NEWS FLASH: New Zaurus ships Nov. 27 for Japanese market -- LinuxDevices.com learned that Sharp will introduce the next model in its Linux-based Zaurus PDA family to the Japanese market on Nov. 27, 2003. The SL-C860 appears to be a more powerful and feature-rich version of the much-reviewed SL-C760. The device boasts a 400MHz Intel PXA255 processor equipped with 128MB of Flash memory (65MB available for user programs) along with 64MB of SDRAM memory. It has a 640x480 resolution full-color, full-VGA display, and runs an embedded Linux operating system based on Metrowerks's OpenPDA handheld device software stack.
MontaVista rev's embedded Linux -- adds Eclipse tool, Windows hosting, more -- MontaVista Software announced MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 3.1 ("Pro"), the next generation of the company's embedded operating system and development platform. Key new features include: DevRocket, an Eclipse-based graphical integrated development environment (IDE); new Windows-based hosting, in addition to Linux and Solaris; and, core system component updates.
Another native-DSP Linux port -- this one to ADI's Blackfin -- We asked the question "World's first native-DSP Linux port?" and an astute reader dropped us an email with news of another native-DSP Linux port -- one to Analog Devices Inc.'s (ADI's) Blackfin DSP. Without splitting hairs on which one of the two native-DSP ports came first (it probably depends on how you define "came first"), we thought we'd provide details on this additional native-DSP Linux option. The port apparently originated with Lineo prior to its acquisition by Metrowerks, and has been continuing as a project at Metrowerks.
Introducing MediaLinux -- a new real-time Linux approach -- Last week, Softier made news with one of the first native ports of Linux to a Digital Signal Processor (DSP). In this article, Softier CTO Eatamar Drory and Senior Programmer Or Sagi discuss the unique approach to real-time processing that enables MediaLinux to run existing TI DSP algorithms untouched within the context of real time processes. Added benefits to this design include predictable scheduling and short interrupt latency. The article discusses key architectural points of the MediaLinux approach in comparison with two well-known alternatives.
X window Embedded Linux squeezes onto a single floppy -- Mungkie Associates has released version 1.2.3 of its single-floppy, open source, GUI-enabled, net-centric embedded Linux distribution, which ranks 62nd overall among the most popular Freshmeat projects, and is Freshmeat's #1 embedded project. Mungkie initially created the embedded Linux distribution as a means to demonstrate the company's ability to squeeze a rich GUI environment into resource-constrained embedded devices. But judging by the project's high popularity, it seems to have become much more than just a cool demo.
Embedded Linux platform forms basis of new Sharp DVR -- Sharp used MontaVista Software's embedded Linux platform as the basis for the HG-01S, also known as "Galileo," an $850 home digital information server introduced in Japan last March. Galileo combines personal video recorder (PVR) and video on demand (VOD) functions with wireless access point, broadband gateway, and set-top box features, and is the flagship product in Sharp's vision of a connected ubiquitous home network.
DotGNU achieves CD release -- DotGNU, the GNU Project's Free Software alternative to Microsoft's .NET initiative, has made a CD release for version 0.1. The release now compiles on multiple platforms and supports web services and a PHP groupware suite. Two and a half years in development, DotGNU can now be used to implement application programs and web services in C# that can run on the DotGNU Execution Environment (DGEE) webservice server, according to the project's announcement.
New non-commercial Linux source available -- Developers evaluating non-commercial sources of Linux to serve as the basis of embedded development projects now have a new option to consider, with the first release this week from the open source Fedora project. Fedora is a Red Hat sponsored, community supported open source project providing a "complete technology platform" built exclusively from open source software.
Debugging with Eclipse -- This article gives an overview of how to use the built-in debugging features in the Eclipse Platform for debugging your software projects. It covers debug view, Java debugging, setting break points, conditional break points, evaluating expressions, viewing variables, hot-swap bug fixing, remote debugging, debugging other languages, and more. Although the article focuses on using Eclipse for debugging Java apps, the same Eclipse debug view is also available for the C and C++ programming languages.
Other noteworthy news items and announcements from the past week . . .
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You can access 2003's newsletters here: Nov. 6, 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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