Empower has ported its Linux-based operating system for PDAs, portable data terminals, and other handheld consumer electronics devices to a dual-core RISC/DSP SoC (system-on-chip) from Texas Instruments (TI). The LinuxDA Embedded OS (LEOS) will be demonstrated running on TI's OMAP5910 at the October LinuxWorld Expo in Frankfurt, Empower says.

Empower is best known for inexpensive Linux-based PDAs based on Palm-compatible (Dragonball-based) hardware, such as the $149 PowerPlay V. The company said in August that it had obtained funding and would launch a new PDA model at the Frankfurt LinuxWorld Expo.

Now, the company has ported its Linux-based PDA operating system to the OMAP5910, and says it is interested in licensing the OS to designers of portable data terminals. It still plans a new Empower PDA model based on the OMAP5910, but has backed off of the October launch date. Additionally, it plans a hardware/software reference design for portable data terminals that will include a development board of the company's own design, according to President Ed Dennis.

The OMAP5910

The TI OMAP5910 is a dual-core RISC/DSP SoC (system-on-chip) launched in August of 2002. It is supported by commercial embedded Linux provider MontaVista, and was used in a Linux-based PDA from Invair launched at the March, 2003 CeBIT show in Hannover, Germany.

The most recent model in TI's OMAP591x line is the OMAP5912, for which TI launched a sub-$300 development kit, complete with board, last week.

 
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