French bluetooth accessory specialist Com One is readying a portable WiFi clock-radio powered by a 2.6.15-7 kernel and the Familiar Linux distribution. The battery-powered “Phoenix IP Radio” is based on an Intel PXA270 (Bulverde) processor, and goes on sale direct to consumers next month. (more…)

Foreword: This detailed, hands-on review examines Nokia's Linux-based N800 Internet Tablet first as a consumer electronics device, and then as a platform for open source software development. (more…)

Foreword: As written, GPLv3 threatens to fork GNU projects and marginalize the Free Software Foundation, writes Linux observer Bill Weinberg in this well-written essay. Drawing on long experience evangelizing open source licensing to business users, Weinberg suggests that the FSF's GPLv3 high road could be a lonesome one. (more…)

Foreword — The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) and Free Standard Group (FSG) merged on Jan. 21, creating the Linux Foundation, a single entity aiming to take responsibility for Linux standardization, promotion, and protection. (more…)

Foreword: This article unravels the mysteries of Trolltech's Qtopia development framework, for new users just trying to get it installed. The article includes examples based on GPL-licensed versions of Qtopia and KDevelop. It was written by three software developers at Mindfire Solutions, a New Delhi, India-based software development services house. (more…)

Samsung Electronics used Linux and a MIPS-based SoC (system-on-chip) to build a portable digital TV. The LMD10A-51W mobile Digital Multimedia Broadcast TV (DMB-TV) has a 10-inch WVGA (800×480) screen, and supports T-DMB broadcasts as well as DivX, XviD, WMV, and MPEG files. (more…)

Foreword: This article describes how Linux and a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) single-board computer (SBC) helped Vetland Medical develop and market its EX3000 product, an inexpensive anesthesia monitoring device aimed at bringing technical innovations in human anesthesia… (more…)

Foreword: This whitepaper discusses telephony server middleware that aims to de-couple cellular modem functionality from mobile phone operating systems. It was written by Blane E. Rockafellow, who co-founded TapRoot Systems, a telephony server specialist that has partnered with Microsoft, MontaVista, Trolltech ((more…)

Foreword: This thoughtful essay by Dr. Ari Jaaksi, Nokia's director of open source, explores Nokia's experience developing a commercial software environment based two-thirds on open-source software. (more…)

[Updated Dec. 14] — Taiwan-based e-book specialist eRead is shipping a Linux-based electronic book reader featuring an electrophoretic (aka electronic paper) display (EPD). The low-power, thin, light-weight Star eBook STK-101 can be used to read as many as 60 books on a single charge, the company… (more…)

Foreword: Trolltech's Linux/Qtopia-powered Greenphone aims to provide a real (rather than emulated) hardware platform for mobile phone application developers to test their applications on. This hands-on review takes an in-depth look at the phone's software environment, and at the development tools supplied with the… (more…)

Foreword: This detailed, technical how-to explains how eCos developers can use CMake to simplify and streamline the chore of writing makefiles manually. It discusses both simple, single-application eCos build environments, as well as those with multiple targets, such as production and debug builds for actual and virtual hardware. (more…)

Foreword: In this informative and highly detailed whitepaper, veteran embedded systems design consultant James Chapman looks at the factors that help some embedded Linux projects succeed, while others fail. The paper could be especially useful to developers interesting in understanding how Linux is different from proprietary RTOSes. (more…)

Foreword: This guest column by a representative of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) discusses proposed provisions in a future version 3 of the GNU General Public License (GPLv3) that are intended to reduce open-source license proliferation, by making the GPL more flexible. (more…)

Although it is neither seen nor touched by a user, flash file system software is integral to the basic functionality of a mobile phone. This important embedded software component ensures that data can be written to the storage media, accessed by the user, and read on demand. (more…)