New 2-way messaging device runs embedded Linux -- WebLink Wireless, a provider of paging and messaging services in North America, unveiled several new 2-way messaging products at the CTIA show in New Orleans this week. One uses Linux as its embedded operating system -- the Sun Telecom S-935 (photo included). Read full story
eCos 2.0 beta includes RedBoot update, POSIX API, and much more -- The developers describe this as "a substantial release" -- incorporating many new features and support for more than 80 publicly available evaluation and development platforms and over a dozen processor architectures. eCos is an open source real-time operating system originally developed by Cygnus Solutions, later taken over by Red Hat (via its acquisition of Cygnus), and subsequently turned over by Red Hat to a worldwide independent developer community. Read full story
Motorola discloses that its new A760 handset uses MontaVista Linux -- Although it has already been widely reported that Motorola's new A760 mobile phone uses MontaVista Linux as its embedded operating system, Motorola and MontaVista used the occasion of the CTIA conference taking place this week in New Orleans to show off the phone and to disclose further details of the A760's embedded Linux support in a joint public announcemennt. The announcement also includes some interesting embedded software market data from IDC. Read full story
Linux-powered wireless tablet gets a healthcare plan -- Hitachi announced the addition of a handwriting recognition interface for the Linux version of its VisionPlate Wireless Tablet. Hitachi and Codehost, who developed the handwriting recognition support, are collaborating to develop applications for the healthcare industry, allowing physicians to capture, store, and document clinical data at the point of care. Read full story
uClinux powers security-enhanced smart PCI NIC -- SnapGear has embedded its VPN appliance technology into a smart PCI NIC card which contains a built-in security processor. Controlled by an embedded Linux operating system (uClinux, to be precise), the SnapGear PCI630 plugs into a PC's standard PCI card slot and provides full multi-VPN capabilities for secure access and communication, the company said. This is certainly one very cool application for uClinux! Read full story
TRON + Linux = "T-Linux" -- The T-Engine Forum and MontaVista Software announced that they are collaborating to combine TRON ("The Real-time Operating system Nucleus") -- the long-dominant Japanese embedded operating system -- with embedded Linux, in an effort to create a standardized software architecture for embedded devices that takes advantage of open source software and the benefits of Linux, yet retains compatibility with TRON. The goal is to create a dual-kernel system environment in which the two OSes (T-Kernel and T-Linux) are deployed simultaneously on the same CPU, similar to how RTLinux is used to add "hard real-time" capabilities to Linux. Read full story
Toshiba "media center" reference design features embedded Linux -- The platform, based on Toshiba's TX7901 64-bit MIPS architecture system-on-chip processor, is expected to form the basis of high performance media-centric consumer devices such as digital set-top boxes, personal video recorders, media gateways, and various other networked consumer products. Includes photo of reference board. Read full story
Sharp ships Zaurus SL-5600; SL-5500s now available for $198 -- This week, Sharp began shipping the new Zaurus SL-5600 Linux PDA. Relative to the earlier SL-5500, the new model offers a faster CPU (400MHz XScale vs. 206 MHz StrongARM), twice the Flash memory (32MB vs. 16MB), and longer battery life. The SL-5600 is priced at $499 (USD). Meanwhile, the SL-5500 began selling for under $200 on the web. Check out these two links: SL-5600 ships / SL-5500 sale
TimeSys boasts first RTSJ-compliant JVM for embedded systems -- TimeSys announced that the latest version of its JTime real-time Java Virtual Machine (JVM) software development kit is the first embedded Java SDK to fully comply with the Real-Time Specification for Java ("RTSJ"). JTime provides "completely predictable, real-time operation," and is already being used by Boeing, MKS Instruments, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and Siemens AG, the company said. Read full story
VDC finds Microsoft, Wind River in "dead heat" as #1 embedded OS -- Microsoft and Wind River are currently in a "dead heat" for the top position in sales of embedded operating system software and toolkits, according to a recently completed research report from Venture Development Corp. (VDC). VDC's study found Microsoft to be just slightly ahead of Wind River Systems, but by less than 1%. Read full story
Other noteworthy news items and announcements from the past week . . .
. . . and that's not all. Click here for the latest breaking news.
Read them here: Mar. 13, 2003, Mar. 6, 2003, Feb. 27, 2003, Feb. 20, 2003, Feb. 13, 2003, Feb. 6, 2003, Jan. 30, 2003, Jan. 23, 2003, Jan. 16, 2003, Jan. 9, 2003, Jan. 2, 2003
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