The database market for embedded systems and devices is highly fragmented, according to Market research firm Venture Development Corp. (VDC). DBMS vendors lack recognition, brand awareness, and domain experience in the embedded systems market, in addition to resources to market directly to embedded systems developers, VDC says. (more…)

The Khronos Group announced today that Sun Microsystems has joined the group as a Promoting Member to encourage the development and adoption of OpenGL ES as an important open standard for graphics hardware acceleration in mobile devices. Sun said it will work with the Khronos Group to enable OpenGL ES to support the graphics requirements of the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition graphical APIs. (more…)

TimeSys Corp. announced an agreement with IBM to deliver TimeSys Linux RTOS and associated Linux- and Windows-hosted development tools for IBM's PowerPC 440 family of system-on-chip embedded processors. Additionally, TimeSys said its single-kernel Linux real-time operating system (RTOS) has received IBM's “Ready for IBM Technology” (RFIT) designation, signifying that TimeSys Linux has been validated to… (more…)

This online article at IBM's developerWorks website explains how to build a basic wireless access point running Linux. The article shows how to build an access point that operates as a bridge — simply forwarding packets between the wireless network and a local Ethernet. This allows wireless devices to simply be turned on and attached using an existing network — no new configuration, no special routing. (more…)

A request to the LinuxDevices.com community from Bruce Perens . . .

The Open Group used to be known as the industry association for Unix. They haven't always had the best name in the Open Source community, mostly because community folks didn't like their handling of the Motif GUI toolkit, which stayed proprietary for too long. (more…)

eCosCentric Ltd. announced plans to provide the open source eCos real-time operating system and RedBoot firmware form SuperH RISC CPU cores. Specifically, the company will supply eCos and RedBoot for SuperH's SH-4 MicroDev platform, which is used to develop system-on-chips and software based on the SH-4 RISC processor cores. (more…)

This article at CommsDesign examines the growing use of Linux as an embedded operating system in residential gateway devices. Long the domain of proprietary embedded operating systems, residential gateway designs are now moving toward Linux, which is excelling there due to its “exceptional stability, scalability, suitability to task, access to source code, and overall value,” the article says. (more…)

IBM announced the availability of a new toolkit for developing multimodal (XHTML + voice) applications for mobile Linux-based devices. Developers can use the toolkit to create multimodal applications — programs that combine GUI, speech recognition, and text-to-speech functions within a single application — and deploy them on the Linux-based Sharp Zaurus 5600, IBM said. (more…)

Wireless chipset maker Atheros Communications announced the release of what it calls “the first open source Linux and FreeBSD software drivers” for 802.11b/g and universal 802.11a/b/g products. Created by Open Source developer Sam Leffler, the 802.11a/b/g Linux driver is intended to be used as a building block for creating fully featured Linux-based 802.11b/g and 802.11a/b/g products such as network… (more…)

Arabella Software announced a free Linux reference design for the Motorola PowerQUICC II microprocessor. The free Linux package supports Motorola's PQ2FADS-ZU evaluation board (and also the earlier 8260FADS boards). The Arabella Linux CD-ROM is included with Motorola's evaluation boards, and is also available directly from Arabella on request, the company said. (more…)

Trolltech announced the release of Qt version 3.2. the popular C++ multiplatform application framework. According to Trolltech, the new version of Qt includes hundreds of enhancements and features that enable developers to build high-performance, low maintenance multiplatform applications. (more…)

The Audiopad is a musical composition and performance instrument which tracks the positions of objects on a tabletop surface and converts their motion into music. The system, which is powered by Debian Linux, combines a set of electronically tagged objects on a tabletop… (more…)

Linux Journal's Readers' Choice Awards voting will end July 25. Categories include Favorite Programming Language, Favorite Embedded Linux Distribution, Most Indispensable Linux Book, Favorite Processor Architecture, Favorite Development Tool, Favorite Linux Website (uhm, may we suggest one?), and many more. (more…)

Market analyst firm IDC reported today that the worldwide market for handheld devices continued to decline in the second quarter of 2003 “due to seasonality and sluggish demand from businesses and consumers alike.” According to IDC's quarterly handheld market report, Worldwide Handheld QView, worldwide handheld device shipments fell by 10.7% in Q2-03 over the same quarter a year ago, and dropped… (more…)

Sony Corporation announced the development of a new application processor which will serve as the heart of its upcoming “Clie” PDAs. The new processor, dubbed “Handheld Engine”, will initially be show up first in the Clie PEG-UX50, a new PalmOS-based handheld set debut in Japan next month (shown in the photo below). (more…)