The term “Device Software Optimization” (DSO), introduced by Wind River in 2004, has been embraced by some and resisted by others. This comprehensive DSO special report chronicles the arrival, evolution, and growing adoption of DSO as an industry-defining term. (more…)

Venture Development Corp. (VDC) attended both the 2006 Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose and the LinuxWorld Expo in Boston last week. This article from VDC's Embedded Systems Industry Bulletin presents a summary of those two events, along with VDC's picks for its annual “embeddie” awards, conferred on the best ESC… (more…)

FreeHand Systems used embedded Linux to build an electronic music reader designed to replace paper-based sheet music in practice, lesson, and performance settings. The MusicPad Pro Plus supports annotations, turns pages with screen-taps or an optional footpedal, and can store “thousands” of music charts,… (more…)

The Consumer Electronics Linux Forum (CELF) hosted a technical conference in Santa Clara, Calif. this week. LinuxDevices.com's roving reporter attended, and brought back slides and photos from an interesting demo session at the event (including the photo of “King Tux,” pictured here). (more…)

A trend toward outsourcing emerged at this year's Embedded Systems Conference, writes Curt Schacker, CEO of embedded outsourcing specialist Embedded Solution Partners (ESP), in this guest retrospective. (more…)

LinuxDevices.com recently caught up with Roger Kung, founder of Linux smartphone specialist E28 in China. E28 shipped the world's first Linux smartphone, and continues to ship Linux smartphones, with a focus on dual-mode cellular/VoIP (voice-over-IP) designs for MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators)… (more…)

Foreword: Yesterday, we published an article defining Device Software Optimization (DSO), based on an interview with John Bruggeman, chief marketing officer at Wind River, which coined the term. (more…)

The technology industry is replete with TLAs (three-letter acronyms). Two years ago, Wind River added one more, coining the term “Device Software Optimization” (DSO) as a replacement for the term “embedded software” in its marketing efforts. (more…)

Foreword: This article explains how a small, Utah-based company used asynchronous Javascript and XML (AJAX) to add advanced features to the user interfaces in its Linux-based cameras. The article was written by Andrey Filippov, a Russian physicist who emigrated to the US in 1995, and founded Elphel six years later. Enjoy . . . ! (more…)

This LinuxDevices guide provides pointers to our coverage of Linux-based cellular mobile phones, feature phones, and smartphones. For desktop IP phones, please see the separate Linux IP Phones showcase. (more…)

Intel has embedded a 2.6 Linux kernel in a compact NAS (network-attached storage) server that aims to bring enterprise storage management features such as hot-swap SATA drives and enclosure management to the entry-level SMB/SOHO market. (more…)

This guest column by Wasabi VP and General Counsel Jay Michaelson responds to a reaction from Free Software Foundation General Counsel Eban Moglen to a (more…)

Foreword: This technical article introduces initramfs, a Linux 2.6 feature that enables an initial root filesystem and init program to reside in kernel memory cache, rather than on a ramdisk, as with initrd filesystems. (more…)

Foreword: This whitepaper discusses the security challenges posed by voice over IP (VoIP) communications in wired and wireless devices such as VoIP servers, gateways, telephones, and mobile handhelds. The author describes a number of techniques that can be used by developers to help protect VoIP devices from security breeches. (more…)

Foreword — This whitepaper by OSDL Analyst/Strategist Bill Weinberg examines the growing role of Linux and open source software in the device industry, with a particular emphasis on mobile phones. It examines obstacles to adoption, as well as market opportunities and forces causing Linux to proliferate in devices. Enjoy . . . ! (more…)