Dell netbook uses MID-sized Atom  

Posted by Daniela Mehler

Dell netbook uses MID-sized Atom

Dell announced a netbook that breaks from the herd by using an Intel Z5xx Atom CPU and 12-inch display. The Inspiron Mini 12 includes a 60/80GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, webcam, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g WiFi, and runs Ubuntu Linux, Windows Vista, or Windows XP, says Dell.

(Click here for a larger view of Dell's Inspiron Mini 12)

Dell's Inspiron Mini 12 appears to be the first "netbook" to reach market with a 12-inch display, though the company doesn't actually use that moniker. Instead, it merely calls the Inspiron Mini 12 -- which bridges the gap between smaller netbooks and conventional laptops -- an "Internet companion."

By whatever name, the device has a 12-inch screen with 1200 x 800 resolution. Rather than using Intel's 1.6GHz Atom N270 ("Diamondville") processor, the usual netbook choice, the Inspiron Mini 12 employs the chipmaker's Z5xx Atom CPUs ("Silverthorne"), usually associated with smaller, lower-powered MIDs (mobile Internet devices).

Compared to the N270, which measures 22mm x 22mm, the Z5xx Atoms come in a 13mm x 13mm package. The Silverthorne parts also save a bit of power, given that the N270 has a rated TDP of 2.5 Watts, while the 1.33GHz Z520 and 1.6GHz Z530 processors chosen by Dell have TDPs of just two Watts.

Additionally, the N270 requires Intel's 945GSE chipset, which is rated for a six Watt TDP. In contrast, the Z520 and Z530 are designed to use Intel's "Poulsbo" SCH (system controller hub) US15W, rated for a TDP of just 2.5 Watts.

Dell netbook uses MID-sized Atom


Inspiron Mini 9A portable computer using Silverthorne should, therefore, run cooler and last longer on batteries. Of course, the most power-thirsty component of most systems is the display, and here the Mini 12 has a larger display, likely offsetting any processor power savings. Dell is claiming three hours of life with a standard three-cell battery, and six hours with an optional six-cell battery, roughly on par with its smaller-screen Mini 9. Announced last month, the Mini 9 (pictured at right) runs Ubuntu Linux or Windows XP, but forgoes Vista. The Linux version is equipped with a 8.9-inch, 1024 x 600 display, 1GB SDRAM, three USB ports, Ethernet, and a 4GB solid-state drive, says Dell.

The price of "sleek"

Despite its larger screen, the new Inspiron Mini 12 comes in a package that's light and very thin. The system is said to weigh just 2.72 pounds, including HDD, and to have a 11.77 x 9.02 inch footprint. Thickness ranges from 0.92 to 1.09 inches.

Purchasers do pay one price for sleekness that goes beyond the system's cost: namely, the SCH US15W doesn't support memory expansion beyond the 1GB of RAM the Inspiron Mini 12 comes with. Mass storage is up to the netbook mark, however, with 60GB or 80GB 4,200rpm HDDs. The drives are reportedly 1.8-inch devices from Samsung that measure just 5mm high.

Other ingredients of the Inspiron Mini 12 include three USB ports, microphone and speaker sockets, a webcam, and a VGA port. The device also includes a slot that accepts SD/MMC memory cards.

Though Dell did not announce any internal expansion for the device, the Australian website APC.com obtained an Inspiron Mini 12, and cites a SIM card plus two PCI Mini Card slots. One of the Mini Card slots is occupied by a 802.11b/g WiFi card, while the other will reportedly house an optional 3G HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) modem. APC.com reports finding help files on the device identifying the cellular modem as a "Dell Wireless 5330," said to include a GPS receiver along with 7.2Mbps downlink and 2.0Mbs uplink on the 2.1GHz, 1.9GHz and 850MHz bands.

Separately, however, Dell product manager John New reportedly told Laptop magazine that the initially shipping Inspiron Mini 12 will not have an internal antenna to support cellular use. Dell PR representative Anne Camden added on a company blog that while the device is not "mobile broadband ready" today, "we are working as quickly as possible to make that happen, but it's like herding cats, involving extensive testing and qualification by several different folks including the FCC, the wireless carriers, and our own wireless and engineering teams."

Features and specifications released by Dell for the Inspiron Mini 12 include:Processor -- Intel Atom Z520 (1.33GHz) or Z530 (1.6GHz)
Memory -- 1GB of RAM (soldered-in, not expandable)
Display -- 12.1 inch display with 1200 x 800 resolution
Camera -- webcam (resolution unstated)
Storage -- 60GB or 80GB hard disk drive
Networking -- 10/100 Ethernet port
Wireless:802.11b/g
BluetoothOther I/O:1 x VGA port
Audio headphone out and mic in
3 x USBExpansion:SD slot
2 x PCI Mini card slots (one occupied by WiFi card)Dimensions -- 11.77 x 9.02 inch footprint, thickness ranging from 0.92 to 1.09 inches
Weight -- 2.72 poundsFurther information

Dell says the Inspiron Mini 12 will ship initially with Windows Vista Home Basic, but will also be available with Windows XP and the company's own edition of Ubuntu Linux. The device will be available in Japan this week, while U.S. availability is expected by the end of November "with a starting price under $600," the company adds.

For APC.com's article on the Dell Inspiron Mini 12, complete with detailed pictures, see the publication's website, here. To read Laptop's interview about the device with Dell product manager John New, see here.

For Anne Camden's Dell blog entry on the device, see here. Finally, for further coverage by our sister publication eWEEK.com, see here.


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Networking platforms run Pentium M SoCs  

Posted by Daniela Mehler

Networking platforms run Pentium M SoCs

Yet another embedded system vendor has jumped on Intel's EP80579 system-on-chip (SoC), previously code-named "Tolapai." Win Enterprises announced its EP80579-based PL-10540 and PL-10550 desktop networking platforms, both of which are designed for SOHO/SMB network management and network security applications, says the company.

(Click for larger view of the PL-10550)

The PL-10540 and PL-10550 provide the hardware component for custom firewalls, VPNs, and anti-spam, anti-virus, and intrusion detection/prevention appliances, says the company. They are identical except that the latter offers one more gigabit Ethernet port, for a total of five, says Win Enterprises.

Both systems offer the Intel EP80579 in versions clocked to 600MHz, 1.066GHz or 1.2 GHz, with or without the chip's optional "QuickAssist" FPGA (field programmable gate array) interface. Announced in July, the EP80579 integrates typical northbridge and southbridge functions with a Pentium M core clocked up to 1.2GHz. The SoC includes a memory controller hub (MCH) supporting DDR2 RAM up to 800MHz.

Networking platforms run Pentium M SoCs


Intel EP80579 block diagram
(Click to enlarge)

The PL-10540 and PL-10550 support up to 2GB of DDRII memory. Storage options include an SATA hard drive, or CompactFlash (using it disables the SATA interface support). Storage can be expanded using USB-connected NAND flash, according to the company.

I/O includes USB and serial ports. The system can be expanded via a MiniCard PCIe riser. The systems measure a compact 9.0 x 6.5 x 1.7 inches.

