The Equinox ESP-2 MI is a compact, 2-port serial hub that offers IP-based LAN connectivity to systems and devices which have serial ports, but lack direct network interfaces. Equinox expects the device, which uses embedded Linux as its internal operating system, to be popular in industrial/manufacturing environments, which are increasingly migrating away from proprietary “fieldbus” interfaces, toward… (more…)

SIXNET has announced the latest member of its SixTRAK IPm Open Controller family: the SixTRAK IPm Open DCS Controller, a small device used for process control, 'supervisory control and data acquisition' (SCADA), and 'distributed control system' (DCS) applications. The device is said to offer powerful communications and advanced programming capabilities, thanks to its built-in PowerPC processor and… (more…)

Adam Cecchetti was walking back from class, thinking to himself that he hadn't done much in the way of parallel computing lately. So he decided it would be an interesting idea to test the usefulness of the Xbox platform as a cluster node, as the Xbox Linux project suggests. At the same time, he had heard that a lot of individuals were using the Xbox as a Linux desktop to check email and browse the web,… (more…)

John Gowin explains the difference between the Reiserfs and other Linux filesystems, in this relatively nontechnical article which is part of a series of articles on Linux filesystems at Linux Orbit Pro. Gowin writes . . . (more…)

(PR excerpt) — Microcross Inc. announced Visual X-Tools version 1.0, a low cost, high powered, feature-rich Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for embedded systems developers. (more…)

Do your killer apps spend too much time killing each other? Ever wish you had a place to let your Linux applications run wild — where they wouldn't hurt anything else? Originally conceived as a kernel developer's tool, User-Mode Linux (UML) lets you set up multiple virtual machines that are isolated from each other and from the hardware. (more…)

Atheros Communications announced today that its multi-mode (2.4 and 5 GHz) WLAN chipsets are being built into new notebooks from four of the world's top five PC vendors — HP, IBM, NEC, and Toshiba. (more…)

In “Enabling the Whuffie Economy”, Howard Rheingold writes about Affero's “reputation software,” which combines a peer based reputation system with a commerce system, enabling individuals to rate other individuals or projects and make payments on their behalf (with obvious applicability to open source projects) . (more…)

InfoWorld reports that Linux-based APIs are in the works for the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance's (TCPA'S) security initiative, which includes specialized hardware for secure communications. The information was disclosed by an Infineon Technologies official at the Platform Conference in San Jose, CA earlier this week. (more…)

From the GnomeMeeting.org website . . .

We are delighted to announce the latest release, version 0.96, with additional IP Telephony capabilities. Now, GnomeMeeting users can place low cost PC-to-Phone calls anywhere in the world using Quicknet's MicroTelco Internet Telephone Service (see the FAQ for more detailed information). (more…)

LinuxDevices.com technical editor Jerry Epplin takes a look at SnapGear's award-winning uClinux-based VPN appliances from the perspective of a developer's ability to customize them — and in the process, becomes a uClinux convert. Epplin writes . . . (more…)

MontaVista Software and Movial announced a collaboration to enable wireless communication applications for manufacturers of Linux-based consumer devices such as PDAs, smartphones, automotive telematics, set-top boxes, and digital TVs. The combined technologies will support mobile apps such as Instant Messaging, and upcoming MMS, VoIP, and multimedia. (more…)

LinuxDevices.com technical editor Jerry Epplin takes a look at SnapGear's award-winning uClinux-based VPN appliances from the perspective of a developer's ability to customize them — and in the process, becomes a uClinux convert . . . (more…)

The KDE Project has released KDE 3.1, the popular open source Linux desktop and windowing environment. KDE includes a basic desktop, an integrated development environment, and seventeen other packages (PIM, administration, network, edutainment, utilities, multimedia, games, artwork, web development, and more), and supports 47 languages. (more…)

This whitepaper presents a case that open source GNU tools are mature, reliable, and ready for wide-scale adoption in the embedded market, and that they represent an excellent means to the avoid risks and problems of software tools obsolescence, vendor lock-in, and vanishing sources which often plague complex, long lifecycle, embedded projects. (more…)