08.26.13
Gemini version available ♊︎Linux World Domination: The Covert Expansion of Linux to Broadcast, Games, and Even Watches
Summary: A look at some news about Linux-powered devices and the areas they now occupy
Linux is everywhere. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. But with brands like Android, TomTom or TiVo it might take some effort to see it and especially to show this to others.
In the past few days we saw Android’s role (or the role of Linux) in various mundane areas of the industry [1-3]. Other uses include drones (not just the lethal ones), rugged computers, telepresence, and hackable devices like the Raspberry Pi.
The desktop is not everything, it was the emerging market when mainframes declined and now we have devices that do to the desktop the same thing it did to mainframes (vendors use ‘cloud’ hype in an attempt to drive data back to their datacentres, despite storage being cheap). █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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Google breaks ChromeCast’s ability to play local content
Bad news for all ChromeCast users who were thinking of being able to stream local content to their HD TVs. Google has pushed an update for ChromeCast which has broken support for 3rd party apps like AirCast (AllCast) which allow users to ‘stream’ local files from their devices to ChromeCast connected TV sets.
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It’s a Go for Omate’s Android-Powered Smartwatch
Omate’s $199 TruSmart watch has already garnered more than twice its funding goal on Kickstarter, and there’s almost a month still to go for the device, which comes with a 5 MP camera and cellular modem. “A lot of these crowdfunded smartwatches are being seen as the drizzle before the thunderstorm of the major players coming in,” noted Reticle Research principal analyst Ross Rubin.
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Android games now out-selling games for Sony and Nintendo handhelds
IDC and App Annie’s study suggests that iOS and Android combined now generate four times the revenues of dedicated gaming handhelds
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With Android Poised for Embedded Boom, Developer Training is Needed
The use of Android in embedded devices is heating up and along with that comes demand for developers skilled in embedded Android, say analysts and service providers within the embedded industry.
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Rugged fleet computer runs Android on TI ARM SoC
Micronet announced the availability of a ruggedized, Android 4.x-based touchscreen fleet computer. The A-307 runs on the ARM Cortex-A8-based TI Sitara AM3715 SoC, and offers a 7-inch resistive WVGA touchscreen, USB and serial connections, and numerous wireless options including WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and 3G radios.
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Linux-powered telepresence bot gets a boost
Suitable Technologies has absorbed a majority of the employees of Willow Garage, the research lab that created Texai technology central to Suitable Tech’s “Beam” mobile telepresence robot. The remotely-piloted Beam bot, which can be controlled via a WiFi or 4G LTE cellular connection, runs Robot Operating System plus low-latency Skype-like video conferencing software on top of an Ubuntu-based embedded OS.
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Hey Raspberry PI, where is my cat?
Last week my family went on a summer holiday to Menorca leaving me at home with just the cats for company.
Half way through the week I realised that 5 cats had become 4 and that I hadn’t seen one for a good couple of days.
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Raspberry Strudel: My Raspberry Pi in Austria
I remember my first colocated server rather fondly. It was a 1U Supermicro that had been decommissioned from my employer after a few years’ service. Although it was too old and slow for my company, the 800MHz CPU, 1GB RAM and 36GB SCSI storage was perfect for my needs back in 2005. A friend was kind enough to allow me to colocate the server at his facility for free. So, after a lot of planning, I installed and configured Debian, generated SSH keys and set IPs so I could manage this machine remotely. Once it was colocated, it became my primary server for Web, DNS, SMTP and my perpetual Irssi-in-a-screen session. The machine served me for more than five years until I ultimately replaced it with newer hardware.
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Compact SBC features 2GHz quad-core AMD SoC
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Linux-powered quadrocoptor has three cameras
A startup called Pleiades is over a third the way to its Kickstarter goal for funding a hackable Linux quadrocopter that starts at $520. Spiri, which runs Ubuntu Linux with Robot Operating System (ROS) extensions on a dual-core Freescale ARM SoC, is an airborne craft that uses three cameras and a variety of sensors to navigate autonomously.
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HDMI-stick mini-PC runs Android on quad-core ARM SoC
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Home automation device offers HD fisheye pan/tilt
A $209 Linux-powered home automation and security system aimed at apartment dwellers is off to a strong crowdfunding start on Indiegogo. BlackSumac’s Piper features motion, sound, and temperature detectors, and offers a 180-degree fisheye HD camera with pan and zoom viewable and controllable via smartphone apps.
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