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The developer of the QEMU emulator has programmed a new PC emulator written in Javascript, capable of running Linux entirely within a web browser. Fabrice Bellard's Javascript emulator has been tested on Firefox 4 and Google Chrome 11, enabling a Linux 2.6.2 kernel to run in RAM, no matter what the underlying operating system.
Via Technologies announced a Mini-ITX board that features a 1.2GHz Via Nano E-Series processor and is aimed at signage and point of service (POS) applications. The Via Epia-M860 Mini-ITX board supports up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, and offers PCI, PCI Express, and Mini PCI Express expansion, as well as gigabit Ethernet, HDMI SATA, serial, and USB 2.0 connectivity.
Nvidia announced a new parallel processor for the high performance computing (HPC) market, based on its GPU (graphics processing unit) architecture. Initially offered in servers from HP, the Tesla M2090 is a PCI Express x16 card touted as “the world's fastest parallel processor for high-performance computing,” with up to 665 Gigaflops of performance.
Protech Systems has introduced an embedded PC with protection against vibration, water, dust, and extreme temperatures. The EPC-9611 runs on an Intel Atom N270 with up to 2GB RAM, and supplies six serial ports, including two RS-232/422/485 connections, three Ethernet ports, as well as USB, DIO, and other I/O, says the company.
Following Attachmate's acquisition of Novell, the entire staff of the Novell-sponsored Mono project team was laid off. Now, Mono project leader Miguel de Icaza has launched a new company called Xamarin, which plans to continue supporting the open source .NET clone Mono and the Silverlight mimic Moonlight, while pushing related development on iOS and Android platforms.
Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang confirmed his company is building quad-core Tegra 3 processors for new Nexus tablets or smartphones running the upcoming Android “Ice Cream Sandwich” operating system. Meanwhile, a Tegra 2-based Motorola Droid X2 is coming to Verizon May 26, followed later by a Droid 3 that switches to Texas Instruments' dual-core Cortex-A9 OMAP4430, according to industry reports.
Toshiba announced a “heavy-duty,” all-in-one point of sale (POS) device that runs Windows or SUSE Linux on an Intel Atom N450 processor. The Willpos C10 includes a built-in touchscreen with 800 x 600 resolution, an available 20 character by 4 line customer-facing display, a built-in thermal printer, choice of colors, and the ability to run on batteries for up to five hours, the company says.
Google's Android 3.1 Open Accessories initiative for connecting Arduino-based gadgets via USB has attracted third-party support. In addition to the RT-manufactured Google reference platform, Future Technology Devices International (FTDI) is preparing a compatible product using a “Vinco” development board that incorporates the Vinculum II USB controller, and Microchip is shipping a compatible PIC24F Accessory Development Starter Kit that uses its own PIC microcontroller.
Globalscale Technologies announced a $249, mini-PC hardware/software development kit based on the Marvell PXA510 — a new ARMv7, 1GHz processor capable of 1080p video. The D2Plug clocks the PXA510 at 800MHz, and offers 1GB DDR3 RAM, 8GB flash, a full set of peripherals including 802.11n and Bluetooth 3.0, plus Ubuntu Linux and Android 2.2 support, says the company.
Samsung announced what it calls “the industry's first production of a high-performance toggle DDR 2.0 multi-level-cell (MLC) memory chip.” The 64 gigabit (Gb) chips will target smartphones, tablets, and solid-state disks (SSDs), and are created using an “advanced 20-nanometer (nm) class process,” the company says.
O'Reilly Media announced a new Android Open Conference Oct. 9-11, in San Francisco, designed for anyone who creates, sells, or markets Android-related products. In other open source conference news, the Linux Foundation last week announced keynote speakers, including Linus Torvalds, for LinuxCon Japan, June 1-3, and Linux Expo of Southern California announced events for Software Freedom Day 2011 on Sept. 17.
Canonical announced the open source OpenStack cloud platform will be the core technology in its Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud package, which allows organizations to launch Linux-based clouds. Meanwhile, Ubuntu spin-off Linux Mint announced a release candidate (RC) of version 11: Based on the latest Ubuntu 11.04, the distro is foregoing the new Unity desktop as well as GNOME 3.0, in favor of GNOME 2.32.1.
New information is emerging about Intel's future Atom processors, which are downsizing in order to meet the power and space requirements of mobile devices. The 32nm “Cedar Trail” will ship later this year with enhanced PowerVR SGX545 graphics, HDMI and DisplayPort support, and the ability to use up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM, while the 22nm “Silvermont” will use Intel's 3-D Tri-Gate technology and ship in 2013, reports say.
McObject announced a design win for its in-memory ExtremeDB database management system, which will be integrated across dozens of Linux-based IPLink IP routers and SmartNode voice-over-IP (VoIP) routers from Patton Electronics. Patton is adopting ExtremeDB as a component of its Linux-based Trinity AE distribution to manage configuration data on the routers, says the company.
Acrosser Technology announced a 1U rackmount network server that can be equipped with Intel Core 2 quad-core or dual-core processors, as well as Pentium or Celeron CPUs. The AR-R5800 offers eight gigabit Ethernet ports, two LAN bypass pairs, four USB ports, dual SATA hard disk drive (HDD) bays, and PCI Express expansion, the company says.