Blockbuster announced a branded version of a IP set-top box and media player from 2Wire that runs Linux on a MIPS-based Broadcom chipset. The Blockbuster version of the 2Wire MediaPoint digital media player is used to download videos from Blockbuster OnDemand via broadband, says Blockbuster.

(Click for larger view of the 2Wire MediaPoint)

Blockbuster's MediaPoint appears to be an answer to the Roku Netflix Player offered by rival movie download service, Netflix. Developed by Roku, the Netflix Player also runs Linux, has a similar $100 pricetag, and offers similar capabilities, including Ethernet and WiFi. The Netflix player works with a subscription service, unlike Blockbuster's rental model, but in neither case are users permitted to store movies.

MediaPoint (rear view)
(Click to enlarge)

Meanwhile DRM-free (digital right management free) IP STB alternatives that run Linux have arrived, including Myka's TorrentTV, which offloads BitTorrent peer-to-peer duties from a PC platform, and the Neuros LINK, which works with its own free Neuros.TV service.

2Wire announced the MediaPoint player earlier this month. It joins a line-up of other 2Wire STBs and residential gateways available for OEM broadband provider customers. The devices include the earlier MediaPortal STB (pictured farther below), which also runs the 2Wire Media Software, an STB application that runs Linux, as indicated by this GPL compliance page.

A 2Wire representative confirmed that the MediaPoint runs Linux, and offered other details including the player's Broadcom BCM7405 chipset and the existence of dual USB ports. There is also an SD card slot, he said, but it is not enabled in the Blockbuster version. The Broadcom BCM7405 "STB-on-a-chip" is equipped with a 400MHz MIPS32/16e processor core, and is built on outsourced 65nm process technology.

MediaPoint with remote
(Click to enlarge)

Other stated specs from 2Wire and Blockbuster include an Ethernet port and 802.11b/g WiFi capability. A/V connections are said to include composite, component, HDMI, stereo audio, and Toslink optical audio links. The 8 x 8 x 1-inch box supports video at up to 1080i HD resolution, and comes with an infrared remote and a power adapter, says Blockbuster.

According to 2Wire, the MediaPoint can play back Internet video, music, and photos, as well as personal networked media content. However, the Blockbuster branded version appears to be devoted strictly to downloading movies from Blockuster OnDemand. Blockbuster currently offers 2,500 DVD-quality films, but will add to the collection, it says. The movies are available for a 24-hour period, and the player can store about five SD movies or two HD movies at a time. Most of the titles are currently SD, says Blockbuster. Playback features are said to include fast-forward, rewind, and pause.

2Wire/Blockbuster MediaPoint software
(Click on either to enlarge)

2Wire's MediaPoint Media Software is said to include UPnP AV and DLNA technology for discovering media content stored on a network. However, network media sharing does not appear to be supported in the Blockbuster product. Other features are said to include subscription purchasing, in addition to the Blockbuster rental model, as well as parental controls, customizable interfaces, and integrated advertising. The software interacts with the 2Wire Service Management System (SMS), which is said to enable the integration of multiple sources of Internet content, as well as provide billing, account management, and content distribution services.

2Wire's other Linux STB: the MediaPortal
(Click to enlarge)

Stated Jim Keyes, Blockbuster Chairman and CEO, "The player is simple to use, delivers DVD quality video, and there's no monthly subscription commitment."

Availability

Blockbuster's version of the 2Wire MediaPoint will be available "in time for the holiday season," says Blockbuster. The company is offering a limited time offer in which it provides the MediaPoint for "free" with the advance rental of 25 movies for $100. Subsequent moves cost as little as $2 each. More information on the player may be found at 2Wire, and eventually more details should be available at Blockbuster.


IPTV set-top runs Linux
Jennifer Hudson’s old dream, music, is a new dream
(AP)
COM Express module runs Linux

Palm will restructure its worldwide operations and lay off an unspecified percentage of its 1,050-person staff, reports say. The one-time leader of the smartphone market cited the "time it is taking to ramp up our new Windows Mobile products" among the causes behind the cuts.

The layoffs were first reported and then confirmed last week by PalmInfoCenter. The confirmation from a "Palm spokesperson" read in part, "The impact on the economic environment is worsened by our maturing Centro line and the length of time it is taking to ramp our new Windows Mobile products."

Palm this summer ended a year-long draught of Windows Mobile Treo models when it finally shipped the 800w. A few months later, it delivered the unlocked Palm Pro, though the device was nearly identical to the earlier 800w.

Palm previously used Linux in a Foleo mobile companion product that was scrapped after a high-profile launch at LinuxWorld. And, Palm has been rumored to be at work on an in-house Linux stack for phones for several years. CEO Ed Colligan confirmed Linux Treo plans earlier this year, but the company has not managed to market such a device.

Palm's online Job search site continues to list openings for five Linux engineers (no Windows Mobile engineering positions are listed). This suggests that Palm may still be betting on Linux. Several years ago, it tried to re-absorb PalmSource, its OS spinout, which had adopted Linux. However, along with Motorola, it was outbid by Japanese phone software vendor Access.

Times change. Given current market realities, Palm may decide to follow Motorola's lead and abandon its in-house Linux efforts in favor of Android, Google's free Linux smartphone stack. Doing so might free up more developer resources to help with Windows Mobile integration issues, operator-specific developments, or whatever else has been slowing down its smartphone pipeline. Time will tell.

A long-time leader of the PDA market, Palm was also an early leader of the smartphone market. Equipped with tiny QWERTY hardware keyboards, Palm's Treo devices were the iconic smartphone in the early days of the market. The company today employs about 1,050, according to reports. The very brief PalmInfoCenter story confirming layoffs is here.


Palm Pilot VM for Linux updated
Norway consumer body challenges Apple over iTunes
(Reuters)

A new Tim Jones tutorial overviews GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) extensions to ANSI C that may be of special interest to Linux kernel and driver developers. Meanwhile, the GCC development team is readying a new 4.4.0 release with stricter preprocessor checks, among other new features.

The GCC project appears to be on the cusp of releasing 4.4.0, with only regression fixes and documentation updates being accepted, according to Martin Michlmayr, former Debian project leader. Michlmayr reports that he compiled Debian with a 4.4 pre-release, finding 220 errors, most easily fixed. "The majority of GCC 4.4 build errors are missing #include statements. There are also about 20 build errors because of improved preprocessor checks," Michlmayr wrote.

Meanwhile, IBM DeveloperWorks has published another in its series of tutorials on GCC 4. Entitled, "GCC hacks in the Linux kernel," it was written by Tim Jones, who also recently surveyed new features in GCC 4.0 in and earlier article.

The Linux kernel is highly dependent on GCC, especially in enabling Linux on new architectures, writes Jones, a consulting engineer at Emulex. The kernel uses GCC extensions to implement a variety of shortcuts and simplifications for developers, as well as provide the compiler with "hints for optimization," writes Jones. In the article, Jones explores nine functions, including six aimed at adding functionality, and three aimed at binary optimization:Functional additions:
Type discovery -- This generic programming extension permits the identification of a type by referencing a variable.

Range -- Jones shows how range extensions can be used for initializations, as well as simplifying case statements within switch/case blocks.

