Linux powers more than 75 percent of the world's most powerful computers, according to data released yesterday in the annual “Top 500” report. Intel's Pentium 4 Xeon proved the most popular processor, followed by dual-core Opteron and EM64T Xeons in a dead heat for second. (more…)

Toshiba America Electronic Components (TAEC) is sampling its second-generation processors for mid-range and low-end digital TVs having single-chip designs. The TC90407XBG and TC90407XFG chips feature 64-bit MIPS-based host processors and dual DSPs, along with on-chip function blocks aimed at supporting the North American ATSC standard, and come with Linux support. (more…)

One of the first POS (point-of-sale) equipment vendors to adopt Linux will now become one of the first to offer solid-state storage. Wincor Nixdorf's new X-Series, due in January, will be offered with an Msystems mModule uDOC embedded flash disk. (more…)

VirtualLogix (formerly Jaluna) is sampling a version of its platform virtualization product that supports four new DSP-based digital media processors from TI's (Texas Instruments) DaVinci product family. VLX for Digital Multimedia (VLX-DM) will be fully released for TI's TMS320DM643x-series processors in mid-2007, concurrent with their launch, according to VirtualLogix. (more…)

MontaVista Software has invited current customers to join an open beta program for its next-generation Eclipse-based embedded Linux development toolset. Codenamed Tsuki (“moon” in Japanese), the program promises high-quality monthly releases leading to general availability of Dev Rocket 5 before mid-2007, concurrent with MontaVista Pro 5, based on Linux 2.6.18. (more…)

AMD has stopped producing the Personal Internet Communicator (PIC), a low-cost computer intended to help equip 50 percent of the world's population with Internet and computing capabilities by 2015. The news was contained in an obscure paragraph of the company's quarterly SEC 10-Q filing. (more…)

This detailed, informative whitepaper discusses factors for success in using Linux as an embedded OS. Topics covered include hardware selection, distribution selection, Linux vs. (more…)

An open source project maintaining an embeddable (within other applications) relational database has achieved a major release. Firebird 2.0, which debuted at the fourth International Firebird Conference this week in Prague, features new SQL, internationalization, security, and performance features. (more…)

Freescale says MontaVista will sponsor its global series of technical training conferences next year, at the Platinum level. Six Freescale Technology Forum (FTF) conferences are scheduled throughout the latter half of 2007, in locations that include Orlando, Fla., Tokyo, Paris, Munich, Shanghai, and Bangalore. (more…)

Sun is releasing all of its Java Platform implementations — including Standard, Micro, and Enterprise Editions — under the GPLv2. The company's “Mobile and Embedded” site, launched today, already hosts a fully open, buildable CLDC/MIDP implementation for feature phones, along with components of a CDC implementation, testing tools, and documentation. (more…)

The Eclipse Foundation today released two plug-ins aimed at making the open-source Eclipse IDE (integrated development environment) more useful to device developers, and a third has achieved a milestone pre-release, version 0.7. Two of the three need more community participation to improve their Linux support. (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…)

Low-level, flash filesystem software provides critical functionality on contemporary wireless handheld devices, ensuring that data can be written to the storage media, accessed by the user, and read on demand. (more…)

IBM has published the following new technical articles, tutorials, and downloads on its DeveloperWorks website. They cover a range of interesting (though not necessarily embedded) technical topics, primarily related to Linux and open source system development. Some require free registration. (more…)

PCTEL is readying the beta release of a “presence” capability said to support any IMS (IP multimedia subsystem) client application. PCTEL's IMS Presence Engine (PE) supports diverse applications such as POC (push-to-talk over cellular), file sharing, VoIP, LBS (location-based services), and messaging services, and a published API, according to the company. (more…)