All About Linux-powered Devices

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ZTE Android tablets popping up everywhere —

ZTE is readying a number of seven-inch Android tablets, starting with a dual-core, Android 3.2-based ZTE Optik tablet heading for Sprint Feb. 5 and a similar, but 4G LTE-equipped V66 tablet headed for Verizon, reports say. Meanwhile, a seven-inch ZTE V9A Light Tab 2 just went on pre-order in the U.K, and we're still waiting for two tablets ZTE showed at the Consumer Electronics Show: a seven-inch T72 tablet and quad-core T98. ...

Android smartphones down, tablets up, say reports —

Some 37 million Apple iPhones shipped worldwide in the fourth quarter, besting Samsung's 33 million shipments and reducing Android's share to 47 percent, says ABI Research, echoed by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech and Good Technology. Meanwhile, Android tablets surged to 39 percent share worldwide in Q4 2011, but still trail Apple's 58 percent iPad share, says Strategy Analytics. ...

America's first 'WhiteFi' network goes live —

America's first public "WhiteFi" network, leveraging spectrum previously occupied by analog TV channels, has been launched in North Carolina. Running at 1.5 to 3.1 MB/sec., the service will initially be used mostly for municipal functions such as surveillance cameras and transmitting water quality data, according to reports. ...

KDE 4.8 adds adaptive power management, new windowing tricks —

The KDE community announced version 4.8 of its desktop environment and software bundle for Linux, featuring improved, adaptive power management and new windowing functions. KDE 4.8 is faster and more stable, and offers new features like Qt Quick-based Plasma widgets and the KDE Telepathy real-time communication and collaboration framework, says the community. ...

Cortex-A8 evaluation module gets higher-quality camera —

E-con Systems has announced a five megapixel camera add-on designed to work with the Texas Instruments (TI) OMAP3530 or DM3730 evaluation modules (EVMs). The e-CAM52_35x snaps onto the EVM boards and connects to the high-speed CMOS sensor interface on TI's DM37xx or Sitara AM37xx processors, providing five megapixel video capture as well as stills, the company says. ...

Ubuntu 12.10 will bypass menus via predictive search —

Canonical unveiled a search-oriented Head-Up Display (HUD) interface that will debut in April's Ubuntu 12.04 ("Precise Pangolin"). Aiming to reduce dependence on menus and eventually replace them with the help of gesture and voice interactions, HUD could find its way into future versions of Ubuntu designed for smartphones and tablets, as well as the recently announced Ubuntu TV platform. ...

PocketBook unveils seven-inch Gingerbread tablet —

PocketBook International announced a seven-inch tablet that runs Android 2.3.7 on a 1GHz TI OMAP3621 processor. The PocketBook A 7" is equipped with 512MB of RAM, 2GB of accessible onboard storage, a seven-inch, 1024 x 600 touchscreen, a two-megapixel camera, and Android Market access, according to the company. ...

Droid Razr Maxx is 'longest-lasting' smartphone —

Verizon is now offering Motorola's Droid Razr Maxx for $300, with a claimed battery life of up to 21 hours. With a dual-core, 1.2GHz processor, 4.3-inch screen, and an eight megapixel camera, the device is otherwise similar to the previously released Droid Razr, but it's thicker by approximately 2mm. ...

Chromebooks pick up steam in the classroom —

Chromebooks from Samsung and Acer running Google's Chrome OS may not be catching on with consumers, but hundreds of schools across the country have adopted the web-oriented notebooks, the search giant claims. Earlier this month at CES, Samsung showed off a sleeker new version of the Chromebook that switches to a faster Intel Celeron processor, also promising it would release a "Chromebox" mini-PC. ...

WebOS' Enyo 2.0 dev platform goes cross-platform, adopts Apache license —

HP announced a roadmap for its Linux-based WebOS operating system, which will be released under an open source Apache 2.0 license in September. HP also released an Apache-licensed version 2.0 of its Enyo Javascript development framework for WebOS, adding cross-platform app development across Android, iOS, and desktop browsers. ...