Specifications listed for the PL-10540 and PL-10550 include:Processor -- Intel EP80579 Integrated Processor (600MHz, 1.066GHz, or 1.2GHz); optional QuickAssist support
Cache -- 256KB of L2 coherent cache
Memory -- up to 2GB DDRII 400/533/667/800Mhz
Flash -- 1 x USB 2.0 NAND flash module connector
SSD -- 1 x 50-pin CompactFlash Type II socket for SSD (disables a SATA port when populated)
Expansion -- 1 x MiniCard PCIe riser (disables USB function on MiniCard when used)
Storage -- 2 x SATA HDD connectors
Networking -- 4 x (PL-10540) or 5 x (PL-10550) 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet
USB -- 1 x USB 2.0 port
Serial -- 1 x RJ45/RS-232 COM port
LEDs -- dual color programmable LEDs
Dimensions -- 9.0 x 6.5 x 1.7 inches
Operating temperature -- 32 to 104 degrees F (0 to 40 degrees C)
Power -- 60W + 12V DC In adapter; RoHS compliant
Operating systems: Linux, Windows Embedded XP, FreeBSDStated Chiman Patel, CEO/CTO of Win Enterprises, in reference to the Intel EP80579, "By combining the functions of four chips into one, Intel has simplified and sped up platform design while bringing the benefits of smaller footprint, lowered power consumption, enhanced performance, and comprehensive I/O to the device."

Availability

The PL-10540 and PL-10550 platforms will be available in mid-December, 2008, with four to six weeks required for delivery, says Win Enterprises. Per-unit pricing in OEM quantities is $425 (PL-10540) and $455 (PL-10550) respectively. More information on the PL-10550 should be available here (PL-10540) or here (PL-10550).

Other Linux-compatible networking systems based on the Intel EP80579 SoC have included Lanner's FW-7570 1U network appliance device and NS04-5130 network-attached storage (NAS) appliance, as well as Habey's BIS-7750 network appliance, which supports security, communications, and NAS. More recently, Portwell announced its EP80579-based CATO-3000 network security appliance.


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Virtual system mimics superscalar SoC  

Posted by Daniela Mehler

Virtutech has announced a virtual system for simulating the Renesas Technologies SH-4A superscalar system-on-chip (SoC). Based on its Simics simulated development platform, the SH-4A simulator has been tested on Express Logic's ThreadX real-time operating system (RTOS), but should also work with Linux, says the company.

Jointly developed with Express Logic, the Simics-based simulator enables customers to get started with software modeling of custom ASICs (application specific integrated circuits) based on the Renesas SH-4A core, before the part arrives, says Virtutech. Engineers can develop, debug, test, and run their software application stack on a virtual representation of their target hardware.

Introduced in 2002, Virtutech's Simics is a mature "Virtual Software Development" (VSD) board simulation environment that has been used to simulate processors such as Freescale's MPC8572E PowerQUICC III and forthcoming QorIQ processors. It also supports ARM, PowerPC, and x86 architectures.

Simics is positioned as providing "whole board" simulation with "cycle-accurate" instruction-set emulation, for meaningful hardware evaluation as well as software evaluation. Simics is said to be capable of running unmodified production-quality binaries, and can be used with third-party software development tools.

Virtual system mimics superscalar SoC


The Simics simulator for the SH-4A has been tested with ThreadX only,
but should work with other compatible OSes, including Linux
(Click to enlarge)
Simics does not require the OS to be paravirtualized, (i.e. adapted to run on the simulated processor), says Virtutech. "That is the beauty of it," wrote Michel Genard, Virtutech VP of Marketing, in an email interview. "Simics has the ability to run unmodified software from the driver, OS, stack, and application. From a software perspective, it doesn't even know that it is running on a virtual platform."

According to Genard, Virtutech's SH-4A simulator has only been tested on ThreadX so far, but that it should also support any other OS that supports the SH-4A. Likely candidates there would be Linux and Windows CE.

SH-4A

Announced in 2004, the SH-4A core is frequently used in SoCs and ASICs targeting consumer electronics products. It integrates 32KB each of instruction and data cache, 16KB of on-chip RAM, and a 108MHz 32/64-bit bus for connections to external SDRAM. The core also integrates a powerful single-/double-precision FPU (floating point unit) with hardware sine/cosine and vector math accelerators.

Linux-compatible Renesas processors running the SH-4A core include the SH-MobileR2 SH7723 SoC, which shipped in April and is aimed at car navigation systems and PNDs (personal navigation devices). The SH-MobileR2 SH7723 incorporates a 400MHz SH-4A CPU core, 256KB secondary cache, H.264 codec, 2D graphics accelerator, USB 2.0 support, plus SD and ATAPI controllers, says Renesas. Other SH-4A-based SoCs include the SH-MobileR SH7722, which integrates a 266MHz SH4AL-DSP core with hardware terrestrial digital broadcast (DVB-T) codecs and targets portable media players, video-VoIP devices, and TV-enabled navigation systems.

Stated Brian Davis, director of the MPU group of Renesas Technology America, "Renesas customers migrating to next-generation SH-4A microprocessors can begin software development today using the Virtutech Simics platform. It's an ideal match for real-time applications involving the SH-4A."

Availability

The SH-4A simulator for ThreadX is shipping now, says Virtutech, which did not disclose a price.


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FPGA dev kit supports dual PowerPCs  

Posted by Daniela Mehler

FPGA dev kit supports dual PowerPCs

Xilinx is shipping a development kit for its high-end Virtex-5 FXT FPGA (field-programmable gate array) that supports dual PowerPC440 processors. The Virtex-5 FXT FPGA ML510 Embedded Development Platform includes an ATX-format evaluation board, and is available with a Linux BSP (board support package).

(Click for larger view of the Virtex-5 FXT FPGA ML510 ATX board)

The ML510 kit supports the development of dual-PowerPC systems for video imaging, secure communications, and network processing, says Xilinx. In August, Xilinx shipped a similar "ML507" hardware/software kit for single-processor Virtex-5 FXT FPGA –based systems, and in February it released a kit for its low-cost Spartan FPGAs. Like the earlier ML507 kit, the ML510 supports the new "FX70T" version of its high-end, 65nm-fabricated Virtex-5 FXT processor.

Targeting communications, military, and aerospace applications, the Virtex-5 FXT is based on one or two embedded PowerPC 440 processor blocks, each of which integrates 32KB instruction and 32KB data caches, delivering up to a claimed 1,100 DMIPS at 550MHz. The blocks are closely integrated with a 5x2 crossbar processor interconnect architecture that is said to enable simultaneous access to I/O and memory.

FPGA dev kit supports dual PowerPCs


Virtex-5 FXT system design example


The ML510 kit includes an ATX board with dual PowerPC440 parts, two SIMMs totaling 1GB of DDR2, a 512MB CompactFlash card, an LCD character display, and an ATX power supply, says the company. Expansion options include dual PCI Express connectors, four PCI connectors, and dual SATA connectors. Connectivity features are said to include dual gigabit Ethernet PHYs, dual USB ports, dual serial connectors, and a parallel port, among other options.

