Open Source Engineering with Linux & GNU

FTDI adds touch capability to its open source platform

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on February 6, 2012 2:31 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Future Technology Devices International (FTDI) has added a touch control input/output application boards for its Vinco development module, writes Richard Wilson.

The Vinco Touch Key applications board, which the supplier calls a shield mates with the Vinco motherboard, and incorporates a STMicroelectronics STMPE821 8-channel general purpose input/output (GPIO) capacitive touch key controller IC.

The shield has 8 touch keys which employ a capacitive sensing technology, responding to physical input stimulus from the user. It also has a set of 4 push buttons and 5 GPIO-controlled LED indicators.

Continue reading FTDI adds touch capability to its open source platform.

Raspberry Pi number 1 goes for £3,500 on eBay

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on January 16, 2012 8:45 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The Raspberry Pi project is almost a perfect example of open source engineering story. Well, it has started in popular fashion - a £20 Raspberry Pi computer sold for £3,500 on eBay last week, writes Steve Bush.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation, which intends to sell its educational computers directly, auctioned 10 of its beta production board on eBay.

Continue reading Raspberry Pi number 1 goes for £3,500 on eBay.

ARM releases Development Studio 5 Community Edition for Andorid

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on November 30, 2011 9:26 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

ARM releases free native Android app toolkit

For small firms, ARM has released Development Studio 5 Community Edition, a free version of its reference software development toolkit, writes our technology editor Steve Bush.

Known as DS-5 CE. "the new edition is dedicated to the Android application developer community and helps them create native software for compute intensive tasks that can run up to 4 times faster than Java code," claimed the firm. "DS-5 CE includes limited, but essential functionality from the premium DS-5 toolkit to help solve common Android application developer pain points."

Continue reading ARM releases Development Studio 5 Community Edition for Andorid.

MulticoreWare works with AMD on OpenCL multicore tools

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on November 23, 2011 11:29 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

MulticoreWare has announced the beta availability of key OpenCL tools and libraries for download from its website, writes Richard Wilson.

The company has worked with microprocessor firm AMD to provide support for OpenCL in multicore design incorporating graphics procesors (GPUs) and CPUs.

"We have worked closely with AMD to produce the fastest and most developer-efficient way to delivering optimised code for heterogeneous multicore environments, with full support for OpenCL standards and portability across platforms," said Curtis Davis, co-founder, v-p of engineering and chief operating officier at MulticoreWare.

Continue reading MulticoreWare works with AMD on OpenCL multicore tools.

Google opens source code for Android 4.0.1

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on November 18, 2011 8:24 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

How open is Google's Android? That's a subject of long and sometimes bitter debates, but it is "open enough" for the Mountain View search giant to release the source code for v4.0 - the 'Ice Cream Sandwich' release, which aims to unify smartphone and tablet code bases.

Well, after a lot of speculation around the exact due date, the code is now out.

To be precise it is releasing 4.0.1, which is the version that will ship on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone (pictured right).

Jean-Baptiste Queru announced the release on the 'Android Building' Google Group.

Continue reading Google opens source code for Android 4.0.1.

MIPS uses Sysgo RTOS to secure Android and Linux

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on November 11, 2011 8:32 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

We ran this one on the Eyes on Android blog, but this story may be of interest here, too...

MIPS Technologies is collaborating with OS developer Sysgo to port its embedded virtualization technology to MIPS32 processor cores, writes Richard Wilson.

Sysgo has a novel combination of real-time operating system (RTOS) and virtualization layer.

Its PikeOS RTOS is a hypervisor virtualization platform that allows several applications and operating systems such as Android and Linux to run securely in parallel on a single hardware platform.

Continue reading MIPS uses Sysgo RTOS to secure Android and Linux.

OPEN Alliance SIG drives adoption of automotive Ethernet

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on November 10, 2011 10:28 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

NXP Semiconductors claims to be the first automotive semiconductor supplier to license Broadcom's BroadR-Reach Ethernet technology for in-vehicle networking, writes Richard Wilson.

The supplier is bidding to establish BroadR-Reach as an open, de facto standard for in-vehicle Ethernet.