Zero-length arrays -- This example shows how to use zero-length arrays to permit a structure element to reference memory that follows and is contiguous with the structure instance. This is particularly useful when a variable number of array members is required, writes Jones.

Determining call address -- GCC's "__builtin_return_address" function is typically used for debugging.

Constant detection -- Is a value a constant at compile-time? Only the constant detection extension knows for sure. The Linux kernel makes frequent use of this extension, writes Jones.

Function attributes -- Here, Jones surveys those attributes that are associated with functionality, including always_incline, deprecated, __used__, __const__, and warn_unused_result.
Optimizations:
Branch prediction hints -- This frequently used extension helps indicate the likelihood of the results of conditional code.

Prefetching -- Used to cache data in memory close to the processor, the prefetching extension is frequently employed by the Linux kernel by means of macros and wrapper functions.

Variable attributes -- This class of attributes is used for variables and type definitions. Jones explores the "aligned" attribute, which is used for object alignment in memory.Availability

The IBM DeveloperWorks tutorial by Tim Jones, "GCC hacks in the Linux kernel," should be available here.




New kernel boosts embedded
Guns N’ Roses to release new album next month
(Reuters)

WinSystems announced a Linux-friendly SBC (single board computer) using the venerable STD bus. Offered as a migration path for "key industrial customers," the fanless LPM-LX800 offers an AMD Geode LX800, up to 1GB of RAM, up to 16GB of CompactFlash, and four serial ports, says WinSystems.

(Click here for a larger view of the WinSystems LPM-LX800)

The STD bus is an 8-bit bus with a 56-pin connector. Developed by Prolog and Mostek in 1978, it became an IEEE standard known as IEEE-961 in 1987, and is still in use today for industrial applications, according to WinSystems. Originally derived from "standard," STD was later marketed as "Simple to Design," "Simple to Develop," and "Simple to Debug." WinSystems President Jerry Winfield commented, "I designed the first three STD Bus boards for Mostek thirty years ago, and am pleased with the stability that this architecture has provided in the industrial market."

WinSystems is pitching its new LPM-LX800 SBC as providing users of the "blue collar bus" with increased performance and assured long-term availability. The device operates fanlessly, even over its industrial operating range of -40 to 85 deg. C (-40 to 185 deg. F), WinSystems claims.

When the STD bus first made its debut, cards were lucky to be able to hold a CPU, much less a complete computer. But now, of course, a lot more can be crammed into a 7 x 4 inch footprint.

An STD bus card cage and sample boards
Source: WinSystems
As implied by its name, the LPM-LX800 employs AMD's 500MHz Geode LX800 processor, along with the chipmaker's CS5536 companion chip. This two-chip chipset uses about five Watts to deliver performance roughly equivalent to that of a Via C3 clocked at 800MHz, AMD said when it launched the chip.

A 200-pin SODIMM socket on the back of the board (not shown) lets the LPM-LX800 accept up to 1GB of DDR1 memory. Also on the rear of the board is a CompactFlash socket, said to accept up to 16GB of storage, and to be ready for the installation of Linux, Windows XP Embedded, or "other x86 RTOSes."

The device sports a wealth of interfaces, though using any of them requires accessory cables that attach to headers on the SBC. Video outputs support simultaneous operation of CRT and flat-panel diplays, WinSystems says, with resolution up to 1920 x 1200 pixels on the former, and 1600 x 1200 on the latter. Meanwhile, there's a 10/100 Ethernet interface.

The LPM-LX800 has four RS232/422/485 serial ports, 48 lines of digial I/O, four USB ports, and a 33/66MHz UDMA IDE port, according to the company. It also features PC/104 and PC/104-Plus expansion connectors.

Finally, the RoHS-compliant board is said to have AC '97 audio capabilities, and to support AT- or PS/2-style keyboard interfaces. The device can provide power to LCD backlights, offers a custom splash screen upon startup, has a "precision power-fail reset circuit," and includes a watchdog timer, WinSystems adds.

Features and specifications listed by WinSystems for the LPM-LX800-G include:Processor -- AMD Geode LX800 clocked at 500MHz
Memory -- Accepts up to 1GB of DDR1 RAM via single SODIMM socket
Display -- Supports dual displays, with up to 1920 x 1200 CRT resolution, and up to 1600 x 1200 flat-panel resolution
Networking -- 10/100 Ethernet
Other I/O (all via headers):4 x USB 2.0
48 bidirectional digital I/o lines
4 x RS232/422/485
1 x parallel
1 x IDE
AT and PS/2 keyboard interfaces
AC '97 audioOperating range -- -40 to 85 deg. C (-40 to 185 deg. F)
Power -- +5VDC
Dimensions -- 7 x 4.5 inches (178 x 114mm)WinSystems maintains an interesting Blue Collar Linux software development kit (SDK) targeting industrial applications. Specific downloads offered for the LPM-LX800 include Fast Ethernet drivers for Linux 2.2, 2.4, and 2.6.

Availability

The LPM-LX800 is available now, priced at $895 in single quantities, according to WinSystems. More information may be available from the company's website, here.


Travis Barker Still in Recovery Mode
(E! Online)
Customizable PowerPC board comes with Linux
Beastie Boys add dates to Obama tour
(Reuters)

Wind River Systems announced that its Support Operations Centers in North America and Europe have achieved Service Capability and Performance (SCP) certification for the third time. Wind River is the only embedded Linux vendor to have earned the Service Strategies certification, claims the company.

Service Strategies is an industry group comprised of about 40 technology companies, including Nokia, Novell, HP, Unisys, Sybase, and Microsoft. Its SCP certification, which Wind River also earned last year, aims to help customer care teams increase operational effectiveness and staff productivity, implement "continuous improvement" programs, and benchmark operational success, says the company.

The SCP certification process evaluates companies on 125 criteria across 12 categories, including customer feedback, services delivery, and performance metrics, says Wind River, which claims the requirements grow "more stringent" each year. Other companies to achieve the certification include EMC, IBM, Lockheed Martin, McKesson, and Nokia.

In an earnings call in March, Wind River CEO Ken Klein reported that services and subscriptions accounted for an increasing share of the company's income. In the most recent 2Q earnings report in late August, the company said that services revenue had declined in an overall strong quarter, but that service margins were up. The boost in margins was likely a result of off-shore partnerships and acquisitions, such as that of device services firm ComSys.

Stated Gordy Stauffer, SCP auditor and senior consultant at Service Strategies. "The Wind River team is making outstanding gains in performance and has shown a clear commitment to customer satisfaction and continuous improvement."

More about Wind River's SCP certification should be available here.


Linux vendor touts infotainment stack
Colombian singer Shakira lends support to Obama
(AP)
MontaVista touts Android readiness

VirtualLogix is touting its virtualization firmware's ability to support multicore ARM processors. The company is demonstrating VLX on quad-core ARM11 chips, and says the product is ready for Cortex-A9 or any other multicore ARM processors that use ARM's five-year-old MPCore interconnect technology.

VirtualLogix has long marketed its VLX virtualization stack's ability to facilitate software migration, by letting legacy stacks run alongside newer stacks (typically Linux) on the same hardware. Now, it suggests the technology can help developers migrate to new hardware designs based on multicore processors, without having to first re-factor their code for parallel execution.