Both the Virtex-5 FXT and the PowerPC440 blocks are supported by the company's EDK (embedded development kit) 10.1, which includes MontaVista and Wind River Linux distributions, as well as real-time operating systems (RTOSes) from Wind River, Green Hills, and others. The platform is also supported by the company's ISE Design Suite development tools.

Availability

The Virtex-5 FXT FPGA ML510 Embedded Development Platform is available now for $3,100, with a rack mount add-on available for $450, says Xilinx. More information may be found here.


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Via demos Nano processor, Pico-ITXe  

Posted by Daniela Mehler

Via demos Nano processor, Pico-ITXe

Via Technologies has begun sampling a mini-ITX board based on its 64-bit Via Nano processor, and has unveiled its new "pico-ITXe" form-factor. The Via VB8001 Mini-ITX Board combines a 1.6GHz Nano with a CN896 graphics chipset, 16-lane PCI Express slot, and multiple I/O, says Via.

(Click for larger view of the Via VB8001 Mini-ITX Board)

Via is demonstrating the VB8001 at the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) in Boston this week, where it will also demonstrate its new pico-ITXe format. Pico-ITX is said to comply with the I/O-centric Stackable Unified Module Interconnect Technology (SUMIT) standard. (See below for more info.)

Via demos Nano processor, Pico-ITXe

Via demos Nano processor, Pico-ITXe


The VB8001, with and without heat-sink.
The CN896 chipset dwarfs the tiny Nano CPU
(Click either view to enlarge)

The Nano is the first Via processor to use its new "64-bit, superscalar, speculative out-of-order" Isaiah micro-architecture. The Nano L2100 offers a clock speed of 1.8GHz, 800MHz frontside bus, and a rated TDP max of 25.5 Watts, says the company.

The Linux-compatible processor compares favorably to Intel's Atom in performance, according to one early report. Built on 65nm technology, and with the added overhead of out-of-order execution, it also uses considerably more power than the 45nm, in-order Atom. In fact, Nano is really more similar to Intel's Core architecture than to Atom.

On the Via VB8001 board, the Nano is backed up with up to 4GB of DDR2, and is paired with the Via CN896 digital media IGP chipset. The CN896 offers an integrated Chrome9 graphics accelerator for DirectX 9.0 3D graphics, and supports the Via Vinyl 5.1 Audio technology, says Via. The chipset also supports "popular add-in graphics cards" through the board's integrated 16-lane PCI Express slot. The Nano primarily targets nettops.

Specifications for the Via VB8001 board are said to include:Processor -- 1.6GHz Via Nano
Chipset -- Via CN896 northbridge; VT8237S southbridge
Memory -- 2 x DDR2 533/667 DIMM sockets for up to 4GB
Display -- VGA support integrated with CN896's Via Chrome9 HC graphics and video acceleration
Audio -- Via VT1708A high definition audio codec
Expansion -- 1 x 16-Lane PCIe slot; 1 x 32-bit MiniPCI slot
Storage -- 1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 onboard IDE connector; 2 x SATA (3Gbps) connectors
Networking -- Via VT6103L 10/100Mbps Ethernet PHY
USB -- 2 x USB 2.0 ports
Other onboard I/O connectors:2 x fan pin connectors (CPU/Sys FAN)
3 x USB pin connectors for 6 additional USB 2.0 ports (one supports Via WLAN module)
1 x Serial port pin connector for COM2 (5V/12V selectable)
1 x LPC header
1 x CIR pin connector (switchable for KB/MS)
1 x FIR pin connector (IRDA 1.0)
1 x SMBus connector
1 x buzzer
1 x S/PDIF out pin connector
1 x Front-panel pin connector
1 x Front-panel audio pin connector (Mic and Line-out)
1 x ATX power connectorOther back-panel I/O:1 x PS2 mouse port
1 x PS2 keyboard port
1 x Serial port
1 x VGA port
1 x RJ-45 LAN port
3 x Audio jacks (Line-out, Line-in and Mic-in)System monitoring -- voltage monitoring; watchdog timer; wake-on LAN, keyboard and timer power-on; AC power failure recovery
Operating temperature -- 32 to 122 degrees F (0 to 50 degrees C)
Dimensions -- 6.7 x 6.7-inch (17 x 17cm); mini-ITX (6-layer)
Operating systems -- Linux, Windows XP, Win CE, XPePCI-ITXe embraces SUMIT

The new Pico-ITXe form-factor that Via is demonstrating tomorrow at ESC Boston is a new version of pico-ITX that supports the SUMIT stackable board interface. Via's tiny 3.9 x 2.8-inch (10 x 7.2cm) pico-ITX format was announced in January 2007. The form-factor has approximately half the surface area of Via's 4.7 x 4.7-inch (12 x 12cm) nano-ITX standard, and is considerably smaller than the original 6.7-inch square (17 x 17cm) mini-ITX standard.


Via demos Nano processor, Pico-ITXe


The SUMIT physical interface
(Source: Samtec)


Earlier this year, Via transferred ownership of the pico-ITX spec to the Small Form Factor SIG (special interest group), which defined and now maintains the open, vendor-neutral SUMIT standard. SUMIT offers a stackable expansion interface aimed at unifying I/O cards across many single-board computer (SBC) form factors, says the group.

Around the same time that SUMIT was announced, the PC/Consortium, which has long maintained a series of stackable board standards, announced that it has officially adopted a competing stackable board standard called PCI/104 Express. This PCI/104 offshoot moves up to three connectors and 156 pins, in order to support full x16 PCIe, while SUMIT sticks with 104 pins, and tops out at x4 PCIe signals. Both rival interface standards are claimed to support next-generation PCI Express 2.0 signaling.

Availability

The Via VB8001 is sampling now, says Via, which is demonstrating the board at ESC Boston this week at booth #914. More information on the VB8001 may be found here.

At presstime, Via did not appear to have additional information on its pico-ITXe standard. Other products to be demo'd at the show include the Via ViPro "all-in-one touch panel system," and "Via's new segment specific NAS and NAB boards," says the company.


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Torvalds: Real quality means taking it personally  

Posted by Daniela Mehler

Torvalds: Real quality means taking it personally

The Linux Foundation (LF) has posted a ten-minute video interview with kernel coordinator Linus Torvalds. Held during the Linux Foundation's recent Linux Kernel Summit, the interview reveals the Linux founder speaking out on issues ranging from kernel/userland interactions to why Linux has so many interfaces.

Much of the interview with Torvalds (pictured) has the kernel project's chief coordinator discussing issues related to the LF's recent Kernel Summit held in September in Portland, Ore. The interview was held only a few weeks before the release of the 2.6.27 kernel, which added a number of changes of interest to the embedded community, including "Ftrace" and "Sysprof" trace tools, a new "UBIFS" flash filesystem, and support for network drivers with multiple transmit queues.

