|
|
|
|
|
|
Not just on your desktop
By Vans Information <content@vansinfo.com>
Indrema L600 game console The computer gaming industry is a multi-billion dollar one with the likes of Sony, Nintendo, Sega and Microsoft. Competing with them is a small company called Indrema promoting its new video game console powered by Linux. What makes Indrema unique is the fact that when launched this spring, Indrema L600 will be the first Linux-based game console. The fact that such a product is powered by Linux holds big promises for open source operating systems, which is what Linux is. Bearing futuristic looks and being promoted as the "all in one entertainment system", L600 has been designed by a team led by John Gildred, the CEO. The company cites flexibility, reliability and economy as the three main reasons as to why it has opted for Linux as the operating system. The company has even collaborated with Red Hat to initially manage the development of DV Linux, the open source distribution of Linux operating system exclusively designed for consumer electronics. The distribution would include open source technologies such as Mesa 3D and OpenStream, which are new architectures for full-featured video and multimedia on Linux. As for the Indrema Entertainment System (IES) they would be using "Extrema" as the GUI (Graphical User Interface) and the code base of "Mozilla" as its browser. Linux Wristwatch What is 0.48 inches thick, weighs 1.5 ounces and runs Linux? Yes, you have it right, it's a Linux-powered Wristwatch. IBM's R J Watson Research Center has developed this wonder device in question. So on one hand, IBM is considering using Linux for the Blue Gene supercomputer, the development of such a miniaturized prototype reiterates IBM's commitment of making Linux scaleable in both directions: that at the macro as well as the micro level. According to IBM, this prototype is the smallest self-contained device powered by Linux. The researchers have been able to run Linux version 2.2 along with X11, which is a graphics library on this wristwatch. It is designed to communicate to PCs, cell phones and various other wireless devices, even from a remote location. It would also have the ability to view brief email messages and receive pager-like messages in addition to providing users with useful functions like calendar, address book and a to-do list. The team of researchers at IBM is currently working on enhancing features, which would enable the device with a high-resolution screen and then its subsequent transition to an access device for a range of internet-based services. This watch runs on a powerful processor with eight megabytes of Flash memory (read/write) and eight megabytes of DRAM. The users interact with the watch through a combination of a touch-sensitive screen and a roller wheel. It is also fabricated to connect on the Radio Frequencies. A rechargeable lithium-polymer battery powers this wearable device having a 96x112 pixel LCD display. Its motherboard measures 27.5X35.3 mm (roughly the size of a postage stamp!) and is a 6-layer surface mounted board. The Linux implementation is based on the version 2.2.1 of the ARM Linux Kernel, while the boot loader was created in-house at IBM. In one of the demonstrations a TTY emulator was hooked through the serial port, which is a part of the watch and one was actually able to enter Linux commands and see them being printed back. This watch in addition to featuring a built-in microphone and a tiny speaker also contains a reset button. According to the Project leader Mr. Alex Morrow, the plan is to include a couple of games and gradually escalate its functionality to that of a little PDA.
Indrema
Other articles by Vans Information
Current Rating: [ 5 / 10 ]
Number of Times Rated: [ 1 ]
|
|
|
© 1998-2004 FreeOS Technologies (I) Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.
[Privacy Policy]
 |
