LinuxCon 2011 Presentation: Linux Basics

The fifth and last presentation entitled  “Linux Basics” was presented by Lance Albertson, Systems Administrator and Greg Lund-Chaix, “Open source software geek” at OSUOSL (Oregon State University Open Source Lab) at LinuxCon 2011. Abstract: This presentation comes in two parts: The first part gives an overview of Linux, lists the main Linux distributions and explains which one to choose depending on your requirements. It then focuses on Linux administration with some shell commands, how to set permissions and monitor and control processes. The second part is more like a system administrator tutorial showing you how to use VIM Editor,  the commands to control networking, how to make use of SSH for remote access, explains about package management, services (such as http and mysql) by using Apache and Mysql as examples and configuration management, before finally giving the instructions for installing WordPress once Apache andM ySQL are running. If you want to […]

LinuxCon 2011 Presentation: Embedded Systems

The fourth presentation entitled  “Embedded Systems” was presented by Tim Harder, developer at OSUOSL (Oregon State University Open Source Lab) on the 16th of August 2011 at LinuxCon 2011. Abstract: This presentation deals with software development for Embedded Systems especially focusing on Linux and open source.  It describes current software development challenges such as fast software life cycle and memory footprint issues, lists several open hardware projects (Beagleboard, Pandaboard, Bug Labs, Gumstix),  microcontrollers (Arduino and TI MSP430), different operating systems (Android, Meego) and toolchain build tools (Buildroot, Yocto) for embedded systems. It also explains specific challenges to embedded software development such a the numerous number of hardware platforms and software & hardware  tools. Finally, it deals with the cross-compilers, emulators (e.g. qemu) and debugging tools (gdb, jtag, serial console, etc…). If you want to download the presentation slides, please go to Embedded Systems and use the download button on top of […]

LinuxCon 2011 Presentation: Introduction to Python Programming Language

The third LinuxCon 2011 presentation is “Intro to Python” by Peter Krenesky, Lead Software Engineer at OSU Open Source Lab. Abstract: This presentation is a Python programming language tutorial with basics of Python including none, strings, formatting, data structures (tuple, list, dict, slices, etc…), classes (methods, inheritance, initializers, etc…), if statements, iterations and more. If you want to download the presentation slides, please go to Intro to Python and use the download button on top of the Slideshare presentation. If it does not work, you may also download a copy here or here. 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

AMD G-Series based Ximea Currera-G Smart Camera running Linux

Ximea, a company based in Germany,  announced a new version of its Currera Smart Camera: the Currera-G based on AMD G-Series APU. Here’s an excerpt of the press release: The CURRERA-G Smart Camera from XIMEA GmbH, manufacturer of industrial, smart camera, and scientific imaging equipment, sets a new standard for machine vision smart camera processing power. The CURRERA-G Smart Camera houses a single-board-computer built around AMD’s new Fusion accelerated processing unit (APU), which combines the power of both CPU and GPU cores on a single die. “AMD’s Fusion processor means the CURRERA-G can deliver 90Gflops of processing power to tackle the toughest machine vision system applications,” says Vasant Desai, XIMEA Co-Founder and Managing Director. “Combining GPU cores on the same die as the CPU enables the heterogeneous system to offload computation intensive pixel data processing from the CPU to the GPU. Released form this task, the CPU can serve I/O […]

Preview of Google TV Add-on for the Android SDK

Google announced that Android Market is coming to Google TV at Google I/O with a preview of the Google TV Add-on for the Android SDK. Google TV devices will be Android compatible with the upcoming OS update to Honeycomb. That means developers can build new Android apps for TV, optimize existing mobile or tablet apps for TV and/or distribute those apps through Android Market. Although this add-on does not contain all features of Google TV, it will allow developers to emulate Google TV and build apps using the standard Android SDK tools. It also provides new APIs for TV interaction, such as TV channel listing. Google TV emulation is currently supported on Linux with KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) only, but Google will provide support for other operating systems later on. An existing Android app may work well on Google TV or it may require fixes depending on the design and […]

Embedded Linux QA with Wind River Test Management 4.0

Wind River has just announced the release of Winder River Test Management 4.0, a test suite specialized in testing embedded devices and allowing the test teams to optimize the testing effort by focusing resources on high-risk areas and deliver a high-quality embedded software solution on time. New Features and Enhancements New preconfigured test suite generators: The following new test suite generation methods are available: Create a test suite based on coverage and execution time: Selects test case instances that will generate the maximum coverage given a fixed time constraint . Create a test suite based on execution results: Selects test case instances that have run with specific final status values. Create a test suite based on requirements: Selects test case instances that are associated with specific requirement records to ensure that all requirements have a test associated with them and are thoroughly tested. Create a test suite based on defect […]

Bootloader to OS with Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a specification detailing an interface that helps hand off control of the system for the pre-boot environment (i.e.: after the system is powered on, but before the operating system starts) to an operating system, such as Windows or Linux. UEFI aims to provides a clean interface between operating systems and platform firmware at boot time, and supports an architecture-independent mechanism for initializing add-in cards. UEFI will overtime replace vendor-specific BIOS. It also allows for fast boot and support for large hard drives (> 2.2 TB). There are several documents fully defining the UEFI Specification, API and testing requirements: The UEFI Specification (version 2.3.1) describes an interface between the operating system (OS) and the platform firmware. It describes the requirements for the following components, services and protocols: Boot Manager Protocols – Compression Algorithm Specification EFI System Table Protocols – ACPI Protocols GUID Partition Table (GPT) […]

Installing Ubuntu 10.04 LTS in Acer Aspire One D255E

Since I’d like to try Xibo Python Linux client, I’ve decided to install Ubuntu 10.04 LTS in my netbook Acer Aspire One D255. The bad news is that it did not go so smoothly, the good news is that since the wired & wireless network and SD card did not work I can blog the solution about it. Installing Ubuntu 10.04 from a USB thumb drive. First, I went to Ubuntu Download page, change the version to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS – Long Term Support and downloaded the ISO file (ubuntu-10.04.3-desktop-i386.iso). Then I downloaded the Universal USB Installer (For Windows XP) to install the ISO in my USB thumb drive. Finally, I inserted the USB thumb drive in my netbook and performed the default installation, except for partitioning, where I used the 3rd partition in my hard disk and an extra swap partition to install Ubuntu. After installation, everything seems to […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC