DaVinci Nibbio: quad tablet running Android and Ubuntu

Italian company DaVinci Mobile Technology unveiled a tablet called Nibbio. This model is interesting, first of all, that uses just two operating systems - Android 4.0 and Ubuntu 12.04, that is, available for download just two operating systems to choose from. At the same time, the tablet is based on quad-core Samsung Exynos 4412 with Mali graphics 400 - the same as the smartphone Samsung Galaxy S III.

DaVinci Nibbio equipped with 10.1-inch touch screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels, 2 GB RAM and 32 GB of internal flash memory (to increase its volume by using the card microSD). Also has two cameras: a front VGA and a 2-megapixel on the back panel, and wireless capabilities of available Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, 3G and Bluetooth 4.0. Among the ports tablet - Mini-USB 2.0 and HDMI, and its weight is 560 grams. Now, producers take pre-orders for new product costs 309 euros, is scheduled for release in March of this year.

External Beta News

Things have been going well. We will be having an internal beta starting next week, and a private external beta for 1,000 users sometime in October.

The private external beta will include:

Steam
One Valve game
Support for Ubuntu 12.04 and above
It will not yet include:

Big Picture mode
Additional Valve games
For existing Linux users, the external private beta is a good release for seeing where we are in running our games on Linux. We will be using a sign up page for the external beta. Information about the sign up will be announced in a future post.

For those new to Linux, we recommend waiting for a subsequent release where more features are implemented along with improvements to the user install experience.

Boot to Gecko: Brazil will be the first market for open source mobile

Brazil will be the first country to have phones running the open source platform Boot To Gecko, based on HTML 5, in the world. The announcement was made ??today in Sao Paulo by the Mozilla Digital and Telefonica, and the first devices will be launched between the end of this year and early 2013.

The two companies announced today a partnership to develop applications that HTML 5 will run natively on the phone, resuming the conversation that began in February during the Mobile World Congress. The idea, according to Gary Kovacs, CEO of Mozilla, "is making the web available to all users in their pockets."

Boot to Gecko, the Mozilla project codenamed, will be the basis for the platform used in phones (called Open Web Devices) HTML5 applications that will run natively. In practice, it is a lightweight and fast operating system based on the web that gives basic appliances (featurephones) smartphone features - mantra repeated by Kovacs (below) several times.

"It's an open platform to allow complete control of applications, much like a browser, and applications are installed the way you expect. The difference is that they are created with web standards, and we will have links and clicks between apps, something that already happens on the web today, but not in the applications closed platforms, "says Kovacs.

The video shows a demo of Boot to Gecko running on a prototype :

With Brazil being the first market, both Telefonica Digital (business division of Telefónica) and Mozilla still does not say which manufacturers will launch products with the platform.

Asked whether the initiative would be a form of the operators (in the case, Vivo and its 90 million customers) regain control of the apparatus of the hands of manufacturers, Kovacs was blunt: "Well, operators are very large companies, no?".

Pablo Larrieux, chief innovation officer of Telefonica Vivo, said that "expects the first devices with Boot Gecko to be sold by price featurephones today" and that, being an open platform, "to be sold unlocked, because of Brazilian laws ". Vivo said that the partnership is a way for the operator to anticipate customer demand for appliances "open innovation", as with other platforms.

Seeing the demo video and listening to the project concept, I remembered the late WebOS, Palm - which had the same idea to run web apps. In Vivo / Telefonica, is good business: it supports the development of an open platform and escapes the constraints of market smartphone manufacturers (hi, Apple!). If the project get to the real world later this year or early 2013, Vivo will surely offer very low prices to increase the use of mobile internet (remember that it is an internet company now).

Nagano comments: This project also reminds me of the Chromebook - indeed, even surprising to me that this notion that " the computer is the network "- (copyright 1996 ~ 2000 Larry Ellison / Oracle) has not been further explored by the market, Himself as Google demonstrated its feasibility with products like GMail, Google Maps, Google docs, etc.. Otherwise, this platform offers a great business model for operators, since they can charge on the data traffic, which sounds like music to your ears.

What will they really need is a Killer App that will convince people to abandon the current model of mobile computing mezza-online/mezza-offline and go to an entirely online.

Still time:

In the documentary " Triumph of the Nerds "there is a stretch where Larry Elisson confesses all his hatred of the PCs at the same time defending their idea of what we now call cloud computing (and that there in 1996!)