The announcement appears to anticipate the debut of chips based on ARM's multicore Cortex-A9 processor. Announced about a year ago, the Cortex-A9 took center stage at ARM's recent DevCon.

ARM Cortex-A9 in MPCore configuration
(Click to enlarge)

So far, no SoCs based on Cortex-A9 have appeared, as far as we know. However, TI has been an early leader in Cortex-based chips in general, with its Cortex-A8-based OMAP3 family. Last December, TI and VirtualLogix announced they would collaborate virtualization technology for future TI chips, and TI invested in VirtualLogix.

VirtualLogix's demo reportedly will show multiple concurrent operating systems running on a quadcore ARM11 chip. The OSes include a "T-Kernel" real-time operating system (RTOS) and several instances of Linux, says the company. ARM announced MPCore technology in 2004.

Stated Eric Schorn, VP of Marketing, Processor Division, ARM, "Virtualization is being more widely considered in auto-infotainment, mobile internet devices and other embedded applications because of the software integration advantages it brings for multicore architectures."

Stated Jean-Pierre LeBlanc, VP Mobile Solutions, VirtualLogix, "VirtualLogix customers benefit from hardware advances in multicore without having to re-design their software or wait until they are fully multi-threaded."

VirtualLogix also recently announced it would support the new Multicore Communications API (MCAPI), which standardizes communications among cores and between multi-core SoCs.

Availability

VirtualLogix VLX with ARM support is available now, says the company, which will demonstrate the technology at the ARM European Technical Conference today, in Paris, France.

VirtualLogix competitor Trango announced MPCore ARM11 virtualization more than a year ago. Trango was recently acquired by VMWare.


Beastie Boys add dates to Obama tour
(Reuters)
Colombian singer Shakira lends support to Obama
(AP)
Virtualization design targets wireless base stations

Binary-only Linux drivers will never work for the majority of Linux users, Harald Welte told hardware developers at a Taipei conference. The Linux kernel's lack of an ABI and intentional lack of stable APIs make binary drivers a losing battle purely for technical reasons, he suggests.

Binary kernel modules have long inspired legal, philosophical, and even moral debate in the community. However, Welte focuses only on technical reasons to avoid binary drivers. Instead, companies should work with the Linux kernel developer community, through resources such as the Linux embedded mailing list.

Welte explained that unlike some OSes, the Linux kernel offers no ABI (application binary interface) for external binary modules. So, there is not really any way for a driver to exist outside of the kernel.

Furthermore, Linux is not intended to have a stable kernel-space API (application programming interface), Welte said. That means that if you build a binary module, there is no guarantee it will work with a later kernel, including even the most minor of interim dot releases. "Every minor new Linux kernel release can and will break the API," Welte said.

Why doesn't Linux aim to offer a stable kernel-level API? There has been debate about it in the past, but Welte explains that the current system has been kept so that "if there's a technical reason to change the ABI, we can do so."

Welte concludes, "Please don't do binary only Linux drivers. You will put resources into a driver that in the end, almost no one will be able to use."


Harald Welte on binary-only drivers


More about the conference

The Freedom Hardware Engineer Conference, 2008 was held in Taipei on Nov 20-21. It was sponsored by the Taiwan-based Application Service Institute, and co-sponsored by the Linux Foundation and the Linux Driver Project.

The conference was billed as an opportunity for hardware vendors "looking for a cost-effective Linux driver strategy." Other speakers included Brandon Philips of Novell SUSE Labs, and speakers from Asus and NTT Data Corp.

Welte gave two speeches at the event, including one very introductory one about Linux, and a second more interesting talk at which binary modules were discussed. Videos of two speeches have been posted on YouTube..

In July, open source leader and OpenMoko Lead System Architect Harald Welte agreed to be Via Technologies's Open Source Liaison. However, in speaking at FreedomHEC, he expressed only his own opinions, he was careful to point out. For its part, Via has a long history of developing binary-only modules, although it did hire Welte, and earlier this year started the process of opening up its chipsets with open source drivers.

Welte earlier gave a similar presentation at the Consumer Electronics Linux Forum (CELF) Embedded Linux Conference Europe (ELCE).

Availability

In addition to the above videos, a Flickr page of photos of the conference may be found here. More information on the conference may be found on this translated page.


Busta Banned in the U.K.?
(E! Online)
Euro Linux device conference announces speakers

Access has achieved a third beta release of its Garnet virtual machine (VM) for Nokia's Linux-based Internet tablets. The releases brings improvements to the included Palm Pilot PDA applications, while adding more complete support for the approximately 30,000 extant Palm Pilot applications, Access says.

(Click for larger view of the Garnet VM running on a Nokia N810)

Available for Tablet OS2006, OS2007, and OS2008, the VM enables some 30,000 Palm Pilot applications to run on Nokia 770, N800, and N810 Internet tablets, according to Access.

Nokia's N810, N800, and 770 Internet tablets
(Click any for details)

Access's Garnet VM aims to let Palm binaries run on Linux, regardless of whether they were written back when Palm Pilots used Motorola's M68000 Dragonball processor or later, after Palm switched to ARM processors. Originally written for Access's Access Linux Platform (ALP), the VM was first trialed on Nokia's TabletOS a year ago.

The Garnet VM supports Palm binaries
(Click to enlarge)

Access says the new release fixes several bugs in the Garnet VM core components. The fixes are said to enable greater application and game compatibility, for instance adding support for the first time for Megasoft2000's Billiard 5.0, and for Beiks LLC's Toxic Balls.

Additionally, the core Palm PIM (personal information management) applications have been improved, Access said. These include an addressbook, datebook, memo pad, and calculator.

Examples of supported applications listed by Access include:Google Maps
Snappermail
WiFile Pro
EzFTP
Pocket Tunes (Internet radio playback only)
Kinoma Player 4 EX
DateBk5
Britannica Encyclopedia
Bejeweled
PacMan
Raging Thunder
Village SIMThe VM typically requires 16MB of free space, and uses 3.5MB of RAM. A technical whitepaper about the VM can be found here. The beta can be downloaded for free (with registration) here, for TabletOS 2008, 2007, or 2006.


Colombian singer Shakira lends support to Obama
(AP)
Rocker Meat Loaf hospitalized for 3 days in London
(AP)
DIY Linux subscription targets ARM11 SoC

[Updated Nov. 25] -- Zurich, Switzerland-based Neuronics has released an open-source embedded Linux version of its "Katana" robot." The Katana Robotic Arm runs Linux with Xenomai hard real time extensions on a Freescale MPC5200-based control board, and is aimed at industry, production, and research applications, says the company.

(Click for larger view of the Katana Robotic Arm)

The Katana Robotic Arm is typically used for handling, measurement, or testing applications in assembly, production, and laboratory automation, says Neuronics. The robot is billed as an "intelligent" industrial robotic arm with safety features that "allow it to work directly hand-in-hand with human operators without the need for any additional safeguards or fences," says the company. The Katana is also touted for its ability to run as an an independent stand-alone unit, without requiring an external control host.

