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Kontron announced a PC/104-Plus board designed for headless devices, featuring a 1.0GHz AMD T24L processor. The Microspace MSM-eO-N accepts up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, has two onboard SATA ports, includes gigabit Ethernet, has a bootable microSD slot, and offers both PCI and ISA expansion, the company says.
Freescale Semiconductor announced a Linux-ready medical reference platform for devices that can collect and securely share health data. The Freescale home health hub (HHH) reference platform is built around Freescale's ARM9-based i.MX28 processor, integrating ZigBee and sub-1GHz transceivers as well as Ethernet, USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity, says the company.
Lightweight, compact and speedy, Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus is a seven-inch Android 3.2 “Honeycomb” tablet with few minuses. Unfortunately, this eWEEK review adds, it's saddled with a price twice that of Amazon's new Kindle Fire.
Google released Android 4.0.1 (“Ice Cream Sandwich”) code to open source, along with the Android 3.x (“Honeycomb”) code that it has kept under wraps since it arrived on Android tablets earlier this year. The release follows the Nov. 11 introduction of Android native development kit (NDK) v7, which has been upgraded for Android 4.0 with two new multimedia API sets.
Arbor announced a bedside PC for hospital patients that includes an 18.5-inch touchscreen, a five megapixel webcam, and a VoIP handset. The M1857 has a 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor, a 160GB hard disk drive, plus smart card, RFID, and barcode scanning capabilities, according to the company.
Winmate announced a rugged handheld computer that includes a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen and runs Android 2.3.4 on a 1GHz Cortex-A8-based Texas Instruments DM3730. The E430T offers IP65-level sealing, up to 512MB of RAM, five- and two-megapixel cameras, plus wireless technologies including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and 3.5G cellular.
Linux Mint 12 (“Lisa”) RC1 was released, based on Ubuntu 11.10 and Linux 3.0. RC1 offers the GNOME 3.2 desktop, but augments it with “MGSE” extensions that let users create a more GNOME 2.3x-like environment, and also supplies a desktop called MATE that's claimed to be a GNOME 3.x-compatible version of GNOME 2.x.
Amazon began shipping its Kindle Fire tablet device Nov. 14, a day early. The $200, seven-inch Android tablet will compete against the Nook Tablet and Apple iPad, among others, for holiday dollars.
Wind River announced a pre-validated stack built on Wind River Linux 4.2, aimed at development of home gateway systems for automation and multimedia. Wind River Platform for Gateways supports two ARM11-based processors — the Mindspeed Comcerto 1000 and the Cavium Econa CNS3xxx — and features software from DigiOn (DLNA), Makewave and ProSyst (OSGi for Java), Works Systems (remote management), and Skelmir (virtual machine technology).
Intel is working on a new line of processors specifically designed for tablets, according to an industry report. The chipmaker will drive the power consumption of its smartphone and tablet processors down to less than 10 Watts, and will accelerate its processor upgrade cadence from two years to one.
Aaeon announced a rugged, fanless industrial controller with an Intel QM57 chipset and 2.4GHz Intel Core i5 or 2.66GHz Core i7 processor. The AEC-6635 supports up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, offers DVI-D, VGA and DisplayPort video ports, and provides CompactFlash, SATA, gigabit Ethernet, USB2.0, serial, plus PCI Mini Card connections.
O'Reilly Media has published a book on embedded system development. Elicia White's 328-page “Making Embedded Systems” ranges from embedded controllers and sensors to more advanced systems, provides the basics of good development practices, and a encourages a disciplined approach to programming in an environment where “inefficiency isn't tolerated,” says the publisher.
Via Technologies announced a Mini-ITX motherboard with a dual-core, 1.4GHz Via Nano X2 processor and Via VX900 chipset. Aimed at DIY home media modders, the Via VE-900 Mini-ITX Mainboard supports up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, and offers dual SATA connectors, a PCI slot, and coastline I/O including gigabit Ethernet, serial, VGA, USB, and HDMI ports.
Norco and its Habey USA subsidiary announced a 9.25 x 8.66-inch motherboard whose Intel Q67 chipset supports Intel “Sandy Bridge” Core i3/i5/i7 processors. The POS-7933 includes up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, ten serial ports, six USB 2.0 ports, four SATA interfaces, a gigabit Ethernet port, plus both PCI and mini-PCI Express expansion, says the company.
Barnes & Noble has subpoenaed Nokia in its defense against Microsoft's Android-related patent infringement claims, following its petition to the U.S. Department of Justice to look into Microsoft's patent behavior for possible antitrust violations. In other patent-related news, Microsoft and Huawei are negotiating on a patent agreement, say reports.