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Live Video Streaming

The Linux Foundation is pleased to be offering a beta version of our live video streaming from The Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit on Wednesday, April 14th. You will be able to watch all of the keynote and panel discussions being held on the opening day of the event. A Linux Foundation account is required to access the video stream. Keep in mind this is a beta test and we would appreciate patience and your feedback.

WebKit2 - High Level Document ¶

WebKit2 is a new API layer for WebKit designed from the ground up to support a split process model, where the web content (JavaScript, HTML, layout, etc) lives in a separate process from the application UI. This model is very similar to what Google Chrome offers, with the major difference being that we have built the process split model directly into the framework, allowing other clients of WebKit to use it.
Why is it named WebKit2? ¶

The somewhat pedestrian reason is that it's an incompatible API change from the original WebKit, so it will probably be installed as something like /System/Library/WebKit2.framework on Mac.
C API ¶

WebKit2 will provide a stable C-based non-blocking API that is mostly platform agnostic. In order to achieve the goal of a non-blocking API, several techniques are used to make the API usable while still providing a comprehensive set of features to the embedder. These techniques include:

* Notification style client callbacks (e.g. didFinishLoadForFrame) These inform the embedder that something has happened, but do not give them the chance to do anything about it.
* Policy style clients callbacks (e.g. decidePolicyForNavigationAction) These allow the embedder to decide on an action at their leisure, notifying the page through a listener object.
* Policy settings (e.g. WKContextSetCacheModel, WKContextSetPopupPolicy) These allow the embedder to opt into a predefined policy without any callbacks into the UIProcess. These can either be an enumerated set of specific policies, or something more fine-grained, such as a list of strings with wildcards.
* Injected code (e.g. WebBundle) Code can be loaded into the WebProcess for cases where all the other options fail. This can useful when access to the DOM is required. [Planned, but not currently implemented]

The major API classes are:

WKContextRef

* Encapsulates all pages related to specific use of WebKit. All pages in this context share the same visited link set, local storage set, and preferences.

WKPageNamespaceRef

* Encapsulates all pages that can script each other.

WKPageRef

* Basic unit of browsing. Stays the same as the main frame changes.

WKView[Ref]

* Native view that hooks into the platform's toolkit. On Windows, this wraps a HWND. On the Mac, it inherits from NSView.

Note that the requirement to be fully non-blocking requires an incompatible API break - many features of most existing WebKit APIs cannot be fulfilled in a non-blocking manner. Since we needed the API break anyway, we also took advantage of the opportunity to clean up and simplify the API.
Port-Specific APIs ¶

We plan to build a fully non-blocking Objective-C API for Mac OS X as a wrapper on top of the C API. We believe a similar approach may be viable for other ports.

We are also not removing or obsoleting any of the existing port-specific APIs. WebCore will remain as-is, and all current APIs will continue to work and be fully supported. Thus, WebKit development and existing ports of WebKit will not be disrupted.
Process Architecture ¶

WebKit2 changes the WebKit stack to build a process management mechanism inside the WebKit API layer.

Here is what the architecture of a traditional WebKit port looks like:

mac-webkit-stack

Everything is in one process, and there is an API boundary between the application and the WebKit API. This is a simple model, and typically it's pretty easy for applications to reuse the WebKit API.

Here is what we are going for with WebKit2:

webkit2-stack

Notice that there is now a process boundary, and it sits *below* the API boundary. Part of WebKit operates in the UI process, where the application logic also lives. The rest of WebKit, along with WebCore and the JS engine, lives in the web process. The web process is isolated from the UI process. This can deliver benefits in responsiveness, robustness, security (through the potential to sandbox the web process) and better use of multicore CPUs. There is a straightforward API that takes care of all the process management details for you.
How is This Different from Chromium WebKit? ¶

Chromium takes a different approach to multiprocess:

Notice that in this case, the the process boundary is *above* the API boundary. Chromium WebKit does not directly provide a multiprocess framework, rather, it is optimized for use as a component of a multiprocess application, which does all the proxying and process management itself. The Chrome team at Google did a great job at trailblazing multiprocess browsing with Chrome. But it's difficult to reuse their work, because the critical logic for process management, proxying between processes and sandboxing is all part of the Chrome application, rather than part of the API layer. So if another WebKit-based application or another port wanted to do multiprocess based on Chromium WebKit, it would be necessary to reinvent or cut & paste a great deal of code.

