LinuxDevices.com Embedded Linux Newsletter -- Jan. 17, 2002


Welcome to the LinuxDevices.com
Embedded Linux Newsletter

January 17, 2002

by Rick Lehrbaum
Executive Editor, LinuxDevices.com



TOP STORIES

Embedded Linux Consortium to hold 2nd Annual Meeting -- The 100+ member Embedded Linux Consortium (ELC) will host its Second Annual Meeting in conjunction with the Embedded Systems Conference on Tuesday, March 12, 2002 starting at 6:30pm in San Francisco's Moscone Center. The Annual meeting provides a report to members on the state of the ELC, followed by discussion of initiatives such as platform standardization, graphical user interfaces, Java, footprints, real time, telematics, and others. Story

Rumors of the Yopy's death have been greatly exaggerated! -- Late last week, rumors were flying about that the Yopy Linux PDA had been discontinued, mainly due to a misleading quote in a CNET news story. LinuxDevices.com contacted G.Mate, the manufacturer of the Yopy, to find out whether there was any truth to the rumors and determined that the Yopy is still very much alive! Story

New European Linux PDA shows up at CeBIT -- Invair Technologies (Stuttgart, Germany) unveiled a new Linux-based PDA last week at CeBIT 2002 in Hannover, Germany. The unusual device, called the Filewalker, is intended to be capable of being operated with one hand. It weighs just 0.2 lbs and is quite small (though somewhat thick), at 3.4 x 2.2 x .74 in. Story includes a picture and further details. Story


OTHER NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Class on Embedded Linux begins at UCSD Extension -- The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) is offering a new course on Embedded Linux which will be taught on nine Thursday evenings, from now through March 7, 2002. Registration is still open. Story

MontaVista Secures Heady Investment -- LinuxGram.com reports that MontaVista Software has defied the current slow economy and raised an additional $28M of funding from an investor group which includes Sony, Panasonic, IBM, and an unspecified major computer company. If accurate, this brings MontaVista's total financing to around $60M. Story

Java Speech Development Kit: A Tutorial -- This detailed online technical article from Linux Journal shows you how to get started developing voice-activated interfaces using the Speech for Java Development Kit. The kit uses the speech recognition and synthesis technology known as ViaVoice, which was commercialized by IBM. Story

Kernel of pain? -- An article at LinuxWorld.com contends that although the 2.4 Linux kernel is fine for desktop use, it has been disappointing for more heavy-duty processing needs. According to the article, sysadmins of "big iron" have therefore been faced with two choices: go back in time or play upgrade hopscotch. Story

USB 2 arrives in Linux development kernel -- Earlier this week, version 2.5.2 of the Linux kernel was released. The new development kernel is the first to include support for USB 2.0, which enables data-transfer speeds of 480 megabits/sec -- 40 times the speed of the version 1 USB which is currently included in most USB-enabled devices. Story

MontaVista tips its (hard) hat -- SD Times reports that MontaVista Software is getting set to unveil a new version of its embedded Linux distribution, along with a new name for the product. According to the story, features of the updated embedded Linux toolkit will include real-time kernel preemption capabilities for MIPS, PowerPC, and SH processors, and it will also incorporate the powerful KDevelop open-source development environment. Story

A review of the Yopy PDA -- A product review of the G.Mate Yopy from NextPDA provides a large number of closeup photos of G.Mate's new Linux PDA. The article is written in Korean, but a link is provided for a bablefish-generated English translation. Story

Analysis of the impact of Open Source Software -- The UK GovTalk website has published an interesting 37-page article about the impact of Open Source software (OSS). The paper includes a thorough analysis of the readiness and suitability of Linux and related OSS applications for both server and desktop use. Story

Additional news items and announcements of interest to the Embedded Linux Community . . .


POPULAR TOPICS IN OUR DISCUSSION FORUM


FREQUENTLY UPDATED EMBEDDED LINUX QUICK REFERENCE GUIDES


THE 2001 EMBEDDED LINUX MARKET SURVEY

As part of our continuing efforts to support the rapidly growing Embedded Linux Market, we are pleased to announce the online 2001 Embedded Linux Market Survey. The survey, which is structured in three parts, asks developers of Linux-based embedded systems and intelligent devices to anonymously provide information about their applications, their embedded Linux OS requirements and preferences, and the perceived advantages and disadvantages of using Linux in embedded applications.

Please vote here!


MISSED A RECENT NEWSLETTER?

Read them here:   Jan. 10, 2002,   Jan. 3, 2002,   Dec. 20, 2001,   Dec. 13, 2001,   Dec. 6, 2001,   Nov. 29, 2001,   Nov. 22, 2001,   Nov. 15, 2001,   Nov. 8, 2001,   Nov. 1, 2001,   Oct. 25, 2001,   Oct. 18, 2001,   Oct. 11, 2001,   Oct. 4, 2001,   Sep. 27, 2001,   Sep. 20, 2001,   Sep. 13, 2001,   Sep. 6, 2001


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