Tiny server offers modular design —

Xi3 Corporation announced a 4-inch, "eco-friendly" server it claims will be readily upgradeable, thanks to the use of one board containing the processor and memory and two separate boards containing I/O ports. The "microServ3r" apparently offers a choice of AMD processors, SSD (solid state disk) storage, two gigabit Ethernet ports, two eSATA ports, and a Fibre Channel port. ...

Half-size PICMG card supports Core processors —

Axiomtek announced a half-size, PICMG 1.3-compliant CPU card that supports "Sandy Bridge" Core i3, i5, or i7 processors. The SHB213 offers up to 8GB of RAM, two SATA ports with RAID support, as many as eight USB 2.0 ports, PCI Express expansion, and a CFast expansion slot, according to the company. ...

Coverity code analyzer to integrate with Wind River Linux embedded tools —

Coverity is readying an evaluation edition of a security analysis package pre-configured for Wind River Workbench and Wind River Linux. Coverity Static Analysis for Wind River Workbench integrates security within the embedded development process, identifying vulnerabilities as code is written, according to Wind River. ...

TI ships Linux-ready DLP eval module for pico projectors —

Texas Instruments announced a Linux-based evaluation module featuring the digital light processing technology from its DLP Pico Projectors. The DLP LightCrafter combines an ARM9-based, 300MHz DaVinci TMS320DM365 processor, a 20-lumen RGB LED light engine and projector, as well as TI's 0.3-inch, WVGA DLP chipset, enabling up to 4000 binary patterns per second, says TI. ...

Red Hat, Ubuntu, and Arch Linux patch Linux kernel exploit —

[Updated: Jan. 25] -- Red Hat, Canonical, and Arch Linux have released patches for a vulnerability in Linux kernels 2.6.39 and above that enables attackers to gain root access on a system. Proof-of-concept exploit code was posted last week after "CVE-2012-0056" was exposed -- thanks to Linus Torvalds announcing a kernel patch before Linux distro projects had had time to apply it. ...

'Cinnamon' GNOME 3 fork now 'fully stable' with version 1.2 —

The Linux Mint team announced the first "fully stable" version of its new GNOME 2.x-like "Cinnamon" fork of the GNOME 3.x desktop environment. Available for several major Linux distros, Cinnamon 1.2 is more customizable than GNOME 3.x, restores much of the GNOME 2.x interface, and adds features such as new desktop effects and layouts, a configuration tool, and five new "applets." ...

Modular panel PC will accept display upgrades —

Ibase announced a modularized panel PC that features a 15-inch touchscreen and a 2.13GHz Intel Atom D2700 processor. The IPPC-1500 includes up to 4GB of RAM, 2MB of battery-backed static RAM for system restoration, a 2.5-inch drive bay, a PCI expansion slot, and a front bezel that meets IP65 standards, according to the company. ...

Rugged, biometric smartphone and tablet run ICS on OMAP 4 CPUs —

Elektrobit (EB) and startup Raptor Identification Systems (Raptor ID) announced two ruggedized biometric devices that run Android 4.0 on TI's dual-core 1.5GHz OMAP4460. Raptor ID's RaptorOne smartphone offers a four-inch touchscreen; the RaptorPad tablet features a seven-inch display; and both offer iris cameras, fingerprint scanners, and CAC/smartcard readers. ...

Accurately measuring CPU power consumption a challenge, authors say — Traditional measures such as TDP (thermal design power) or CPU architecture-specific benchmarks are no longer good predictors of actual chip power consumption, several computer science professors have charged. Their paper, which will be presented at an Association for Computing Machinery conference in March, advises chipmakers to expose their CPUs' power metering to programmers -- something Intel has already done with its "Sandy Bridge" CPUs. ...