That was an understandable choice for Google - Chrome was developed as a secret project for many years, and is deeply invested in this approach. Also, there are not any other significant API clients. There is Google Chrome, and then there is the closely related Chrome Frame.

WebKit2 has a different goal - we want process management to be part of what is provided by WebKit itself, so that it is easy for any application to use. We would like chat clients, mail clients, twitter clients, and all the creative applications that people build with WebKit to be able to take advantage of this technology. We believe this is fundamentally part of what a web content engine should provide.
Internals ¶

There are two key subsystems that support the process division :

* CoreIPC - an abstraction for general message passing, including event handling. The current implementations use mach messages on Mac OS X, and named pipes on Windows.
* DrawingArea - an abstraction for a cross-process drawing area. Multiple drawing strategies are possible, the simplest is just a shared memory bitmap.

There are two other important abstractions, which may be pushed down to WebCore or WTF over time:

* Run Loops
* Work Queues

Current Status ¶

WebKit2 should be considered an early technology demo. It is not yet production quality. But it's possible to try it out and see how it works at this early stage.
How to try it Out ¶

Use build-webkit --webkit2 on Mac OS X or Windows to build everything. WebKit2 will not work with the shipping version of Safari. Because WebKit2 is an incompatible API break, it requires a custom testbed to run it. A basic web browser application suitable for testing WebKit2 will be landed in the near future.

PS3 3.21 with OtherOS

PS3 3.21 with OtherOS.

Niko on the move!

This is the first video of Niko completely controlled by the Nokia N900. Niko will turn, move, take a photo, upload the photo to TwitPic, and post a message to Twitter!

JoikuSpot Goes Linux

BARCELONA, Spain -- Joikusoft Ltd. announces the next wave of mobile WiFi Tethering by extending JoikuSpot Mobile 3G HotSpotting to new Linux based Maemo devices from Nokia.

JoikuSpot is world's most used and popular solution for on-demand mobile WiFi internet and mobile 3G HotSpotting. During 2009, more than 5 million mobile internet experiences were made via JoikuSpotting, and the overall JoikuSpot user base grew to over 500.000 actual JoikuSpotters. Altogether this resulted into more than 100 Million Megabytes of mobile data consumption across more than 200 countries and 750 operator networks worldwide. Average global JoikuSpot internet consumption grew from 8 Mb to 22 Mb per JoikuSpot internet session, which speaks to the improvement in 3G operator network qualities in 2009.

Purnima Kochikar, VP of Forum Nokia, states: "Nokia has worked with Joikusoft many years to produce easy mobile internet for anyone via Nokia phones. JoikuSpot is now embedded in many Nokia devices enabling WiFi access to the Internet with the simple click of a button. The JoikuSpot experience created for the Nokia N900 surpasses anything seen before."

Tom Ojala, CEO and Founder of Joikusoft, adds: "Nokia Maemo platform allows the most speedy and easy internet connection via JoikuSpotting. Coupled with intuitive touch-user interface that Nokia N900 has, the user experience for mobile internet has now become "1 click". The Nokia N900 takes mobile internet to a totally new level. Nokia N900 owners can now simply go and make their N900 a wireless "MiFi" modem with a simple download!"

The new JoikuSpot Linux Edition contains enriched features such as Speed Measurement to allow users to accurately see their mobile internet connection speed. Users see exactly the mobile data speed they get with their mobile broadband subscription.

JoikuSpot is designed to be End-to-End and Operator friendly, and adds to the Operator 3G data ARPU. Solution allows Operator measurement of JoikuSpot user profile and data traffic volumes, and produces graphical real-time reports of actual mobile broadband usage from JoikuSpotting. In addition, roaming detection, IMSI range restrictions per operator definition, server originated user updates and full operator branding and feature customization may be applied. More than 30% of JoikuSpot users upgrade to flat rate mobile data with their operator after starting to use JoikuSpot for mobile Internet. Joikusoft has already rolled out 6 operator-branded solutions for mobile 3G WiFi Tethering, and comes pre-loaded in newer Nokia devices such as N97 and N97 Mini. The JoikuSpot experience is now extended to include Nokia Maemo devices.

