Wind River is offering a 30-day evaluation version of its General Purpose Platform (GPP), Linux Edition. The trial includes an embedded Linux 2.6.10 kernel and filesystem, configuration utilities, and the company's Eclipse-based Workbench development toolsuite. (more…)

Texas Instruments (TI) plans to ship an SoC (system-on-chip) for VoIP (voice-over-IP) applications in Q2-06. The TNETV1061 runs Linux on a 213MHz MIPS32 core, and also has a 150MHz DSP (digital signal processor) core. It targets residential VoIP applications, including CPE gateways (customer premises equipment), VoIP gateways, and terminal adapters. (more…)

AMD has announced an evaluation kit for its low-power Geode LX x86 processor, based on an ETX format computer-on-module (COM). The Geode LX ETX RDK (reference design kit) targets applications such as kiosks, POS (point-of-sales/service) terminals, thin clients, and embedded controllers, and supports multiple operating systems… (more…)

Enea will add NOR/NAND Flash data storage capabilities to its lightweight SQL RDBMS (relational database management system), to support applications such as feature-phones, gateways, and set-top boxes. The “Polyhedra FlashLite” product will support Linux and many other embedded OSes, and is touted as both the smallest and fastest flash-based RDBMS. (more…)

GPL-licensed software poses no special threat to companies covered by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), according to a whitepaper released by the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC). The paper rebuts recent statements to the contrary from Wasabi Systems, an embedded software publisher that advocates a competing open source license. (more…)

Four embedded hardware vendors will jointly present a live Webcast on standards for fixed-mobile convergence (FMC). Entitled “Meeting carrier requirements with AdvancedTCA and AdvancedMCs,” the online event will feature representatives of Radisys, Embedded Planet, Diversified, and Kontron — all of whom offer carrier hardware products that run embedded Linux. (more…)

Sony's Playstation 3 (PS3) reportedly could cost nearly a thousand dollars, and might not ship in the US until 2007. Entitled “PS3: Everything we know,” a 1up.com story speculates about PS3 hardware, ship dates, pricing, and available game titles, but doesn't mention the Linux OS… (more…)

An embedded services and board vendor in British Columbia is shipping its first reference design to include an integrated LCD display. The TPC-57 is based on an ARM9-based CPU module, along with a 5.7-inch touchscreen LCD. (more…)

The Object Management Group (OMG) is soliciting papers for its “Workshop on Distributed Object Computing for Real-time and Embedded Systems,” July 10-13, 2006, in Washington, DC. Suggested topics include real-time Linux, DDS (data distribution service), CORBA (common object request broker architecture), UML (unified modeling language), and MDA (model driven architecture). (more…)

AOL is offering a developer kit for writing software that interoperates with AIM's (AOL Instant Messenger) 60 million-strong userbase. The Open AIM kit can also be used to write AIM plugins. The kit is free, when used with AIM username/login namespaces, and AOL will also license custom namespaces, it says. (more…)

The Embedded Systems Lab at Lanzhou University, China, has published three detailed, example-filled articles about Linux kernel debugging tools and tactics. The papers cover GCOV code coverage tools, kernel function instrumentation, and runtime debugging, and were written by Nicholas McGuire, who now teaches at Lanzhou… (more…)

A PDA-like Windows Mobile phone has been successfully coaxed into running Linux. The “Universal,” created by Taiwanese ODM HTC and re-sold under various brands, has successfully booted several Linux OSes, after a flurry of collaboration on a developer community forum. (more…)

IBM has published the following new technical articles, tutorials, and downloads on its DeveloperWorks website. They cover a range of interesting (though not necessarily embedded) technical topics, primarily related to Linux and open source system development. Some require free registration. Enjoy . . . ! (more…)

Motorola's newest Linux-based smartphone reached electronics stores and online retailers in Beijing today. The A1200 is a triband GSM/EDGE phone with a stylish, ultra-slim design. It runs MontaVista Linux on an Intel PXA270 (Bulverde) processor, and has been approved by the FCC for US operation. (more…)

Tensilica announced six new processor cores last week, including one aimed specifically at mobile devices based on Linux. The Diamond Standard 232L is positioned as “the lowest-power processor capable of running the Linux operating system,” and is claimed to have better performance than ARM's successful ARM926EJ-S core design. (more…)