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Archive for October, 2008

Report: T-Mobile sells out first 1.5 million G1s

October 13, 2008

T-Mobile sold out its first 1.5 million pre-orders of HTC's G1 phone, the first handset based on the Google Android Java/Linux stack, says The Motley Fool. The wireless carrier also plans to have several million handsets available for the Oct. (more…)

First ALP Linux smartphone?

October 10, 2008

An Israeli firm will ship a smartphone that runs Linux to the Russian market, according to industry reports. Possibly manufactured by Sharp, Emblaze Mobile's “Edelweiss” phone will offer GPS and an unprecedented 854 x 480 touchscreen, while running the Access Linux Platform (ALP), reports suggest. (more…)

First Atom-based nano-ITX board?

October 10, 2008

Portwell is shipping what it claims to be the first nano-ITX board based on an Intel Atom processor. The Linux-friendly Nano-8044 is aimed at portable POS (point-of-sales/service), medical/healthcare, mobile kiosk, mobile gaming, and digital signage devices, says the company. (more…)

New kernel boosts embedded

October 10, 2008

[Updated 1:45 PM] — Linus Benedict Torvalds today blessed the 2.6.27 kernel, making the release official after nine “release candidate” iterations. For embedded hackers, the new kernel offers “Ftrace” and “Sysprof” trace tools, a new “UBIFS” flash filesystem, and support for network drivers with multiple transmit queues, among other enhancements. (more…)

First dual-monitor LTSP 5 set-up?

October 9, 2008

DisklessWorkstations says one of its thin clients now supports dual monitors, when used with LTSP 5 (Linux Terminal Server Project v5). The Troy, Michigan based thin client vendor claims to be the “first to release how to configure dual monitors using LTSP 5.”

Given that… (more…)

Understanding Unix spells and curses

October 9, 2008

IBM's DeveloperWorks has published a tutorial on Unix pipelines, redirections, operators, and other “strange characters” inhabiting Unix's command line netherworld. “Speaking UNIX: !$#@*%” aims to teach intermediate Unix and Linux users a better understanding of the symbols used by system administrators in both interactive and non-interactive shell programming. (more…)

Tools vendor touts low-cost Linux BSPs

October 9, 2008

Timesys is offering low-cost, bare-bones Linux BSPs (board support packages) aimed at helping developers evaluate their apps on ARM development boards. Available for ARM9, ARM11, and ARM Cortex A8 based boards, the “Linux ReadyKits” include a pre-configured kernel, drivers, cross-toolchain, and minimalist RFS (root file system) built against glibc. (more…)

Debugger supports multi-core MIP64 chips

October 9, 2008

Abatron announced that its Linux-friendly hardware debug probe now supports the on-chip debug interfaces in the newest multi-core, multi-threaded MIPS64 chips from Raza Microelectronics, Inc. (more…)

Webinars tackle VxWorks-to-Linux ports

October 9, 2008

MontaVista will host two free educational webinars on porting VxWorks applications to embedded Linux. Led by MontaVista founder and CTO Jim Ready (pictured), the Oct. 23 webinars will offer tips on code migration, including how to know when it's best not to port. (more…)

Twin POS systems for Linux

October 9, 2008

NEC announced two new POS (point-of-sales/service) computers that run Linux. The TwinPOS 5500 and 3500 feature integrated flat panel touchscreens, resistance against dust and liquids, and optional MSRs (magnetic stripe readers) and customer-facing displays, says the company. (more…)

Mobile Firefox ready for download

October 8, 2008

Mozilla Labs is offering a “Milestone 8” Linux release of the long-awaited mobile version of its Firefox web browser. The “Fennec” browser will be released in final form in a few weeks, sporting iPhone-like “kinetic” scrolling, a Mac-like “expose” feature for tabs, and optional geolocation. (more…)

Miguel de Icaza on Mono 2.0

October 8, 2008

GNOME project co-founder Miguel de Icaza discusses the release of Mono 2.0, in this interview with Henry Kingman, executive editor of DesktopLinux. The conversation includes some interesting discussion of Mono's use on embedded devices like the iPhone, Wii, XBox, PS3, and Dell's Linux-based Sansa Connect PMP. (more…)

Embedded Linux declining?

October 8, 2008

An EE Times Europe reader poll found that Linux still leads in planned usage of embedded operating systems (OSes), but that the percentage is declining. About a third of respondents planned to use embedded Linux in future projects, down from about half the year before, claims the survey. (more…)

Mobile WiMAX service launches in U.S.

October 8, 2008

Sprint launched its XOHM WiMAX service today, at a press event in Baltimore. Touted as offering “the fastest data speeds among all national carriers,” the “4G” service will work with devices distributed by Sprint, such as Nokia's Linux-based N810 tablet, or purchased independently of the service, Sprint says. (more…)

Euro Linux device conference announces speakers

October 8, 2008

Registration has opened for the second annual Consumer Electronics Linux Forum (CELF) Embedded Linux Conference Europe (ELCE). Set for Nov. 6-7 in Ede, The Netherlands, ELCE will offer keynotes from Harald Welte and the Linux kernel's new “embedded maintainer,” Intel's David Woodhouse. (more…)