Oh no, Mr. Bill! The Katana in action


The new Linux version of the Katana allows low-level access to the robot's Linux control board, and comes with system, communication, and motion libraries available as open source packages. This open source access provides application opportunities "that could hitherto only be met by developing highly expensive custom engineered robotics systems," says the company.

The Katana is based on a single-board computer (SBC) equipped with a PowerPC-based Freescale MPC5200 processor that provides 750 MIPS (millions of instructions per second) of performance, says Neuronics. The robot has six Texas Instruments (TI) TMS320 32bit motor controllers, one for each axis. Built around a CAN bus architecture, the robot also offers Ethernet and USB ports. The Katana is said to operate in three modes: control, standalone direct, and a standalone RPC/Web-services mode that supports technologies such as SOAP and Ajax for web-based control.

The Katana's control board


Specifications for the Katana Robotic Arm are said to include:Processor -- Freescale MPC5200
Embedded controllers -- 6 x TI TMS320 32bit motor controllers
Memory -- 64MB RAM
Flash -- 32MB flash
CAN bus -- 1 x control bus; 1 x sensor bus; external CAN connector
Networking -- 1 x Ethernet hub
USB -- 1 x host; 1 x device
Other I/O -- integrated digital I/O extension board
Katana software/services:Communication server
Standalone mode
CAN open (PDO) driver interface
Control-pad deamon
Fieldbus server
Ajax-based web Interface
Process image server
Eventhandler as web service
Configurable debugging modes
XML-RPC command and control interface
Linux shell interface via web service
SOAP server command and control interface
C++ libraries and Python 2.5 bindingsOperating system -- Linux 2.4.25 (Linux kernel 2.6 optional) with Xenomai hard real-time extensions; driver patches for control boardDenx Linux and Xenomai

The embedded Linux version of Katana runs a 2.4.25 Linux kernel (upgradable to 2.6.22) that is said to be optimized for industrial high availability. The robot has been developed with the Denx Embedded Linux Development Kit (ELDK) software development kit (SDK), an open-source Linux distribution and development tool suite that is especially popular in Europe's industrial Linux community.

Katana software architecture


The Linux kernel is coupled with the Xenomai pre-emption and scheduling real-time add-on framework for Linux, which is supported by recent versions of ELDK. Xenomai provides "skins" for emulating API requests for different real-time operating systems (RTOSes). In the Katana implementation, Xenomai provides a development framework that cooperates with the Linux kernel to provide pervasive, hard real-time support to Nucleus-, kernel-, and user-space applications, says Neuronics.

Neuronics offers a Katana Native Interface (KNI) C++ library for control application development "at the lowest interface level," says the company. The KNI interface can be exported as a Python 2.5 binding, enabling Python development of native and external programs. A control interface is also said to be available directly on the robot, with interfaces in C++ and Python.

For non-programmers, the company provides a GUI-based application programming interface (API) called Katana4D, which is targeted at industrial applications, and offers a built-in scripting language. Developers can move the robot arm into the desired position by hand, and Katana4D detects the position, generating the appropriate code, says the company. Katana4D is also said to provide AI algorithms for path optimization and adaptation, and can automatically convert applications to Python for deployment on the Katana in standalone mode.

This month, Neuronics announced a "Katana UniKit" robot axis development board. The UnkiKit is said to offer 1-3 axes (axis controllers and motors), a CAN adapter, and a plug-and-play live CD with a customized Ubuntu Linux distribution. The distribution is said to offer sources, documentation, cross compilers and toolsuites for learning, developing, and modifying robotics applications. Aimed at research, education, and OEM robotics development, the UniKit can be purchased separately from the Katana.

Founded in 2001, Neuronics is a spin-off venture from the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Institute for Informatics of the University Zurich.

Availability

The pricing for the embedded Linux version of the Katana starts at 19,500 Euros, or about $24,900 US, says Neuronics. No pricing or availability information was provided for the new Ubuntu-based Katana UniKit development board. More information on the Katana, including links to detailed information on APIs, patches, hardware, and more, may be found here.


World’s smallest humanoid robot can run Linux
Linux BSP ships for Geode-based SBCs
Dell expands music tie-ins on festival circuit
(Reuters)

[Updated: Nov. 21, 2008] -- Mobisense is shipping a Linux-ready, robot-targeted "MBS270-520" single-board computer (SBC) that can control small robots such as Tomy's i-Sobot. The 6.5-inch-tall i-Sobot has been dubbed "the smallest humanoid robot in production" by Guinness World Records, says Tomy.

(Click for larger view of the i-Sobot)

Targeting computer vision and robotics applications, the Marvell PCA-270-based MBS270-520 SBC is aimed primarily at small form factor, low weight UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), mobile robots, and "humanoids," says Mobisense, a French developer of robotic guidance systems. (See below for more information.)

i-Sobot next to the MBS270-520
(Click to enlarge)
According to Mobisense, the board is small and low-powered enough to be used to hack Linux onto Tomy's i-Sobot. A project is underway called i-Sobot Hacking that is hacking the robot's servo protocols, with the goal of using the SBC to help extend computer vision to the i-Sobot.

Now selling on the web for less than $100, after debuting a year ago for $300, the i-Sobot won the Grand Prize at the 64th Tokyo International Gift Show last year. The i-Sobot is said to be "fully-articulating and bipedal," and can speak and perform hundreds of "words, phrases, and preprogrammed actions," says Tomy. Its repertoire is said to include over 90 kinds of sound effects and the ability to "play" five songs.

The i-Sobot offers four basic operating modes, featuring bipedal walking action and eight-directional movement. It also boasts individual actions including walking, dancing, martial arts, push-ups, and soccer moves, says the company.

The 12-ounce robot is equipped with 17 custom developed servo-motors, 19 integrated circuit chips, a built in gyro-sensor, 2 LEDs, and voice recognition, says the company. The package includes an infrared remote control and three AAA NiMH rechargeable batteries, which are said to run for an hour under typical use.

Mobisense MBS270-520 with power module plugged in
(Click to enlarge)

Mobisense MBS270-520

The MBS270-520 is equipped with Marvell's XScale-architecture embedded workhorse, the PXA-270, clocked to 520MHz, and comes with a Linux 2.6 board support package (BSP). The board also includes 64MB RAM and 32MB flash memory, says Mobisense. The board's signal processing is optimized using the PXA-270's Intel/Marvell IPP (Integrated Performance Primitives), which is based on the Intel/XScale Wireless MMX SIMD instruction set, says the company.

MBS270-520 block diagram
(Click to enlarge)

The SBC measures 2.8 x 2.0 x 1.0 inches, weighs only 1.6 ounces, and is said to consume only one Watt. There is also a "520L" version that is said to be even further "weight optimized."

Peripherals are said to include 10/100 Ethernet, dual USB ports, and a wide variety of additional interfaces, from GPIO to SDIO. The SBC offers a "Quick Capture" camera interface that enables color and gray-level image real-time acquisition at up to 4-megapixels, says the company. By using Direct Memory Access (DMA), the whole image is accessible in SDRAM, without using CPU resources, says Mobisense.