Torvalds: Real quality means taking it personally

Torvalds: Real quality means taking it personally

Torvalds: Real quality means taking it personally

Torvalds: Real quality means taking it personally


Linus Torvalds, on the Linux Kernel Summit
(Click any photo to enlarge)

Here are a few slightly edited excerpts from the interview:On the value of the Kernel Summit: "No real work gets done here, and a lot of it is rehashing issues that probably would be better off done via email. But at the same time, from a social standpoint it's nice for people to meet each other, even if you're just sitting and having beers together. It's part of the community thing."

Torvalds: Real quality means taking it personally

Torvalds: Real quality means taking it personally

Torvalds: Real quality means taking it personally

Torvalds: Real quality means taking it personally


Linus Torvalds, on Linux Kernel Summit
(Click any photo to enlarge)

On the focus at this year's summit on quality: "This is probably because we haven't had a lot of huge pressing technical issues, so people have been worrying about how we do development, not about particular issues so much. I do very little development, so for me, process issues like release cycle issues and quality issues are really what I come looking for."

On the extensive discussion at the summit about regression: Torvalds said he had expected that about a quarter of the kernel developers at the show had been following the weekly regression emails, but he was surprised and "kind of disturbed" by the fact that it seemed to be "much less than that." However, when asked if the regression group should be doing a lot more than sending emails, Torvalds seemed to disagree. "Real quality means making sure that people are proud of the code they write, that they're involved and taking it personally," he said.

On potential changes to the release cycle: Torvalds seemed to suggest the current cycle could last awhile. "We have been so successful trying to shrink the cycle that I would try to shrink it a bit more, although in arguments against it, they [kernel developers] have convinced me that I don't think we can," he said. "No one's really unhappy with the current cycle."

On the "tools" people at the conference, and userland vs kernel issues: According to Torvalds, the debates on userland vs kernel layer changes "are always so painful." In general, he added, he thinks it's best when "we can keep something in the kernel and don't have to worry about userland interactions and tools and especially graphical GUIs, which kernel people really aren't that great at," he said. Added Torvalds, "We are much better when we have don't have to try to integrate with a group that doesn't share our values and where we really don't know each others' issues."

On whether all the recent activity around Linux surprised him: "I'm so out of it, I don't even care," said Torvalds. "I concentrate on certain parts of the kernel, and everything else to me is just fluff. When stuff around the kernel comes up, most of the time it just irritates me because I have to work outside my main area, and I have to make decisions on whether to merge stuff based on issues that I'm not comfortable with. That's one of the reasons why we end up having these tens of different interfaces just because we're not very good at that."Availability

The full ten-minute video with Torvalds, in QuickTime format, should be available here.

Other videos

Other videos taken at the Kernel summit, and now available from the Linux Foundation, include:Rafael Wysoki of Novell
Chris Mason of Oracle
Greg Kroah-Hartman of Novell
Mathieu Desnoyers of Йcole Polytechnique de Montrйal
Paul Mackerras of IBM
John Linville of Red Hat
Stephen Rothwell of IBM
Kristen Accardi of Intel
Dirk Hohndel of Intel
Dave Jones of Red Hat
David Miller of Red Hat
Len Brown of Intel
Jon Corbet of LWN.net
Frank Eigler of Red Hat
Ted Ts'o of The Linux Foundation/IBM They can be found here.


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Tiny $75 SBC gains baseboard  

Posted by Daniela Mehler

Tiny $75 SBC gains baseboard

Chennai, India-based E-con Systems announced a baseboard for its SODIMM-sized, Marvell PXA270-based processor module. The baseboard adds an LCD touchscreen, USB, serial ports, SDIO slot, and camera interfaces to the company's Linux-ready eSOM270 module, available in volume for about $75.

(Click for larger view of the Windows version of the eSOM270 baseboard)

Tiny $75 SBC gains baseboard


eSOM270
(Click for details)The new baseboard offers a 200-pin SODIMM connector for the eSOM270. The eSOM270 (pictured below, right) measures 2.63 x 1.22 x 0.15 inches (69 x 31 x 4mm), and comes pre-installed with Linux. It includes 64MB or 128MB of RAM, and is billed as a multi-purpose single-board computer (SBC).

The new baseboard for the eSOM270 is available with a choice of touchscreens. One option is a 3.5-inch QVGA (320x240) model. The other is a 5.7-inch model of unspecified resolution.

On-board I/O includes:2 x USB host ports
1 x USB client interface
3 x serial ports
SDIO interface
Camera interfaceThe baseboard ships with schematics, a user manual, and a bill of material (BOM), says E-con. The eSOM270 itself ships with a pre-installed, bootable Linux installation, and is also said to be compatible with Windows CE 6.0, via a BSP (board support package) originally targeted at E-con's PXA270-based Sirius reference design. The Sirius supports nine add-on modules, including WiFi, NFC, barcode reader, GPRS, GPS, quad UART, camera, fingerprint reader, and thermal printer, says the company.

Availability

E-con Systems did not provide pricing or availability information on the baseboard. The SOM itself costs $110 in quantities of 1K or above, for a 520MHz version that includes 128MB of RAM and 32MB of flash. Other versions can cost as little as $75, says E-con. More information on the eSOM270 may be found here.


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Linux wins big in ATCA "Best of Show" honors  

Posted by Daniela Mehler

Linux wins big in ATCA Best of Show honors

Linux-friendly products took all four "Best of Show" awards at the AdvancedTCA Summit. Top awards went to Nortel for its Linux-based Virtual Service Engine (VSE) platform and VSE-based MSC Server; to RadiSys for its Linux-based ATCA-9100 blade; and to VirtualLogix for its HA virtualization software.

(Click for larger view of the Nortel Virtual Service Engine)

The second-annual awards program were presented on Wednesday at the AdvancedTCA Summit at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, Calif. The Best of Show award winners were judged based on distinctiveness, central use of AdvancedTCA (ATCA), and technical and business significance, say the organizers.

The ATCA standard encompasses a variety of specifications for carrier grade telecommunications and networking equipment, including servers, gateways, wireless network controllers, and edge and access routers. Maintained by PICMG, the specifications define server blade and backplane form-factors with an eye toward maximizizing reliability, manageability, and serviceability.

Best of Show awards were given to following products:Best Infrastructure -- Nortel Versatile Service Engine (VSE) -- Nortel's carrier-grade VSE platform (pictured at top) incorporates ATCA-compliant, industry-standard commercial hardware, a "hardened" Linux implementation with telecom-specific extensions, and "modular, fault-tolerant middleware," says Nortel. VSE underlies a number of Nortel products including its MSC Server, Packet Mobile Switching Center (P-MSC), Call Session Controller (CSC 1000), Home Subscriber Server (HSS 1000), and Home Location Register (HLR) system. According to Nortel, these systems all use the VSE equipped with various combinations of a few types of software-programmable multi-purpose blades.

