Windows 8 Category - Page 25 of 25 - CNX Software

November 18, 2011February 22, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon S4 Liquid Mobile Development Platform Tablet

Following their new Snapdragon S4 processors announcement, Qualcomm also unveiled the Snapdragon S4 Liquid MDP Tablet for developers based on MSM8960 with 2GB LPDDR2 system memory, 32 GB eMMC and 1 MB NOR Flash. This reference design features a 10.1-inch 1366 x 768 (16:9) 10-finger capacitive multitouch display, on-die LTE modem, dual 1080p cameras (front:13 MP / rear: 2MP) and another two for 3D, 7 (!) microphones, surround stereo speakers and lots of sensors: dual 3D accelerators, 3-axis gyro, a compass, ambient light and proximity sensor, temperature and pressure sensor and a fingerprint sensor. It also supports haptic feedback thanks to two dual independently-controlled linear vibrator motors. Although Android Honeycomb and ICS can do without, the S4 MDP comes with its fair share of (physical) button: combo volume / zoom rocker, power button, screen rotation lock, home button and reset button. External connectors include a docking station port, micro USB […]

October 30, 2011October 30, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Run 2 OS Simultaneously on ARM (OMAP4) with Codezero Embedded Hypervisor

B Labs, a company specializing in ARM Virtualization, was at ARM Techcon 2011 showcasing Codezero, their Embedded Hypervisor to run multiple Linux OS such as Android and Chrome OS on ARM processors. The main purpose of running 2 operating systems is to separate home and enterprise operating systems in mobile devices so that enterprise data is safe. Charbax (ARMDevices.net) interviewed Bahadir Baldan, founder of B Labs, and showed a demo running 2 Android instances and another running Android and Linux in pandaboard. The overhead is 10 to 15% according to B Labs, so the performance hit is minimal. They have already managed to run 4 OS on quad core processors with good performance. They are not able to run Windows operating systems (e.g. Windows Mobile 7.5/ Windows 8) yet, because Cortex A9 processors lack virtualization extensions. This will however be feasible with Cortex A15 processors as binary virtualization will be available. […]

October 19, 2011October 19, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Online Petition Requesting to Allow Linux Installation on Windows 8 Devices

Back in September, some concerns emerged about UEFI secure boot requirement for Windows 8 and its possible consequences on Linux and other open source operating systems: it may be impossible to install such systems on computers or devices shipped with Windows 8, either by replacing Windows 8 or in a dual boot installation as the bootloader (UEFI) would prevent such installation for security reasons. Microsoft has already replied to those concerns and stated that: At the end of the day, the customer is in control of their PC. … We work with our OEM ecosystem to provide customers with this flexibility. The security that UEFI has to offer with secure boot means that most customers will have their systems protected against boot loader attacks. For the enthusiast who wants to run older operating systems, the option is there to allow you to make that decision. So there should be an […]

October 5, 2011October 5, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Intel Unveils Cedar Trail Atom Processors: N2600, N2800, D2500 and D2700

Intel recently published the Intel® Atom™ Processor D2000 Series and N2000 Series Datasheet (PDF). The D2000 and N2000 Series (Codenamed ” Cedar Trail”) includes four new CPUs targeted at Desktops (D2000 Series) and Netbooks (N2000 Series): Atom N2600 @ 1.86 GHz – Up to 2 GB memory – 42 USD Atom N2800 @ 2.13 GHz – Up to 4 GB memory – 47 USD Atom D2500 @ 2.13 GHz- Up to 4 GB memory – 42 USD Atom D2700 @ 2.40 Ghz – Up to 4G memory – 52 USD Those processors will be manufactured using 32nm technology and the D2000 series will replace the existing Atom N475 and N455. The CPUs will also feature an integrated GPU (SGXS45 PowerVR Core) that supports DirectX 10.1 technology and OpenGL 3.0. The processors will support Blu-Ray 2.0 and resolution up to 1080p (1920×1080) and even 2560×1600 for D2000 series via the DP […]

September 23, 2011September 23, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

UEFI Secure Boot – Windows 8 vs Linux

Last week, Microsoft showcased Windows 8 PCs with super fast boot thanks to the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). The latest UEFI standard, released on April 8, includes a secure boot protocol which will be required for Windows 8 clients. Secure UEFI is intended to thwart rootkit infections by requiring keys before allowing executables or drivers to be loaded onto the device. Problem is, such keys can also be used to keep the PC’s owner from wiping out the current OS and installing another option such as Linux. It all started with slide 11 in one Powerpoint presentation entitled “Delivering a secure and fast boot experience with UEFI” presented by Arie van der Hoeven, Principal Lead Program Manager Microsoft Corporation during Build conference: Secure boot Current issues with boot Growing class of malware targets the boot path Often the only fix is to reinstall the operating system UEFI and secure […]

September 16, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Windows 8 NFC (Near Field Communication) Demo

A few months back, I would have never thought I would post about Microsoft and Windows in an embedded software blog, except for the rare mention of Windows CE or Windows Embedded products. But it now seems Windows 8 will actually focus on products that were previously almost exclusively ARM based such as tablets and smartphones. I have already posted about Windows 8 Tablet and Smartphones demo at the build conference and today I’ll discuss a little bit about NFC support in Windows 8. Windows 8 will support NFC (Near Field Communication) with NXP PN544 NFC controller chip. NXP PN544 is also the NFC solution used in the Windows 8 tablets, made by Samsung, which are being distributed to attendees of Microsoft’s Build Windows conference 2011. The NFC use cases available with Windows 8 include: Windows 8 device pairing (e.g. Bluetooth headsets and speakers) Data sharing (e.g. digital business cards) […]

September 15, 2011February 22, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Window 8 ARM Platforms at Build Conference 2011

Yesterday, I mentioned the Nvidia Tegra 3 tablet running Windows 8 which is currently showcased at Build Conference 2011 and they also had a Tegra 3 laptop running Windows 8. But Nvidia was not the only company showing off ARM based processors running Windows 8. There were at least 2 other companies, namely Qualcomm and Texas Instruments. Qualcomm showcased a Snapdragon MSM8660 (Dual core 1.2 GHz) Tablet running Windows 8 and announced that the first batch of Windows 8 PC will be based on the Snapdragon processor. Texas Instruments brought a Windows 8 Tablet based on OMAP4430 (dual core 1 GHz) developed in partnership with Quanta. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com

September 14, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Microsoft demoes Windows 8 on Tegra 3 Tablet

Microsoft demonstrated several Windows 8 features running on a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 tablet at the company’s BUILD developer conference in Anaheim, California. During the event, Mike Angulio – Microsoft’s VP of Windows planning – demonstrated: Windows 8 devices’ ability to instantly switch on and off The new Windows 8 user interface, designed to work equally well with both touch-based tablets and keyboard/mouse-based PCs New applications, mostly written in HTML5, which are always running in the background Platform agnostic applications (running on both ARM and x86) Anguilo also emphasized that all Windows 8 applications will feature hardware accelerated graphics so that developers will not need to do additional work to support hardware acceleration and their applications will automatically take advantage of graphics on both ARM and x86 platforms. Source: Microsoft Wows BUILD Crowd with Windows 8 on Quad-Core NVIDIA Tegra Tablet You can watch Windows 8 Demo from Build Conference […]