The solution comes with full internet security and internet connection stabilizer in moving contexts. JoikuSpot saves users money by simply using their mobile phone as a 3G WiFi modem for internet access. In a way, JoikuSpot turns the user's mobile phone into a wireless MiFi, USB dongle or a HotSpot.

JoikuSpot Linux Edition launches today as FREE Beta, available from JOIKU community website www.joiku.com, and will soon be added to Nokia Ovi Store http://www.store.ovi.com. Production release will follow shortly.

The Joiku Story does not end here. Joiku has also released a JoikuBoost solution for enhancing the actual speed of internet connections (http://www.joikusoft.com/?action=joikuBoost) and a JoikuMetrix solution (http://www.joikumetrix.com/?action=joikuMetrix) to help Operators optimize their 3G network throughput at the base-station level.

About Joikusoft

Joikusoft is a software development house focusing on WiFi and 3G. Joikusoft was the first in the world to roll out a mobile Wi-Fi HotSpot solution already in 2008. Joikusoft is a privately held company, financed by its founders, and has headquarters in Espoo, Finland.

Bitrix Strengthens SaaS Offering With Amazon EC2

Flagship Bitrix Products are now Available for SaaS Deployment at Amazon Web Services(TM).

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia -- Bitrix, Inc. (http://www.bitrixsoft.com), a technology trendsetter in business communications solutions, announces the availability of Bitrix(R) Virtual Appliance 1.5 for Amazon EC2 (http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/ ), a major release of the free virtual platform with that creates an optimal performance environment for Bitrix(R) Intranet Portal and Bitrix(R) Site Manager.

The software underwent a number of significant improvements to deliver customers more reliability and services while using the company's CMS/EMC solutions in Amazon Web Services. Bitrix Virtual Appliance is based on a self-updating Fedora Linux operating system, includes the latest versions of the Bitrix web environment, and features increased system performance and optimized memory usage. Following the latest Amazon development initiatives, the software now supports all three datacenter location regions (US - Standard, US - N. California, EU - Ireland).

The release also includes the beta-version of Amazon EBS (http://aws.amazon.com/ebs/) storage volume, customized especially for Bitrix Virtual Appliance. This feature allows the user to create up to 1TB of back-up copies of web projects and intranet portals, roll-back projects to a specified point in time, protect data for long-term durability and remain sure that the data is securely stored and guaranteed by Amazon.

"SaaS deployment provides a wide range of benefits connected with cost reduction and quality of service," said Dmitry Valyanov, President of Bitrix, Inc. "It reduces expenses on high-priced hardware, IT staff and the user pays only for the actual software usage time. Moreover, customers get the service provider's guarantee for solution availability, security and integrity."

Additional Resources

Bitrix Virtual Appliance / Amazon EC2 Edition: http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/entry.jspa?externalID=3394

Bitrix Virtual Appliance / Amazon EBS Edition: http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/entry.jspa?externalID=3395

Installation guide: http://www.bitrixsoft.com/products/virtual_appliance/amazon_ec2.php#tab-b va_install-link

Virtual Press Office: http://www.bitrixsoft.com/pressoffice/

(Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove the space if one exists.)

About Bitrix, Inc.

Bitrix is a privately-owned company developing an advanced business communications platform to bridge SMBs with their customers (Internet), partners (Extranet) and employees (Intranet). Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Alexandria, VA, Bitrix now incorporates 70+ staff, 30,000+ customers and 4,000+ partners worldwide. The customer list includes Hyundai, Volkswagen, Panasonic, Gazprom, Xerox, PricewaterhouseCoopers, DPD, VTB, Samsung and Cosmopolitan. Localized into 13 languages, the company's products are distinguished for their pioneering technology, unique security features, extreme performance capacity and unmatched ease-of-use.

Nokia - Intel press conference Feb 15 2010 (2part)

Moblin and maemo are merging! We are taking the best pieces from these two open source projects and are creating the MeeGo software platform.. Go to: http://meego.com/

Archos posts 'full' Linux distro for Android tablet

Developers only, please.

Media player maker Archos has posted a full Linux distro that will run on its Archos 5 machine.