Specifications for the MBS270-520 are said to include:Processor -- Marvell PXA270 520MHz
Memory -- 64MB
Flash -- 32MB; microSD card slot
Display -- LCD and touchscreen support
Audio -- 20-bit audio; stereo inputs and outputs; microphone
Camera -- 10-bit camera interface with FFC connection for up to 4-megapixel captures
Networking -- 10/100 Ethernet port
USB -- 2 x USB 1.1 ports
UARTS -- 3 x UARTs (full function, Bluetooth, and standard)
SSP/SPI -- 2 x SSP/SPI/Microwire/PSP
Other comm. interfaces -- I2C; SDIOAdditional peripherals:4 x PWM
4 x 10-bit ADC inputs
Battery saved RTC
Up to 31 GPIOs, 4 LEDs, 4 micro switches
RC servo on any free GPIO
Power supervision signalsDimensions -- 2.8 x 2.0 x 1.0 inches (72 x 50 x 25 mm)
Weight -- 1.6 oz (46 gr); 520L version offers lower (unspecified) weight
Power consumption -- about 1W with full image processing
Operating system -- Linux 2.6The Linux BSP offers the following features, says Mobisense:Full Linux 2.6 kernel source code (C/C++)
GNU EABI cross compilation tool chain
V4L2 API for image acquisition
Extra Mobisense robotics drivers for GPIO, RC servos, ADC, timer
Source code examples
Multi-thread applications, POSIX standard
Eclipse IDE and Gdb debugger
Open source community (Open Embedded, Angstrom…)

MBS270-520 with camera module and cabling accessories


Mobisense also manufactures a variety of camera and power modules that work with the MBS270-520, and also sells cabling accessories. In addition, the company sells "MBSnavigation" guidance software for service robots, which uses a real-time operating system (RTOS) called MBS, and is based on research conducted at HEUDIASYC Lab of Universite de Technologie de Compiegne in France.

Availability

The MBS270-520 is available now, says Mobisense. Pricing was unavailable. More information on the MBS270-520 may be found here.

More information on the i-Sobot, which is currently selling for under $100 at Hammacher Schlemmer, may be found here.


Linux BSP ships for Geode-based SBCs
Beastie Boys add dates to Obama tour
(Reuters)
Robotic arm runs Linux
Travis Barker Still in Recovery Mode
(E! Online)

An interesting free download aims to let users of heterogeneous mobile devices effectively Xhost Linux applications and desktops, without installing anything. The "NX Web Player" from Italian network computing specialist NoMachine is due early next year, with the 4.0 release of its NX network computing suite.

Additionally, NoMachine shipped an interim 3.3.0 release of NX, it announced.

NoMachine expects to release the NX Web Player as a free download next year, concurrently with the delivery of NX 4.0. The Player is said to enable browsers running on desktops and cell phones, including the Apple iPhone, to run and display remote Linux desktops without requiring installation of client software.

NX Web Player, requesting a remote session (left) and interacting remotely (right)
(Click on either to enlarge)

NoMachine currently offers two remote access web tools, an NX Web Companion Java applet and an NX Builder PHP application, but they both require client installation. The Web Player, which uses Javascript, as well as an AJAX-based GUI front end, can run from within existing JavaScript-enabled browsers. This enables NX to extend its X Window remote access capabilities to "previously unsupported platforms such as WinCE tablets and other Pocket PCs," says NoMachine.

NX Web Player event flow
(Click to enlarge)

NX Web Player contains three key components: an NX agent running on the NX Server, an Nxwebplayer binary written in Perl, and a Nxwebrunner binary written in C. The NX Web Player process goes roughly as follows (more detailed views can be found in the diagrams, above and below):

1. Clients running Web Player in a browser log onto a web server connected to an NX Server 4.0 implementation and enter authorization data.

2. Using the AJAX GUI frontend, the client creates an XML HTTP request to send events, such as mouse clicks and keystrokes.

3, The web server runs an instance of Nxwebrunner for each XML HTTP request, and contacts Nxwebplayer, which establishes a communication with the NX Server.

4. On the NX Server, the NX agent decomposes the remote desktop in tiles, and them codifies and sends the image tiles to the Web Player.

5. The process repeats with each remote click or keystrokes. On the Web Player app, AJAX helps limit screen refresh to content that has been changed, avoiding complete page reloads.

NX Web Player image flow
(Click to enlarge)

NX 3.3.0 ready for download

NoMachine also released version 3.3.0 of its Linux-compatible NX Server, Node, and Client applications. This appears to be a routine maintenance release that fixes a number of bugs and other problems. Issues solved include server disconnect bugs, "Companion DEB" installation problems, various screen-painting errors, and incorrect keyboard mapping on Ubuntu 8.10.

Stated Sarah Dryell, NoMachine Business Development Manager, "With this new [Web Player] tool, NoMachine is offering them [customers] the opportunity to make their already mobile workforce even more mobile. The application was designed with a radical approach: to be fully web-based with only a standard browser required for access."

NX backgrounder

Available in open source and commercial versions, NX aims to reduce the bandwidth required to run X Window applications over a network. It does this by placing caching proxy servers at either end of the connection. The servers work to limit network transfers to "differential" data, such as cursor movements and menu expansions.

The X Window system has a "client-server" architecture, with the part running on the server referred to as the "client," and the part running on the client referred to as the "server." (Jim Gettys may be the only human being who understands why the terms are reversed that way). Almost all graphical Linux applications use X. However, since relatively few Linux users avail themselves of X's ability to run over a network, few X apps are optimized to economize the data transfers between the X client and the X server (which run on the same machine for most users nearly all the time). NX simply aims to fix that problem.

Availability

NX 3.3.0 is available now for free download, here. NX Web Player is expected to be released with NX 4.0 sometime in 2009. More information on NX Web Player may be found here.


Foos Fighting With McCain
(E! Online)
Customizable PowerPC board comes with Linux

Toronto, Ontario-based Koolu announced that it will release a version of Google's Linux/Java Android stack optimized for Openmoko's Neo FreeRunner Linux phone. A beta of "Android for FreeRunner" is due the first week of December, says Koolu, which will also sell the FreeRunner loaded with Android.

Koolu already sells its own "W.E. Phone" version of the FreeRunner loaded with Google Apps. Now, it says it will offer a version of the device preinstalled with the Koolu Android image.

Koolu hopes to sell its Android phone stack and phones to developers, end users, distributors, and value added resellers, it says. The first announced partner is value-added reseller (VAR) SDG Systems, which has a long history of distributing rugged Linux PDAs to government and enterprise customers.

Koolu W.E. Phone in four colors


The Neo FreeRunner (as well as the W.E. Phone) incorporates a 400MHz Samsung S3C2442 (ARM9 core), 128MB of RAM, 256MB of flash, and a 2.8-inch 640 x 480 TFT display. Other features for the 2.5G tri-band GPRS/GSM smartphone include WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and accelerometers. In short, it appears to offer most of the functionality of the HTC G1, aside from having a smaller screen and no keyboard.

Android will join several other phone stacks available for the FreeRunner. OpenMoko ships the phone with the default Gnome/GTK+ stack, called om2007.2, but there's also a newer April Software Update (ASU) stack based on Qt Software's Qt for Embedded (formerly Qtopia). Finally, there's an FSO framework initiative, which is still fairly early in the development process, and which implements FreeSmartphone.org specs.