Linux wins big in ATCA Best of Show honors


RadiSys Promentum ATCA-9100
Best Unique Customer Application -- Nortel AdvancedTCA ALL-IP MSC Server -- Based on Nortel's VSE, the MSC Server provides a circuit switching platform that serves both as a network node in a wireless telecommunications network and as a point of access to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), says Nortel. The MSC Server is said to supervise and control voice/data path connections to the PSTN and other switches while supporting both GSM and UMTS technologies.

Best Hardware -- RadiSys Promentum ATCA-9100 Media Processing Blade -- The latest in the RadiSys Promentum family of ATCA servers and blades, the ATCA-9100 is based on a Freescale MSC8144 digital signal processor (DSP) and a 1.3GHz Freescale PowerQUICC III MPC8548 Local Management Processor (LMP). Designed for media gateways and high density media servers in wireless, broadband, and IPTV applications, the board includes a gigabit Ethernet switch and sRIO switch, as well as power and IPMI infrastructure, says RadiSys. The PowerQUICC-based LMP processor is integrated with 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM and dual 128MB flash memory modules that contain redundant boot, Linux OS images, and a local flash file system, says the company. The ATCA-9100 is also said to be integrated into the RadiSys PromentumSYS-6010 10 Gigabit platform.

Best Software -- VirtualLogix VLX vHA 1.1 Carrier Grade Virtualization (CGV) -- VirtualLogix started shipping its CGV product in July. A High-Availability (HA) version of its carrier-grade VLX-NI (network infrastructure) software, CGV combines VirtualLogix's virtualization stack for networking equipment with a new virtualization-enabled vHA interface. vHA is billed as a way to provide fault recovery and system management services across virtual and physical domains (see diagram below). The full VirtualLogix CGV package also offers hardware and guest OS management features, as well as application restart from a known state, which together are said to provide greater flexibility in managing HA systems and controlling availability levels. CGV ships with Linux-ready tools for configuration, development, and monitoring, says the company.

Linux wins big in ATCA Best of Show honors


vHA in high-end, multiple multi-core environment
(Click to enlarge)

Finally, to recognize PICMG's efforts in advancing ATCA standards, this year's awards included two AdvancedTCA Summit Industry Leadership Awards given to PICMG president Joe Pavlat, and PICMG VP/technology Dick Somes.

Stated Ernie Bergstrom, president of Crystal Cube Consulting and chairperson of the AdvancedTCA Summit, "AdvancedTCA is sparking incredible innovation for our next generation of high-performance telecom applications."


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Triple-core DSP runs Linux

IPTV set-top runs Linux  

Posted by Daniela Mehler

IPTV set-top runs Linux

NeuLion is shipping a Linux-based IPTV set-top box (STB) as a complement to its IPTV encoding and streaming platform. Based on a Freescale Coldfire CPU and an Analog Devices Blackfin DSP (digital signal processor), the NeuLion IPTV STB provides H.264 decoding at 30fps, says NeuLion.

(Click for larger view of NeuLion IPTV STB)

NeuLion is an IPTV service provider for live and on-demand sports, as well as international and variety programming. It says its services include content ingestion, encoding in multiple formats, digital rights and content management, content delivery, customer billing, and subscription management services. And, it recently merged with a similar company called JumpTV. NeuLion's content partners are said to include KyLinTV, which offers "Chinese entertainment and programming." The KyLin TV home page shows an image of NeuLion's STB, and links to another page stating that the box is worth about $200, but is being offered at $9 a month.

IPTV set-top runs Linux


NeuLion's back-end server in typical configuration


NeuLion provides its content customers with a NeuLion iPTV Program Server and Streaming Server for encoding, transcoding, and streaming at 700Kbps over the Internet. Typically, they also supply the STBs for distribution to providers' customers. However, the system can also deliver video to PCs, cellphones, and other H.264-compatible mobile devices, says the company. The streaming server is said to support hundreds of channels and video streams, each with different content choices. It is unclear what operating system is used on the back-end servers, but the STB runs an undisclosed version of "open source Linux," which NeuLion says "provides a cost effective, high performance, and low bit-rate solution."

IPTV set-top runs Linux


NeuLion IPTV STB architecture


NeuLion did not provide detailed specs for the STB, but the architecture diagram above shows that the box runs a Blackfin DSP and Coldfire CPU. Freescale's ColdFire MCF5249 is a low-powered 140MHz microcontroller that has long supported Linux. The ADSP-BF533 Blackfin uses the Micro Signal Architecture (MSA), which supports a RISC-like register and instruction model.

The NeuLion iPTV STB offers the following features, says NeuLion:Plug and play with cable modem/ADSL/Ethernet connection
Support for 802.11g WiFi
600 to 800Kbps streaming rate from network and to TV
Integrated CPU+DSP H.264 decoder design
Supports multiple-channel broadcasting, VOD (video on demand), and PVR video recording
30 frames per second (fps) for NTSC; 25fps for PAL
MP3/stereo audio output
S-Video/YVR/RGB video output
Automatic upgrades over the network
VOD features such as pause, fast forward, and rewind
Embedded browser for central control and customized brandingOn the encoding and streaming end, the NeuLion iPTV Platform offers the following touted features:Real-time H.264/MPEG-4 AVC encoding and transcoding
Scalable, simultaneous streaming over RTP and RTSP protocol
No buffering, "fast cache," and instant-on channel
Patented compression algorithms for compressing between framesAvailability

NeuLion did not offer pricing on the various components of its IPTV Platform. However, as noted above, KyLinTV rents out the Linux-based IPTV STB for $9 per month, and claims the box represents a "$198" value.


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Industrial networked DVR runs Linux

Microkernel boasts more "robust" SDK  

Posted by Daniela Mehler

Open Kernel Labs (OK Labs) has upgraded its microkernel operating system (OS) and Linux-friendly embedded virtual machine environment, adding an improved, Linux-compatible software development kit (SDK). Another touted improvement in OKL4 3.0 is a common API across different OKL4 versions, OSes, and mobile stacks, says the company.

OKL4 is a microkernel OS that runs almost everything in userspace. The OS includes a thin hardware abstraction layer that can support Linux, Windows Mobile, Symbian, and/or other guest OSes, each running in userspace for added security. It also includes a minimal POSIX-compliant execution environment, enabling separate applications and drivers to also run in separate, isolated partitions.

Microkernel boasts more robust SDK


OK Labs OKL4 Secure Hypercell architecture
(Click to enlarge)

The OKL4 microkernel ships in "millions of units per month," primarily in mobile phones, and is expected to be in 250 million phones by the end of the year, claims OK Labs. OKL4 is part of multiple Linux-based handset models from Toshiba, as well as several Windows CE-based devices from HTC.

OKL4 3.0

Microkernel boasts more robust SDK

The new OKL4 focuses primarily on easing development hassles with an improved, Linux-compatible software development kit (SDK). "Version 3.0 has a much more robust SDK," said OK Labs CEO Steve Subar (pictured at right) in an interview.

New features include the ability for third-party developers to develop their own system-on-chip (SoC) modules for SoCs based on the ARM926 core, as an alternative to using OK Labs's supplied modules. Supported SoCs include major embedded processors from Broadcom, Freescale, Infineon, NXP, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments (TI), says the company.