Tiny USB server runs on batteries, streams to iOS, Android devices —

HyperShop has begun selling a pocket-size, battery-powered adapter that turns a USB storage device into a wireless file server, sharing files with Wi-Fi-enabled devices including the Apple iPad and iPhone. The $100 CloudFTP runs Linux on a Texas Instruments ARM9-based processor, features a 132 x 32-pixel LCD display and powered USB port, and supports backup and synchronization with online cloud storage services. ...

3.5-inch SBC sports Cedar Trail Atoms —

Win Enterprises announced a 3.5-inch SBC (single board computer) equipped with Intel's 32nm "Cedar Trail" Atom processors. The MB-80410 accepts up to 4GB of RAM, has a Mini PCI Express slot, includes a single SATA connector, and provides multiple serial and USB ports, according to the company. ...

Notion Ink's Adam II tablet will move to OMAP 4 chip —

Notion Ink says it will switch to a Texas Instruments OMAP 4 processor running Android 4.0 for its next generation Adam II tablet. In other tablet news, Pew Research found the percentage of U.S. adults who own a tablet computer nearly doubled from 10 percent to 19 percent between mid-December and early January, and RBC Capital estimated that Amazon.com will earn $136 in content-related revenue from each Kindle Fire customer. ...

Linux-based flight recorder optimized for drones —

Ampex Data Systems announced a compact, ruggedized airborne recorder that runs SUSE Linux on a 1.3GHz Intel Atom E660T CPU. The ruggedized TuffServ 40 (TS 40) offers 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 2GB boot disk, an 80GB or 160GB solid state drive, a gigabit Ethernet port, and a -40 to 159.8 deg. F operating range. ...

USB cable enables cross-platform file transfer, keyboard sharing —

J5 Create announced a USB-based device that allows data, a mouse, and a keyboard to be shared between two computers without the use of a network. The JUH320V2 "Wormhole Station" also includes two backwards-compatible USB 3.0 ports and slots for microSD, SD, and MemoryStick media, according to the company. ...

Fanless controller has multiple serial ports —

Aaeon announced a fanless controller that features a dual-core Intel Atom D525 processor and an operating range from -4 to 140 deg. F. The AEC-6612 Rev.B includes a CompactFlash slot and room for a 2.5-inch hard disk drive, up to six serial ports and six USB ports, two gigabit Ethernet ports, and optional Wi-Fi, according to the company. ...

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FUEL Database on MontaVista Linux
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Breaking New Ground: The Evolution of Linux Clustering
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Data Monitoring with NightStar LX
Unlike ordinary debuggers, NightStar LX doesn¿t leave you stranded in the dark. It¿s more than just a debugger, it¿s a whole suite of integrated diagnostic tools designed for time-critical Linux applications to reduce test time, increase productivity and lower costs. You can debug, monitor, analyze and tune with minimal intrusion, so you see real execution behavior. And that¿s positively illuminating.

Virtualizing Service Provider Networks with Vyatta
This paper highlights Vyatta's unique ability to virtualize networking functions using Vyatta's secure routing software in service provider environments.

High Availability Messaging Solution Using AXIGEN, Heartbeat and DRBD
This white paper discusses a high-availability messaging solution relying on the AXIGEN Mail Server, Heartbeat and DRBD. Solution architecture and implementation, as well as benefits of using AXIGEN for this setup are all presented in detail.

Understanding the Financial Benefits of Open Source
Will open source pay off? Open source is becoming standard within enterprises, often because of cost savings. Find out how much of a financial impact it can have on your organization. Get this methodology and calculator now, compliments of JBoss.

Embedded Hardware and OS Technology Empower PC-Based Platforms
The modern embedded computer is the jack of all trades appearing in many forms.

Data Management for Real-Time Distributed Systems
This paper provides an overview of the network-centric computing model, data distribution services, and distributed data management. It then describes how the SkyBoard integration and synchronization service, coupled with an implementation of the OMG¿s Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard, can be used to create an efficient data distribution, storage, and retrieval system.

7 Advantages of D2D Backup
For decades, tape has been the backup medium of choice. But, now, disk-to-disk (D2D) backup is gaining in favor. Learn why you should make the move in this whitepaper.