The 5 ships with Android as standard, but open sourcerers can download a special, emebedded build of Angstrom Linux and use it to replace the Google OS.
Angstrom on Archos

Angstrom on Archos

However, Archos said this is "special developer edition firmware" and warned that the operating system "consists of proof-of-concept software intended for experienced software developers only.

"If you are not a programmer/developer and would just like to try it out, understand that it will have capabilities inferior to that of the standard Archos operating system."

Angstrom was ported to the Archos platform late in 2009, but this is first time Archos has itself made the OS available to users. Angstrom was specifically developed for handheld devices, set-top boxes and the like.

Archos has provided the firmware as a standard software update, but cautioned that installation will remove Android and all Archos media software.

Android can be restored by booting the 5 into USB Mass Storage mode and copying over a .AOS firmware file from a connected PC.

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Microsoft's Bach: Linux to Lose Mobile OS Shake-out

Microsoft mobile boss Robbie Bach sees a shake-out in the mobile operating systems business. And while he predicts Linux will be the loser, others are concerned for Windows Mobile, too.

Bach predicted that Linux-based handsets will fail the "quality" test and not gain traction in the market, adding that the number of Linux variants used on handsets--17 by his count--will be subject to pruning by cellular operators.

While most Linux handsets are low-end "feature phones" the OS has recently been making appearances on smartphones as well, including models from Sony Ericsson. Google's Android is also a Linux-based OS.

Some business customers are choosing these as part of a broader strategy of using open source software in their companies.

Bach predicted that carriers will reject some Linux mobile operating systems--he did not offer specific examples--because they complicate support issues. My guess is that Android will pick-up any slack this creates in the marketplace.

As for Bach's own mobile operating system, Windows Mobile has recently experienced up-and-down market share and is seen as vulnerable to competition from Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry devices that offer better feature sets.

Windows Mobile 7, the next generation of Microsoft mobile OS, isn't due until later this year or sometime in 2011, depending on the rumor you believe. This allows competitors time to widen their lead on Microsoft, worsening its outlook.

Bach said Microsoft would talk more about Windows Mobile 7 at the Mobile World Congress, to be held next month in Barcelona.

"I don't think we have some specific challenge outside of the fact that our (user) experience is very skewed towards business users, and it's not as modern as it needs to be," Bach said.

This means business users should expect more options in Windows Mobile handsets, though how much support Windows Mobile 7 will generate remains to be seen.

Bach, a longtime Microsoft exec who also oversees Xbox and Zune, made the statements during a presentation to financial analysts last week at CES.

"I think everybody would say, there are too many operating systems in the mobile world today," Bach said.

"I'm not talking about the smart phone world necessarily, but if you just look across the million, two million, or billion, two billion, feature phones sold today, I don't think there's an operator in the world that wouldn't tell you that it's a pain to support all the different operating systems they have.

"In particular the 17 versions of Linux they have on feature phones, all of which are a little quirky and a little different, require separate network certifications, network product support, and the like that goes along with that.

"I think some of the current systems will fall away. I don't think that will be because there's not room for another operating system. I think it's because their quality bar won't stack up. And they won't get the scale that they need."

Bach said Microsoft's job "is to make sure we get that scale," but refused to speculate on the number of mobile operating systems left standing after some future shake-out.

"I certainly think we're going to be in that list of companies that are successful and then maybe there will be a few others," he concluded.

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Microsoft to Mobile Customers: Choice is a Bad Thing (and Linux will Lose)

Last week, David Coursey reported that Microsoft entertainment and devices boss Robbie Bach made the prediction in an analyst briefing that Linux on mobile will lose. Why? It’s choice is a bad thing for customers and that there is too much Linux in the mobile marketplace

By Bach’s count there are 17 variants of Linux available on mobile phones. He sees this as a bad thing for customers. We, unsurprisingly, see this as a bad thing for Microsoft.

Technology markets are shaped by momentum. When a company bets on a technology, it’s not a one-time decision. They must live with that choice for years. Ecosystems around technology are as important as the technology itself, since you need partners and developers to actually make something of it. This is why I take issue with his pronouncement that Linux will not do as well as Microsoft mobile. He may have a point that individual variants of Linux may come and go. We will likely see moves both up and down for specific versions of a mobile OS using Linux. We’ve seen it in the enterprise distribution market.

