Happy 4th birthday, LinuxDevices.com! -- October 31, 2003 was LinuxDevices.com's 4th birthday. Please join our celebration by posting your birthday wishes and other comments in our discussion forum. Story
Trolltech aims Linux/Qtopia at mobile phone market -- Like "The Little Engine That Could," tiny Oslo-based Trolltech this week unveiled a Linux-based challenge to Symbian's and Microsoft's domination of the rapidly expanding mobile phone market. The 80-person company announced that it has customized its Qtopia mobile device application stack -- essentially the same application environment used by Sharp in its Linux-based Zaurus PDAs -- for use in next-generation Linux-based mobile phones. Story
Motorola selects Qt/Embedded for the A760 Linux smartphone -- Trolltech has announced that Motorola's much anticipated A760 smartphone will be based on Trolltech's Qt/Embedded application development framework. However, the device will not make use of Trolltech's Qtopia Phone Edition, which Trolltech has pre-released to select customers but not yet formally shipped. In addition to Qt/Embedded, the Motorola A760 runs MontaVista Linux. Story
TimeSys expands tools strategy to support "any" embedded Linux -- Citing market data indicating that most embedded Linux kernels are derived from non-commercial sources, and that developers are generally dissatisfied with current embedded Linux development tools, TimeSys announced that it has added several new tools and broadened its embedded Linux tools offering to support "any" Linux distribution. With the addition of two key new tools, TimeSys claims its TimeStorm Linux Tool Suite is now the first to support the entire embedded Linux development cycle -- including kernel and driver development, BSP development, target configuration, board bringup, application development, and system debug, test, and validation -- regardless of the kind of Linux used. Story
Meet OAP -- an open robot reference design project -- Have you ever dreamed of building your own Linux-based droid [that could] roam around your home autonomously, intelligently obeying your commands?" asks Daffyd Walter. "You may now be able to finally fulfill your dream." Walters founded and leads the Open Automation Project (OAP), which aims to help enthusiasts assemble an intelligent mobile robot with stereo vision and state-of-the-art PC mainboard technology -- for about the cost of a good PC. See pictures of OAP and learn about its sonar, IR, wireless, and stereo vision subsystems in our fully detailed article, complete with system block diagram. Story
World's first native-DSP Linux port? -- Start-up Softier claims to have produced the first usable implementation of Linux on a single-core digital signal processor (DSP). The company says its technology can perform real-time encoding/decoding of DVD quality video at 30 frames/second while simultaneously running standard Linux and standard Linux application software. TI also offers dual-core DSPs containing the combination of DSP with ARM cores, and these have been supported by Linux ports from the now-defunct RidgeRun as well as by current products from MontaVista. However, Softier believes running Linux directly on powerful DSPs, without ARM cores, can lower costs. Story
MontaVista GPLs consumer electronics Linux technologies -- MontaVista Software has established open source community projects for several key technologies used in the design of Linux-based consumer electronics devices. The company says it hopes the contributions will become part of standard Linux and will foster the evolution of Linux as a platform for digital consumer electronics devices. Story
Creating a "Universal Communicator" prototype -- An article at DeviceForge discusses a solution to the growing complexity of wireless personal area network (WPAN) technology: a device capable of communicating regardless of the type which WPAN connection options are present. Intel is currently prototyping such a device. The article asserts that mobile connected devices must evolve to support intelligent interaction with multiple, heterogeneous networks and services. This poses "numerous difficult technology challenges," which Intel has attempted to address in prototypes that deploy "Adaptive Communication Technologies" (ACT). Story
Real-time Linux wields hammer in shear wall factory -- An article at Control Solutions International describes in detail the factory control and automation system that control systems engineer Rick Van Loon put together using real-time Linux. The system controls an immense machine with six integrated nailguns that assembles shear walls in various configurations. Impressively, changes to the size and type of shear wall can be made instantly, something that used to take hours or days, according to the article. Story
Other noteworthy news items and announcements from the past week . . .
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You can access 2003's newsletters here: Oct. 30, Oct. 23, Oct. 16, Oct. 9, Oct. 2, Sep. 25, Sep. 18, Sep. 11, Sep. 4, Aug. 21, Aug. 14, Aug. 7, Jul. 31, Jul. 24, Jul. 17, Jul. 10, Jul. 3, Jun. 26, Jun. 19, Jun. 12, Jun. 5, May 29, May 22, May 15, May 8, May 1, Apr. 24, Apr. 17, Apr. 10, Apr. 3, Mar. 27, Mar. 20, Mar. 13, Mar. 6, Feb. 27, Feb. 20, Feb. 13, Feb. 6, Jan. 30, Jan. 23, Jan. 16, Jan. 9, Jan. 2
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