Welcome to LinuxDevices.com's Embedded Linux Newsletter Apr. 22, 2004 by Rick Lehrbaum Editor-in-chief

Interview: Murry Shohat, of the Embedded Linux Consortium -- This interview with Murry Shohat, executive director of the Embedded Linux Consortium (ELC), discusses the work the ELC is doing to promote and standardize embedded Linux. It also discusses embedded Linux marketplace matters, technology, and standards organizations. Find out more about the past, present, and future of the Embedded Linux Consortium -- and how embedded Linux may someday improve your Baked Ziti -- in our in-depth interview.

Startup pronounces Linux kernel clean, offers legal services and insurance -- Open Source Risk Management (OSRM) is offering three insurance products it says can reduce the attractiveness of lawsuits around open source. The products include corporate indemnification insurance, a collective defense program, and a legal advice subscription service for open source developers. OSRM uses pattern-matching technology to evaluate copyright risks in software source code, offering to indemnify anyone using code that can pass muster. Significantly, the company says that unpatched 2.4- and 2.6 Linux source trees have passed its tests, and it is willing to indemnify anyone using them.

Linux, open hardware standards define telecom's future -- EDN Magazine has published a detailed technical article about AdvancedTCA, an architecture standard for embedded telecommunications systems. In addition to AdvancedTCA, the article discusses the Open Source Development Lab's (OSDL) Carrier Grade Linux working group, which it says was formed to extend the cost savings of an open system to software, as well. The CG Linux specification mandates real-time performance, high availability, and fault tolerance requirements, while adding functions for voice and data networking.

M2M phone growth to quadruple that of mobile handsets -- Though the market for cellular handsets is predicted to grow 10 percent annually through the end of the decade, a rapidly growing market, cellular radios for Machine-to-Machine ("M2M") applications, will see growth of 40 percent annually through 2010, according to the preliminary results of a report to be published by ABI Research next month.

Research report: UML 2.0 reduces development costs -- Analyst firm Embedded Market Forecasters (EMF) released a report entitled "Reducing OEM Development Costs and Enabling Embedded Design Efficiencies Using the Unified Modeling Language." According to EMF, "data shows a consistent four month average delay with 56 percent of all embedded designs completed behind schedule. Eleven percent of embedded designs are cancelled." The 26-page report is available as a free download from EMF's website.

Altera FPGA with soft-core Nios Linux on PC/104 -- Tri-M Engineering has unveiled a family of PC/104 form-factor modules based on Altera's Cyclone field programmable gate array (FPGA). The modules are available with several PC/104 connection options, and are expected to run embedded Linux on a Nios "soft" core processor. The FPGA can be field-programmed with Altera's Nios embedded RISC "soft" processor core, as well as with a wide range of other functions.

OTHER NEWSWORTHY ITEMS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE PAST WEEK . . .

• Free digital media SDK supports open standards
  
• Korean CE giant tilts toward embedded Linux
  
• Software-only video player runs on Linux x86
  
• Multi-format video-over-IP reference design runs embedded Linux
  
• Scalable embedded database available on embedded Linux 2.6
  
• Enterprise wireless/wired router design runs embedded Linux
  
• "Fully channelized" DS3 card comes with Linux drivers
  
• USB framework for Linux adds 'Bulverde' driver
  
• Trolltech interview discusses embedded Linux
  
• High Definition Audio spec goes gold
  
• Geode based EBX board gains long-term commitment
  
• Book explains Linux app development with GNOME 2
  
• Ten from IBM -- Linux dev, packet capturing, Wine, databases, autonomic computing . . .
  

. . . and that's not all. Click here for the latest breaking news.

• Article talkbacks
  
• Linux on PDAs
  
• Embedded Linux Q&A
  
• Real-time Linux
  
• GPL issues & discussion
  
• Embedded Java+Linux
  
• Little Linux systems
  
• General discussion
  

• Introduction & Overview ("start here")
  
• Embedded Linux Distributions
  
• Real-time Linux
  
• GUI/Windowing Software
  
• Java on Embedded Linux
  
• System-on-Chip Processors
  
• Single Board Computers
  
• Little Linux Systems
  
• Linux-Based "Cool Devices"
  
• Linux-PDAs and PDA-Linux
  
• Embedded Linux Market
  

You can access 2004's newsletters here:   Apr. 15,   Apr. 8,   Apr. 1,   Mar. 25,   Mar. 18,   Mar. 11,   Mar. 4,   Feb. 26,   Feb. 19,   Feb. 12,   Feb. 5,   Jan. 29,   Jan. 22,   Jan. 15,   Jan. 8

Be sure to stop by LinuxDevices.com -- "the Embedded Linux Portal" -- for the latest news, articles, links, forums, products, companies, jobs, and buzz in the fast-moving "post-PC" world of Linux-based intelligent devices, Internet appliances, and embedded systems. You can contact us here.

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