Broadcom, NXP, Freescale and Harman have formed an OPEN Alliance Special Interest Group (SIG) to drive the wide adoption of Ethernet in the automotive industry.

Continue reading OPEN Alliance SIG drives adoption of automotive Ethernet.

Open standards are better than open source - Synopsys

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on October 27, 2011 10:57 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Here's a recent article that may be of interest: an interview with Gabriel Lezmi, v-p European sales at Synopsys, which touches on open source software.

He tells Electronics Weekly about the rise and rise of IP and the importance of open standards rather than open source in the design software market.

In the interview we ask what impact is the open source revolution having on traditional design tool software?

Gabriel Lezmi replies:

Continue reading Open standards are better than open source - Synopsys.

Green Hills flies AVs with EAL6+ certified RTOS

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on September 16, 2011 11:57 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Read our full DSEi defence technology coverage >>

Green Hills Software has introduced an autonomous vehicle (AV) open platform for the development of secure software for autonomous vehicle developers to host their unmanned autonomous systems (UAS) applications, writes Richard Wilson.

The heart of the development system is the firm's INTEGRITY-178B real-time operating system (RTOS) which meets the software safety requirements of RTCA/DO-178B Level A for safety and total reliability, and the information assurance requirements of the US Government's EAL6+ Separation Kernel Protection Profile (SKPP) for absolute security.

Continue reading Green Hills flies AVs with EAL6+ certified RTOS.

RaspberryPi £15 ARM Linux computer due for Christmas

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on September 1, 2011 8:23 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The RaspberryPi Foundation, which aims to put computers in front of children for £15, has taken delivery of 50 engineering prototypes, and intends to get the final version to customers by the end of the year, writes Steve Bush.

Based in Cambridge and founded by six high-tech high-flyers, the foundation's aim is to cure the programmer shortage by inspiring people to take up computing in childhood - as Sinclair Spectrums and BBC Micros once did.

"In 1996, the average skill set of someone entering university was a couple of machine code languages and some hardware hacking experience. Now if we have someone that has written a web page we are lucky," Foundation founder and former University of Cambridge lecture Dr Eben Upton told Electronics Weekly in May.

Continue reading RaspberryPi £15 ARM Linux computer due for Christmas.

Wind River releases the graphical Linux 4, Update Pack 2

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on August 19, 2011 9:41 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Wind River has announced the immediate availability of Wind River Linux 4, Update Pack 2 - with graphics support to the forefront.

"As deeply embedded devices become more connected and complex, there is an increasing move towards richer graphics and more sophisticated user interfaces across a wide range of industries. We're rising to meet this need with the industry's first commercial embedded Linux to provide a pre-integrated hardware-through-middleware graphics stack for multiple hardware platforms," said Paul Anderson, vp of marketing and strategy for Linux products at Wind River.

Continue reading Wind River releases the graphical Linux 4, Update Pack 2.

Green Hills launches Autonomous Vehicle Open Platform

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on August 18, 2011 9:31 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Here's a story from our sister site Flight Global about a new open software platform from Green Hills Software's Integrity Security Services. It's aimed at enabling developers to more easily program applications for the control and management of autonomous vehicles.

Andrew Doyle writes:

The Autonomous Vehicle Open Platform is designed to provide a secure, reliable and safe software foundation for autonomous vehicle and unmanned control system developers to host their unmanned autonomous system applications.

Continue reading Green Hills launches Autonomous Vehicle Open Platform.

GPL licensing issues surround Android

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on August 17, 2011 11:36 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Here's an Open Source-related story from our new Android blog, Eyes on Android - Android could be badly bitten by GPL licensing

A story on SlashGear suggests submerged issues about Android's licensing are becoming ever less subterranean... Google challenges Lodsys but Android faces legal firestorm over source sluggishness

Basically, it says that not all Android parties have been playing the Open Source game by the Open Source rules. The website makes the point that some Android OEMs may be keen to have 'Open Source' kudos without fully bothering about their side of the bargain...