Stated Steven Mosher, VP of marketing, Openmoko, "Openmoko welcomes Koolu's efforts to optimize the community lead port of Google's Android platform on the FreeRunner. That's the benefit of having an open platform. Their market focus complements ours."

Android's source code was formally set free a month ago, a day before T-Mobile launched retail sales of the HTC G1, the first, and so far, only Android phone. The Open Handset Alliance (OHA) overseeing the Google-sponsored open source project released the Android SDK (software development kit) under an Apache 2.0 license.

Availability

Koolu's Android for OpenMoko Neo FreeRunner stack is scheduled for beta release the first week of December. The final release is set for early Q1 2009. Koolu did not state when it will ship pre-integrated Android FreeRunner phones via distributors such as SDG Systems. Koolu has established an Android Forum on its website devoted to the new distribution.


MontaVista touts Android readiness
Source free’d as first Android phone ships
Guns N’ Roses to release new album next month
(Reuters)

A Tokyo-based vendor of embedded security technology has partnered with MontaVista to develop DRM (digital rights management) technology for mobile Linux devices. The Discretix Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM) Client will be ported to MontaVista Mobilinux 5.0, says Discretix.

Earlier this month, Discretix announced a similar deal with Access, porting its CPRM technology to the Access mobile Linux stack, and in February, Discretex demonstrated its DRM Client on Qt Extended (then known as Qtopia). Mobilinux is the mobile-handset version of the widely used MontaVista Linux distribution.

Discretix CPRM Client architecture
(Click to enlarge)

The Discretix Client is said to implement two standards for DRM on embedded devices: CPRM and the similar Content Protection for Pre-recorded Media (CPPM). Both are maintained by the 4C-Entity organization, formed in 1999 by IBM, Intel, Panasonic, and Toshiba. The Discretix Client also works "in parallel" with several other DRM implementations available from Discretix, including those already in NTT DoCoMo's "iMode" data service, says the company. Other available Discretix DRM implementations include:OMA DRM
WM-DRM (JANUS)
i Mode
ECFMTouted features of the Discretix CPRM Client include:All cryptographic and CPRM-related operations executed within device's main processor (no hardware security coprocessor required)
Enables additional ID binding, for adding business models
Compatible with Linux, OSE, Symbian, Windows Mobile, and NucleusStated Joerg Bertholdt, VP of Marketing of MontaVista, "Discretix' multi-scheme architecture gives our customers, as well as carriers and content providers, the ability to accommodate changing DRM standards -- a key factor as content delivery continues to evolve."

Availability

No details were provided about the availability of the Discretix CPRM Client for MontaVista Mobilinux 5.0. However, Discretix says that it demonstrated the integrated technology last week at Embedded Technology 2008 in Yokohama, Japan.

More information on the Discretix CPRM Client may be found here.


Dell expands music tie-ins on festival circuit
(Reuters)
Norway consumer body challenges Apple over iTunes
(Reuters)
Webinars explore RTOS-to-Linux driver migration
MontaVista touts Android readiness

[Updated 12:50PM] -- Neuros Technology is shipping a set-top box aimed at delivering Internet video on-demand to high-definition TVs. The $300 Neuros LINK works with a free Neuros.TV service to let users play popular video content on-demand, without subscribing to cable or satellite television broadcast services, Neuros says.

(Click for larger view of Neuros LINK and Keymote)

Once envisioned as a powerful information sharing network, the Internet has arguably morphed into just another television channel, and one with the lowest possible barrier to publishing. Issues of quality aside, the Internet does offer one compelling advantage over broadcast media channels -- the promise of asynchronous or on-demand playback.

This is where the LINK comes in. Combined with a free "Neuros.TV" service, it aims to provide a convenient system for discovering, downloading, and playing back video from the increasing body of video content available on-demand over the Internet.

The Neuros Link service
(Click to enlarge)

Supported content sites listed by Neuros include Hulu, NBC, CNN, YouTube, Fancast, and CBS. Specifically supported shows listed by the company include:Family Guy
YouTube
24
30 Rock
The A-Team
Arrested Development
Babylon 5
Burn Notice
Chuck
The Colbert Report
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Family Guy
Friday Night Lights
Fringe
House
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Kath & Kim
King of the Hill
My Name is Earl
NOVA
The O.C.
Prison Break
Rescue Me
Saturday Night Live
Terminator: The Sarah Connor ChroniclesWhat's under the hood?

The LINK itself is a small, nearly silent (27dB) mini-ITX system. Instead of the low-powered TI RISC/DSP processors used in earlier Neuros designs, it opts for a more mainstream AMD Athlon 1640 processor, clocked at 2.6GHz. Supporting the chip is AMD's +780g chipset. The system has 1GB of RAM, and boots from 4GB of Flash. It eschews a hard drive. The system is currently based on an off-the-shelf Asus board, but the supplier may change as production ramps up, Neuros said.

The LINK runs a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu 8.10 ("Intrepid Ibex"). It includes all the most popular open source video players, including mplayer, VLC, and Xine. Additionally, the LINK's software stack is completely user-modifiable, and the company has traditionally sought to involve community developers by offering "bounties" for the successful execution of various coding projects. Thus, over time, Neuros's products become more capable, it maintains.

Other salient features of the LINK, as listed by Neuros, include:Play back 1080p video encoded in H.264
HDMI output up to 1080p (1920 x 1200)
"High-definition" 6-channel audio output
Optical S/PDIF output
Gigabit Ethernet
Builtin 802.11b/g WiFi
Six-plus USB 2.0 ports
Under 27dB of noise
RF (2.4GHz) wireless keyboard trackball controller ("keymote")For about five years now, starting with its original OSD ("open source device"), Neuros has worked to leverage open hardware and software in a mass-market product. The original OSD aimed to help video service subscribers transcode content for playback on mobile devices. Other early product efforts sought to distribute multimedia content around the home. The new LINK, however, appears to have far more mainstream appeal than any of the small, Chicago-area company's earlier marketing efforts.

An alternative to
the "keymote" The weak link in products that connect computers with TVs is usually the human-machine interface (HMI). Computers are generally controlled with a keyboard, while set-top boxes have remote controls. Neuros here seeks to span the gap with a "keymote" that connects the user to the device using the unregulated 2.4GHz RF spectrum (presumably calibrated not to interfere with the LINK's built-in 802.11b/g WiFi).

The choice of RF over IrDA is commendable. A/V gear should be heard, but not seen, in our opinion, and RF allows gear to be hidden in a closet. But, we're skeptical of wireless keyboards in general, due to their penchant for chewing up batteries at a rapid rate. Meanwhile, 25-foot USB cables and USB keyboards are widely available, and should work fine with the OSD 2.0 hardware. Yet another option is Logitech's "Dinovo" thumb keyboard, pictured at right, according to Neuros.

Availability

The LINK is available now, priced at $300. It requires a T1-speed or better DSL line (1.5Mbps or faster). It also requires a TV or projector with HDMI input. More details can be found here.


