All About Linux-powered Devices

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COM Express module supports 45nm CPUs —

Congatec says it is now sampling a COM Express module featuring Intel's GS45 SFF (small form factor) chipset, said to enable "significant performance increases despite a smaller footprint and lower power consumption." The Conga-CS45 uses DDR3 memory, has three SATA connectors with RAID support, and supports SDVO, DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort graphics interfaces, the company says. ...

Kindle gains longer battery life, PDF support —

Amazon.com announced two enhancements to its Linux-based Kindle e-book reader, offering 85 percent more battery life, as well as a native PDF reader. The Kindle can now last seven days even with wireless turned on, claims Amazon, which is offering the enhancements to current users via firmware upgrades. ...

Korean vendor readies Android MID, clamshell, STB —

Korea-based Inbrics is readying several Android-powered devices for a CES unveiling in January. The devices include an M1 MID, a dual-screen clamshell, MID-like device called the Dual, and the SoIP Homestation, which combines the functions of an IP set-top box, DLNA-ready media server, and videophone, says the company. ...

Wind River and Kontron buddy up —

Wind River and Kontron announced a global, multi-year agreement under which the embedded system manufacturer will distribute Wind River's VxWorks and Wind River Linux distributions. The agreement is expected to extend software and service offerings across a range of industries, says Wind River. ...

LiMo phone's interface is all thumbs —

Emblaze Mobile offered new details on its "First Else" phone and Else Intuition stack, which is based on Access' ALP 3.0 stack and the LiMo (Linux Mobile) spec. The First Else offers unified messaging, geo-tagging, multimedia, an RSS live-updated "newspaper," and a thumb-oriented, fan-like touch interface called sPlay. ...

Atom-powered COM has 5:1 audio —

U.K.-based Anders Electronics announced an Intel Atom-based COM (computer-on-module) with up to 2GB of memory, 4GB of flash storage, and a microSD expansion slot. The CM-iAM includes a 1.6GHz Z530 CPU, two PCI Express lanes, dual gigabit Ethernet ports, six USB 2.0 ports, and 5:1 audio, according to the company. ...

Multi-threaded RISC cores released for Linux, Android —

Imagination Technologies is releasing its second-generation 32-bit Meta processor cores for wider availability. The Series2 Meta core IP integrates DSP functions, supports hardware multi-threaded execution, offers hard real-time capabilities, and supports Linux and Android, says Imagination, which also announced a new PowerVR SGX543MP graphics core family. ...

Will Chrome OS merge with Android? —

Google co-founder Sergey Brin says that Chrome OS and Android are likely to merge at some point, say reports. Meanwhile, we sample some of the response to Chrome OS from across the Googleverse, and try to determine whether calling the cloud-oriented, Linux-based OS "underwhelming" is a diss or a kiss. ...

Chrome OS packaged for virtual run-throughs —

Hackers have compiled bootable images of the code released by Google's Chrome OS project. We tested out one of the images on VirtualBox, and despite the limitations of the early code, we found a flexible, extensible web browsing environment that runs well in as little as 256MB of RAM. ...

Cortex-A8 COM offers extended temperature support —

Italian embedded Linux firm Dave announced a CPU module based on Texas Instruments' ARM Cortex-A8-based AM3505 and AM3517 system-on-chips (SoCs). The 2.7 x 2/0-inch "Lizard" module offers connectivity including CAN, I2C, Ethernet, and serial I/O, provides extended temperature support, and is available with a Linux-ready evaluation board. ...

Four-bay SOHO NAS runs Linux —

Synology America Corp. is shipping a four-bay network-attached storage (NAS) device, offering up to 8TB sharable RAID storage for home and small business users. The Linux-based DS410j is equipped with an 800MHz processor, a gigabit Ethernet port, two USB ports, and version 2.2 of Synology's DNLA-compliant Disk Station Manager software. ...

Low-cost NAS gains USB ports, social net sync —

Cloud Engines has released a new version of its Linux-based Pogoplug networked-attached storage (NAS) device, which uses the Marvell SheevaPlug reference design. The Pogoplug is larger and costs $30 more, but moves from one USB port to four, and adds new synchronization, multimedia sharing, and social networking integration features. ...

Gaming boards run Linux —

Acrosser announced two Linux-ready "All-in-One" boards for gaming and AWP (Amusement With Prizes) machines. The ACE-B5296 supports an Intel Pentium and 915GME northbridge, and the ACE-B5692 runs a Core 2 Duo and GME965, and both offer dual VGA outputs, PCIe expansion, plus Ethernet, USB, serial, storage, ccTalk, and JAMMA I/O. ...

