A Taiwanese electronic system design company has developed an open-source MP3, video, and Karaoke player that runs Linux 2.6.x. Cool-Idea Technology's Cool-Karaoke uses a 400MHz ARM920t processor, includes 4GB of flash and a 320×240 display, and supports customization with a freely downloadable toolchain and source… (more…)

[Updated Sep. 8] — A blogger on KDEdevelopers.org has ported the KDE-based KOffice office suite to the Maemo distribution used with Nokia's Internet Tablets. (more…)

Amazon will sell One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)'s Linux-compatible XO notebook starting in November, says a news story. The story also says OLPC is partnering with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to help distribute the notebooks, and the next-generation XO-2 will ship in 1Q 2010. (more…)

A company that sells IP (intellectual property) cores to system-on-chip (SoC) designers claims to be shipping the first synthesizable IP core to implement the IEEE 1149.7 “Compact JTAG” (cJTAG) standard. cJTAG uses only two pins for I/O, clocking, and control, instead of JTAG's four, while also improving debugging, proponents say. (more…)

In October, Shenzhen China-based HiVision will ship a MIPs-based Linux mini-notebook for $98. The company is currently offering a similar machine for $120, according to a video blog report from the Internationale Funkausstellunga (IFA) consumer electronics show in Berlin this week. (more…)

Linux thin client specialist Igel has created a Linux operating system image for a rugged panel PC designed for vehicle-mounted and industrial applications. The Igel-5310 LX Premium Image works with Glacier's Everest PC (pictured), available with a 600 MHz Celeron or 1.4GHz Pentium M processor. (more…)

Dell announced its first netbook, a $350 Intel Atom-based model loaded with Ubuntu Linux 8.04. The Inspiron Mini 9 offers a 1.6GHz Atom N270, up to 1GB SDRAM, an 8.9-inch, 1024 X 600 display, three USB ports, Ethernet, and a 4GB solid-state drive. (more…)

Lippert has upped the maximum amount of RAM available soldered onto its CoreExpress-ECO computer-on-module (COM). Now available with 2GB of RAM, and targeting mobile embedded PC applications, the 28-gram, Intel Atom-based board uses Lippert's own 2.3 x 2.6 inch (58 x 65mm) “CoreExpress” COM format. (more…)

MontaVista Software announced additional details about its Vision 2008 Embedded Linux Developers Conference. Scheduled for Oct. 1-3 in San Francisco, Vision 2008 will offer more than 40 sessions, with presentations from embedded Linux experts including MontaVista CTO James Ready and Freescale Semiconductor CTO Lisa Su… (more…)

China Unicom is distributing a Samsung Electronics phone that runs a mobile Linux stack from Mizi Research, a company that will soon be acquired by Wind River. Samsung's “Olympics” phone, also called the SCH-i859, is equipped with a Marvell PXA300 processor and a 2.8-inch touchscreen. (more…)

Google and the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) have announced the final winners for part one of the Android Developer Challenge. The OHA granted ten $275,000 awards and ten $100,000 awards for the best applications created for the Linux- and Java-based Android mobile phone platform. (more…)

Taiwanese industrial computing specialist Artila Electronics is shipping a single-board computer (SBC) for industrial applications. The M-508 Linux Computer and its temperature-resistant M-508T twin are based on ARM9 Atmel processors clocked to 180MHz, and include a preloaded version of Artila's Linux 2.6.14 based… (more…)

Axiomtek has announced what it says is the world's first pico-ITX SBC (single board computer) packing Intel's Atom processor. The PICO820 offers 1.1GHz or 1.6GHz Z5xx CPUs, gigabit Ethernet, a SATA port, a VGA port, and headers for four serial ports, the company says. (more…)

Via has released an open source Linux “Xorg” driver for its integrated graphics chips. Announced in a blog by open source leader and new Via consultant Harald Welte, the “chrome” driver release follows up on Via's vow to start opening up its chipsets to the open source development community. (more…)

A free webinar aims to show embedded Linux developers how to migrate existing code to a multi-core environment. Hosted by MontaVista Software, Freescale Semiconductor, and TechOnline, the Sept 11 webinar will use the multi-core Freescale QorIQ P4080 and MPC8641D processors as… (more…)