Another key new tool, said Subar, is the memory usage tool, which maps both physical and virtual memory. "Developers can now do memory mapping, so it's easier to understand what they're looking at with system configuration processes," said Subar. "Now they can know in advance if the configuration matches the memory usage and the constraint of the design."

Major touted features in version 3.0 of OKL4 are said to include:More adaptable system security and resource allocation
Cross-platform API for rapid switching between high-level OS targets
Memory-usage tool
Freedom to create third-party ARM926-based SoC modules
SDK provides "all the header files and libraries that a developer may need"
Greater flexibility in integrating kernel libraries from different sources
Enables platform provider proprietary IP protection
Greater stack portability for increased code re-useOK Labs says OKL4's API is now more consistent across different hardware platforms, enabling developers to more easily swap OSes and mobile stacks. "Designers are faced with more and more operating systems, and now we can let them switch rapidly," said Subar. "You can replace Symbian for Linux, for example, or add Windows Mobile or switch to Android, and you don't need to re-architect the whole system."

Secure HyperCell

The previous OKL4 2.0 release, announced in April, added major security features to bolster protection against malware and destructive hackers, while also insulating mobile phone software from the effects of poorly-behaved code like flaky drivers. The key new feature was a "Secure HyperCell" technology aimed at encapsulating and protecting critical software components from the rest of the system.

"With our Secure HyperCell technology, you can have large operating systems like Linux or Symbian, along with their drivers, and integrate them, and yet still supply full isolation for legacy code," explained Subar. "Our handset OEM and semiconductor supplier customers are interested in protecting their legacy code. With OKL4, we are enabling them to protect this proprietary software by isolating the code from physical memory. Developers can implement it once, and then instead of writing new code, they can reuse it for other designs."

The license isolation afforded by the OKL4 microkernel is also of "vital importance," Subar said. "You need to be able to isolate code in a manner that is open to inspection and can be verified," he observed.

OKLabs also launched a new "Nano" version of OKL4 3.0. Designed for low-end phones and running on only 4KB, OKL4 Nano does not run Linux or other complex OSes. However, it shares an API with the full version, so companies can use native POSIX applications such as dialers on products at a range of price points, as well as more easily upgrade low-end phones to feature phones with full OSes.

Availability

OKL4 3.0 and OKL4 Nano appear to be available now under both open source and commercial license, says OK Labs.


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Mini-ITX board sports six SATA II ports  

Posted by Daniela Mehler

Mini-ITX board sports six SATA II ports

Habey has introduced a new mini-ITX motherboard aimed at embedded POS (point of sale), network attached storage (NAS), and digital signage applications. The MITX-6852 has six SATA II ports, dual gigabit Ethernet ports, plus slots including PCI Express x16, MiniPCI Express, and CompactFlash.

(Click here for a larger view of Habey's MITX-6852)

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the MITX-6852 board, a block diagram of which is shown below, is the fact that it includes six individual SATA II channels. Four of these are supplied by Intel's ICH7 southbridge, but Habey has added the Silicon Image SiL3132 chip, which delivers two additional channels, plus NCQ (native command queueing) and RAID modes 0 and 1.

Mini-ITX board sports six SATA II ports


A block diagram of Habey's MITX-6852
(Click to enlarge)
Other system components include Intel's 945GM northbridge, said to support installation of Core 2 Duo, Core Duo, or Celeron M processors with 533MHz or 667MHz frontside buses. As the picture below illustrates, the board is designed to be passively cooled via heatsinks on its northbridge and southbridge, and apparently doesn't require a fan for its CPU either; Habey touts a "customizable fanless enclosure" as an available option for OEMs.

The MITX-6852 has a single SODIMM slot, which accepts up to 2GB of DDR2 memory. Meanwhile, the edge of the board (below) houses two RJ45 connectors for gigabit Ethernet, four USB ports, audio I/O, plus dual PS/2 ports for keyboard and mouse, says Habey.

Mini-ITX board sports six SATA II ports


Habey's MITX-6852
(Click to enlarge)
On top of the board, there's a PCI Express x16 expansion slot, plus dual serial ports with 10-pin headers. Not shown in the photo above, and apparently on the underside of the board, are CompactFlash and MiniPCI Express expansion slots. The former could be used for adding solid state storage, while the latter is intended mainly for an optional wireless LAN card, according to Habey.

Worthy of note is that the MITX-6852 can accept power either from a 12VDC barrel connector on its edge, or a 20-pin ATX power supply connector. Finally, the device also has an IDE connector.

Features and specifications listed by Habey for the MITX-6852 include:Processor -- Intel Core 2 Duo, Core Duo, or Celeron M, with 533MHz or 667MHz frontside buses
Memory -- Up to 2GB of DDR2 memory, via single SODIMM slot
Networking -- 2 gigabit Ethernet ports (Intel 82573V)
Other I/O:1 x VGA
1 x VGA
4 x USB 2.0
2 x RS232 (via headers)
6 x SATA II
2 x PS/2 (for keyboard and mouse)
1 x IDE
Audio line in and line outExpansion:Type 2 CompactFlash socket
PCI Express x16 slot
MiniPCI Express slotOperating temperature -- n/s
Dimensions -- 6.7 x 6.7 inches (170 x 170mm)According to Habey, the MITX-6852 is compatible with Linux, Windows XP Embedded, Windows XP, OpenFiler, FreeNAS, Samba, OpenBSD, or "any other x86 based NAS (network attached storage) OS."

Pricing was not released, but the MITX-6852 appears to be available now. More information may appear on Habey's website, here.


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"Access Day" highlights Linux wins, products  

Posted by Daniela Mehler

Access Day highlights Linux wins, products

Access released a lightweight "Mini" version of its Access Linux Platform (ALP) mobile phone middleware and application stack. At its "Access Day" partner event in Tokyo today, it also previewed ALP 3.0, and highlighted its growing list of Linux design wins and ecosystem partners.

Access Day highlights Linux wins, products


Emblaze Mobile's Edelweiss
(Click for details)Tokyo-based Access showed off the new products in a presentation at its annual Access Day event today in Tokyo. The event drew about 1,000 attendees, including representatives from hundreds of Access partners and ecosystem providers, the company said.

ALP 3.0

Little technical information was provided on the upcoming ALP 3.0 release, except that it will be compatible with the LiMo Platform specification. Access also says the upgraded stack offers "an advanced UI" with "highly detailed visuals" and "smooth transitions and animations."

Access did confirm that DoCoMo has selected ALP as a successor to its MOAP/L Linux platform, long used by suppliers Panasonic, NEC, and Esteemo in dozens of popular Linux phones. DoCoMo will begin distributing 3G FOMA phones based on ALP in the second half of 2009, Access said.

Additionally, Sharp will likely join the ranks of DoCoMo phone suppliers using Linux, as Access has confirmed that the Sharp-made Emblaze Edelweiss (pictured at right) for Russian markets uses the ALP stack. Emblaze has posted specifications for the high-end Edelweiss.

