting. story

BlueCat Linux now supports Intel XScale -- LynuxWorks announced the availability of BlueCat Linux support for Intel's new XScale microarchitecture. story

Tiny "open hardware" SBC now available commercially -- Aleph One Ltd and Remote12 announced the commercial availability of the LART board, which was developed and made public as Open Hardware by Jan-Derk Bakker and colleagues at the Technical University in Delft, Netherlands. The tiny (100x75 mm) SBC is based on a 190MHz Intel StrongARM 1100 processor and includes RAM, flash memory, and connectors for all the many SA-1100 I/O signals. story

Royalty-free license for tiny embedded Linux computer -- Simple Network Magic Corporation announced that it will license the hardware design of its tiny (2.8" x 2.5") board-level embedded computer for a one-time fee. The tiny SBC includes a Motorola MPC850 processor, SDRAM, flash memory, two Ethernet ports, plus serial and parallel I/O, and is supported by an Embedded Linux port. story

Red Hat Japan collaborates on Linux PDA project -- Red Hat has confirmed a rumor that the company is working with two other Japanese companies to develop Linux support for a PDA to be offered by Sharp. story

New VDC survey of high reliability computer market -- want to win a DVD player? Venture Development Corporation (VDC), an independent market research firm, is conducting a study for leading suppliers of redundant, high availability, and ruggedized industrial computers. When you take their survey, they enter you in a drawing to win a DVD player. story

Wind River worries about GPL in embedded apps -- this article at Integrated Communications Design takes a look at concerns expressed by Wind River's Vice President of Corporate Marketing, Curt Schacker, as to the viability of using GPL-based software (like Linux) in embedded applications. story

Embedded Linux Expo & Conference expands to two days -- good news! As a result of the popularity of last year's event, the RTC Group has decided to expand the third Embedded Linux Expo & Conference (ELEC), to be held in San Jose, CA, from one day to two. story

Family of computing appliances supports Linux -- Neoware Systems introduced what they describe as the first family of computing appliances that supports Embedded Linux, Windows CE, and Embedded NT, all managed by one suite of management tools. story

"World's first 1-chip Gigabit Ethernet controller" runs Linux -- Intel began sampling what they claim is the world's first single-chip Gigabit Ethernet controller. The new chip supports 1000, 100, and 10 megabits/sec data rates and is fully supported by Linux drivers. story

MontaVista claims world's first working XScale Linux demo -- MontaVista Software says it was the first company to publicly demonstrate embedded Linux running on Intel's new XScale microarchitecture processor. The demo took place at the recently-concluded LinuxWorld and Expo in New York. story

Turbolinux acquires Linuxcare -- the two companies have reached a definitive merger agreement in an all-stock transaction of undisclosed value. story

A new window system for Embedded Linux -- Adelinux, Inc. announced the development of @win, a new window system environment for Linux. @win is designed for both desktop and embedded systems, and can fit within as little as 200KB memory. story

Crusoe and Linux power new server appliance -- Rebel.com released a new Linux-based server appliance based on the Transmeta Crusoe processor. The product will be marketed as a highly power-efficient small office Internet solution. story

Hands-on Embedded Linux training in San Diego -- join your colleagues in beautiful San Diego this Spring for 4 days (April 30 - May 3, 2001) of intensive hands-on Embedded Linux training at The University of California, San Diego. story

New Open Source Bluetooth project from IBM developerWorks -- BlueHoc simulates the baseband and link layers of the Bluetooth specifications. It is capable of simulating an ad-hoc environment with several Bluetooth devices operating in an indoor wireless channel. story

*** LINKS OF THE WEEK ***

GStreamer -- an open multimedia framework -- GStreamer supports streaming multimedia applications and includes components to handle MPEG1, MPEG2, AVI, MP3, WAV, AU, and more. The framework is based on plug-ins that will provide the various codec and other functionality. story

OpenGL -- an open 2D/3D graphics API -- since its introduction in 1992, OpenGL has become one of the industry's most widely used and supported 2D and 3D graphics API. OpenGL API-based applications can run on systems ranging from consumer electronics to PCs, workstations, and supercomputers. story

Kaffe -- an open source Java VM and class libraries -- Kaffe is a cleanroom, open source (GPL) implementation of a Java virtual machine and class libraries. story

Journaled File System (JFS) Technology for Linux -- IBM's journaled file system technology, currently used in IBM enterprise servers, is designed for high-throughput server environments, key to running intranet and other high-performance e-business file servers. IBM is contributing this technology to the Linux open source community with the hope that some or all of it will be useful in bringing the best of journaling capabilities to the Linux operating system. story

*** FREQUENTLY UPDATED QUICK REFERENCE GUIDES ***

*** THE 2001 EMBEDDED LINUX MARKET SURVEY ***

As part of our continuing efforts to support the rapidly growing Embedded Linux Market, we are pleased to announce the online 2001 Embedded Linux Market Survey. The survey, which is structured in three parts, asks developers of Linux-based embedded systems and intelligent devices to anonymously provide information about their applications, their embedded Linux OS requirements and preferences, and the perceived advantages and disadvantages of using Linux in embedded applications.

Note: Please participate in this new survey, even if you already did so in 2000. Thank you!

VOTE HERE!

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