IPTV set-top runs Linux
Norway consumer body challenges Apple over iTunes
(Reuters)
Busta Banned in the U.K.?
(E! Online)

LynuxWorks is shipping version 2.0 of its Linux-compatible separation kernel and hypervisor for high assurance systems. Aimed at multiple independent levels of security (MILS) applications in the aerospace, government, and defense industries, LynxSecure 2.0 offers enhancements including improved multi-processor support and a lightweight POSIX run-time environment, says the company.

Announced in February, LynxSecure 2.0 is primarily targeted at military applications, but can also be used in multi-domain secure systems applications within the medical, financial services, and industrial control industries, says the company. The separation kernel is certified to the U.S. Defense Department's Common Criteria EAL-7 (Evaluated Assurance Level 7), and complies with the aerospace industry's DO-178B certification, says LynuxWorks.

LynxSecure 2.0 architecture
(Click to enlarge)

LynxSecure 2.0 partitions system resources among guest operating systems (OSes), while also sequestering data and controlling information flow, says LynuxWorks. The separation kernel comprises a hypervisor and a new "ultra high-reliability" real-time POSIX API. LynxSecure 2.0's POSIX API is said to enable real-time critical applications to run directly on the separation kernel itself, maintaining hard real-time characteristics and determinism. At the same time, the hypervisor lets multiple and diverse OSes, such as its own Bluecat Linux distro and LynxOS real-time OS (RTOS), share a single- or multi-processor system, says the company. Virtualized OSes have "100 percent application binary compatibility" with standalone versions, the company said.

Major features for version 2.0 are said to include:Multi-processing support

Security enhancements for policy enforcement, including controlled communication between guest OSes

Enables guests with different security policies to co-exist using the same processor

Supports POSIX, Linux ABI, and ARINC standards

Device assignments can link specific devices to specific guest OSes

Configuration tool for platform configuration and security policy definition

Virtual networking between guest OSesStated Arun Subbarao, VP of engineering at LynuxWorks, "Other solutions have provided emulation layers to run guest operating systems, but this slows system performance. LynxSecure is a Type-1 hypervisor, running directly on system hardware and providing platform virtualization to the guest OS. This architecture provides near-native performance for the guest OS and superior security, since LynxSecure has complete control of the hardware."

Availability

LynxSecure 2.0 is available now, says LynuxWorks, More information about the product may be found here.


Lil’ Kim Sued and Silenced
(E! Online)
VMware goes embedded
Microkernel boasts more “robust” SDK
Britney Spears Ready to Hit the Road
(E! Online)

French mini-PC vendor Linutop announced a version of its Ubuntu 8.4-based Linux distribution on a USB key targeting Asus Eee PCs. The key (pictured) is based on its small-footprint Linutop 2.2 distro, which is designed for ultra-low-powered systems such as its own Linutop 2 mini-PC.

(Click for larger view of Linutop USB key for Asus Eee PCs)

Tailored specifically for the popular, Intel-Atom-based Asus Eee PC netbook, the Linutop 2.2 USB key for Eee PC incorporates version 2.2 of the distribution, which shipped in July, says Linutop. The distribution is based on Ubuntu 8.04, and supports the Eee PC 700 and 900 series models, says Linutop. These systems are much more powerful than the LX800-based AMD reference designs the distribution was originally created for.

Asus Eee PC 700-series "4G"
The Linutop USB key distribution for Eee PC is said to include:Backup/restore on key
external or internal use
600MB footprint on 1GB key
Firefox 3.0
Open Office 2.4
Ubuntu 8.04
Text editor
On-screen keyboard
GQ view picture viewer
Flash player
File manager
PDF viewer
Gaim 2.0 beta 3
Gcalctool 5.8.24
Xfce 4.4.1
VLC 0.8.6
RDP and VNC client
Linutop setup menu for languages and configurationIn February, Linutop shipped the Linutop 2 (pictured below), a new version of its computing appliance. The Linutop 2 is equipped with a 500MHz Geode processor, 512MB of RAM, and 1GB of flash, which stores the Linutop distribution. The Linutop models are touted as being suitable for either standalone PC or Linux terminal use, and the Linutop 2 is said to draw a bit less than 8 Watts.

Linutop 2


Asus is credited with touching off the netbook explosion with its Intel Celeron-based 700 series


Rapper Lil Wayne at work on “Tha Carter IV”
(Reuters)
Linux netbook return rates higher?
Oscar loosens rules for music categories
(Reuters)

Motorola announced a Moto VE66 camera-phone that offers WiFi, GPS, a 5-megapixel camera, an MP3 player, and MontaVista Linux. The VE66 is the first Motorola phone to support the MotoDev Studio for WebUI "widget" platform, says Motorola, which also announced a "MotoDev Widget Developer Challenge."

(Click for larger view of the VE66)

Despite recently announcing that it will no longer develop phones based on either Symbian UIQ or its MotoMAGX Linux/Java development platform, in order to focus on Google Android and Windows Mobile, Motorola continues to release MotoMagx-based phones still in the pipeline. Last week, reports surfaced of an EM35 music phone (below, right) based on MontaVista Linux and the MotoMAGX stack.

Motorola EM35
(Click for details)
Motorola remains mum on the EM35, but today it formally announced the more upscale VE66 slider-phone, which is based on MotoMAGX 7.4 and will be targeted at Asia and EMEA. The VE66 is equipped with 256MB ROM, 128MB user-accessible RAM, plus 32GB of microSD internal flash and 110MB of user flash, says Motorola. The 2.2-inch display is said to provide 240 x 320 resolution and 262K colors.

Motorola ZN5
(Click for details)
Although somewhat similar in appearance to the slider-format EM35, the VE66 appears more functionally similar to the candy-bar style MotoZine ZN5, (pictured at left), which was announced in June. Like the ZN5, it offers 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, a micro-USB 2.0 port, and a 5-megapixel camera. The VE66 also provides an assisted GPS (AGPS) transceiver.

The GSM quad-band EDGE/GPRS phone is equipped with Motorola's "CrystalTalk" technology, which is said to improve voice quality even in noisy environments. The MP3 player on the VE66 is supported by a scroll navigation wheel, but the phone appears to lack the ZN5's haptic interface and "ModeShift" technology. The VE66 is larger than the ZN5, measuring 4.1 x 1.9 x 0.6 inches (103 x 49.5 x 15.2mm).

Motorola VE66


The phone's 5-megapixel camera is touted for its auto focus, 8x zoom, LED flash, image stabilization, and red eye removal. The VE66 is also said to provide 30fps video capture and playback, as well as offer support for Windows Media Player 11 and Janus DRM for media files. Additional features include an FM radio that supports the RDS (Radio Data System) standard, popular in Europe, which can download information such as track and artist.

A new WebUI platform and a Widget Developer Challenge

Motorola also released a beta of its MotoDev Studio for WebUI, an Eclipse-based platform for widget development on the VE66 and future widget-compliant Motorola Linux/Java phones. To inspire developers to work with the WebUI platform, Motorola has also announced a MotoDev Widget Developer Challenge.

MotoDev Studio for WebUI is one of four Eclipse-based MotoDev Studio platforms, which include versions for Linux, Java ME, and UIQ. Considering the company's plans to ditch UIQ and focus its future Linux efforts on Android, these platforms may well be re-jiggered or abandoned in the coming months. However, because widgets operate independently of the operating system, they should work on future Motorola phones based on Android or Windows Mobile.