But Linux as the underlying platform of such mobile offerings as Android, Moblin and many more is growing exponentially, and precisely because it affords this choice. Palm, Motorola and others have jumped ship from Windows Mobile to Linux-based offerings in recent years. LG is now using Android on 50% of its handsets. According to Gartner Group, Windows Mobile’s market share fell to 7.9 percent in the third quarter of 2009 down from 11.1 percent the same quarter of last year.

The problem with Microsoft’s Windows Mobile is not just the technology, it’s the business model. Bach dismissed the recent decline in marketshare Microsoft has been experiencing as “not a business problem per se,” but people I know in the mobile market disagree.

Here’s why:

- With Windows Mobile, carriers and handset manufactuers have to pay Microsoft a per-device charge. With Linux-based platforms this does not exist.

- Windows Mobile has draconian branding and licensing restrictions. Basically Microsoft wants to “own the glass.” With Linux you have a multiple of ways to brand and market your product, making it your product. Linux is the base of many different distributions because of the flexibility it offers.

Is working with Linux more complex than with Windows Mobile? Probably, since with Linux carriers and hand set manufacturers actually have to make a choice in what technology they use and how they brand their products, instead of getting the technology and pricing dictated to them from Redmond. The current consolidation to Linux on mobile is far less complex than just a few years ago when hand set manufacturers had to build from scratch their own OS if they didn’t want to give up a big percentage of their margins to Microsoft. Linux has given them the flexibility they need while making the building of a handset and ecosystem development simpler. Is it more complex than the one size fits all approach of Microsoft? Definitely. But it’s also more profitable.

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V5

* Models：V5
* Color： Champagne Gold
* Category：MID

V5 Features
Operating System Ubuntu Linux
Android
Windows CE 6.0
Internet Internet connectivity via WLAN, bluetooth
Connectivity to 2G/3G network(GPRS/EDGE/CDMA/EVDO/WCDMA/TE-SCDMA) *
PPS online video playback
Full featured Web browser
Instant messenger with support for QQ、MSN、Fetion、Google Talk protocals
Receive and send email
BT download
Replay online video files from video web sites such as YouTube and Tudou
Support Internet radio and Internet Television
Office Read and edit document in DOC、OpenOffice、RTF、HTML、TXT formats
Edit excel files
Personal information management
Audio Support all the usual audio formats
Support music library, tag search
Support online streaming media
Video 1080P video playback
Video formats supported: AVI, MKV(XVID/px/H.264), MOV,TS,M2TS,RM/RMVB, FLV, WMV, 3GP, MPEG, DAT, MP4
Read Support documents in TXT,PDF,HTML,CHM,RTF formats
Picture Support JPEG、GIF、PNG、BMP files
Picture rotating, zooming out
Support Painting
Game Varieties of puzzle game built-in
Others English-Chinese/Chinese-English dictionary, support Cursor-Point translation and online translation
Compression and decompression of files in usual formats
Calculator
Notepad
Language Simplified Chinese, English
SmartQ7 Hardware Specs
CPU ARM11 architecture processor
600MHz
Support hardward 3D graphics acceleration
Memory DDR II RAM 256MB
Storage 2GB Nand Flash, 128MB available to users
support SD/SDHC card with a maximum capacity of 32GB
Wireless IEEE 802.11 b/g network
Bluetooth2.0+EDR
USB USB 2.0 HighSpeed OTG port
Video Out Mini-HDMI port
AV port
Audio 3.5mm earphone port
high-quality stereo loudspeaker
built-in microphone
Maximum output power of earphone 40mW
Frequency Response 20Hz-20kHz
Signal-to-Noise Ratio 94dB
Screen Size 4.3 inches
Resolution WVGA (800×480)
Colors 16 million colors
Operation Resistive touch-screen
Others Size About 119mm(length) ×78mm(width) ×14mm(depth)
Color Champagne Gold
Weight About 160 g
Battery 2000mAH Built-in Li-poly battery
Accessories power adapter(DC 5.0V/2.0A), USB OTG cable, touch pen, quick user guidance, certificate of quality, warranty card

*This function demands connection to USB card expansion card.

The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.

Take Five with HTML5: SVG & Canvas on the Nokia N900

Arun demos svg & canvas capabilities on the Nokia N900.

Nokia N900 running portrait mode

Nokia N900 running portrait mode

N900: Broadcasting live streaming video with QIK app

Nokia N900 explored in 30 seconds. See how easy it is to stream live video using Qik.

