The problem

Digital Rights Management Passport (DRMP) technology (TCPA from Intel and Palladium from Microsoft and similar) is intended to make it hard to copy downloaded music or pirated software. Preventing teenagers from making copies of Eminem songs may seem harmless, but Internet Age technology is all about convergence. (more…)

Robert Roebling has announced the first beta release of wxEmbedded, a new open source graphical windowing environment for small devices. Here is a brief overview from Roebling about wxEmbedded, along with some background on the wxWindows project from which wxEmbedded is derived . . . (more…)

In this open letter, MontaVista Software's Bill Weinberg responds to the recent article by Kevin Dankwardt entitled “Are non-GPL loadable Linux drivers really not a problem?” . . . (more…)

In the first part of this column (Linux Journal, August 2002) we covered the basics of the tty layer and how to create a minimal tty driver. Now we move on and cover more of the tty layer, trying to explain some of the advanced portions. (more…)

Alex describes how to find out, using only the sound card in your Linux computer and some wire loops. (more…)

Bruce explains how real-time data monitors differ from traditional debugging tools and are powerful allies in real-time software. (more…)

This article by Kevin Dankwardt explores the issue of whether non-GPL loadable Linux drivers are really not a problem. While many Linux developers assume that binary-only drivers are acceptable, there are growing technical reasons to avoid them. New features in tools and in the Linux kernel hamper the acceptability of non-GPL loadable modules. (more…)

In celebration of the Nuit Blanche art festival in Paris, Project Blinkenlights has transformed Tower T2 of the Bibliothèque nationale de France into what is claimed to be the world's largest computer screen. The 520 pixel display, called Arcade, consists of a matrix of 20 x 26 of the building's windows — resulting in a giant computer screen having an area of 3370 square meters. (more…)

This technical whitepaper by Ismael Ripoll is intended to provide a detailed comparison between RTLinux and RTAI. Ripoll set out to put together all of the relevant facts about both implementations, in order to assist developers in deciding which approach better fits their specific application's requirements. (more…)

Switching a student lab from VxWorks to Linux to teach embedded systems and development.

The recent introduction of Linux into the embedded sector has been one of the most exciting changes in the last few years. Based on the open-source model, it offers new possibilities to embedded engineers traditionally used to commercial operating systems. (more…)

Despite claims to the contrary, uClinux may well represent the world's first, most mature, and most commercially successful embedded Linux distribution. While other embedded distributions rely on upscale processors to get reasonable performance, uClinux uses solid code, a firm guiding hand, and actual product experience with deeply embedded systems. (more…)

Introduction

This whitepaper provides a discussion of theory and methods for building uClinux systems that boot, run, and operate using Flash memory. The paper begins with a brief introduction to Flash memory technology, followed by a discussion of the different ways uClinux system components can be laid out in Flash. (more…)

Overview

YAFFS stands for 'yet another flash file system' (see footnote 1). As far as I am aware, YAFFS is the only file system, under any operating system, that has been designed specifically for use with NAND flash. YAFFS is thus designed to work within the constraints of, and exploit the features of, NAND flash to maximize performance. (more…)

Introduction

In the summer of 2001 an initiative named the “Embedded Reasoning Institute” took form at Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA. This initiative was a program for student interns involving design and implementation of systems by use of embedded systems components, wearable computers, and wireless technologies. (more…)

Introduction

The aim of this research project was to port RTLinux to the MIPS Atlas board with MIPS 4Kc core. We further intended to measure the response time of the real-time interrupts and the scheduler, and develop a suitable real-time environment for system-on-chip (SOC) based embedded applications such… (more…)