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[Updated: Apr. 5] — Texas Instruments (TI) announced it is licensing EtherCAT fieldbus technology from the EtherCAT Technology Group, and will feature it in upcoming Sitara ARM9 processors in 4Q 2011 and C6-Integra DSP + ARM Cortex-A8 processors beginning in 2012. Meanwhile, TI plans to expand its analog semiconductor portfolio with the $6.5 billion purchase of National Semiconductor.
AMD says it has begun shipping its first 32nm “Llano” chips for mainstream notebooks and desktops. The A-Series APUs (accelerated processing units), with on-chip graphics, are expected to appear in PCs by June or July.
Applied Micro Circuits (AppliedMicro) announced two new Linux-ready members of its “PacketPro” family of PowerPC system-on-a-chips (SoCs). The single-core “Diamondback” APM86291 and dual-core APM86292 can be clocked from 600MHz to 1GHz, offer PCIe, gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, and SATA connectivity, and feature a SlimPro stack offering power management and asymmetric multiprocessing capabilities, says the company.
Intel's “Sandy Bridge” processors may not be exciting the PC user base as much as the chipmaker hoped, according to one research firm. Demand from notebook manufacturers has been lower than expected, perhaps due to an initial flaw in the supporting “Cougar Point” chipset, according to an FBR Capital Markets analyst.
Google's reported decision to more tightly police its Android platform could improve overall quality, but runs the risk of losing vendors to Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, say analysts. Meanwhile, despite the release of the iPhone 4 on Verizon, Android kept building U.S. market share in February, growing to a leading 33 percent, says ComScore.
OpenSUSE 11.4 is a modest improvement to the Novell-backed, community-based Linux distribution, hobbled by some installation and font-control issues, says this eWEEK review. Yet OpenSUSE remains compelling thanks to related Novell software and services such as SUSE Studio and OpenSUSE Build Service, plus the new Tumbleweed rolling release option and Evergreen long-term release support project.
Nexcom announced a compact, fanless PC aimed at digital signage applications. The NDIS 125-L uses a dual-core Intel Atom D525 processor, includes 1GB of DDR3 RAM and a 160GB hard disk drive, offers both VGA and HDMI video outputs, and has an internal USB connector for an optional 802.11b/g/n wireless module, the company says.
WiMAX-2, which also goes by the less catchy “WirelessMAN-Advanced” and “802.16m” monikers, has been approved by the IEEE. Touted as offering up to 300Mbps speed, 802.16m may be too late to offset the momentum of rival 4G technology LTE.
BlueChip Technology announced an ARM Cortex-A8-based SBC (single board computer) aimed at embedded HMI (human machine interface) applications. Clocked at up to 720MHz, the RE2 offers support for a range of display kits and wireless expansion modules, plus standard features including Ethernet, USB, serial, and camera interfaces, says the company.
Android will represent 45 percent of global smartphone market share by 2016, while Samsung's Bada OS may reach 10 percent, says ABI Research. Contrary to a recent IDC study, which estimated that Windows Phone 7 will be the number two platform in 2015, ABI says Microsoft will achieve only seven percent market share by 2016.
Mentor Graphics released an “OpenMCAPI” open source implementation of the Multicore Association (MCA) MCAPI (Multicore Communications Application Program Interface) specification for inter-process communications. The announcement comes two weeks after the MCA released the MCAPI 2.0 spec, adding a new “domain” layer touted for improving messaging routing and security.
The Ubuntu project released the Beta 1 version of Ubuntu 11.04 (“Natty Narwhal”), which switches the Linux distribution to the homegrown, multitouch Unity desktop environment. Ubuntu 11.04 advances to Linux 2.6.38, adds LibreOffice 3.3.2, offers Firefox 4, and enhances the Software Center with “rate and review” plus an experimental try-before-you-buy function.