Nokia plans just one Linux phone next year: source

The world's top cellphone maker, Nokia, plans to install Linux software on just one new smartphone next year, a source with direct knowledge of Nokia's product roadmap told Reuters.

A Nokia spokesman said the company does not comment on future product plans.

Nokia's Linux Maemo operating system is seen as a key for the top cellphone maker in its battle against Apple's iPhone, and many analysts and industry players have expected the firm to roll out numerous Linux models already next year.

Nokia started to sell its first Linux phone, the top-of-the-range model N900, this month.

The plan for just one Linux phone also dampens rumors the company would replace the Symbian operating system in its line-up.

"We remain firmly committed to Symbian as our smartphone platform of choice," the Nokia spokesman said.

Nokia will hold its capital markets day on Wednesday, an event where the firm traditionally has outlined or updated its strategy for the coming 1-2 years.

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RedHawk Embedded Linux

Overview:

Concurrent’s RedHawk Embedded is an advanced Linux development environment for a wide range of industry applications. Designed for businesses that need to reduce cost, improve time to market, increase system reliability and overall quality of service of their embedded systems, RedHawk Embedded offers field-proven, contemporary open-source Linux technology, advanced GUI debugging and analysis tools, multi-core architecture support and award winning customer service. RedHawk Embedded is ideal for use in telecommunications, manufacturing, process control, aerospace, defense, automotive and other embedded platform solutions.

RedHawk Embedded provides a single, easy-to-use GUI interface for configuring, building and flashing embedded solutions. RedHawk Embedded is fully compatible with the Red Hat user environment and supports all the features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Embedded developers can conveniently choose the desired components to be included in their application's target environment.

RedHawk’s NightStar debugging and analysis tool kit offers superior functionality over other tool chains especially in multicore applications. NightStar supports hot patching and can provide a complete graphical view of multithreaded applications and their interaction with the Linux kernel. NightStar tools can be launched from the popular Eclipse IDE.

RedHawk Embedded is also the ideal solution for applications that need hard real-time performance. RedHawk Embedded features the same Linux kernel as RedHawk Server delivered on Concurrent iHawk real-time computer systems. Both RedHawk editions provide the same high level of guaranteed real-time response, reliability and determinism. RedHawk Embedded board support is available for Intel and AMD x86-based COTS SBCs in wide range of form factors including VME, CompactPCI, AdvancedTCA, MicroTCA, PC104 and Mini-ITX.

Features

RedHawk Embedded™ Linux® kernel
Open-source kernel based on kernel.org
Support for single and multi-core x86 SBCs
Advanced kernel features
- Guaranteed <15 usec event response on certified platforms
- Enhanced multi-core shielding
- User-level preemption control
- Lockless kernel trace
- Preemptive, multithreaded, reentrant kernel
- Priority inheritance
- User-level I/O (UIO)
Industry Standards
- Linux Standard Base (LSB)
- POSIX 1003.13 Profile 54
- POSIX 1003.1 real-time and threads
- RHEL compatibility
- Eclipse IDE interoperable
RedHawk Architect™ GUI configuration tool
- Chooses desired user packages and modules
- Selects a target-specific kernel
- Builds the complete root file system
- Flashes the file system image
- Reconfigures images as needed
NightStar™ debugging and analysis tools
- NightView™ source-level debugger
- NightTrace™ event analyzer
- NightProbe™ data monitor
- NightTune™ system and application tuner
Customer services
- Telephone support, on-line updates, releases
- Custom SBC support
- I/O device driver development
- Application rehosting
- Consulting Services
Benefits

RedHawk Architect Tool

RedHawk Architect is an easy-to-use GUI that lets a developer choose the Linux and application modules that will be installed with the RedHawk kernel. For example, users can select networking, web server, web browser, database, X server, minimal or all packages. RedHawk Architect allows the Linux filesystem to be customized and minimized for diskless applications using flash memories as small as 2 GB.

RedHawk Architect creates and processes a configuration file based upon the user’s selections and performs actual RPM package installation. The tool prompts the user to insert the necessary RedHawk, Red Hat and NightStar media depending upon the features selected. RedHawk Architect will allow customization of the RedHawk kernel itself and provides a flashing tool for burning RedHawk and the user’s application image onto a CPU board’s non-volatile memory.