ALP Mini

The new ALP Mini, meanwhile, is shipping now, offering a development platform and application suite designed for feature phones, low-end smartphones, portable navigation devices (PNDs), portable media players (PMPs), and set-top boxes (STBs), says Access. ALP Mini is targeted at "emerging markets," says the company, which claims the technology has already been deployed in China and Taiwan on the Haier Super Smart Phone N60, which was announced in 2006, as well as a PND device from Shanghai Novarobo Technology.

Access Day highlights Linux wins, products

Access Day highlights Linux wins, products


ALP mini inside: Haier's N60 (left) and Shanghai Novorobo's PND (right)

Whereas the full ALP 3.0 stack targets smartphones and other multitasking devices with 128MB or more each of RAM and Flash, ALP Mini gives the company a product offering for less sophisticated, single-function devices with as little as 32MB each of flash and RAM. In place of the LiMO-mandated GTK+ GUI toolkit, Mini uses a lightweight, custom "NGUI" toolkit (see screenshots below). Minimum processor requirements are a 200MHz ARM9 processor, according to Didier Diaz, director of product marketing, in an interview.

Access Day highlights Linux wins, products


ALP mini application screens


Diaz said Mini evolved from the China MobileSoft Linux stack acquired by PalmSource in Dec. of 2004, prior to Access's acquisition of PalmSource in Sept., 2005. Access subsequently integrated its NetFront Browser, Java and widget development kits, and other select ALP components. The stack is offered with a Linux kernel, or can support customer kernels.

Access Day highlights Linux wins, products


ALP mini modules diagram
(Click to enlarge)

Another key difference from the full ALP stack, according to Diaz, is that Access will not support full native Linux application development on Mini. He explained, "We will not at this point support the concept of a full ecosystem of native applications on ALP mini. It is theoretically possible, but the key development environment will be Java and browser-based NetFront widgets. We do not have the robust security mechanism, nor will we try to develop a complete ecosystem, such as tools."

ALP Mini ships with three device profiles: mobile, PMP/PND, and STB. The mobile profile used on the Haier N60 is said to include Java, and support multimedia entertainment, messaging, and personal information management (PIM). The profile is also said to support third-party modules including J2ME, MPEG4, handwriting recognition, and digital rights management (DRM). The PMP/PND profile used in the Novorobo PND, meanwhile, provides Media Framework 3.0 and WiFi components, as well as MPEG4 and handwriting recognition modules.

Major features for ALP Mini are said to include:"Innovative" UI design
Open architecture based on components and services
Integrated development environment (IDE) based on Visual C++ (in Windows)
Access NetFront Browser pre-integrated
Support for NetFront Browser Widgets (optional)
Access Media Music player integrated
Multimedia applications and RSS Sync
PIM sync
GPS support
Mobile TV supportWith regard to Mini, Diaz commented, "Mini uses half the processing power, compared to ALP, enabling us to cover a larger spectrum of the phone market. Now, we cover two thirds of the spectrum, from entry-level feature phones through high-end smartphones. Everything but entry-level voice+messaging phones, which is under 20 percent of the market, where it still makes sense to use an RTOS."

Access is also known for its lightweight NetFront Browser, which is built into the Amazon Kindle eBook reader. The company's new NetFront Browser Widgets are said to provide one-click access to personalized web content.

Stated Toru Arakawa, CEO, president and co-founder of Access, "The openness and flexibility of Linux are driving innovation in mobile phones and Internet-enabled devices."

Availability

Access Linux Platform Mini is available immediately to licensees, says Access. ALP 3.0 is expected to appear in DoCoMo phones in early 2009. More information on ALP mini should be here.


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ARM tipped for netbooks  

Posted by Daniela Mehler

Netbooks using ARM's high-end "Cortex-A" family of processor cores will begin appearing soon in netbooks, an ARM executive is reported as saying. Rob Coombs, ARM's director of mobile solutions, says to "expect announcements in the next few months," as quoted by ZDNet UK.

The netbook category was, of course, christened by ARM's chief rival, Intel, which coined the moniker for low-cost sub-notebooks that use low-powered x86 processors such as the A110 or Atom. Future "netbooks" based on ARM cores would run on Linux, Windows Mobile, or Windows CE, but not Windows XP or Vista, unless Microsoft chose to port to the architecture. Meanwhile, the market for smaller MIDs (mobile Internet devices) will be dominated by ARM, despite Atom and other new lower-powered x86 processors, according to a June report on the MID market from Forward Concepts.

"In the future, we're going to be in netbooks," Coombs is reported as saying. Products, which may offer "gigahertz speeds," will be based first on ARM's Cortex-A8 processor, and later on the company's multicore Cortex-A9, Coombs is said to have added.

According to ZDnet.co.uk writer David Meyer, Coombs did not name any manufacturers who are preparing to release Cortex netbooks, instead referencing ARM's published list of licensees. Chipmakers licensed to produce Cortex-A9 CPUs are NEC, Nvidia, STmicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba, ARM says. Meanwhile, those licensed to produce Cortex-A8 products are Broadcom, Freescale, Matsushita, Samsung, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, and PMC-Sierra, adds ARM.

ARM tipped for netbooks


Nvidia's Tegra APX2500
(Click image for further information)
Out of the above, Nvidia may be the likeliest candidate to extend Cortex technology into netbooks, since it has already started combining its notebook graphics processors with ARM cores, in SoCs aimed at the "mobile" market. The chipmaker in February launched the 600MHz


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Tools vendor touts low-cost Linux BSPs

Source free'd as first Android phone ships  

Posted by Daniela Mehler

Source freed as first Android phone ships

Google and the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) announced the availability of the Linux-based Android SDK (software development kit) under an Apache 2.0 license. The announcement comes a day prior to expected retail availability of T-Mobile's G1, the first Android phone.

Since the initial Android announcement almost a year ago, Google and the OHA group supporting the Java-based mobile stack have said they would release Android as open source code. The Apache 2.0 license used by the project requires software "distributors" to make source code available, and shipping Android in a product certainly qualifies as "distribution."

Source freed as first Android phone ships

Source freed as first Android phone ships

Source freed as first Android phone ships


G1's Google desktop search bar, search results, and message view screens
(Click any to enlarge)

Meanwhile, all eyes are on tomorrow's expected retail release of HTC's G1 phone. The G1 phone, which reportedly has already sold out its first 1.5 million pre-orders, is based on a 528MHz Qualcomm MSM7201A ARM processor. It offers 256MB of ROM and 192MB of RAM, and comes standard with a 1GB microSD card, but supports cards up to 8GB. The 3.17-inch touch-screen offers 480 x 320 resolution, and switches to landscape mode when the device's QWERTY keyboard is slid out. Other features include USB-ETX, WiFi, and Bluetooth radios. Early reviews have been positive, calling the phone a "worthy contender" to the iPhone.

