An independent software house in China has added a full-featured HTML browser to its dual-licensed, lightweight graphics framework and window manager. Additionally, Beijing Feynman Software is offering a PMP (portable media player) software reference design based on Linux along with its… MiniGUI framework.

Feynman Software was founded in Beijing in 2002 by Wei Yongming, the principal author of MiniGUI. Hoping to better serve the U.S. market, the company last year formed a partnership with San Jose, Calif. based Embedded Software Group

MiniGUI is an eight year-old open source graphics framework that was ported to uClinux in 2003. It also supports the free eCos RTOS (real-time operating system), as well as a host of commercial RTOSes.

Modular MiniGUI components
Traditionally, MiniGUI targeted simple, deeply embedded real-time applications, such as HMIs (human-machine interfaces). However, 2005's MiniGUI 2.0.1 release brought support for multiple threads, enabling MiniGUI to compete with Qt and Microwindows in multi-threaded consumer electronics devices such as mobile phones and set-top boxes, the company said at the time.

Since then, a number of applications have been added as modular component options. These include an mSeal embedded Flash player and mEagle GIS (geographical information system), as well as a simple mSpider HTML browser. Now, Feynman appears to have stirred a much more capable HTML browser into the mix.

mDolphin browser

The new mDolphin web browser is said to support a who's who of modern Web protocols, including HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0, XML, CSS 2, XSLT, DOM 2, XPATH, and JavaScript 1.5. Also supported are HTTP 1.1, HTTPS, cookies, and proxy servers, along with AJAX. Three different rendering modes aim to accommodate various screen sizes. The browser supports Unicode, as well as bidirectional text, for easy internationalization.

mDolphin rendering English and Chinese
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Feynman says its mDolphin browser can serve as an Internet Web browser in mobile phones, IPTVs, information terminals, and PMPs. Additionally, a modular architecture lets developers use its rendering engine within other applications.

mDolphin architecture
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mGallery PMP software reference design

Feynman describes mGallery as a “full-featured” PMP solution providing a “complete PMP application framework and the main applications” for “Linux/uClinux and other operating systems.” The stack has a modular design with a common interface and common media codec library interface.

mGallery Screenshots
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Additional touted features include:

• Internationalization interface
• Less than 2MB DRAM consumption
• Runs well on 100MHz CPU

Availability

Both mDolphin and mGallery appear to be available now for Linux/uClinux. Pricing was not disclosed. More details about MiniGUI can be found in Yongming's “ technical introduction to MiniGUI.”

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