Knoppix rev'd —

Klaus Knopper has released version 6.2 of his Debian-based live-CD Linux distro. Based on Debian 5.0 ("Lenny"), the new version uses the lightweight LXDE as the default desktop, and includes a new version of the ADRIANE talking menu system for vision-impaired users. ...

HMI SBC gains larger display, Linux BSP —

Blue Chip Technology has released an updated version of its small SBC (single board computer) aimed at embedded HMI (human machine interface) applications. Based on a MIPS32-based RMI Au1100 processor, the new RE1 "REsolution" SBC adds a full Linux board support package and a 7-inch LCD module, says the company. ...

Security adapters ship with Linux SDK — Cavium announced a new line of Nitrox network security adapters that ship with a Linux SDK. The Nitrox XL CN16XX-NFBE family offers a FIPS 140-2-certified hardware security nodule (HSM) with PCI Express Gen2 connectivity and integrated Network Interface Card (NIC) functionality, says Cavium. ...

Google Chrome OS debuts, goes open source —

Google unveiled its "Chrome OS" -- based on Debian Linux and the Chrome web browser -- and announced the open-sourcing of the project, promising public visibility for code and design documents. Due to ship on selected netbooks in late 2010, the cloud-oriented Chrome OS will offer seven-second boot-ups, the company claimed. ...

SK Telecom prepping LiMo phone for Korea — LiMo Foundation announced that Korean wireless provider SK Telecom will deploy a Samsung-made "SCH-M510 "phone that complies with the LiMo (Linux Mobile) specification and offers a 3.5-inch AMOLED display. Meanwhile, LG Electronics, Samsung, SK Telecom, and the Korean government have launched the Korea LiMo Ecosystem Association to promote LiMo app development, says the Foundation. ...

Droid by Motorola sales hit 250K —

Verizon Wireless sold 250,000 units of its Droid by Motorola phone, according to eWEEK, which has also given the Droid a rave review. Meanwhile, the rumor of a Google-branded Android phone refuses to die, Palm's CEO trash-talks the Droid, and tomorrow Google will unveil its Linux-based Chrome OS, say various reports. ...

ARM's Android center focuses on Cortex-A8 —

ARM has launched an Android development center, and has already signed up 35 members of its "ARM Connected Community." The Solution Center for Android offers resources for designers and developers of ARM technology-based products running on Android, with a focus on Cortex-A8 cores, says ARM. ...

Android for MIPS platform gains debugging support — MIPS Technologies announced the availability of an Arriba for Android Porting Kit (APK) for the MIPS architecture, co-developed with Viosoft. The Arriba APK includes a suite of tools for porting Android to MIPS-based platforms, and includes Android versions of Viosoft's Arriba Linux debug and profiling tools, plus MIPS Technologies' System Navigator EJTAG probe, the companies say. ...

HP spins ARM- and Atom-based thin clients —

[Updated: Nov. 20] -- HP announced two thin clients that run its Linux-based ThinPro distribution. Using Intel's Atom N280, the t5745 offers 1-2GB of DDR3 RAM, 1-2GB of flash, and eight USB 2.0 ports, while the t5325 incorporates a 1.2GHz Marvell/ARM processor, 512MB each of RAM and flash, and four USB ports.

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In-memory database rev'd, wins customers — McObject is shipping the final version 4.0 of its flagship ExtremeDB, a Linux-ready, in-memory database for real-time applications, adding a new API and improved multi-user performance. McObject also announced two new customer wins: the MyYearbook social networking site and SCL Elements, the makers of the Can2Go wireless automation system. ...

Android dev kit targets OMAP35x SoCs —

Mentor Graphics is shipping an Android development platform for the Texas Instruments (TI) OMAP35x system-on-chip (SoC) family. The Android Development System for OMAP35x supports TI's OMAP35x evaluation module (EVM) and open source BeagleBoard development boards, says the company. ...

Flash Player gets multi-touch, graphics acceleration —

Adobe released upgrades to its multimedia software that pave the way for full mobile device support. The company's "pre-release betas" of Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR 2 run only on Linux, Windows, and Macintosh desktop operating systems and x86-based netbooks, but showcase mobile-centric features such as multi-touch and H.264 hardware acceleration. ...

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