Unicon Systems has started shipping its Linux-powered development kit based on “chip-on-film” technology similar to that used in Motorola's ultra-thin “Razr” phones. The “MKit” design includes an application-ready Linux OS and tools, and targets consumer devices such as portable media players, PDAs, and UMPCs (ultra-mobile… PCs).

(Click for slightly larger view of MKit)

Unicon announced MKit at last year's LinuxWorld trade show (a photo of marketing VP Dimitriy Ivanov with a prototype can be seen here). Prior to that, the company pitched a ready-to-manufacture Linux-based MCopy design positioned as the first “gadget-to-gadget bridge” for inter-device file transfers without a PC.

The MKit has a tri-fold design comprised of two boards and an LCD display interconnected via film — hence the “chip-on-film” designation. One of the boards is a processor module, while the second is an I/O baseboard module.

Unicon Mkit has a tri-fold design
(Click to enlarge)

Unicon System-on-Display (Click to enlarge)

Unicon separately offers a “system-on-display” product (pictured at right) comprised of film-connected processor and LCD modules.

The MKit's processor board is based on a Samsung S3C240A processor, an SoC (system-on-chip) based on an ARM9 core clocked at 266MHz. The board has 32MB each of SDRAM and flash, expandable via an optional SD card slot.

The standard display is a 3.5-inch QVGA (320×240) TFT LCD touchscreen supporting 16M colors. Other display options include 4.3- and 7-inch widescreen LCDs.

I/O includes:

• 2 x USB 2.0 high speed ports
• 1 x USB OTG
• 1 x host USB 2.0 full speed
• 1 x device USB 2.0 full speed
• 802.11b WiFi
• IrDA
• 2 x RS232
• I2C
• SDIO
• JTAG
• Stereo audio I/O
• 2D motion sensor

The MKit comes with a Linux 2.6.13 kernel, complete with a graphics framework based on Nano-X, FLTK (fast-light toolkit), and a “UML state machine GUI engine.” The GUI provided by this combo is said to be fast, powerful, and customizable.

Also included are toolchains for native and cross-development on Intel-based Linux and Windows hosts.

A Unicon spokesperson said, “With Unicon Systems' innovative technology, developers only need to worry about designing the application. Unicon provides a complete handheld hardware platform.”

More technical details about MKit can be found in our earlier coverage, here.

Availability

The MKit is available now, priced at $600, including a plastic case, serial/JTAG adapter board, and mini-USB AC adapter. Waiting in the wings are a variation without WiFi, to be priced at $550, and a variation with SDIO instead of WiFi, to be priced at $1,000.

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.