SlashGear's Chris Davies writes:

Continue reading GPL licensing issues surround Android.

Video: What counts as Open Source Hardware?

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on August 15, 2011 11:33 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I know we concentrate largely on Linux in this blog, but its remit is a lot wider - open source hardware as well as open source software.'Open Source Engineering' in the widest sense...

Well here is an interesting video from the excellent David Jones and his EEVblog on the topic of Open Source Hardware, and just what exactly is meant by the term - see EEVblog #195 - Open Source Hardware Explained

He summarises two essential elements of open source hardware...

Continue reading Video: What counts as Open Source Hardware?.

Microsoft goes open source with Gadgeteer electronics

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on August 4, 2011 1:42 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

We can file this one - at a push - under open source engineering, even if - given this involves Microsoft - no Linux is involved.

The Redmond giant has has announced the official launch of Gadgeteer, a set of electronic parts designed to be plugged together to build prototypes or working electronic devices. Remote controlled cars and cameras are given as possible examples.

It is aimed squarely at "hobbyists, electronic enthusiasts and educators" and Microsoft says it does not require any specialist electronics knowledge or soldering. The idea is to make it simple for anyone to quickly design and build their own devices.

Continue reading Microsoft goes open source with Gadgeteer electronics.

Linux power and changing a register

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on July 7, 2011 2:44 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

An interesting Ubuntu-related post on our new low-power design blog, written by Chris Edwards - Linux power: what does changing a register do if the BIOS tells you it isn't there?

He writes:

The Phoronix blog, which identified problems with Ubuntu's power consumption in recent versions on mobile devices, has claimed to have found the cause of the problem. And it underlines the importance of low-level interfaces communicating clearly what they can do and are doing when it comes to software-enabled power management.

Continue reading Linux power and changing a register.

Linux industrial net-top has ARM-powered Nvidia Tegra 2

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on June 28, 2011 3:01 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

AndersDX has introduced an ARM-based industrial net-top computer based around NVIDIA's Tegra 2 chip. The tiny (130x94x15mm) computer is a version of CompuLab's Trim Slice, through a joint venture between the firms, writes Steve Bush.

It is offered with Linux, and Android will be available soon, said AndersDX;

"Developers are encouraged to port other Linux flavours or other operating systems to further enhance the multiple application usage of this hardware platform."

Continue reading Linux industrial net-top has ARM-powered Nvidia Tegra 2.

Mentor goes open-source with GNU and Eclipse IDE

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on June 7, 2011 2:45 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Mentor Graphics has introduced a range of semiconductor design tools or integrated development environment (IDE) based on the open-source GNU toolchain, writes Richard Wilson.

Interestingly, the Sourcery CodeBench tool will provide support for the Xilinx range of ARM-based system-on-chip devices, called Zynq, which will be available later this year.

It also adds new support for Freescale's Kinetis embedded development platform.

Continue reading Mentor goes open-source with GNU and Eclipse IDE.

ARM cores and virtual prototyping

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on June 7, 2011 2:18 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Imperas - a virtualised software specialist, and a member of the ARM Connected Community - has released its first models of the Cortex-A family of ARM processor cores.

It says models of the ARM Cortex-A series of cores, along with models of the Cortex-M series of cores, are now available from Open Virtual Platforms (OVP - www.OVPworld.org/ARM). These include "example virtual platforms incorporating the cores and support for the cores in Imperas' advanced software development tools".

Continue reading ARM cores and virtual prototyping.

Raspberry Pi lets a TV run Linux

By Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on May 31, 2011 4:40 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Raspberry Pi is a tiny ARM-based single board computer that enables a TV to run Linux and scripting languages such as Python.

Designed by Cambridge business men and academics to engage children with computer science and thereby improve the skills pool from which they draw employees and undergraduates, it is causing a stir in the developing world, writes Steve Bush.

"In 1996, the average skill set of someone entering university was a couple of machine code languages and some hardware hacking experience. Now if we have someone that has written a web page we are lucky," former University of Cambridge lecture Dr Eben Upton told Electronics Weekly.

Continue reading Raspberry Pi lets a TV run Linux.