Written using common web standards such as xhtml and css, and rendered via an integrated WebKit engine, the WebUI widgets can place frequently updated information directly onto the phone's background, says Motorola. Seen as a way to enable mobile operators to deliver new services to phones in the field without the risk of a firmware upgrade, widgets might include real-time sports scores, stock tickers, flight information, as well as social media communications and news headlines, says the company.

Widget Developer Challenge entries will be accepted until Feb. 27, 2009 for best widget in category, best local content, and best use of APIs, and there will also be a grand prize of $25,000 for best overall widget. Judges will evaluate entries based on "uniqueness, effective use of the platform, harmony of design, indispensability, and applicability," says Motorola. Category winners will be announced in the Spring of 2009, and prizes are said to total $200,000, plus free Mot handsets and accessories, and recognition at CTIA Wireless 2009.

Availability

The Moto VE66 is expected to be available in Q4 2008, says Motorola, at an undisclosed price. More information may be found here. More information on the MotoDev Widget Developer Challenge may be found here.


Oscar loosens rules for music categories
(Reuters)
Norway consumer body challenges Apple over iTunes
(Reuters)
Eclipse rev’s mobile Java IDE

DMP Electronics announced a 32-bit x86-compatible SoC (system on chip) claimed to run Linux using under two Watts. The Vortex86DX targets home gateways, thin clients, and industrial controllers, and offers an "embedded redundancy" feature that can link two boards, says DMP.

(Click here for a larger view of the Vortex86DX)


COM Express module targets display systems
Lisa Marie Presley gives birth to twins
(AP)
Customizable PowerPC board comes with Linux

MontaVista Software announced two educational webinars on porting real-time operating system (RTOS) drivers to embedded Linux. Presented by Linuxpundit.com's Bill Weinberg (pictured) on Dec. 9, the webinars will show developers how to migrate their device interfaces from VxWorks to Linux, says MontaVista.

Weinberg was a founding MontaVista employee who went on to contribute significantly to Carrier Grade Linux and other OSDL specs, working for several years as a Senior Technology Analyst for the group before it became the Linux Foundation. Ever erudite and always well-spoken, Weinberg is an intellectual omni-competent who regularly leads Linux events and, we suspect, regularly ghost-writes entries for widely read embedded and mobile industry blogs. He's shared quite a few papers and much candid industry insight with LinuxDevices through the years, and currently keeps his home-on-the-Web at Linuxpundit.com.

The webinars follow up on a somewhat similar webinar held on Oct. 23, in which MontaVista founder and CTO Jim Ready described how to port VxWorks applications to embedded Linux. Moderated as before by Don Dingee, the new webinars will take a deeper dive into driver migration, says the company.

Weinberg will offer background on the architecture and conventions of drivers built for VxWorks, says MontaVista. He will also offer guidelines for mapping code and constructs onto Linux, as well as tips for migration and debugging. Weinberg will also reveal how moving to Linux can provide RTOS developers with new opportunities for refining I/O architecture and formalizing system interfaces.

Specific topics covered during the webinars include:Particulars of legacy VxWorks device interfaces
Heuristics, community and MontaVista resources, and examples for migrating to embedded Linux
Architecture and conventions of drivers built for VxWorks
Guidelines for mapping code and constructs onto Linux 2.6
Options for kernel and user space implementations and licensing implications
Migration and debugging tools and techniquesAvailability

MontaVista is offering the free, one-hour webcast, "Migrating Legacy RTOS Device Drivers to Embedded Linux," on Tuesday, Dec. 9. at 7AM and 4PM EST. Attendees will receive a free white paper on VxWorks-to-Linux migrations, says MontaVista. More information may be found here.


Webinars tackle VxWorks-to-Linux ports
Delta museum is a tribute to bluesman B.B. King
(AP)
Webinars offer fast-boot tips
Busta Banned in the U.K.?
(E! Online)

Advantech has introduced a mini-ITX motherboard that targets embedded information and entertainment applications, such as information station kiosks and lottery machines. The AIMB-221 supports single- or dual-core AMD processors, and offers an HDMI A/V port, for connection to multimedia displays such as high-definition televisions.

(Click here for a larger view of Advantech's AIMB-221)

The AIMB-221 is offered with a five- to seven-year product life. Besides, HDMI, there's a VGA connector at the board's edge, while internal headers provide access to DVI and LVDS video signals. Possible dual-display configurations include CRT with LVDS, CRT with HDMI, or HDMI with LVDS, Advantech says.

A block diagram of Advantech's AIMB-221
(Click to enlarge)
The AIMB-221 uses AMD's 21mm x 21mm M690E northbridge and 23mm x 23mm SB600 southbridge, and is designed to use a range of the chipmaker's 65nm processors. Possible CPUs are said to include the dual-core AMD Turion 64X2 clocked at either 1.8GHz or 2.1GHz, or the single-core AMD Sempron clocked at 2.0GHz or 1.0GHz. In the last of these instances, the board can run fanlessly, the company adds.

Dual SODIMM slots allow the AIMB-221 to accept a total of 4GB of DDR2 RAM. As for mass storage, four SATA ports accept multiple disk drives, which may be configured as RAID 0 or RAID 1 arrays via software. Expansion capabilities on this board include one Mini PCI slot, one PCI slot, and a Type 2/3 CompactFlash slot, according to Advantech.

Advantech AIMB-221 ports

In addition to the VGA and HDMI connectors already mentioned, the edge of the AIMB-221 includes dual RJ45 connectors for gigabit Ethernet connections, four USB 2.0 ports, two serial ports, two PS/2 ports, and audio I/O. Internal connectors provide four additional USB ports, four more serial ports, plus parallel and IDE ports.

Finally, the AIMB-221 includes 8-bit GPIO, a watchdog timer, and an optional TPM (trusted platform module).

Features and specifications listed by Advantech for the AIMB-221 include:Processor -- AMD Turion 64X2 clocked at 2.1GHz or 1.8GHz, AMD Sempron clocked at 2.0GHz or 1.0GHz
Memory -- Up to 4GB of DDR2 memory, via dual SODIMM slots
Networking -- 2 gigabit Ethernet ports
Other I/O:1 x VGA
1 x HDMI
1 x LVDS (internal header)
1 x DVI (optional; internal header)
8 x USB 2.0 (4 internal via headers, 4 external)
6 x RS232 (2 external, 4 internal via headers)
4 x SATA
2 x PS/2 (for keyboard and mouse)
1 x IDE
1 x parallel
8-bit GPIO
Audio line in and line outExpansion:Type 2/3 CompactFlash socket
PCI slot
Mini PCI slotOperating temperature -- 0 to 0 deg. C (32 to 140 deg. F)
Dimensions -- 6.7 x 6.7 inches (170 x 170mm)According to Advantech, the AIMB-221 supports Linux, Windows XP Embedded, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows CE 6.0.

Pricing was not released, but the AIMB-221 appears to be available now. More information may appear on Advantech's website, here.


Travis Barker Still in Recovery Mode
(E! Online)
Beastie Boys add dates to Obama tour
(Reuters)
Mini-ITX board sports six SATA II ports
Atom COM can stand alone