Single Kernel Solution

RedHawk Embedded is a complete Linux distribution designed to fully support embedded applications. It is a single-kernel programming environment that directly controls all system operation, not a microkernel add-on. Complex time-critical applications often require that I/O, networking and graphics be performed deterministically together with real-time task scheduling. Only RedHawk’s single-kernel design ensures determinism and high-speed performance of all these features.

Scalable Processor Shielding

On multi-core SBCs, RedHawk Embedded allows individual CPUs and cores to be shielded from local timers, interrupts, daemons, bottom halves and other Linux tasks. RedHawk’s comprehensive processor shielding features provide a highly deterministic execution environment where interrupt response is guaranteed. Unlike other distributions, RedHawk offers a field-proven, easy-to-use shielding API with both command-line and graphical tool user interfaces.

Multithreading and Preemption

RedHawk Embedded allows multiple processes to execute in the kernel simultaneously. The kernel protects key data structures and critical sections of code with semaphores and spinlocks to preserve system integrity.

Processes executing in the RedHawk kernel can be preempted, i.e. forced to relinquish a CPU involuntarily. The RedHawk kernel can transfer control from a lower priority process to a higher-priority process except when the lower priority process is executing in a critical kernel section. To provide deterministic response, many critical sections of the kernel have been tuned and optimized to dramatically shorten non-preemptable conditions. These changes are key to allowing a high priority process to respond immediately to an external event, even when the CPU is currently in use.

Semaphores internal to RedHawk Linux also support priority inheritance to prevent priority inversion when multiple threads of an application are competing for operating system resources.

NightStar Application Development Tools

Concurrent’s NightStar is a powerful, integrated tool set for developing embedded Linux applications. NightStar tools run with minimal intrusion, thus preserving application execution behavior and determinism. Users can quickly and easily debug, monitor, schedule, analyze and tune applications in real-time. NightStar tools provide superior functionality over the standard Linux gdb debugger and other tool sets especially in multi-core applications.

NightStar GUI-based tools reduce test time, increase productivity and lower development costs. Embedded applications require debugging tools that can handle the complexities of multiple processors and cores, multitask interaction and multithreading. NightStar’s advanced features enable system builders to solve difficult problems quickly. All NightStar tools include complete on-line documentation.

NightView is a source-level debugger that allows users to simultaneously debug multiple, time-critical processes. With NightView patchpoints, a programmer can change program execution and modify or display data without stopping or interrupting the program. Event conditions, such as hit and ignore counts, are patched directly into an application and execute at full application speed. NightView includes an interactive memory debugger that helps find and eliminate heap memory leaks.

NightTrace is an event analyzer that displays and analyzes the dynamic behavior of applications, the RedHawk kernel and the interaction between them. NightTrace can log events from multiple processes executing simultaneously on multiple cores. NightTrace can also combine user-defined application events with kernel events to present a synchronized view of the entire system. RedHawk’s lockless kernel trace eliminates any contention when multiple cores log trace points simultaneously. NightTrace allows users to zoom, search, filter and analyze events. Tracing analysis can be live or postexecution.

NightTrace’s powerful application illumination GUI allows programmers to automatically trace application function calls and examine the values of parameters passed and returned. Function call tracing is fully customizable and can provide a complete view of glibc activities.

NightProbe is a tool for monitoring, modifying and recording data values from multiple, independent application resources including programs, shared memory segments, memory mapped files and PCI devices. NightProbe can be used in development for debugging, analysis, prototyping and fault injection, or in a production environment to create a GUI control panel for program input and output.

NightTune is a GUI for monitoring and tuning application and system performance. Users can monitor and change the priority, scheduling policy, CPU assignment and CPU usage of user applications. NightTune also monitors system CPU usage, context switches, interrupts, memory utilization and network activity. NightTune can be used to shield cores and adjust interrupt and process affinity.

Customer Support

Customer service support for all embedded needs is directly provided by Concurrent. Standard RedHawk Embedded services include telephone support, problem reporting and resolution, on-line software updates and new releases. Consulting services are also available for special hardware and software support needs.

Since the turn of the millennium, Concurrent has deployed and supported thousands of proven Linux solutions in a range of technical industries. Concurrent Linux expertise and support has been a key factor in the success of many critical government and commercial applications.

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