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The Indian government has unveiled a prototype of a Linux-based touchscreen tablet it hopes to sell next year for $35, with hopes to eventually lower the price to $10, according to several reports. Aimed at university students in India, the tablet is equipped with 2GB of memory, a memory card slot, Wi-Fi, camera, USB ports, and a web browser, say reports.
The Genivi Alliance has chosen the Linux Foundation's Intel- and Nokia-backed MeeGo operating system as the basis of its next “Apollo” reference release for open source Linux-based In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) systems. Meanwhile, the Genivi Alliance announced Hyundai as a new core member, and said it was planning an ARM reference platform for IVI.
In two reports filed from this week's OSCON conference, The Register says that Google will open Android's internal development kit to contributors, and that Linux maintainers are holding tough in negotiating with the search giant regarding Android's readmission to the kernel. Meanwhile, Linux 2.6.35 RC6 was released, featuring enhancements to network scalability, memory management, and sleep-wait detection.
Men Micro is taking orders for a rugged, display-oriented single board computer (SBC) for vehicles equipped with Intel's heat-resistant Intel Atom XL Z520PT processor. The SC21 offers 1GB of soldered SDRAM, two Ethernet ports, two USB 2.0 ports, and supports a wide temperature range, plus display features including backlight control and touch interfaces.
Lanner announced a compact embedded PC designed for high-definition video applications, sporting an HDMI port, two VGA ports, and a DVI-D port. The LEC-7900D offers two gigabit Ethernet ports, a Type I/II CompactFlash slot, and room for a 2.5-inch hard disk, the company says.
Barnes & Noble released a Nook for Android application, competing with a similar Android app released for the Kindle, and Amazon announced that its Kindle e-books are outselling its hardcover books by almost two to one. Meanwhile, Entourage Systems, which makes the Entourage Edge dual-screen Android e-reader, announced several e-book content partnerships.
MontaVista Software announced a new version of its Eclipse-based integrated development environment (IDE) for embedded Linux. DevRocket 6.1 has been upgraded to better support the MontaVista Linux 6 commercial embedded Linux development platform, adding tight integration and a graphical interface to the new MontaVista Integration Platform build platform, plus enhanced analysis and debugging tools, says MontaVista.
ARM and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced a long-term agreement that, the companies say, will provide the silicon foundry with access to ARM IP, and ultimately result in tiny Cortex processors created via a 20-nanometer process. Separately, ARM linked up with electronic design firm Cadence to develop “an optimized System Realization solution for ARM processors.”
The team behind the cloud-based Peppermint variant of Ubuntu Linux released a scaled-down, site-specific browser (SSB) version that is said to boot in under 10 seconds. The “Peppermint Ice” distro uses Google's Chromium as the default browser, and while still offering support for native apps, is even more focused on web-based apps than is Peppermint.
Advanced Micro Peripherals announced a rugged, Linux-compatible single board computer (SBC) using the 4.0 x 3.7-inch PCI-104 form factor. Powered by a 500MHz AMD Geode LX800 CPU, the video-ready Tiny-LX board offers a 32 bit PCI expansion bus, interfaces including Ethernet, USB, and E-IDE, plus fanless operation even in extended temperatures.
Tattu Mobile is prepping an Android-based tablet based on ZiiLabs' ZMS-05 SoC, with the help of Intrinsyc's RapidRIL telephony technology, says Intrinsyc. Meanwhile, CNET reviewed the Dell Streak Android tablet (pictured) and dubbed it “the best Android-based tablet we've seen so far.”
System76 has updated its Linux-based netbook to the Atom N455 processor as well as making it thinner and lighter. The Ubuntu 10.04 version of the 10.1-inch Starling NetBook offers more memory (2GB), a larger standard hard drive (250GB), faster Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), and is available in a school-focused “EduBook” version.
Toradex announced a new member of its Colibri module family based on the Nvidia Tegra T20 system-on-chip (SoC), whose dual ARM Cortex-A9 cores are clocked at 1GHz. The Colibri Tegra T20 ships with 256MB of DDR RAM and 1GB flash, supports 1080p video playback, and offers interfaces including Ethernet, USB, I2C, and SPI, says the company.
Asus is switching its consumer-oriented EP101TC tablet (pictured) from Windows CE to Android, claims NetbookNews. Meanwhile, HP has trademarked the word “Palmpad,” which is likely to be the name for its upcoming WebOS-based tablet, says The Inquirer.
Synology America is shipping two network-attached storage (NAS) devices running its Linux-based Synology DiskStation Manager 2.3 software. The desktop DiskStation DS411+ and rack-mount RackStation RS810+ are both equipped with dual-core Intel Atom D510 processors, as well as four bays supporting up to 8TB each, with the RS810+ expandable to 16TB via Synology's RX410 add-on unit.