The newly available Android SDKs are currently available for Linux and Mac OS development hosts. They are available from a new Android Open Source Project website featuring a variety of downloads and developer resources such as mailing lists and bug reporting tools. With the open source release and related tools, "anyone can download, build, and run the code needed to create a complete mobile device," says the OHA, including "developers, OEMs, carriers, and code contributors."

The majority of Android is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license, says the OHA. It adds however, "While the project will strive to adhere to the preferred license, there may be exceptions which will be handled on a case-by-case basis. For example, the Linux kernel patches are under the GPLv2 license with system exceptions."

Stated Andy Rubin, senior director of mobile platforms, Google, "Open source allows everyone and anyone equal access to the ideas and innovation that can make good products great."

Android is available for free download, and should be available here


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Motorola Android phone due Q2

Motorola Android phone due Q2  

Posted by Daniela Mehler

Motorola Android phone due Q2

[Updated 2:30PM] -- Verizon last week began distributing Motorola's first Linux-based touchscreen phone for the U.S. market -- the Krave ZN4 (pictured). And, Motorola will ship an Android-based touchscreen phone geared toward "social networking" website users, according to a BusinessWeek report.

(Click for larger view of Krave ZN4)

Motorola Android phone due Q2


MotoMing A1600
(Click for details)The new Krave ZN4 appears to be an Americanized version of Motorola's A1600 (pictured at right), which shipped earlier this year in Asia. Long before iPhones launched touchscreen mania in the U.S., Asian users have relied on them, along with optical character recognition, to input calligraphic characters.

The ZN4 is not to be confused with the MotoZine ZN5, a high-end cameraphone combining Motorola's "ModeShift" interface with a 5-megapixel camera sourced from development partner Kodak. Supporting SD cards up to 4GB, the ZN5 has a 2.4-inch 240x320 resolution TFT touchscreen display. For connectivity, it offers GSM 850/900/1800/1900 EDGE Class 12 and GPRS Class 12 cellular service, as well as 802.11 b/g/i WiFi. It is expected to ship via T-Mobile on Nov. 3.


Motorola Android phone due Q2

Motorola Android phone due Q2


ZN5, in "camera" mode

The ZN5's ModeShift interface lets the phone's "control surfaces" assume not only different functions, but also a different appearance, depending on the phone's mode -- telephony, photo-videography, or media playback, in the case of the ZN5. For example, ModeShift is used to convert the ZN5's five-way controller into a virtual "FastScroll" wheel in the latter mode. Lots more details about the ZN5 can be found in our previous coverage, here.

Motorola's Android phone

According to BusinessWeek, Motorola's Android phone will "take its cues" from the ZN5 -- though whether it actually meant "ZN4" is not clear. In the small photo, the phone looks more like the real ZN5 than the touchscreen-equipped ZN4.

Regardless, the Android phone will have a touchscreen, for easy navigation of social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace. It will also boast a QWERTY keyboard, so users can type faster into services like Twitter. Motorola has reportedly been marketing its Android phone to carriers for several months. Originally expected in Q1, the device is now targeting Q2, according to the report.

Meanwhile, all eyes are on tomorrow's expected retail release of HTC's G1 phone. A complete G1 review can be found on eWEEK.


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Linux takes to high seas, chicken coop  

Posted by Daniela Mehler

Linux takes to high seas, chicken coop

Plat'Home announced the results of its "Will Linux Work?" contest in which developers stretched the limits of the company's Linux-based OpenMicroServer (OMS). Four winning designs were selected, including a sailboat navigator, a home automation system, an irrigation control system, and a chicken-coop door controller.

(Click for larger view of Steve Castellotti's Linux-controlled trimaran)

The "Will Linux Work?" contest began in late July, with an unspecified number of contestants vying for the top four awards. Participants were asked to push an OMS server's limits in extreme and unusual environments, says the company.

The OpenMicroServer and smaller OpenBlock S are simple, heat-resistant servers that have been sold in Japan for many years, but have been recently introduced to the U.S. The OMS is the larger of the two, measuring 9 x 4 x 1.3 inches. The embedded server runs Plat'Home SSD/Linux on an RMI Alchemy Au1550 system-on-chip (SoC) clocked at 400MHz, and is equipped with 128MB of PC133 SDRAM, 16MB flash, and a Type II CompactFlash slot. Connectivity features include dual gigabit Ethernet ports, a 10/100 port, two USB 2.0 ports, and two serial interfaces on RJ-45 ports. It also offers eight digital I/O bits, and supports PoE (power-over-Ethernet).

Linux takes to high seas, chicken coop


The OpenBlock S (left) and OpenMicroServer (OMS) on the right


The OMS offers a "semi-hermetic" design that is said to guard against dust in "industrial production" environments, while enduring temperatures up to 122 degrees F (50 degrees C). More recently, the company introduced a Kanshi BlockS Pro version of the smaller OpenBlock S server, designed for monitoring networks and servers for failures.

The winning projects of the OMS "Will Linux Work?" contest, all of which are in various stages of completion, include the following:Trimaran GPS and monitoring device, Steve Castellotti -- To control GPS navigation and monitoring on his trimaran (pictured at top), New Zealand-based Castellotti put the OMS to work as a low-weight, low-power server to monitor GPS positioning, engine data, fuel reserves, and fuel consumption, says Plat'Home. The server is also used to connect to the Internet via a wireless connection, and back up his laptop. The device uses an attached 1TB external hard drive and an Apple iPod, which is used as an additional USB storage device. Environmental hazards include motion, vibrations, wide temperature swings, salt water corrosion, and risk of electrolysis from lack of proper grounding.

Linux takes to high seas, chicken coop


The OMS gets connected
Home utility automation system, Martin Ewing -- Ewing is developing an OMS-based automation system located in his basement. Designed to control home heating and hot water systems, the system offers applications for analyzing usage and minimizing costs. Ewing used tools including GCC, Python, Vim, Gnuplot, SSH, and Apache, and plans to make the software available under a GPLv3 license. Stated Ewing, "The great benefit of the system is in the development environment that supports advanced networking and language tools. Its small size, low power requirements and wide operating temperature range were ideal to accomplish my task."

Irrigation control system, Colin Duplantis -- The OMS-based irrigation system controls irrigation, lawn watering, pond water supply, and drinking water for horses and other animals on a five-acre lot. Duplantis was able to port his homemade irrigation control software to C++, enabling him to run everything on the OMS, says Plat'Home. He uses an RS232 interface to control the irrigation controller, fine-tuning where, when, and how much water flows. Stated Duplantis, "I anticipate this new irrigation system will reduce my electricity bill and overall maintenance costs, not to mention the small size of the server frees up a lot of needed space in the irrigation house."

Chicken-coop security system, Gordon Smith -- The coop system closes the coop door at dusk, using a simple network time protocol (SNTP) that queries another server to determine when sundown occurs each day. Before closing the door, though, the system makes sure all the chickens have returned to roost. Equipped with a webcam with IR capability for night vision, along with a computer vision library that counts the chickens, the system is said to be smart enough to differentiate between a chicken and a raccoon. Availability

More technical details and ongoing blog posts from the winners of the "Will Linux Work?" contest should be available here.


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